100-300mm Zoom for GH2. Plan on buying, anything better?

K

K.M

Member
I plan on buying the Panasonic 100-300mm zoom for my gh2. The 140mm isnt enough for my wildlife needs and ive heard good things about this lens. Its relatively cheap for a such a good zoom and also with ETC makes a huge difference. Found a good price on ebay :
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Panasonic-LUM...ters_Lenses&hash=item43a422e162#ht_2562wt_916

Looking for information from you guys, if there is anything better for a better price. or anyone with the lens or experience with similar lenses. Also wondering about the future, is the m4/3 format worth investing in or is it safer to get other lenses that can be converted?

Advice? Other options, suggestions?
Everything welcome

Thanks
K.M
 
I don´t think you can find a better option for m4/3 that this. OIS, Electronic focus, a little slow but can be compensated with the better ISO handling from the GH2, ETC, sharp. Sometime ago i see a thread about bird watching with this lens and was really good.
 
I find mine very usful. The zoom ring on mine is fairly sticky but I'm not zooming in the middle of shots much any more. The one thing I've noticed at the 100mm end is the ability to use f4 when you can't on the 14-140 at 100mm in many situations.
 
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This lens has to be kept in context with its price. It's a 300mm zoom with OIS, which is pretty cool. The zoom action is sticky and lame, as Sean said. And the lens isn't very sharp when zoomed fully in at wide open, you do have to stop it down some.

On the other hand, you're talking about getting a 2,540mm equivalent (when in 720p/ETC mode) with OIS, in a relatively tiny package, for ~$500. And it has pretty good autofocus too! In that context it's really, really pretty cool.

I shot the last launch of the Space Shuttle with it, from 12 miles away, and it managed to get the shuttle to about 2/3 screen height. And I shot the moon with it, and it had the moon at full screen size.

For wildlife, I like it a lot -- it's small, it delivers incredible telephoto when combined with ETC, and it has OIS. But again, it's not the sharpest, and the more you zoom in, the softer it gets, so you do have to stop it down some. Which, again, for wildlife usually isn't a problem; outdoors in the daylight it's really hard to get a GH2 down below f/16 anyway, you normally have to use a quite high shutter speed just to get f/16. So a good-quality ND filter (*not* a variable ND!!!) would be a good match.
 
Thanks for your inputs, and Barry it puts it into perspective for what Im paying for. It does seem like a good lens to get and I understand you have one of your own right ?
I'm also wondering about your comment on the ETC. I understood the image is fairly more noisy and less sharp but I didnt think it dropped to 720p. Are you sure of this 100% ? Because i'd like to maintain 1080 during the scenes, and its tempting to always press ETC, especially for wildlife.
Another question, you mentioned "This lens has to be kept in context with its price." I agree completely but what if i am indeed willing to pay more, does anything come straight to mind as a good competitor that could be used on my GH2 ?

Thanks again
 
Hallvalla thanks, that cleared up the inquirey I had. I'm pretty sure im going to buy this lens, its seems essential for a wildlife enthusiast and at such a good price its hard to say no. Now I need to decide which i buy first, this bad boy or the voightlander 25mm....so many lenses, so little cash!
I'd also love to seem some footage of that space shuttle launch, putting that lens to the test! Barry, what wildlife do you film? Do you have anything online I could check out?
 
i recently aquired the 100-300 and i must say it is a fun lens to have. gets you some great shots and yes it gets on the soft size when zoomed in but still a fun lens. i just tried to shoot an auction today with it on a monopod and it was quite useless when zoomed it, too much shake even with OIS but thats no surprise hey. tripod next time =) your choice on either the 25mm or 300mm depends on what you already have and what you shoot.
 
Mr Fanny, yeah its a good point, at the moment i have the 14-140mm and out of experience from my last use i really do need something with alot more reach so I think ill be going for the 300mm first. The voightlander seems really appealing for completely different uses but essential all the same, i'd love to put some animals infront of that lens and see what it looks like, although they'd have to be pretty close.
 
PixelWrangler said:
Barry - Any footage of the recent shuttle launch available for us to view?
Click to expand...
The footage is on vimeo. Note, this was just a setup to see what (if anything) I could get. The GH2 was stuck in a corner and pointed at the pad, and remember it was shooting through almost 12 miles of atmosphere so it's hazy as all get-out. The main job was being shot on a Phantom on the FlightLine truck, so I just brought the GH2 along for fun and was pretty impressed with what it could see from 12 miles away!
 
Hey guys. I'm shooting a lot of Aussie Rules football with my GH13 with 14-140 .... using 720p and it gives me wonderful results. Great slo-mo and very clear.
The only problem is the lack of reach. I'm finding I just can't get in close enough. Would you recommend this lens for sport.
Richard
 
geez! i hate/luv you guyz! just what i needed—yet another lens to play around with... and just plunked down $429 on this lens at B&H (used)
 
100-300mm is worth every penny spent, I just love it! Razor sharp, lightweight and very handy.
One of my sample footage made with this lens:
 
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