OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-600mm f/5-6.3 is Lens (Micro Four Thirds)

It's a lot of money for me to spend on a lens but it was well worth it. I love bird watching but occasionally I see a bird in the distance and don't have enough time to correctly identify the bird in the field. Now I can take a couple of quick pictures and study the bird at home for as long as needed to identify what it was. Has really helped me with a couple of hard to distinguish little brown birds. Everyone that loves bird watching should definitely own this lens.

I just got the lens the day of release and have had a chance to use it twice in the field. My impressions so far are that its sharp, even at the long end and 1200mm equivalent Full Frame is more than I need at times but nice to have when I do need the stretch. It appears sharp throughout the zoom range and the AF is really fast, even in low light conditions. I haven't had a chance to get many flight shots under good conditions but hopefully once our weather clears, I will have more opportunities.The Wood Duck shot was taken at 600mm (1200mm FF Equivalent) and at iso 1000 and the Owls were taken in a bamboo forested area that stays dark and is difficult to shoot in. He was shot at about 400mm - 600mm, with a shutter speed of 1/1600 as I was expecting him to fly. The iso was really high at 12,800 and the photo still came out fairly clean so I was impressed. I post process all my photos with DXO Photolab 7.I was impressed that I was able to salvage the high iso images at all and it sold me on keeping the lens as the weight and size were a little off putting to me and kept me on the fence about keeping it. The OM1 (Original) and the 150-600mm lens did a stellar job in both cases in my opinion and it is a keeper lens for sure.

Was surprised how well this " beast " performs ! Have the Olympus 100-400mm, toyed with getting the $7500 150-400mm PRO, but just couldn't justify the cost at 77 years of age... so went with the $2700 Sigma / OM System's " beast ". After two major birding expeditions, it is money well spent... excellent performance and carrying / handling the " beast " is not a big deal at all. The Sync IS really does work ... and I no longer HAVE TO USE a teleconverter to get those smaller Warblers, etc. !!

Don't get me wrong. I love this lens. I gave it 3 stars because it's $2000 more than a Sigma 150-600 which can be had for under a grand. For those that don't know, yes, it is a rebranded Sigma lens. Focus is a tad slow at 600mm. The lens is sharper at f8 600mm than it is at f6.3. IT IS HEAVY. Mounted on my EM1X total weight is over 5lbs. I got this primarily for birds and moon shots and I am not disappointed.