Panasonic Lumix S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S. review: a tele zoom like manufacturers used to make, but better

What happened to 70-300mm lenses? I’ve ecstatically shot countless rolls of 35mm film with them in the past, capturing wildlife while living in Africa for a couple of years, focusing on the thrills and spills of motorsport around the UK, and even taking long-shot portraits at weddings and events. But towards the end of the DSLR era, they became increasingly difficult to find. To name but a couple of manufacturers, Sigma and Tamron stopped making them altogether.

My personal latest and greatest of the genre was the Nikon AF-P 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6E ED VR which is now obsolete. In the mirrorless age, there seems to have been a shift to 100-400mm zooms, or thereabouts, but I still hanker after a really good 70-300mm. Canon recently repurposed an old lens for EOS R-system mirrorless cameras, but I think the resulting Canon RF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 is hugely unimpressive, based on one of the worst Canon lenses of all time. I really wish they’d used the vastly superior Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM as a starting point.

Anyway, all of that is largely irrelevant if you shoot with a Panasonic Lumix S series camera, or other L-mount body. The good news is that Panasonic has reinvented the trusty 70-300mm telephoto zoom for the mirrorless age, aiming to produce one of the best L-mount lenses and best telephoto zooms on the market.

Panasonic Lumix S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S.: Specifications

Panasonic Lumix S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S.: Price

Think ‘trinity zooms’ with relatively fast and constant f/2.8 aperture ratings and 70-200mm springs to mind as the telephoto part of the trilogy. Sure enough, the Panasonic Lumix S Pro 70-200mm f/2.8 O.I.S. ticks that particular box but, typical of the breed, it’s relatively heavy and expensive to buy, although its price has recently dropped substantially to $2,098 / £1,999 / AU$3,015.

If you want the same zoom range but are willing to accept a slower but still constant f/4 aperture rating, there’s the Panasonic Lumix S Pro 70-200mm f/4 O.I.S., the price of which has fallen to a more affordable $1,298 / £1,599 / AU$1,783. 

Even so, the 70-300mm that I’m reviewing here is smaller, more lightweight and less expensive to buy, while giving greater telephoto reach at the long end. It currently costs $948 / £799 / AU$ 1,496. That’s pricier than typical ‘budget’ 70-300mm zooms but while the Panasonic lacks the ‘Pro’ tag of its 70-200mm siblings, it’s a relatively high-quality, high-performance example of the 70-300mm breed.

Panasonic Lumix S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S.: Design & Handling

One of the things I most like about 70-300mm lenses is that they’re relatively compact and lightweight in the company of most telephoto zooms. This one follows suit, measuring a modest 84x148mm / 3.31x5.83" in size and weighing almost exactly half as much as the Panasonic 70-200mm f/2.8. That’s a big plus point as far as I’m concerned. If I’m shooting handheld in the context of wildlife or sports photography, where I might be at it for hours on end, the lighter weight of this lens definitely takes a load off.

Compared with 70-200mm zooms, the 70-300mm is typical in lacking a constant aperture rating. As such, the widest available aperture shrinks from f/4.5 to f/5.6 as you extend through the zoom range. Even so, that’s only two-thirds of an f/stop difference from one end to the other. I’m pleased that the aperture at the long end is still relatively quick, compared with many recent telephoto zooms for mirrorless cameras, which often shrink to a comparatively pedestrian f/6.3 or f/8. There are even Canon RF 600mm and Canon RF 800mm prime lenses that have a fixed f/11 aperture – that really is slow.

Another thing that’s typical of 70-300mm lenses is that they have an inner barrel that physically extends as you zoom your way through to longer focal lengths. This one is no exception. Downsides are that the center of gravity shifts at different zoom settings, and there’s a danger of dust and moisture being sucked into the lens during the telescoping action. On the plus side, however, the Panasonic feels well balanced at all zoom settings and it features extensive weather-seals to keep out dust and moisture. Typical of up-market Panasonic kit, it’s also freeze-resistant.

A definite positive is that along with its high-end build quality, the lens features a high-performance optical layout. There are 17 elements arranged in 11 groups, including two ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements, one UED (Ultra ED) element and one UHR (Ultra High Refractive index) element. The design philosophy is that these specialist elements translate into excellent sharpness and clarity, with a minimum of unwanted aberrations.

