Olympus Releases Extreme Telephoto Zoom

2020.11.17

This morning Olympus made a number of announcements, showing their continued commitment to the Digital Imaging Division on the way to be sold to JIP early next year. The headline announcement is the release of the M.Zuiko 100-400mm F/4.5 TC1.25X IS PRO shown as prototype last year.

This Micro Four-Thirds lens matches the longest-available focal-length on the platform with a brighter maximum aperture. The new Olympus M.Zuiko 150-400mm F/4.5 TC1.25X IS PRO is an extreme telephoto zoom with a constant aperture. It covers an equivalent 300-800mm range in Full-Frame terms. This new lens features a built-in 1.25X teleconverter that switches it into a 187-500mm F/5.6 lens which gives the same field-of-view as a theoretical 375-100mm lens. No such lenses exists though, making this telephoto zoom unique.

With the 2X Focal-Length-Multiplier that comes with a Four-Thirds sensor, the ultra-long reach of this lens comes in the smallest size yet. This is a large lens by any measure but, at 32cm long and under 2kg, it is less bulky than anything similar. Compare this to the 5.8kg of the Sigma 300-800mm F/5.6 DG APO HSM which is 54cm long. No teleconverter is built into that lens either.

The M.Zuiko 150-400mm F/4.5 TC1.25X IS PRO is a professional lens with an entirely weatherproof body that is also freezeproof down to -10C. Inside the is a state-of-the-art image-stabilization that is effective to 4.5-stops over-hand-holding. Olympus mirrorless cameras are all equipped with built-in image-stabilization which can sync together for a total of 8-stops of efficiency. A long focal-length like this one is certain to be shaking while hand-held but is also heavy to warrant the use of a tripod. A large tripod mount directly below the lens provides better stability and ensures the camera mount will not be stressed by the weight of this lens.

Exceptionally for an extreme telephoto lens, the new M.Zuiko 150-400mm F/4.5 maintains a minimum focus-distance of 1.3m which gives it a magnification of 0.29X and even increases to 0.35X when the builtin teleconverter is enabled. Also rare for such a long lens is that its front element is threaded to use 95mm filters.

The unique lens is schedule to ship January 2021 for $7500 USD or $10000 CAD. Our reputable affiliates B&H Photo and Adorama are already accepting preoders. These stores will not charge your credit card until the lens ship, while ensuring to be among the first to receive this exceptional lens.

A natural subject for the new lens is birding and so Olympus just announced a new firmware version 2.0 that adds Bird Eye-AF to the excellent Olympus OM-D E-M1X reviewed here. This focus mode allows the E-M1X to track focus onto a bird and lock onto its eye when detected. The new firmware adds a number of improvements to the focusing system plus RAW video output to the Atomos Ninja V HDR Recorder.

The final announcement in the press release is a revised Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IIIs that a completely silent mode and new art filters. This new intermediate level mirrorless digital camera ships in 3 weeks for $600 USD or $800 CAD.

• Lens