telephoto zoom lens to 300mm

see also:

• super telephoto lenses
• camera lenses
• my blog post: Panasonic’s new Leica DG 50-200mm f/2.8-4.0 OIS lens compared with Olympus 40-150mm and Canon 100-400mm lenses

• mid-sized telephoto zoom lenses are awesome tools when you just want to walk around and you don't have a specific subject or image in mind
• they are also great for travel (although can be a bit big and heavy) as it allows capture of scenes that can't be readily achieved by smartphones or standard zooms, and can save you time as you don't need to get to the front of crowds or walk that extra distance, plus by being further away from buildings, you can achieve less distortion
• the problem for travel in particular, is getting a lens that:
  • covers the focal length range you want (eg. 80-300mm in full frame terms)
  • has adequate image quality at a reasonably wide aperture (many are quite soft at the telephoto end which is exactly where you may be needing it most)
  • preferably is weathersealed with a nice optional hood to prevent rain droplets hitting the front element
  • is light enough and compact enough to carry around for a couple of hours by hand
  • the best option is the Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8
  • there are no equivalent options for the full frame cameras:
    • Sony has a 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 but this is 1.4kg, 205mm long and extends on zooming and costs $US2499
    • the next one down for Sony is the Sony 70-200mm f/4 which would need to be used with a 1.4x TC but this would make it softer that it already is at the edges and without the TC costs $US1500
    • there are no native lenses of this type for the Nikon Z full frame mirrorless system or Canon R full frame and APS-C mirrorless camera system systems as yet although Nikon are planning on a 100-400mm in 2020
    • for Canon dSLRs there are:
      • CanonEF70-300mm f4/5.6L
      • CanonEF28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L at 1.7kg
      • Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM which is 1.4kg and costs
    • there are cheaper, poorer image and build quality and less weathersealed consumer options