PROS: BIF Your Experiences Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6 on Oly EM1X or Mark II

Particularly looking for thoughts using the Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6 on the E-M1X and/or E-M1 Mark II.

• Image Stabilization: Do you shut off the lens IS and use just the body, or vice versa (since both don't work in synchro together)? Assume shut off the lens IS since the bodies have better IS built in.
• Continuous AF Tracking: Do you find that this lens communicates with either body in terms of speed of acquisition, holding a lock, and overall hit rates?

I've never used mine with an Oly body before. I have two new bodies coming (sure you can guess which), so looking for experiences using this lens on either body for BIF, aircraft, or other action photography.

I prefer high quality zooms to prime lenses for action photography. The Pana 100-400mm is much larger, heavier, and more expensive than the 100-300mm I have currently.

Doubt the 12-200mm OLY is any good for BIF/action, but there's no founding in that doubt, just my hunch. Seems more like a vacation-all in one kind of lens than something to be taken seriously for action. But better to ask.

3Percent wrote:

Particularly looking for thoughts using the Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6 on the E-M1X and/or E-M1 Mark II.

• Image Stabilization: Do you shut off the lens IS and use just the body, or vice versa (since both don't work in synchro together)? Assume shut off the lens IS since the bodies have better IS built in.
• Continuous AF Tracking: Do you find that this lens communicates with either body in terms of speed of acquisition, holding a lock, and overall hit rates?

I've never used mine with an Oly body before. I have two new bodies coming (sure you can guess which), so looking for experiences using this lens on either body for BIF, aircraft, or other action photography.

I prefer high quality zooms to prime lenses for action photography. The Pana 100-400mm is much larger, heavier, and more expensive than the 100-300mm I have currently.

Doubt the 12-200mm OLY is any good for BIF/action, but there's no founding in that doubt, just my hunch. Seems more like a vacation-all in one kind of lens than something to be taken seriously for action. But better to ask.

I just saw that this is an old question with no reply. I also had this question earlier, but couldn't get a satisfactory answer anywhere. Then I got help from the person I bought my panny lens and with my own tweaking. So I thought I should post here what settings had worked best for me using E-M1.2 and Panasonic 100-300 II, for reference to others.

• Turn off IBIS and keep on Lens IS priority
• C-AF Sensitivity +2. C-AF works fine with this lens. But for stationary birds, I have a custom button to quick switch to S-AF which gives me more keepers.
• Keep AF Scanner to Mode 3
• Low ISO processing - Detail Priority
• Shoot in silent mode. I prefer Silent L, as I got best results for my type of shooting.
• Focus points center cross, or 3x3 grid depending on your subject.
• If you are using spot metering, link AF to spot metering. Here is Robin Wong's video for explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4dWIK5eFRk&t=262s

Here are some sample photos from my system with this combination.

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/66253177

Useful post.  Many thanks.  I have the Pana 100-300 and use it with my Oly 1iii.  I use it rarely, but want to get the best from it.  The tip about IBIS is intriguing, I guess it is horses for courses with the long FL.