Olympus Zuiko 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 ED Lens for Olympus Digital SLR Cameras

I've had this lens for a couple of months now and I can say that I'm pretty happy in some respects and not so happy in others.

Over all it is a nice lens FOR THE PRICE. That is the crux of the matter. If you can't afford something better then this will do in a pinch. It's not a bad lens.

However, If you are a birder then I don't think that you will be happy in the long run.

Here's the thing. When people say that this lens is slow to focus they mean that often (though not always) it has to go through a long procedure of spiraling its barrel (external barrel) from one end to the other. It hunts and pecks its way until finally it finds a focus. That usually means that your beautiful shot of that cardinal is GONE!

I'm often confused as to why sometimes it focuses quickly and other times it has to go through this frustrating procedure. I think that it comes down to this... when you see the perfect "money shot" in front of you it purposely chooses this moment to mess with your head!

One other thing that really bothers me is that, as I said, it has an external focus barrel. This means that if you use a polarizing filter you have to twist the filter AFTER EVERY TIME YOU FOCUS since the filter thread twists during focusing.

Lastly, don't think that this is going to get you as close as you want for birding. No matter what, you will always wish that it was three times closer!

Having said all that, for most other uses, including taking shots of your daughter on the soccer field, you will be relatively happy.

Cheers!Buy Olympus Zuiko 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 ED Lens for Olympus Digital SLR Cameras!