A couple of days ago, I ordered the Panasonic 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 OIS macro lens. At US$300 off US$1099.99, it was a decent deal and 10% from that made it a better deal. It's native and weather-sealed and with the small aperture, it's lightweight and will do just fine for photographing at a distance.
It should be better made than my micro Four-Thirds Olympus 40-150mm (80-300mm equivalent) f/4.0-5.6 but the actual exposure won't be much different and that lens isn't weather-sealed. That was surprisingly good for a refurbished lens at US$99. The 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 had better be really good since it's new.
Do you see much of a difference?
I wouldn't mind a travel zoom, but the only one that is weather-sealed and will work is a Canon EF-mount L-series lens for about US$1500. The Panasonic 28-200mm f/4.0-7.1 has a fair number of "it's okay", which says that I won't like it.
I've been fighting with a Viltrox L-mount to EF-mount adapter and a Tamron 180mm f/3.5 macro lens. It could be as new as 2014 or as old as 2004. The combination does not seem to focus to infinity and I'm not sure what is the problem. It seems quite reasonable otherwise. As a lens from that time, with an 82mm filter size, it focuses reasonably well, but about as quickly as any macro lens I've used. When trying to photograph the moon, it will focus the whole distance, much like most PDAF-oriented lenses on CDAF.
I took the 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 out for a while. It's not that heavy for what it is. Coming from micro Four-Thirds, it's heavy. My Four-Thirds equipment was about the same. This lens has a 77mm filter size, which is still compact for 135 Format, where 102mm or 105mm filter size is not that surprising.
It seemed to focus quickly, although when photographing a flower that was close, I was not certain about the focus, so I tried a second time. It could have been my eye sight. It has Optical Image Stabilization and it's compatible with Dual I.S., which should make it seem super steady.
Everything turned out very well. I only changed the photos for size and to export them as JPEG files. The starry sky photos are a bit difficult to see the detail, but they were photographed handheld, with the Dual I.S. able to handle the shake. Obviously, the water tower was photographed from two different locations about 300 feet apart and at different focal lengths, but they worked out very well. I was thinking about my Olympus ZD HG 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 where I photographed the mechanism of a wind turbine and the part numbers are legible. That had a maximum equivalent focal length of 400mm. Trying to find something weather-sealed isn't available at this time for L-mount, unfortunately.
Generally, if you buy the "regular" lenses, you can't expect much. This "regular" zoom lens wasn't inexpensive, unless you're gauging the cost by Leica standards. (I really wish that I could buy that 90-280mm f/2.8-4.0 but that's used car territory.) This lens has a good range and you'll need that deeper Depth of Field for photographing at long distances.
Its macro abilities are okay, but there is no close range switch for the auto focus, just the full range and 3 metres to infinity. I would prefer the 3 settings switch. I may still fight with that adapted Tamron 180mm f/3.5 macro lens on occasion but for everything else, the 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 is a winner.
I was looking at a few video reviews from four years ago when the lens was being released. The one thing that hit hard was the sharpness differences from 70mm and 300mm. My experience on micro Four-Thirds Panasonic lenses was that they all seem to suffer a bit on the long end. This one has been good for me, but I'm sure that it is technically a bit weak at 300mm. Does it matter if I get the shots I want? No, it doesn't.
Update 2025.05.11: I'm still not impressed with the auto focus. Whether it's the S5 Mk II or the 70-300mm lens, the combination isn't as good as it should be. I reviewed the lens on Panasonic's store site, where I bought it, and maybe that review will cause them to look at how it works and how to improve it. I just don't feel as confident with this lens as I do the 20-60mm f/3.5-5.6 or 50mm f/1.8. AF is almost instantaneous on those.
Update 2025.05.13: Last night, I went out to photograph the moon. There were a few difficulties where the lens went through the entire focus range a couple of times. Can't imagine why the PDAF did not grab focus. Switched to manual focus at one point. Dual I.S. worked well, though, when I tried to photograph a moving (the still ones don't stay there) plane, it couldn't compensate.
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