Birding with the Leica 100-400mm lens
I recently tested the Leica 100-400mm lens on my Lumix G9.
Shoutout to Dave at The Camera Store in Calgary, for the loaner. And a reminder to support your local photo retailer, because they support your local photography community.
I went on some very serious birding excursions with this lens. It was warm for February, and I had some excellent birding companions with me.
I was extremely fortunate to see four lifer owls when I had this lens too: a Snowy Owl, a Northern Pygmy Owl, a Great Grey Owl, as well as a Northern Hawk Owl in the distance.
Let’s talk about this lens!
The reach to 400mm was so nice to have. Especially with the owls.
It’s the same speed as the 100-300mm lens. Smallest f/stop is f/4.0 at 100mm for both. And at 400mm you’re wide open at f/6.3.
Bokeh?
In birding I feel that the focal length affects your bokeh more than your f/stop. And if you’re close up to your subject, you’re going to see that even more.
Not sure if this is an effect of the lens, but I did notice some “twin” bokeh when shooting through a lot of branches. This happens with the 100-300mm but I never noticed it until I went back and looked at some similar photos.
I did a bit of research and I have seen this double bokeh happening on photos from different camera brands as well.
There are a lot of more technical reviews out there. So I’m not going to spend a lot of time testing out sharpness at every f/stop.
But it’s clear to me that this Leica 100-400mm lens is sharper than my Lumix 100-300mm lens.
Update October 2023
I did end up buying this lens and I absolutely love it!
But this lens is rather heavy if you’re used to using the 100-300mm or any other M43 telephoto lenses.
The Lumix G9ii has just been released. And, there’s also an updated 100-400mm lens to go with it. That lens also works with a teleconverter so you can get even more reach! If you’re looking for a good bargain, check out a used original 100-400mm lens.
Make sure you watch the video to get my full experience of this lens.