As far as I know, the best review of this lens at this time, bravo !

Congratulations on being the first indie reviewer to be blessed with a look at this lens! It is hard to choose what to compare it against. I think I would compare it against another zoom rather than a prime myself for the flexibility, maybe the Canon RF 100-500 with a 2x converter, or even just the 100-500 on a higher res R5 and then just crop to match the res of the Olympus. Tricky business to be completely fair.

Comment 2: Also put my thoughts on RED35, who did a great lecture about the state of Olympus. Here was my additional thoughts that also apply here. "I still use my battered, screen cracked Oly 1mark2. I just finished watching Matt G's review on the new lens, and had always loved Olympus... since my first one in 1979. Olympus is the quiet Kung Fu master to TV Star Karate. Its the 700 Tenere Yamaha to some bloated Highway Cruiser. Its K2 to Everest. I may break down and get the mark 3, but yes, the mark 2 is still very much the beast I love. I am not a "wildlife photographer" confined to a sidewalk, boardwalk, or parking lot. I crawl through brush, up wet rocks on mountainsides, and go out a foot above the water in small boats. Perhaps what Olympus and Panasonic need is to rebrand themselves: they make cameras for Adventure Photography. Because thats why all that portability and durability are needed. Not because we just like things small. We need things to be efficient."

I have to add as well that this is the best most reliable test I have seen so far Well done

Excellent review. Not surprised by any of the comparisons. Portability in the field is no small advantage, IMHO. As I write this, I’m mapping out how to afford one.

Nicely done. I really appreciate your comments about MFT deserving to be in the game. I'm rooting for these guys.

Hope you can make now a new video with the 150-400 with the OM-1 camera.

Best review I´ve seen of this lens so far. Great work! I´ve ordered one of theese a couple of weeks ago and I´m really looking forward to get it. The m4/3-system has a lot of advantages for wildlife photography. I switched from Canon fullframe to Olympus a couple of years ago (when the EM1mkII came out) and I don't regret it.

What a great review, thanks so much! You've really covered every important question I had in great detail. Maybe someday I can afford it :)

Fantastic video Mathieu.. Wow great job. I recently purchased an EM1X used and the Olympus 40-150/2.8 and the 300/4 + 1.4XTC, I also own a Canon R5 with a Canon 500/4 with the 1.4X TC, There is no question that if IQ is most important than using the Canon is a clear winner yet the major downside is the weight of the system and hand hold ability is also an issue. I actually purchased my Canon 500/4 from a excellent wildlife photographer and he just switch to the EM1X... It would seem to me if you want the ultimate hand holdable system the EM1X with the new Olympus 150-400/4.5 would be a no brainer.. I guess the HUGE elephant in the room is with Olympus and if JIP will continue development of a newer EM1X replacement. Obviously no ones knows the answer to that.. In a strange twist of fate, by Olympus finally releasing the 150-400/4 now, is like when Canon introduced the RF mount, they first started with very high quality lenses and then the bodies followed whereas now with Olympus they are now in the same situation, unbelievable lens yet the body is not 100% up to the task as you clearly demonstrated with the keeper rate comparing the R6 to the EM1X, I am not to confident JIP will continue FW updates on the EM1X that would greatly improve CAF performance,...

This is the best video about the Olympus lens , thanks!

Great Review Mathieu! A dream Lens! I would love to have one! But I’m happy with my e-m1 iii (and GH5) + Leica 100-400! And I hope that the m43 system continues. I would love to see new sensors ( with new technologies such as BSI) and new high end Cameras! Panasonic should bring the new G and GH generation as soon as possible!

Thank you for making this video. Been waiting for it.

Wonderful review as usual! Thank you Mathieu! Amazing Lens! Let’s wait till Panasonic bring the new GH6 to see the future of m43. When the price drops it can be a very good option! Around 4500 would be great!