A further bonus in optical terms is that the lens has a particularly well-rounded 11-blade aperture diaphragm. This helps to ensure nicely rounded bokeh disks, produced from defocused lights and bright spots. And sure enough, a tight depth of field is available from the f/5.6 aperture, especially at longer zoom settings. At narrow aperture settings, the 11-blade diaphragm also delivers an exciting starburst effect from points of light.

One thing I definitely need for sports and wildlife photography is fast autofocus for tracking moving subjects. The lens obliges with a speedy autofocus system based on a linear stepping motor. It’s rated at 480fps but, in practical terms, the camera body’s autofocus system can be the limiting factor. The contrast-detection ‘DFD’ (Depth From Defocus) autofocus system of most Panasonic cameras isn’t renowned for its agility but I tested the lens with the relatively recent Panasonic Lumix S1 IIE, which has a hybrid phase/contrast-detection autofocus system, along with AI subject recognition and tracking. More on that later in ‘Performance’.

Reliably accurate autofocus is only half the story when it comes to getting consistently sharp shots with telephoto lenses. Camera-shake is an ever-present danger and IBIS (In-Body Image Stabilization) tends to be less effective with telephoto lenses. Dual image stabilization is on hand to keep you steady, the lens featuring an optical image stabilizer that works in conjunction with in-body stabilization to deliver 5.5-stop performance. I’ve seen loftier claims from some other manufacturers so again, we’ll see how it works out when I get to the performance section of this review.

I’ve long thought that Panasonic is particularly partial to developing ‘hybrid’ camera systems that work equally well for capturing stills and video. This lens fits right in with this ethos, in that it’s designed to maximize autofocus performance in terms of ‘zoom tracking’, so it’ll keep locked onto the subject when you’re zooming in and out. Focus breathing is also suppressed, both of these elements combining to deliver what Panasonic claims is professional grade video quality.

There’s one more trick that the lens has up its sleeve, or at least its extending zoom barrel. A slight downside is that the minimum focus distance extends from 0.54m to 0.74m as you zoom from the shortest to longest focal length. The upside is that at the longest setting of 300mm, the lens can deliver 0.5x macro magnification at its shortest focus distance, reproducing small objects at half life size on the image sensor. This gives scope for massive enlargements of tiny bugs and other small objects.

Panasonic Lumix S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S.: Performance

Let’s kick off with autofocus. Panasonic says it’s very fast and highly accurate and I’d agree. As I’ve mentioned, I tested the lens with the Panasonic Lumix S1 IIE which, like the more up-market S1 II, has hybrid phase/contrast-detection autofocus that’s streets ahead of older cameras which only have contrast-detection. I found that the lens gave snappy autofocus performance for stills, locking onto subjects pretty much instantly and tracking them effectively during movement. That’s a big tick in a big box for wildlife and sports photography, to which the lens is ideally suited.

The zoom range itself kicks off at a slightly longer than standard perspective and stretches to serious telephoto reach. The example shots above and below demonstrate this, showing how the expansive zoom range works out in practice. Both shots were taken of the same scene from the same position.

Next up there’s image stabilization. Again, I found that the lens lived up to its claims of 5.5-stop stabilization when working in tandem with IBIS. Sure, I’ve seen claims of 8-stop stabilization being bandied about by some manufacturers but I’ve hardly ever been able to achieve that in real-life shooting conditions – at least not with any degree of consistency.

High-performance autofocus and stabilization give the lens nowhere to hide when it comes to the actual sharpness of the optical design. I’m really impressed that the lens delivers superb levels of sharpness, even more so that it gives me this in spades at or near the widest available apertures throughout the zoom range. It’s an important point because, with the best will in the world, this isn’t a ‘fast’ lens in terms of its aperture range, so you’ll often want to shoot at or near the widest apertures to freeze motion with fast shutter speeds, without having to bump up your camera’s ISO setting too much.

