High speed telephoto lenses or lack of them

Where are all the fast telephoto lenses gone or why are there none in mFT? In the FT days Olympus offered lenses like the 35-100/2.0 and the 150/2.0. These days everything seems f/2.8 or worse.

I was shooting horse riding yesterday with a 45/1.8 indoors and needed ISOs in the range of 4000 to 6400 and needed more pull. It is clear that I don't need to start with an f/2.8 lens. It seems the 75/1.8 is the only game in town when it comes to more pull. The 75mm is marketed/optimised towards portraits, but so is the 45/1.8. I quite like my 45/1.8, so that doesn't seem an issue.

Is there in the current mFT marketing no need for really fast telephoto lenses? Fast 135s seem the craze in the FF world, so there is some music. Did OM/Panasonic loose (or give up on) all these users? I could see a fast 100mm or 105mm being something. A 100/2.0 or 105/1.8 in the film days wasn't all that large and heavy. At f/1.4 these things get quite beefy.
When I picked up 5dmk2 ff dslr with liveview this year under £100 given its age it's high iso has a look I like. Paired with a host of fast ef autofcous lenses would a viable option.

I utilise 0.71x Viltrox M2 Ef to m4/3 autofocus adapter currently.
This is absolutely true!... I note the Kipon Baveyes M42-MFTII 0.7x speed-booster is still available at a good price from the German website for those in the EU. The mark II has a good rep as it was redesigned by the German Optics research institute and seemed to iron out a lot of the issues surrounding the Mark1. Would make most vintage and modern M42 Tele-Glass Fast and viable.

--
Photography is poetry made visible; it is the art of painting with light!
 
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This thread inspired me to attach my Viltrox EF-M2 II 0.71x adapter to my Canon EF 200/2.8L II. Some dreary, windy, rainy day pics...

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Where are all the fast telephoto lenses gone or why are there none in mFT? In the FT days Olympus offered lenses like the 35-100/2.0 and the 150/2.0. These days everything seems f/2.8 or worse.
Since the target market according to OMD is outdoor adventure, travel and sports with the EM1x, it seems logical that fast telephotos would be on the menu.

I believe they aren't going to do it because they know the naysayers on DPR would have more ammunition to post about how M43 is dead. Since the camera bodies got bigger they know all they have is the small size of the lenses as evidence of M43 being smaller & lighter, if they made those telephotos they would have to be bigger and heavier and nobody wants to see a new round of 200 posts about M43 being dead now due to bigger and heavier lenses and no advantages over full frame. 😆
 
If you use the PL 50-100 f1.7 as an example it should be possible to have a 35-100 f2.0.
 
You don’t say what camera you were using, the latest stacked sensor cameras, OM1 and Mark II, and OM-3 do a much better job at high ISO shooting. However, having shot both indoor Equestrian and Rodeo, I find the flat and insufficient lighting is usually atrocious and one of the worst venues for good images.
Maybe the OP is seeking shallow DOF
 
If you use the PL 50-100 f1.7 as an example it should be possible to have a 35-100 f2.0.
Anything is possible provided you have resources and time.

The question is, would Panasonic sell enough of such product to turn a profit?
 
You need a bigger lens to gather more light. An FF f2 lens gathers 4x the light of an MFT f2 lens.
your subject title is correct but the above paragraph is incorrect. FF F2 has the same exact light gathering as MFT F2.
Those lenses will produce the same brightness of image for a given ISO and shutter speed. And that's often good enough. But the FF really is 4x the amount of light, spread out over 4x the sensor area. That can make a difference in low light, if you can tolerate the decreased DOF. That's why the sensor ISO performance is better, for a given sensor technology.

The differences is:

1) DOF (depth of field)

2) sensor ISO performance
Your options for f2 FF zooms are limited but there is the Sony 50-150/2 GM. That should be noticeably better than an MFT 75/1.8. With a higher resolution sensor, you can crop and only lose some of the light you paid for.

If you need more reach, something like the Sigma 200/2 might suit you.

A
 
I think the OM-1 II high ISO performance is much, much better than the old 4/3 DSLRs. A 40-150mm f2.8 on an OM-1 II likely gives much better results than a 35-100mm f2 on E-5. Plus, now we have 20mp so much more than with the old 4/3 DSLRs.