Has Tony Northrup reviewed this lens yet? I need to know how poor a value this lense is, and which Canon and Nikon lenses are "much better" technically, and why MFT isn't dead yet ;)

Thank you for the review Mathieu. As a hard-core bird photographer I certainly appreciate your hard work on this. The image stabilization using this setup is amazing when shooting video. I've always been amazed by Olympus's image stabilization capabilities. I once owned many m43 systems and lenses but eventually moved on to full-frame using the Sony A9 with the 200-600mm lens with 1.4x TC as my primary go-to bird photography system. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of m43 for ISO noise levels and depth-of-field (less bokah) and still believe I can be better served with full frame cameras and telephoto lenses. If this lens was half the price, the choice might be harder although the keeper rate is still lower than competition from Canon and Sony. Thanks again!

That was so well done. Lens choice comparison was perfect. Thank you for the effort.

Wow, what a great, thorough review!!! Rob Trek mentioned you in his videos and now I know why!!! I'm your newest subscriber!!

Thank you for an exceptionally good review. Please may I clarify one thing: around 27:45 in you mention cropping down from a 45 MP sensor to substitute for using a shorter focal length. In case it is not immediately clear to all, doubling the number of pixels only increases resolution by about 50% and to double the resolution and, therefore, double the detail captured, it would be necessary to quadruple the number of pixels. So, as you say, an image from a 600 mm lens on a 36 x 24 sensor, cropped to 66% of its size would give the same effective resolution as a 400 mm lens on an MFT sensor. My apologies if everyone thinks that I am stating the obvious, but I had to listen to the section a few times to feel sure of what you meant!

The BIF Engineer of Olympus has to consider his job .... with the new Bird Detection Mode .... you would expect higher keeper rate than some of the competition ...but with 74% at the lower margin of ht e competition ... the result is hardly sufficien so improvement in the software are required . Thanks Mathieu for the excellent review. It was correct from Olympus to send you the equipment .....a risk ...but all in all the lens has passed the test fairly .

Your review is amazing. I've linked it in several discussions about m43's usability.

You went so far and above in covering so many details that no one else even thinks about when comparing the pros and cons of the various systems. I'm a true fan of your amazing thought process and knowledge that you present so beautifully on your channel!! Thanks Mathew!!!!

Great stuff mate! Glad you have a handle on this beast! Informative as always!

I own a few systems mirrorless/dslrs including EM5/EM1-2/EM1X and always enjoy shooting the X with a pro lens, but for reach I prefer the Canon EF L 100-400 and teleconv. I'm not a fan of Canon's RF "plastic" L lenses...the EF adapter works fine on the R5. Always enjoy your presentations.

Excellent review, although I cannot ever see myself justifying the cost of any of those long lenses. All of that said, when you are looking at such heavy lenses, and also dealing with atmospheric effects at those focal lengths, I rather wonder about their true utility anyway. I manage to do some pretty decent wildlife photography using much more modest lenses. The trick for me is approach. Being a little stealthy and smart can get you similar views from much lighter and cheaper optics. It also makes it a little more challenging, which can be fun too.

Thank you Matthew for this awesome review. I have canon r5 and 100-500 and em1m2 with 300/4 so this was an especially interesting review since I use both systems

Excellent video Mathieu, well done. Marvellous lens: but as I seldom shoot at less than 300mm, I can't justify the cost. As for the bird recognition, I have found that it hardly misses with my 300mm f4 + MC14 - even with a cluttered background. I have yet to try it with my PL 200mm f2.8, which I tend to use in low light for the tame birds at a local feeding station.

Thanks for the review and info! Based on reasonably reliable rumours Canon is releasing the following RF-mount primes during 2021: 400mm f/2,8 500mm f/4 600mm f/4 800mm f/5,6 1200mm f/8 The RF 800mm f/5,6 should weigh below 3,5 kg - maybe even closer to 3 kg.

Thank u fore this, I have preordered this lens 👌

A superb in depth review which I have come to expect from you. Shared it to my facebook page for my photographer friends to enjoy. Please keep up your excellent work in these difficult times and have as great Christmas as is possible regards Phil..

