Olympus Announces an Affordable 70-300mm Zuiko Lens

Olympus is expanding its standard lineup with another telephoto lens aimed at the four thirds system, which also includes the award winning and wickedly expensive Super High Grade series.

The lens in question is the new Zuiko Digital ED 70-300mm F4.0-5.6, a good solution for owners of E510s and E410s, but with limited applications for indoor shots due to the sluggish maximum aperture. At the tele end, photographers only get f/5.6, which is highly insufficient for dim-lit spaces.

Since this is a digital lens, it has a corresponding picture angle of 140-600mm with reference to the 35mm full-frame film, which in this case is beneficial to photographers.

It's worth mentioning that Olympus has included three ED elements to minimize chromatic aberrations inherent to this focal range.

There are no details on autofocusing, but since this is a standard lens, it's likely that the front element rotates while acquiring focus. This can be a big problem when photographers want to use polarizing filters. Speaking of filters, the lens takes 58mm units, which are extremely affordable compared to the 72mm and 77mm versions.

Judging by the specifications, the Zuiko Digital ED 70-300mm F4.0-5.6 is extremely similar to Nikon's AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f4.5-5.6G IF-ED, albeit there are some important differences. First of all, since the E-510 has built-in image stabilization, the Olympus lenses don't have a system fitted in the unit itself. Nikon, on the other hand, only offers its Vibration Reduction technology for lenses and the 70-300mm Nikkor is the living proof. Second of all, the Nikkor does not rotate the front element during autofocusing, making it faster and quieter. The Olympus has an advantage on the number of special ED glass elements, the Zuiko offering three while the Nikkor only 2.

All in all, the new Zuiko Digital ED 70-300mm F4.0-5.6, with a MSRP of around $400, offers good telephoto capabilities for amateurs and starting photographers, but not a fast enough maximum aperture to satisfy pros.

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