Telephoto lens for olympus.

After a long debate and discussion of e500 vs 350, i have ordered the e500.

It comes with its two lenses 14- 45 and 40 - 150.

I am looking to increase my range. are there any good lenses which are

affordable and around 300 - 400 mm.

No, nothing in an AF mount. There's been a lot of whining on various online forums for a 300/4, but no announcements from Olympus or others in this range. Only the uber-expensive 300/2.8 is in the line.

Many options in MF via an adapter though, including the 300/4.5 Zuiko and 400/4.5 Sigma Apo.

Remember, a 400mm lens will get you ~16x magnification on a 4/3 camera. It'll require sturdy support to keep vibration to a manageable level.

Skip

The 300mm telephoto by olympus costs around 6000$. I dont know how do they expect us young people to spend so much money.And why dont they have cheaper telephotos.

I just found out that there are some zoom lenses provided by sigma. one is 135-400 and the other 50-500. How good are these zooms.

The 50 - 500 costs somewhere about 1000$. is it worth the money?

To your comment: They don't expect "us young people" to buy those low production lenses. They expect well heeled amateurs or professionals to buy them. The assumption is that Olympus only has X amount to spend on lens development. They must figure that it's better devoting it to producing zooms and uber-lenses first? I hope to see a lower-priced 300, but it may not be for 2-3 years.

The Sigma 50-500 "Bigma" is a super spec'd lens, but also expensive. That's 100-1000 35mm-equivalence, quite a monster.

You might also consider a ZD 50-200 + 1.4x, which is what I use. It's a fabulous combo. And if you add the 25mm tube, you get a long-distance macro. Those three items will cost you $1k, I'd guess. But if you wait for a few months, many people will be selling their 50-200's to buy the new SWD ring-motor 50-200 lenses, so I'd expect to see many coming onto the market.

Skip

I got an Olympus to Nikon adapter, and then got a 300mm

zoom from a local pawn shop. Spent around $200.00 total.

Then you can get a Nikon doubler for about $80.00.

So in effect I'm using a 600mm lense. You have to

adjust the metering for light. But it works.

Ron

<p><a href="http://www.Bytesmiths.com/OM_Tele">Here</a> is a comparison of a bunch

of OM-mount telephoto lenses used on an E-300.</p>

<p>The "pick of the litter:" the <b>Zuiko 600/6.5,</b> followed by the <b>Zuiko 500/8

mirror</b> and the <b>Zuiko 300/4.5.</b> These are available from $300 to about $800

or so, which is a bargain if you're willing to manually focus!</p>

I often use a Zuiko 200mm f/lens on my Olympus digitals. This gives an equivalent of 400mm with the Oly digitals. I also use a Vivitar 2x Macro tele converter with that which gives an 800mm image. These Vivitar macro tele converters are very good and have a 7 element lens design, so I understand. These converters can be bought for about $40 and the 200mm OM lens for $100 on eBay.

That's one way to o with your plan. It works for me.

Thanks for all the replies.

I have thought about all the combinations and their prices.

And i think i will go for the 50-500 bigma.

Firstly i will not have to use the teleconvertors, which will help reducing the CAs and light loss. Secondly this lens gives tremendous flexibility. And thirdly the reviews say the image quality is very good.

Only bad thing is the price. So i have decided to wait untill i save up enough money to shell out 1000 dollors.

I went through these reviews.

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Sigma-50-500mm-f4-63-EX-DG-APO-HSM.

http://www.maxwaugh.com/500mm01/index.html

I don't know when it will be available, but sigma will make the 135-400mm F4.5-5.6 DG for 4/3 mount. http://sigmaphoto.com/news/news.asp?nID=3291

That one is around $600.

There's also the Zuiko Digital 70-300mm F4.0-5.6, but like the sigma, I don't know when it will be released.

http://www.olympus-global.com/en/news/2007a/nr070305edeve.cfm

I think the sigma 135 400 is out in the market.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=181&sort=7&cat=37&page=1