Rob You do an outstanding job on all your videos including this lens review. Thank you for providing all you reviews, tips, and "hot-to's.' Your explanations are well thought out, concise, and intelligible. To my ears, you have a "golden" voice with clear diction! Good Job!!

Hi Mathieu, thanks for the very objective and detailed video. Since I own the 300/4 with the MC14 a comparison of image quality compared to the 150-400 @ 400 (420 mm) mm would be very interesting. If you are not looking for longer focal length or the zoom option this would be the decisive point for buying this lens. Of course f4.5 vs f5.6 helps, too.

A very objective review, one for which I've been waiting in the last few weeks. I have read that the first production batch is sold out, though who believes a journalist these days... If the price drops in the UK to less than £5k a couple of years from now I shall get it, and trade in my Olympus 300mm f4, and Leica 200mm f2.8. That's the only aspect of your video that was missing, for me, Mathieu, though I accept your point about the length of the video! How would you rate the 150/400 in comparison with the Olympus 300mm f4 in terms of sharpness, with and without the 1.4x MC14? One last point. I own an A7R3 and various lenses and did own the Sony 200/600mm which at 2.1kgs is only slightly heavier than the 150/400. But it's not only weight that's an issue, it is also length when you want to take it as carry on luggage. And that, for me, sums up the advantages of M43 - acceptable quality 90%+ of the time, for less weight and less volume. But I still own a full frame Sony for those few occasions when I expect the greater dynamic range to be necessary.

Terrifically balanced, thoughtful and detailed commentary, Matthieu. Unfortunately, this lens is out of reach and I’ll be sticking to my 300mm with teleconverters. As an E-M1.3 owner not interested in the E-M1X, I was interested to see that you obtained superior results with your standard set-up over the bird detection AF. And the Canon animal AF shows again how great it is, even on the R6. But your comparison of the available lenses to match the 150-400 puts a lot into perspective. Well done and best wishes for an improvement in COVID status in the UK soon and a happier 2021.

I would have loved to see even a slight test with the E-M1 Mark III, to see if the AF can keep up with the lenses' performance and as a lighter alternative to E-M1 X. (As I own the E-M1 Mark III I am debating if this lens deserves the E-M1 X for wildlife and birds or if it's worth waiting for E-M1 Mark IV / E-M1 X Mark II for wildlife and birds & birds in flight detection with hopefully an improved sensor for low light, like BSI-CMOS). Still, thank you so much for the review and I was waiting for your opinion on the lens and the performance overall of the Olympus to see if it's worth plopping down a soul and half my organs for my dream wildlife lens.

Very comprehensive!! Well done Mat!

Excellent review.. this is how every review should be done..

Awesome review video. Well done. I watched the whole video even though I don't have an Olympus or a Canon RF gear.

2 yrs later and OM systems is doing better than ever. The OM-1 and the collection of lenses set's it apart from other systems in many ways. For me making the change recently is the value for money vs performance. Yes, I would probibly not buy the 150-400 f4.5 due to price but the 300 f4 and the 40-150 f2.8 with TC's make for an amazing compact and powerful lens system. Add the 12-40 f2.9 and one of the wide angle lenses with two OM bodies and you have one fantastic system. With Post Processing software, noise reduction is not a problem any longer.

Nice overview. How about comparing the Olympus 150-400 pro lens against the new Canon 800mm DO lens. That would be interesting.

I would like to know how this compares to the panasonic 100-400 and the olymplus 100-400, is there much difference

Again a very good and thoughtful review!

This was a very objective, and well expressed review. For those questioning the value of the Olympus set up, I would recommend Daniel Cox's review where he uses the Olympus set up to shoot from a kayak. I cannot imagine doing that, but he obviously is comfortable doing it, and produced some excellent results. I would have had to have the camera and lens encased in some sort of 'floatie' device -- not to mention myself!

have to get this lens!! Maybe a third-hand copy

Great video. I think the fact that they already sold all of the lenses they planned to make tells us that there's a market for this lens. I figure I will try to rent it at some point to give it a spin but since I don't do pro wildlife photography I can't see buying one myself.

