Olympus 150-400mm release date announced for late January 2021. Finally the availability of the lens I’ve been dreaming about. A lens that has a similar range to that of a full-frame camera using a 300-1000mm lens. Here’s the Olympus150-400mm official announcement.
Changing wildlife photography as we know it
This lens along with the EM-1X has the ability to change wildlife photography completely. I’ve dreamt about not using a tripod since my first days as a photographer.
In the beginning, I felt no quality wildlife photographer could be encumbered by such a bulky contraption. After about a year of trying to get sharp images—hand-holding a 300 mm F/4 and shooting Kodachrome 64–—I finally gave in.
Fast-forward to 2016. Literally, 40 years after my failed attempts at hand-holding a 300mm, Lumix releases a 100- 400mm (200-800mm equivalent) with image stabilization in lens and camera. Handheld photography with super telephotos was now possible.
The only downside was the quality of the optics were not up to the professional standards I had come to expect. The Leica/Lumix 100-400mm wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t equal to my Nikon lenses.
But the freedom the smaller Lumix zoom provided changed everything. I abandoned all my Nikon gear and switched completely to Lumix and Olympus.
That was nearly 5 years ago. With the Olympus 150-400mm, we’ll now have what I’m guessing will be equal or better optics than my Nikon’s. All in a package that gives me the mobility and freedom I’ve only dreamt about as a natural history photographer.
The price of pro quality isn’t cheap
There will undoubtedly be many who either can’t or won’t justify the cost of this lens. At $7500 US it is not cheap. But we all have to realize there are fewer people buying real cameras and lenses today. Fewer buyers mean fewer people to extrapolate research and development costs across. Quite simply, they’re just not as many serious photographers to make money on. That being the case, the cost of our gear is going up. But there will always be those who reach for the absolute best. And in the world of photography, I’m confident this lens will be at the top of that list.
New firmware also coming
Olympus also announced a camera firmware upgrade for the E-M1X. Release date on December 2, 2020. Here are the details of that coming release.
E-M1X Version 2.0
1). Bird detection AF has been added to Intelligent Subject Detection AF.
2). RAW video output to external equipment is now supported.
3).Compatible external device: ATOMOS NINJA V HDR monitor recorder.
4). Focus Stacking Mode is now compatible with the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO lens.
5). Video image stabilization has been improved.
6). Focus indicator display is now available during manual focusing.
The two items I’m most excited about are the Bird Detection AF and even better video image stabilization. The E-M1X is already phenomenal for hand-holding while shooting video.