Chris made it out of quarantine in time to review the new Panasonic 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 lens for L-mount. The temperature may be -20ºC, but in Calgary that's almost shirtsleeve weather.
I have used a Sony A mount 70-300G for years, it’s sharp at F5.6 and I concur with the comment in the review. A lens of this speed when shot at 300mm will be @ F5.6 very often and so it needs to sharp there. When I bought the Sony I didn’t pay anything like full price (I got it in a camera shop closing down sale) but there was still a cheaper alternative, the Tamron equivalent but all the tests I saw of that showed it only sharpened up at F8 and that is specifically why I didn’t buy it.
If what was found in this test is typical of the production lenses then sorry, that’s a fail.
I don't think he's entirely fair here. Yes, it's expensive, but nice bokeh and the close focusing ability makes it more than a run-of-the-mill consumer zoom. For most users, this will probably negate the need for a dedicated macro lens, which in itself saves money.
Panasonic Engineer 1: OK, we added everything on the checklist. Enhanced sun stars, macro, weather sealing, near-parfocal performance, and great looks.
Panasonic Engineer 2: I didn't hear "image quality."
Panasonic Engineer 1: I mean, who would use a telephoto zoom at full telephoto? That's crazy talk.
Uh oh, not quite a glowing review from Chris. Lumix really have very tough competition in the full frame market now, getting tougher as flagship mirrorless cameras have yet to be announced, and of course, the competition is very well established with a wide/huge range of lenses, old and new. Yet Lumix often launch new products at premium prices, like this 70-300mm lens, which don't beat the competitors. How can they win the market share they need like this??
It's Panasonic, a giant compared to many others.. They don't really "need" big market shares within this niche. They seem to be doing just fine, and the L-mount is growing..
In a 70-300 lens is launched at almost double the average price, I'd rather it were optically exceptional all the way through from 70 to 300, than having more extensive weather sealing or having a nicer bokeh (because who doesn't take portraits at 300mm f/5.6 after all...?).
I just had a deja vu: I've been through the exact same thing on Nikon full frame.
The Nikon 70-300 VR was one of the first lenses I got together with my D700 back in 2008, but it turned out (and all reviewers confirmed) that while it was decent from 70 mm to about 250 mm, it significantly lost sharpness at 300 mm. But the 300 mm focal length is the main reason to buy this lens!
So years later, I bought a 70-200 f/4 instead, and I never looked back.
In 2019/2020 when I moved on to a Panasonic S1, I went for the 70-200 f/4 right away; I even got the TC 1.4 which brings the range up to 280 mm. While there is some loss of sharpness with the TC, it's still quite good.
So with this new Panasonic 70-300 it seems to be the same story: Decent from 70 mm to some point beyond 200 mm, but losing image quality at 300 mm. Again, those 300 mm are the reason why people buy this lens!
So I'll gladly stick with my 70-200 f/4 + TC 1.4 to get up to 280 f/5.6. (Yes, it's also much more expensive.)
Lumix lens should be optically better than Canon 70-300mm L from 2010 but seems like it isn't, at least has a more effective anti-glare coating, and sun stars look really nice and define, which can add some interest to the night cityscape photos.
We need RogerC to test the sample variation (not great for some premium Panny m43 lenses) and their build (so a tear-down), to see if they can be fixed if they have a problem, or you get what you get, which could be expensive for out-of-warranty repairs, like dropping one. What is the policy on those repairs now anyway, is there a statement?
Not saying they might not be excellent on both counts, just it would be good to know.
Two things would keep me away from the L-series, one is DFD and the other is concerns about expensive Panasonic lenses sample variation and repair ability/cost. (My mirrorless system is still my GH5 for now, although I got the fast Oly 45mm not the fast Panny one due to the above concerns, all my other m43 lenses are Panny and okay, although the 12-60 Leicas I tried were quite different.)
Yes, clearly systems with DfD really need exotic lenses to take full advantage of their waffling AF. BRILLIANT! Charge customers a fortune AND make them ill!
Chris is the best photographer at DPR and I would venture to say the best YouTube reviewer photographer. He should publish a book of his best photos. It would be good, but would also be an intersting comparison between cameras.
@NexUser Yes, the original Sony 70-300 was very expensive. But it was also for a long time nearly the only tele option in the Sony lineup, which is why it could get away with the high pricing. I doubt Sony would release it at that price point again. Many of the early E-mount lineup like the Batis lenses and early Sony/Zeiss lenses got away with their pricing due to lack of alternatives. Newer lenses by Sony fit much better in the current offerings. Their 24/35mm F1.4 GM were cheaper than both their own older and Canikon lenses, similar for their 20mm G, 35mm F1.8 and other recently released lenses.
Their APS-C 70-350 is like that because it is a new class of lenses made for high performance on pixel-dense APS-C bodies. The only competition is Fuji and they price their tele the same.