Excellent review accept for the neglect to mention or compare this combination with the Sony a9ll plus 200-600 or Nikon Z7ll plus 500 PF. Both represent equally light systems with superior image quality and significantly lower price tags.

Brilliant video and informative to show the benefits and shortcomings in the lenses.

What is your opinion about Tony Northrup applying the crop factor to the aperture?

Thanks for this outstanding review. Of course, one can find it unfair to compare a zoom against a prime lens. Anyway, it is unbelievable for me that the Olympus-zoom with 2x-extender seems to even outperform the Canon prime with 2x-extender. I don't think that there is any other zoom in any camera system available that is able to do that. Of course, not many "normal" photographers will be able to buy one of these dream lenses. However, I think that it is essential for a camera system, that such high end options are available, that people can discuss and dream about. Hopefully Olympus and Panasonic will also continue to improve their autofocus-tracking-capabilities.

I would still go for the Olympus setup. Looking at the ISO6400 there ain’t that much difference and the cost and weight makes the Olympus win in my book...."..

This is by far the best English language review of this lens on KZfaq.

I'm glad you compared it to the 800mm Canon. The market for this lens is people always wanting to get closer, no matter what equipment they have. It's never enough! Versatility be darned! If people are going to be spending that much money on either system, they need to know how the end results compare. Great review.

Great review and comparison. Very helpful. Thank you

13:30 Wow! that "Tokio Godfathers" Deluxe edition certainly shows some taste!

Great comparison and video!

Great and detailed review and comparison. I learned a lot. Merci beaucoup!

I end up not really seeing what the "sacrifice in quality" is here. The slight increase in noise at high ISO can be partly remedied via first-rate noise reduction software like Topaz. Mostly I am shooting at ISO levels under 3200, where the difference in noise levels is very small. The ability to CARRY the lens and pack it for overseas travel trumps these small optical quality "problems." Now if only I could find a copy of this lens to actually purchase :-(

I do admire your BIF testing over the years, but I have to say with my limited testing of the EM1X Bird Detection / Tracking I have found an improvement for me over C-AF. It's not perfect, but I get noticeably less variation shot to shot using the new tracking. I find I do have to be patient and let the camera see the subject and start to track - if I try and force it too quickly then it can get confused.

Definitely the most concise review of this lens. The comparisons are most note worthy and put the M4/3 system and the EM1X into perspective. Some points I have learnt in this review have highlighted shortfalls I’ve recently experienced with the new firmware update. Thanks for sharing 🙏

Brilliant review fantastic lens but just too expensive I’ll have to stick with the Olympus 300mm IS pro

Very informative, thank you Mathieu! It's a crime that you don't have more subscribers...

Is there any way to map the bird eye af to a single custom button like the Canon Eos R5 ? I find that you can map that to the Fn lever but have yet to found that you can map to a single button. I heard someone said you can map it to the exposure + and - button but have not yet tried

Best review I have watched!!! I enjoyed seeing all the particular function buttons on the lens. I plan on purchasing this lens. I have no read the complete review yet...but do you mention your IS settings for BIF with this new lens? Thanks for the GREAT thorough work!!!

1/14/2022 thank you for sharing this information

I wish Olympus had some more appreciation from the market

Once again, thanks. I own a 300f4 and both TCs, so I probably won't consider the lens. I expected that it is indeed worth the price however, because Olympus, is after all Olympus. I found it absurd that some prominent KZfaq icons scoffed at the price, happy instead to shoot with a $12,000 behemoth. I have wondered why however that since most birds are in the center of the frame on sensors that crop to that center (yet still 20mp) that the advantage remains with m4/3 above all else; as the image would have the same resolution as well as portability. Its just a matter of math. The M4/3 system should just rebrand itself as "Adventure Cameras". It worked for motorcycles; both Olympus and Panasonic need to express what gives them the edge, and while I love your videos, I fid most of the "Olympus Ambassadors" dull as supermarket sliced wheat bread. It won't go away, and as Netflix just sanctioned the latest Panasonic m4/3, (not yet available) its going to grow.