And how much would an m4/3 35-100mm f2 cost in 2025?
Size, weight and price doesn’t stop Nikon, Sony and Canon from producing very fast long tele lenses and that’s despite the fact that their current mirrorless cameras have sensors with far better high ISO performance than their old cameras had.

Saying that we don’t need them anymore for m43 or they’d be too expensive or too big or we have more pixels now is just making excuses.

I’d like the option to buy a long fast native m43 lens instead of having to use adapters with non native lenses and getting slow AF and functional restrictions.

Peter
Well said.
 
This thread inspired me to attach my Viltrox EF-M2 II 0.71x

Recommend you covert this image to a Black/white film simulation.
Hmm, I"m not good at this sort of thing. Do you mean like this?

You are on the correct track.
What software are you using? If your current software does not have or has limited film simulations, I have been told free products exist but I am not familiar with them.

you can download with a free 30-day trial DxO Filmpack and experiment.




my point is the power of black/white photography and old film simulations really changes the story telling in one’s images. It’s fun to experiment especially if it does not cost anything except time. But in this case, that time would be educational.
 
This thread inspired me to attach my Viltrox EF-M2 II 0.71x

Recommend you covert this image to a Black/white film simulation.
Hmm, I"m not good at this sort of thing. Do you mean like this?

You are on the correct track.
What software are you using? If your current software does not have or has limited film simulations, I have been told free products exist but I am not familiar with them.

you can download with a free 30-day trial DxO Filmpack and experiment.

https://www.dxo.com/dxo-filmpack/

my point is the power of black/white photography and old film simulations really changes the story telling in one’s images. It’s fun to experiment especially if it does not cost anything except time. But in this case, that time would be educational.
I appreciate you taking the time to advise me. I agree that I need to experiment some more.

I'm using Alien Skin Exposure 3 and Silver Efex Pro 2.
 
This thread inspired me to attach my Viltrox EF-M2 II 0.71x

Recommend you covert this image to a Black/white film simulation.
Hmm, I"m not good at this sort of thing. Do you mean like this?

You are on the correct track.
What software are you using? If your current software does not have or has limited film simulations, I have been told free products exist but I am not familiar with them.

you can download with a free 30-day trial DxO Filmpack and experiment.

https://www.dxo.com/dxo-filmpack/

my point is the power of black/white photography and old film simulations really changes the story telling in one’s images. It’s fun to experiment especially if it does not cost anything except time. But in this case, that time would be educational.
I appreciate you taking the time to advise me. I agree that I need to experiment some more.

I'm using Alien Skin Exposure 3 and Silver Efex Pro 2.
I download your image and ran it through DxO Film (v7) and selected two different profiles. Neither of these are "correct", all of this is personal preference. My intention is simply to open your eyes to possibilities and to help you tell 'the story' you want to be told.

(I deliberately selected older profiles that added grain to reflect age-an effect.) Emphasizing this is for educational purposes only.



6ee01e3b2769426ab0431ee0a2b961e6.jpg





891f41eabf594f7abce686aa871e9578.jpg
 
This thread inspired me to attach my Viltrox EF-M2 II 0.71x

Recommend you covert this image to a Black/white film simulation.
Hmm, I"m not good at this sort of thing. Do you mean like this?

You are on the correct track.
What software are you using? If your current software does not have or has limited film simulations, I have been told free products exist but I am not familiar with them.

you can download with a free 30-day trial DxO Filmpack and experiment.

https://www.dxo.com/dxo-filmpack/

my point is the power of black/white photography and old film simulations really changes the story telling in one’s images. It’s fun to experiment especially if it does not cost anything except time. But in this case, that time would be educational.
I appreciate you taking the time to advise me. I agree that I need to experiment some more.

I'm using Alien Skin Exposure 3 and Silver Efex Pro 2.
I download your image and ran it through DxO Film (v7) and selected two different profiles. Neither of these are "correct", all of this is personal preference. My intention is simply to open your eyes to possibilities and to help you tell 'the story' you want to be told.

(I deliberately selected older profiles that added grain to reflect age-an effect.) Emphasizing this is for educational purposes only.

6ee01e3b2769426ab0431ee0a2b961e6.jpg

891f41eabf594f7abce686aa871e9578.jpg
Thanks for this. I'll see if I can find a "look" that really grabs me.
 
Granted I'm not shooting action, but I'll regularly go out at night w the 12-200 on my OM-1. Yes, in very dim light it won't focus, but I just switch to MF when that happens.
 

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