Countering sharpness, there’s blur. Especially towards the long end of the zoom range, the widest aperture enables a tight depth of field for close-ups and medium-length shots. While sharpness is excellent, bokeh is also impressive with a soft and dreamy look given to defocused areas. And as intended, the 11-blade aperture diaphragm helps to keep bokeh disks well-rounded when stopping down a little.

Color fringing can be problematic with telephoto lenses but the Panasonic does well to keep this aberration at bay, throughout its entire zoom range and aperture range. It does creep up a little at the longest zoom setting when using wide apertures, towards the edges and corners of the image frame, but it’s still fairly minimal. Similarly, there’s virtually no distortion at all at the shortest focal length of 70mm, and only minimal pincushion distortion at medium to long zoom settings.

This isn’t the kind of lens I’d normally use for macro photography but it makes a pretty good stab at it. I’ve seen and used zoom lenses in the past that boast 0.5x macro magnification but the results have almost always been disappointing. The Panasonic does well to retain impressive sharpness and clarity in ultra-close-up shooting, adding a genuinely useful extra option. All in all, performance is exemplary.

Panasonic Lumix S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S.: Sample Images

The following gallery of stills was shot at the floating harbor in the English city of Bristol. Weather conditions were mixed, with alternating bright sunshine and cloud cover.

Image 1 of 32

Panasonic Lumix S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S.: Video

The lens is designed to be equally adept at stills and video capture, although it would benefit from an aperture control ring for the latter, preferably of the de-clicked variety. Even so, focus breathing is minimal and quality remains good when zooming in and out, with impressive autofocus tracking and a consistent level of minimal distortion. Here’s a sample video clip, shot at Bristol docks in the UK.

Panasonic Lumix S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S.: Lab Results

We run a range of lab tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master testing suite. Photos of test charts are taken across the range of apertures and zooms (where available), then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.

We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the center of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths. The tests also measure distortion and color fringing (chromatic aberration).

Sharpness:

Throughout the zoom range, the lens turns in some of its best scores for sharpness at or near the widest available aperture. This is a real bonus as you often won’t want to use a narrower aperture than around f/4.5-5.6 in sports and wildlife photography, so that you can freeze motion with fast shutter speeds, without resorting to very high ISO settings that can impair image quality.

Fringing:

In the 70-200mm sector of the zoom range there’s virtually no color fringing to be seen, right across the image frame and into the extreme edges and corners. That holds true at all aperture settings. The only time you’re likely to spot a little color fringing (and it really is only a little) is when combining the longest 300mm focal length with apertures of between f/5.6 and f/ 8, where it can be slightly noticeable at the edges and corners of the frame.

Distortion:

It’s basically a zero-distortion lens at its shortest focal length of 70mm. Pincushion distortion in the 135-300mm sector of the zoom range is fairly minimal and remarkably consistent. That’s a particular bonus when adjusting the zoom setting when shooting video.

Panasonic Lumix S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S.: Verdict

The Panasonic Lumix S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Macro O.I.S. is a keeper as far as I’m concerned. I’m mightily impressed by the snappy speed and consistent accuracy of its autofocus system, the effectiveness of its optical image stabilization when used in tandem with the in-body stabilization of Panasonic S-system cameras, and its rather gorgeous image quality. For me, the 70-300mm telephoto zoom range is both a classic and a favorite. It makes this lens tremendously versatile and the additional 0.5x macro ability is yet another bonus. It works brilliantly well for both stills and video, and is an excellent choice for sports, wildlife and event photography. On top of all that, it’s refreshingly compact and lightweight, while still boasting high-end handling characteristics. It’s a beauty.

Alternatives

For a constant-aperture telephoto zoom, I actually prefer the Panasonic Lumix S Pro 70-200mm f/4 O.I.S. to the more up-market Panasonic Lumix S Pro 70-200mm f/2.8 O.I.S. ‘trinity’ zoom. It’s less than two-thirds of the weight, much less expensive to buy and proved sharper in our lab tests.

Panasonic Lumix S Pro 70-200mm f/4 O.I.S. review

Want more reach? The Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS | C is a good example of the new breed of 100-400mm telephoto zooms that seem to have largely replaced 70-300mm options. It’s available in L-mount and not massively heavy, weighing in at 1,135g / 2.5lb.

Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS | C review