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OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-600mm F5.0-6.3 IS Lens | First Look
It has been a busy month for OM System who have just released three new products to kick-start 2024. First off was the OM-1 Mark II, their latest flagship micro four-thirds sensor camera, we also had the M. ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 9-18mm F4.0-5.6 II, bringing a classic up to date and lastly we have the subject of today's blog, the M.Zuiko DIGITAL ED 150-600mm f5.0-6.3 IS Lens.
A lens perfect for wildlife and bird photographers with an incredible 35mm equivalent range of 300-1200mm.
The Lens
The M.Zuiko DIGITAL ED 150-600mm f5.0-6.3 IS weighs in at 2065g, so it's not exactly light but when you take into account the sheer range that you're getting that is really not much at all. The lens measures 109.4x264.4mm and the construction consists of 25 elements in 15 groups (4 Super ED lenses, 2 ED lenses, 6 HR lenses, 1 HD lens). It has a Dust and Splash Proof IPX1 rating along with a fluorine-coating for use in harsh environments.
Image Stabilisation
The lens itself offers 6 stops of stabilisation of the at the wide end and 5 at the tele end but goes up to 7 stops at the wide end and 6 tele thanks to Sync IS. This, combined with its focal length, makes it a must for bird and wildlife photographers. For today’s demonstration I have it paired with the newly released OM-1 Mark II, which offers the maximum 8.5 stops of IBIS so the stabilisation is just incredible.
150mm | f/5 | 1/1600 | ISO200
429mm | f/6.2 | 1/1600 | ISO200
523mm | f/6.3 | 1/1600 | ISO200
Teleconverter Compatible
The lens is compatible with both the 1.4x and 2x teleconverters giving an incredible reach of up to 2400mm* which is unmatched at this price point.
*35mm equivalent
150mm
600mm
1200mm (2x teleconverter attached)
Tele-Macro-Photography
The lens is not just for far-off subjects thanks to some pretty impressive close-up stats. It can produce an image magnification of up to 0.7x. The wide end of the lens has a minimum focus distance of just 56cm and 2.8 metres at the telephoto end.
178mm | f/5.3 | 1/800 | ISO200
173mm | f/5.3 | 1/500 | ISO200
Conclusion
As I have already mentioned, I am not an experienced wildlife photographer, so I was a little out of my comfort zone for this review but the lens made things easy for me. I had a great time using it and I was very happy with some of the results that I was able to get with it.
First and foremost, the lens is pretty compact and lightweight when you take into consideration the vast focal length that it covers. I was using it for a good 5 hours while filming the video and it never felt overwhelming to carry around. It also felt very well balanced which was ideal as I was shooting handheld the entire time and I was able to easily adjust the focal length to zoom in on my subject.
The Auto Focus was very fast and there were no issues when having it mounted with the 2x teleconverter which I found to respond very well.
Stabilisation was outstanding though I have to point out that this was being used with the new OM-1 II which has 8.5 EV stops of In Body Image Stabilisation so you would expect it to deliver on that front. At no point during my time with my lens did I feel that I needed to mount it onto a tripod.
It even performed well on the tele-macro side of things with that 56cm close focus distance proving very handy for capturing intimate close-up shots.
A fantastic lens to use with an astonishing focal length at this price point.
Key Features
- 300-1200mm (35mm equiv)
- F5.0-f22
- Image Angle - 8.2 degrees - 2.1 degrees
- Closest focus distance - 0.56m - 2.8m (600mm)
- AF/MF Switching
- 2065g
- 95mm filter size
- 109.4x264.4mm
- 25 elements in 15 groups
Click here for full product specifications >
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- By Ben Wright
- 6 Feb 2024
