For sports and wildlife photographers Panasonic Leica’s 200mm f/2.8 telephoto could be seen as a necessity. For the rest of us, it might seem a high price to pay for an extra stop of speed and an extra 50mm over the ubiquitous something to 300mm zooms.
It is big – but is it clever?
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” . . . does come with a donkey and a complementary bale of hay.” Laughed out loud. Thanks for your continuing reviews.
David, great review as always. My one quibble is with your comparison to Nikon, saying that a Nikon owner would have to buy a 400mm f2.8 lens to compare to this is simply not true depending on the Nikon camera you own. A D850 with the under $2,000 300mm F4 can be cropped to close to 600mm and still have more MP total to work with, about 1 stop extra total noise performance and better DoF control.
Or I could just get the canon version of this lens for literally 1/4 the price and it weighs less too… Slap it on a apsc body, crop a little and u have the same equivalent. Seriously what is the point of mft if u r shooting stills?
Great Vids. Just a hint: The Peak Design anchors you are using on your G9 are called back and replaced by Peak Design because the might break. Only the thin ones that fit through the eye lids of the camera. Check their site to get replacements.
Looking forward to your next video
Pls never compare directly FF lenses to M4/3. If you want to compare the size/weight/cost of the lenses – buy Canon 200/2.8 + EF-m4/3 adapter and use it with the same +/- result.
Great review! I’ll stick with my Canon 200 2.8L. Manual focus with MFT & an adaptor, have to shoot it wide open, but it’s paid for! : )
I got my canon 200mm 2.8 L for 350€, a equivalent 400mm 5.6 is also very affordable. How much is this?
Oh 3k and 1,3 kilo. Glad i have a 100400gm for that range… m43 are so expensive and heavy… *cough*
great video as always thanks.
I absolutely love my Pana-Leica lenses with my GH5 (for stills mostly, surprisingly), and when I looked at this lens I thought “I want this!” However, at a $3K price tag, I’d already be looking at adding a new camera system (say, Sony). Agh, why do awesome things have to be so damn expensive! :'(
David–I know one of the reasons I love your videos so much is because you take such care in creating them, so a release is always a bittersweet thing (in that I wish you published content weekly, but know that what sets your videos apart is the care you put into them). I couldn’t help but laugh this morning as I thought, “is Thorpe not the perfect m43 reviewer? His content is exceptional (great production, great commentary, thoughtful) but with a few tradeoffs (frequency).” Exceptional, but with a few tradeoffs–the m43 mantra. These reviews are such a wonderful antidote to the “Photography YouTube” universe of endless spec readers, pornographic product shots, “top 5 reasons to buy…”, and obnoxious personalities. Keep up the fantastic work.
Another great review. But the lens is not so great imho. Well of course it is a superb lens but it still is impossible to justify its price tag. You really desperately need those extra 50mm if you choose this over the Olly 40-150mm. Extra reach is always welcome but I’d rather have the flexibility of the Olly.
Both lenses are razor sharp wide open at 150 and 200mm respectively so you don’t get extra sharpness. IS is lacking on the Olly but with the fabulous IBIS of the G9 or E-M1 II makes up for that. And even with the TC included it is still only roughly half the price of the 200mm 2.8. Jikes.
If the Pano came with a 1.4 and 2.0 TC at this price point it would be much more appealing for wildlife and nature photographers and the price also more justifiable.
As ever, an excellent review.
Great review David. I was watching a nature documentary yesterday, the poor photographer was yomping through tropical rainforest with the usual Canon and a huge lens as long as his arm! In his postion I’d have a M43 set-up. But do many wildlife or sports pros actually use this system? The G9 and EM1ii are built to professional standards, but is M43 really making headway amongst pros?
Another excellent review, with the bonus of your working photographer background, for real ‘provenance’ (how does the G9 compare to your Kent Courier kit…?!).
Some very pertinent points made about the pricing, although it’s great to have Leica endorsed lenses, the price premium over Olympus is a consideration.
