Dave Etchell from Imaging Resource has always provided great information on the newest photo gear. His latest Blog post titled “A deep look at the tech behind the Olympus 150-400mm super-tele zoom (Engineer interview!)” is just the most recent. For this “deep look” Mr. Etchell interviews OM- Digital Solutions engineers and shares their responses.
As some of you know I’m also using the new Olympus 150-400mm. I was intrigued by some of the answers in this interview since I’ve definitely noticed specific things the engineers mention they were trying to accomplish.
I’m still working on a detailed review of the Olympus 150-400mm compared to the Sony 100-600mm. But I’m not done yet so I thought many of you would enjoy seeing how this lens came to be. I’ve added a few insights of my own on specific details directly related to the post by Imaging Resource. Make sure you take in the entire blog post by Dave Etchell of Imaging Resource for an insightful breakdown of this amazing new lens.
Details I’ve noticed while using this lens.
Builtin 1.2X teleconverter
How in the heck do they get the builtin teleconverter so small. There’s a bulge on the left rear part of the lens. That bulge is the space the teleconverter ducks into when not in use. But the space is tiny. Especially when compared to the same mechanism seen on Nikon 180-400mm and Canon 200-400mm lenses.
8 Stops of Sync Image Stabilization
Hand holding this lens and getting exceptional results is nothing short of amazing. I’ve even been shooting some video without a tripod, at the long end of the zoom range. In other words, video at 800mm. That’s unheard of. I’m shooting more and more video everyday and to be able to hand hold telephotos is very, very unusual. Not all the video clips are completely smooth but a simple run through Final Cut Pro’s stabilize tool fixes any shake beautifully.
Weight and Balance are Superb
Then engineers talked about making sure the balance of the lens was just right. And boy did they nail it! In my ongoing comparison of the Olympus 150-400mm and the Sony 200-600mm the difference in balance of the two lenses is very noticeable. The Sony has so much more frontal weight. It’s a subtle difference that makes hand holding the Olympus a very pleasant experience.
The following is a quote from the engineers to Imaging Resource, “One challenge in the optical design was finding the best position for the center of gravity for hand-held shooting. Thanks to the internal zoom mechanism, the change of the center of gravity as you zoom was reduced. In order to reduce the change of the center of gravity more effectively, we selected as small a lens unit as possible to move during zooming. We also designed the optics so that the position of the center of gravity can be as close as possible to the camera body for more comfortable handheld shooting.”.
That’s it for now. I’ll be releasing my comparison report on the Olympus 150-400m and the Sony 200-600mm in the next few weeks. Hopefully this excellent piece by Imaging Resource will tide everybody over for now.
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