That new less expensive plastic fantastic 800mm from Canon as a comparison would be nice, one wonders if for example using that new 800mm on a higher megapixel R5 then reducing or down sampling to the resolution of the R6 how that would compare to what you got on the R6 with that 13K lens and the Olympus lens.

Great review I have the Canon R3, And I been eyeing the OM-1 plus this lens, My question is if you had to go out to photograph wildlife/BIF would you take R3 or the OM-1? Thanks; )

I wish you would have compared it with the Canon 100-400mm or the 100-500mm combined with the Canon R5. That would make so much more sense, since the weight and size and price is similar. Crop the images with the R5 to the same field of view as the OIympus and then let's see the actual difference in image quality! Especially with real life images of birds. Maybe you could do another video with that comparison, I would appreciate it!

Waiting for a7siii review of yours 👍. Still remember your z6 vs a7iii video. Truely awesome content you make.

This 150-400mm lens, the spec by itself look very very attractive, but the photos are just not as attractive when compared to Canon 600mm f4.0 or even the rf100-500 mm. Background separation is really just so so. Having said so, this 150-400mm is really light, portable and zoomable if we compared to the the 600mm from Nikon and Canon.

Would it make sense to get the 150-400 if you have the 300? Does the overlapping negate the 300 now?

In the E-M1X Quick guide page 10 it says that for Intelligent AF to work you should use CAF + TR and ALL focus points must be enabled. To test Bird AI you should set up your camera this way. Perhaps Olympus have changed this since they posted the Quick guide and yo are doing it right.

Mathieu, After 1 year + what do you think about this Lens compared with the alternatives in the Market and for €7000? Do you still see this Lens as a good alternative? I just want to buy this Lens but afraid about the future of the system.

You should make a comparison with the Canon f/11 lenses. If Olympus had better autofocus it Would be king!

There’s a new lens from Olympus is not the most expensive micro 4/3 lens they released. The Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 90-250mm f2 8 was.

Does it make sense to use this brilliant lense, which i adore :-) with the M5 Mark III? Thinking about buying this 150-400mm lense or the 300mm with 1.4 TC. Nice Video btw 💪

Thanks for the wonderful comprehensive review. I am wondering if the lens cap and lens hood come in the box or does one need to order them separately. Thanks

When you were undertaking the tests to compare percentage of shots which were absolutely sharp and or sharp but a bit soft, were all the sample images used taken hand held or a mix of hand held and tripod Mount? Also we’re the sample sizes the same and taken over the same period? The point being hand holding a very large and very heavy full frame super zoom will be physically tiring much more quickly then the smaller and lighter four thirds lens and one would expect this to lead to camera shake more quickly for the full frame sample.

This was a great review overall. I do think that the AA filter on the R6 probably came into to play with the r6 + 800 f5.6 vs em1x + 150-400 comparison. As someone that owns the 800 f5.6 and also the canon 200-400 f4 w/1.4x I have noticed that when I used the r6 the files were a bit softer with both lenses then my r5 and notably softer then my 5dsr even when I backed up to get the same amount of pixels on the subjects. Your sharpness results with the r6 mirror what I've found when I compared it to my other cameras so I do suspect the AA filter is an important factor. Did you run into any issues with moire with the em1x? I ran into it a lot with the 5dsr but since switching over to the r5 it has been less of an issue at the slight loss of sharpness.

That is a bit of a dream lens, precisely because of the price I will only own it in my dreams.

It's disappointing to see that the bird detection and hit rate was worse the regular c-af. Do to see any benefit to using bird detection AF.

Excellent review, thank you!