I’d be interested in a possible ‘long term’ review video of the G9, or other m43 kit, as with these complex cameras, useful features can emerge with use, I’ve found. Just a thought…
gorgeous review as always ♥
Good review – this is by far my favorite lens. The 42.5 is my second fav.
David, can you provide a link or info on where I can purchase that Wallace and Gromit “The Wrong Trousers” penguin (7:35)? My sisters are fans of Wallace movies, and that would be the perfect Christmas present for them. By the way, all your sample pics using the 200mm are very light-filled and cheery, and very compelling toward this piece of glass. Thank you.
Great review David! I’ve been using one for about two months for backcountry wildlife photography and love it!
Thank you David!
Great review as always.. it seems to be a specific tool for sports under lights mainly and perhaps lower light wildlife…otherwise the 50-200mm seems to retain pretty much all of the quality with added flexibility? Also as a comparison if you are looking at a comparable focal length.. Canon 400mm f2.8 £9497 and the Sony FE 400mm f2.8 £10500!…
Great review from our mft expert as usual!
Are you interested in reviewing the Sigma 16mm 1.4 for mft?? Weather sealed and near 35mm with 1.4 and reasonable price, it seems the perfect lens. Will you please tell us your opinion?
what a great review as always, thank you so much David!
Great review! I liked the video very much, thank you!
Wonderful review! David, did it find a place in your bag???
Great rundown as always. The way you write your reviews makes for an interesting watch, because they’re quite comprehensive and cover a good range of use cases.
Honestly if you ever wanted to do a sidestep from reviews every once in awhile and talk about your career and experience in photography I’d be all for it. I seem to recall you mentioning at one point that you did journalistic and war photography, but I might be remembering it wrong. I’d certainly be interested in hearing about your experience.
Love your videos!
Just WOW! As always!
+David Thorpe …So this is only like a monthly gig now?
People have to realize that micro four thirds lenses are expensive because of the cost to make one. Those things require a lot of glass and other tweaks to make the pictures as sharp as can be. Micro four thirds lenses can produce some EXTREMELY sharp and detailed pictures.
Great review as always. Keep up the good work. The lens is superb, but very expensive, and as you have corretly mentioned, the canon 200mm 2.8 costs a third of the price, and when we consider that there are currently many available AF adapters canon-mft, some of them very affordable, and their performance getting better and better, is hard not to consider that as a option. There’ll still be some compromises in af speed, but still shows how disproportionate the price of the panasonic is.
Thanks David – if Only!!!!!!!!!!!
Love the review.. yikes on the price!! Surely the outstanding Olympus 40-150 f/2.8 could scratch the itch for less than half the price!
The stuff of dreams!
I wish the aperture label also had a T-stop label. I do prefer manual f-stop/t-stop rings all the time!
5:09 5:13 those bird shots might just be enough to convince the ornophotographers to grab this lens, STUNNING!
Have missed you badly, have been watching all your other stuff the last ween a days, bitting at the bit waiting on the new review. Thank God it’s here. Cheers David.
Goo review David; I bet you were eager to get your hands on that lens & use it! With regards to the actual lens though I have mixed feelings about it; the images look sharp, the build quality looks good and it has some nice features, but…it does look big and a bit heavy and is very expensive. IMO, it seems to be geared more towards pro sports shooters; but how many pro sports photographers/agencies are using MFT systems right now? I bet it is still not very many. For now I have ditched all my Pana/Oly MFT gear and gone back to my Nikon DSLR setup. I bought the Nikon D7500 body, which works out cheaper than the Panasonic G9! And the images are great, AF is fast and accurate and for me Nikon have a great selection of lenses (including third party) which suit my needs (and budget).
In the words of the shark from family guy. “Mmm yummy”
Your reviews are always so easy and enjoyable to watch/listen to. Great video, as always. Very informative.
Love your reviews. I think you are u discovered. Your channel deserve a million subs. No bs just honest to God reviews.
Excellent as usual!!!
Been looking forward to this review, but the seat on the bike you sold wasn’t flat. Cheers
Nice to see you still doing vids for us all. Thanks