It’s all in the glass…

By Dave Fornell

After 46 years of shooting professionally with literally hundreds of combinations of cameras and lenses, it takes a very special chunk of glass and metal to make any sort of lasting impression on this photogeezer. So, you can understand that I was a bit skeptical when coupling up the Zuiko ED 300mm f2.8 to the E3 last month when I covered the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, but after shooting a few test frames and blowing them up on the computer, I was convinced. This might be the sharpest long lens I’ve ever used.

To make sense of what follows, a bit of history might be in order. My first piece of exotic glass was a Zeiss Sonar 180mm f2.8, purchased in 1964. Reportedly smuggled in from a factory in East Germany, it came in a plain maroon box and had only the words Jena and 180mm 2.8 on the outer retaining ring. It coupled to my Nikon F just fine with its hand-made adapter, and its only drawback was that it was completely manual and the aperture ring had to be opened wide for focusing and closed down for shooting. While it was a bit cumbersome to use, it balanced perfectly, and was extremely sharp even though one of the elements inside had enough small bubbles to make it look like a glass of champagne. I learned from years of using this outfit that it could produce photos where other lenses fell short, and even though it weighed about twice a much as a Nikkor 200mm f4, the balance was sweet and could be hand held at shutter speeds as low as 1/30.

Later in my career, I emptied my change jar, scraped together some UPI stringer checks and almost sold a kidney to purchase a Canon 300mm f2.8 lens. Here again, despite the weight, the balance was perfect and the location of the tripod foot enabled one to comfortably hand hold the lens which proved especially useful for such diverse poorly lit assignments as shooting sports to tight heads in the legislature. The outfit was balanced, hand holdable and, once again, allowed the camera to look into places the naked eye could not.

The ED 300mm 2.8 is easily hand held and balances nicely when the tripod foot is nestled into your left palm. This fit and balance coupled with Olympus’ IS technology provides probably the only practical hand holdable 600mm lens in the business.

While long, large aperture glass always looks impressive from a ¾ view, sometimes shooting sports assignments with these monsters can be completely cumbersome, simply because their length and weight proves too unwieldy to be nimbly handled in fast action combat. Of course, if you must have a long focal length to get the picture, you put up with the inconveniences and do the best you can.

Recently, I needed a 600mm, wide aperture lens to cover a football assignment, and I was betting on the Zuiko ED 300mm 2.8 to do the trick—to equal the feel, handling and success of my previous long, large aperture outfits.

Right out of the bag, the Zuiko ED 300mm f2.8 at first seemed like a monster, but actually it’s only about 11” long, 4 ½” in diameter and weighs less than a gallon of single malt scotch (7.2 lbs.). Keeping in mind that this is an auto focusing, 600mm equivalent lens, its relatively small package size quickly becomes extremely impressive indeed.

For comparison, the Canon 300mm 2.8L IS USM lens weighs a bit less but only provides an average digital equivalent focal length of 390mm. To get an equivalent of 520mm, you would have to use their 15” long, 400mm 2.8L weighing 8 ½ lbs. While the 300mm is hand holdable, for all practical purposes, the 400mm is not.

I stepped outside the hotel and snapped off a few test frames in the parking lot using the ED 300mm and E3.

Shooting 1/400 @ 6.3 handheld, provided this crisp image.

The lens’ incredible sharpness is impressive in this enlargement showing details of the container's lettering.

Well so far so good. Shooting around New Orleans for practice, I found that the lens snapped in and out of focus equally well with either the E3 or the E520 and the sharp focus batting average was consistently high.

Next question: how would it perform during the game?

Keep in mind that NCAA field photographer positions are restricted to the end zones and up the side lines to the 20 yard markers. Last year, I used my ED 50-200 2.8 and found that unless I ran around the back of the benches each time the ball was moved downfield, I was a bit under-lensed at 400mm. This year, I came prepared. My plan was to stay in an end zone and use a combination of the 50-200mm (100-400mm equivalent) for close work, the 300mm (600mm equivalent) for mid field and snap in the EC-14 teleconverter creating 425mm (850mm equivalent) to cover downfield action. Since the game was going to last about two hours, I mounted the lens on a monopod more to avoid fatigued arms than to steady the image.

Shooting the E3 on manual at 1/800 with the aperture set on f4 the combination of the ED 300mm and EC-14 provided facial expressions and a look at the action unseen on television coverage.

Tight shots of various players were relatively easy to get but because the images were so tight, shooting at 850mm made timing extremely critical. Both the E3 and E520 were up to the task. This shot was made with the E520 on manual, 1/800 @ f4, ISO 1600.

At the beginning of the game, I adjusted the shutter speed to compensate for the slight change in exposure when using the TC-14. After reviewing the take at halftime, I found that the half stop or so reduction in exposure when using the teleconverter made little difference to the cameras’ sensors, so I shot the second half without bothering to adjust the shutter speed. This helped speed up the transition when removing or attaching the converter, allowing me to better keep up with the action.

Both the E3 and the E520 autofocus mechanisms functioned quite well—not as fast as with the ED 50-400mm, but quite impressive for 850mm. One important item is that I should have practiced more with the outfit. My framing batting average improved a bit from the first to second half, and would have been outstanding had I shot an entire season with this rig. Because you are shooting the subject so tightly, they can be out of the frame in the blink of an eye. More experience shooting with the rig certainly would have helped. I’ve made a note for next time.

A Utah receiver grabs a pass, pulled in with the E520, ED 300mm with the TC-14, looking downfield at an equivalent 850mm. I was in the end zone, the receiver about 60 yards away.

CONCLUSIONS

The main reason I converted a year and a half ago to the Olympus digital system, was in most part, because of the lenses. I was impressed first of all with the ED 50-200mm f2.8/3.5. It’s small, fast and extremely sharp and replaced four lenses, including my beloved 300mm 2.8. The ED 14-54mm f2.8/3.5 is compact and is priced far below any of the competition. The 11-22mm 2.8/3.5 handles any wide angle needs and again, is in a package that no other camera or lens manufacturer can match at twice the size or price.

The ED 300mm 2.8, while not a lens that I would use every day, completely impressed this old hand—something that hardware is not apt to do. It is probably the sharpest long lens I have ever used. With the Olympus bodies’ IS system, the lens is hand holdable and capable of producing frame after frame of tack sharp images. Better yet, when coupled to the TC-14 telextender, the sharpness and contrast were not affected one bit. Bravo to the Olympus engineers and designers who put in some extremely creative effort developing their exceptional Zuiko digital lens line.

When shooting an assignment, I’m usually asked about my choice Olympus gear. While happy to talk about the cameras, their quality images and features, I always emphasize the fact that the Olympus cameras are great, but the lenses are twice a good. The ED 300mm 2.8 is no exception. Hey, who else has an 11” long 600mm f2.8 you can hand hold?

Cheers for the ED 300mm 2.8

Dave Fornell is based in the Midwest and began his career as a staff photographer on the Chicago Daily News, was picture editor of the Arkansas Gazette, New Orleans United Press International photo bureau chief and was a picture editor at The New York Times. His photos have been used by Time, Newsweek, Railroad and Railfan, Firehouse Magazine, The New York Times, Associated Press and Reuters