And lastly even though I torpedo my argument with this. Canon still sells their 11 year old 70-300 F5.6L IS USM lens for 1349$ new. So it is not like premium 70-300 options never existed in the DSLR world
[Also like I said I don't believe the Sony is currently well priced or would be released at that price. It is due for an update and should be cheaper or far better]
Pantherfan, you clearly haven't seen or used an L lens. Think like Sony 70-300mm GM which doesn't exist. That Canon lens is fully metal, has excellent build quality, is weather sealed, is sharp from widest aperture. I used it on A7II and was very surprised with the lens. I sold it to finance A9 but really miss it. IS was also top notch. Sony's 70-300mm is similar to Nikon's 70-300mm VR.
@NexUser 1. The Sony 70-300 is G lens. So purely on terminology, it would be what Canon calls an "L" lens. (Sony has three tiers GM for high end, G for premium F4 zooms, macros etc... and consumer without a "brand". Canon has only two tiers L and consumer. They also call all their F4 zooms L as well as many mid primes. So GM/G would both be redring L in Canon terminology) [GM wasn't even a thing when it was released, G was the most premium back then and in A-mount]
2. The G 70-300 is also "dust and moisture resistant" and also has all the other usual Sony "premium" lens features like triple switches for AF/IS and focus range as well as the additional custom button. And the housing is also metal for whatever that is worth
3. For optical performance I posted my first link. That is a perfect comparison. Canon on a 50MP 5DSR, Sony on a 42MP A7R III
4. Like I said the Sony shouldn't be in the lineup in the current form/price. But at least the target market is the same
The Sony 70-300 claims sealing yet lacks a rear gasket IIRC... /smh I'd say it's opportunistic pricing, they know some people will wanna go first party and/or don't want the extra bulk of the 100-400 option, and they're probably right unfortunately.
The Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II also has 17 elements, and is well under half the price. Elements don't really count, it's what glass they are made of, their shape (simple/complex) if they are ground/mounded and how accurately they are made. Also just how good the lens design is, you can spend a fortune on the elements and still get crap..
Within the same line with similar number of special elements and similar aperture and similar focal length, the number of groups and total elements shows a lot. This lens at $1250 with an 11 group design and 17 elements, vs an 70-200 f4 at $1700 with a 17 group design and 23 elements? That 300mm has be very useful.
@Jon555, a better comparison for different specifics would be a lens with very large elements, like the Canon RF 70-200 f2.8 with 13 groups and 17 elements.
Well in the 2 hours from watching this review to now the Amazon price has already dropped from 1250 to 997. So maybe the asking was a little high. I was going to comment that the order of magnitude between the micro four thirds Panasonic 45-150mm was funny. But now its not as bad, only 6x more for the 135 format vs 10x earlier.
It's only about 2x more than the M4/3 100-300mm, and I wouldn't be surprised if the results are close once cropped on a high MP body to match the equivalent FL of that other Pana, at shorter FLs specially...
Or look at it another way, what's the price of the M4/3 40-150 f2.8 that most closely matches this by direct equivalence? I'm not knocking any of the M4/3 options either, for the same price on that Oly 40-150/2.8 at least you get internal zoom and a great build, and I actually own the 100-300.
This one is probably somewhat overpriced, but it's not totally out of line with other recent 1st part MILC options either.
@Impulses I’d be fairly surprised if any FF lens could be cropped into MFT ones of the same FL! The MFT ones are specifically corrected for high sharpness in the mft image circle while FF ones cannot sacrifice the IQ at the outer edges that much. It’s like saying a 1:2 “macro” lens is similar or better than a 1:1 one by looking at the MTF (most lens have better MTF at lower magnifications). Well to compare the two you’d compare the 60 lpmm of the 1:2 with the 30 lpmm line of the 1:1! Object-side resolution would differ by that much
Wow. That pricing is a bit insane. I got my Tamron G2 150-600 f/5-f6.3 for $1500 CDN, and I can do a hell of a lot more with that than I could with a 70-300.
I see what Chris is saying. Some shots wide open at 300mm look quite sharp, others definitely have that slight 'hazy softness' across the entire frame (the white farmhouse). Dale's copy looks pretty good even on the higher res body. Maybe Chris got a less-than-stellar sample? It happens, unfortunately.
Were the samples from Dale SOOC or ACR processed? I've got a bit irritated as not all ACR processed images are better the JPGS from the camera, so skews the results when both are presented as in previous reviews.
@dumpsterfire, The Panny 50mm is nowhere near priced for perfection - there several 50mm lenses that sell for more, one of which sells for 2x more on the same mount.
The Panasonic Lumix S 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S. is a moderately sized, moderately far-reaching and optically-stabilized telephoto zoom lens for full-frame or APS-C L-mount cameras. Read our review to find out how it performs.
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