Certainly an excellent review. Thank you very much / Merci beaucoup.

Bel video Mathieu Sobrio ed equilibrato. Veramente un grande lavoro ciao

Very good and in depth review. You are and stay reference in terms of lens reviews on KZfaq, because you do it systematic, independent and very thorough. And I appreciate that you keep your neutral view on mFT. As you stated, it got its place. No other system offers this kind of portability with decent image quality. When going into the real wild life, it needs to walk for days - and if you can leave your tripod home, this adds up to an overall advantage of 5kg easily. Lots to carry.

Very informative video thanks

Great review.

Just re-watched this and boy, what a great review -- just enough detail and practical examples to be extremely useful without getting overwhelming. Bravo for being so objective and clear headed with practical and fair system comparisons. I personally went with a couple of E-M5 III bodies and a bunch of primes as the best balance of portability / performance for what I do a couple of years ago and very happy with my choice. I mostly do street/family/docu style stuff and travel so portability and not standing out is very high on my list. I only once rented a 100-400 to film some surfing and it was a blast, but from your tests it does seem like for the absolute best performance FF currently has an edge, unless portability is a very high priority. Some of your tests/observations made me wonder though what OMDS or Panasonic could accomplish with MFT if they got serious about improving computational capabilities for example AF and noise performance. In the history of photography MFT was one of the revolutionary developments and the system has so much potential. Let's hope OMDS can realize some of it, because for Panasonic, MFT has clearly been an afterthought.

What ever happened to this lens? Months later and no availability. I was considering a shift from Sony, but if they can't deliver on lenses I wont.

I know it's nitpicking but couldn't they have just given everyone an F4 rather than the slightly odd F4.5? I think it's a fantastic lens that I would genuinely aspire to own one day and it seems like it could be the ONLY telephoto lens you would need on M43.

Pair the lens with OM-1 and do the same test again, using R5 and RF 600mm.

As always very good. You do it objective. Pro & Contra. So there is nothing to criticism. Only to ask "rhetorical question": Do you buy such a (in subjective perspective) expensive lens or do you invest the money in buying a used car? By myself I have some Olympus cameras /equipment - but the future perspective of this company is not convincing me. So I decide to have a second mainstay with Canon fullframe. I will not invest more money in Olympus. Since many years I was very convinced about the system and liked it very well. All your thoughts of the conclusion are right. I personally guess there is no real future in the market for the successor. Canon & Sony will survive and perhaps one/two others in this shrinking market - going into a niche...

Okay let's make a thought experiment: disregard the sensor noise performance, we know Olympus fails in that regard. My best argument for the Olympus is mobility and versatility: close focusing, zoom for framing, huge range, 1.8kg. It very well might be the best walk around lens for wildlife. The huge problem is however the camera you put it on. The AF is lagging behind the 3 big brands as shown in the comparison. Plus, the flagship camera has sub par video features (weird interface, convoluted video menu, 8 bit, no 120fps 4k, no autofocus in 240fps hd). The lens seems to be way better than the best camera you can put it on. Plus, the price: sure it's cheaper than the 800mm f5.6 but you can buy a sony a9 mark 2 with a sony 200-600mm and a 1.4x TC for the price of this lens and enjoy similar range and f stop and weight with better AF and viewfinder. I wish it would be something like 4k euros instead of 7500 that is just a bit too hard to justify. If I'm paying the price of a car for a nature lens in 2023 I want something that has state of the art focusing.

$10,000 CAD. It looks like a phenomenal lens, but I'd be hesitant to spend that kind of money on a system that hasn't really seen significant sensor or AF improvements in half a decade.

Great review. Very informative and objective. A balanced review, thank you.

Perfect review, thanks a lot...

Did you find any focus breathing with this lens?

Good research justice mostly found

Thanks fro this great review. Not interested in this lens (aka: no way I can afford this ;-) ) but it is great to see how it compares to the other brands and systems. Also love your new video format and editing. Nice job.