List Price: $599.95
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It has taken Panasonic a long time to realize the one of the biggest strengths of M4/3 is exploiting the 2x crop factor. They have now done that with the 100-300mm lens. This lens is the equivalent of a 200mm-600mm f/5.6! Wow (In 1:1 Tele Extender Video mode you get a 2.6x extender fro a 520-1560mm f/5.6 equivalent lens). If you check your specs you will see 600mm prime lenses come one stop faster and cost around oh $14,000. That is not a typo. They also weigh 11 pounds. So they are hardly something you would tote around. Now ideally, Panasonic would come out with a 300mm f/2.8 and f/4. Those would be super lenses on the M4/3. However, they would be bigger and heavier than this lens. So this lens is perfect for bright daylight shooting of birds, sports, safari animals. Just about anything you need to reach out and touch.
This is Panasonic's largest M4/3 lens so far and weighs in at 1.14 lbs. To give you a comparison, Nikon's 70-300 mm lens weighs in at 1.6 lbs. Unfortunately at 4.9" long it is not as small as I think it should be. The Nikon 70-300 VR is 5.6" long so not that much bigger and that is an FX lens. However, with that said this is a solid lens with great construction. It is typical of all of their heigh end lenses such as the 8mm Fisheye and 7-14mm wide angle. Something to note is this lens will be unwieldy to use on all the Olympus M4/3 and the Panasonic GF lines.
This lens takes very nice photos and the autofocus is very fast. Especially on the GH2. The Image Stabilization works as advertised.
Overall, if you are looking to take pictures of birds, your kids soccer games, or anything else that you would use a 600mm lens then this is the one to use on the M4/3 system.
As a comparison the Olympus 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 is smaller and lighter and covers a greater focal range. However, it does not have Image Stabilization as that is built into Olympus cameras. So this would not be a good lens for Panasonic users. Also, I prefer the build and feel of the Panasonic. However, that is my personal bias. Oh the Olympus is $900 vs $600 for the Panasonic.
Update
Now that I have had a chance to play with this lens on the GH2 for a while, I can say this combo is great for shooting wildlife. The GH2 has an Extra Tele Convert (ETC) mode that makes this lens the equivalent of a 840mm (Medium ETC) and 1200mm (Small ETC). When you shoot in this mode you are getting an 8mp and 4mp image respectively. Yes you can crop a picture to get the same magnification. However, by selecting the ETC mode you are more likely to focus to an ultra sharp image on your subject. Also, it saves you 1 step in your work flow and saves space on your computer. So I find the ETC mode useful for stills also. As a down side it effectively makes your sensor smaller so it is not that useful in high ISO situations.
Overall, a brilliant lens and a no brainer if you are looking for extra reach on you M4/3 system.
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