Panasonic LUMIX G Leica DG Vario Elmar 100 400mm F4 6 3 ASPH Review | 54 Data compared

The Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmar 100-400mm f/4-6.3 lens, reviewed by ePHOTOzine, is praised for its compact design, 200-800mm equivalent range, excellent sharpness, and fast, silent 240fps autofocus, making it ideal for wildlife and sports. It features effective Power O.I.S., robust weather sealing, and a versatile close-focusing 0.5x magnification. While delivering high performance, the lens shows a slight drop in sharpness at the 400mm end and, with an f/6.3 aperture at that zoom, requires steady handling to avoid camera shake. The price is noted as high, though reasonable for the performance, positioning it as a specialized, high-quality optic.

The Panasonic Lumix G Leica DG Vario-Elmar 100-400mm f/4-6.3 IS lens is a compact, highly capable ultra-telephoto option designed for micro four-thirds mirrorless systems, providing a massive 200-800mm full-frame equivalent focal length. Designed with an all-metal, sturdy, and sleek weather-resistant construction, it features smooth, precise focus and zoom rings alongside a functional zoom lock-out ring. Its standout advantage is its remarkable portability; weighing just over two pounds and costing around $1,800 USD, it offers wilderness and wildlife photographers a drastically lighter and cheaper alternative to massive, conventional DSLR telephoto lenses without completely sacrificing image quality. Furthermore, its built-in image stabilization system integrates seamlessly with compatible camera bodies, enabling incredibly sharp handheld shooting even at maximum focal extensions. Despite its excellent performance, the lens has a few notable drawbacks, primarily steming from its slower variable aperture range of f/4-6.3. The combination of a micro four-thirds crop factor and the f/6.3 maximum aperture at 400mm results in an extended depth of field, making it difficult to achieve a completely clean, isolated background bokeh unless the subject is positioned far away from the...

The Leica DG 100-400mm f4-6.3 is a premium super-telephoto zoom lens for Micro Four Thirds systems, delivering a powerful 200-800mm equivalent focal range that makes it the longest native lens in the catalogue and ideal for wildlife and sports photography. It provides a significant step-up in optical and build quality over budget alternatives, capturing sharp details and high contrast across the frame even when shot wide-open or at the maximum 400mm focal length. Its robust construction features dust and splash-proof sealing, alongside clever design choices like a built-in tripod foot and collar, an integrated mini lens hood, and a versatile zoom lock that functions at any focal length. Performance-wise, the lens boasts exceptionally swift autofocus that reliably tracks subjects in motion, alongside highly effective optical stabilization that supports Panasonic's Dual IS bodies for slower handheld shooting. However, the primary drawback of this lens is its high premium price tag, costing roughly three times more than older entry-level telephoto options like the Lumix G 100-300mm Mark I. It also faces stiff competition from the newer Lumix 100-300mm Mark II, which offers...

The Leica DG Vario-Elmar 100-400mm f/4-6.3 ASPH Power OIS is a highly specialized Micro-Four-Thirds lens that delivers a massive 200-800mm full-frame equivalent focal length while remaining incredibly lightweight at under 1kg and compact at 171mm. Its robust, weather-sealed all-metal body features a convenient built-in telescope-style lens hood alongside an additional external hood and dual tripod mounts. Optically, the lens performs exceptionally well, offering excellent center sharpness between 100mm and 300mm even at maximum aperture. It also effectively controls lateral chromatic aberrations and native image distortions across the entire zoom range, providing a relatively smooth background bokeh for a lens in this class. Furthermore, its autofocus mechanism operates quickly and silently, making it highly suitable for outdoor wildlife and sports photography. Despite these strengths, the lens is optically constrained by its slow f/4-6.3 maximum aperture, which leads to image degradation from diffraction since Micro-Four-Thirds systems peak in resolution closer to f/2.8. Sharpness drops slightly at the maximum 400mm focal length, where image stabilization also hits its limits, making steady handheld shots difficult without severe concentration or a camera body that supports...

The Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmar 100-400mm f/4-6.3 lens is lauded as an exceptionally versatile and compact super-telephoto zoom, providing a 200-800mm equivalent range for Micro Four Thirds shooters. Key strengths include impressive sharpness, contrast, and excellent performance against flare. While the build is praised, the lens features a variable f/4-6.3 aperture that is less ideal for low-light, and shooting at maximum range requires managing a very shallow depth of field. Despite this, it remains a top choice for wildlife and distant subjects.

The Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmar 100-400mm f/4-6.3 Power O.I.S. lens delivers surprisingly high-quality optical performance and exceptional sharpness, even when shot wide open at its longest focal lengths. Built with a premium, weather-sealed all-metal barrel, the lens remains acceptably compact for its 200-800mm equivalent zoom range and handles comfortably on bodies like the Lumix GX8 and Olympus OM-D E-M1. Key physical pros include a precise "fly-by-wire" focusing ring, three dedicated side barrel switches, and a highly functional built-in tripod collar mechanism that rotates smoothly for landscape or portrait shoots. Furthermore, its fast, silent autofocus motor and impressive optical stabilization system—which allows for hand-held shooting down to 1/15s at 400mm—make it a highly versatile tool for wildlife and outdoor sports photography. However, the lens has several drawbacks, primarily centered around its slow maximum aperture range of f/5.6 to f/6.3 at longer focal lengths, which frequently forces photographers to raise their ISO to 1600 or 3200 in overcast conditions. While chromatic aberration and distortion are excellently controlled, users may occasionally encounter greenish ghost flare or purple veiling flare when shooting directly into...

The Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmar 100-400mm f/4.0-6.3 ASPH Power O.I.S. lens is identified as a compact, lightweight, and weather-sealed super-telephoto option for Micro Four Thirds users, ideal for wildlife and sports. Key advantages include an integrated, highly effective Power O.I.S. system with Dual I.S. support and a versatile built-in lens hood, offering excellent value compared to heavier DSLR alternatives. Potential limitations include the inability to disable automatic in-camera distortion correction and a high initial retail price. Despite these factors, the lens is considered an exceptional, durable tool that performs well in the field.

The Panasonic LUMIX G 100-400mm f/4-6.3 LEICA DG VARIO-ELMAR is a lightweight and compact super-telephoto zoom lens designed for micro-four-thirds cameras, providing a massive 200-800mm full-frame equivalent focal range. Weighing less than one kilogram, it features a robust, dust- and splashwater-sealed body paired with highly effective optical image stabilization that allows for successful handheld shooting even at a 1/1000 second shutter speed. The lens boasts fantastic image quality across the entire zoom range with remarkably uniform sharpness from the center to the corners, minimal uncorrected distortion (around 1% barrel), and effectively managed vignetting. Additionally, it stands out for wildlife photography due to its incredibly short 130 cm minimum focusing distance and a quiet 240 fps autofocus motor, which also enables impressive 4K video capabilities when utilizing specialized camera features like Panasonic’s Extra Tele Conversion.

The Panasonic 100-400mm f/4-6.3 Leica DG Vario-Elmar is a premium super-telephoto zoom lens designed for Micro Four Thirds cameras that delivers an impressive 200-800mm equivalent field of view. According to the Imaging Resource review, its standout features include exceptional image sharpness at wider focal lengths (100-200mm), effectively nonexistent distortion due to seamless in-camera digital corrections, and very well-controlled chromatic aberration. It boasts incredibly fast, whisper-quiet autofocus operation suitable for movie capture, full weather sealing, built-in Power O.I.S. image stabilization, and an integrated rotating tripod mount. Furthermore, compared to traditional full-frame alternatives, it packs a massive focal range into a significantly smaller, more portable two-pound chassis. However, the reviewer points out a few specific drawbacks to consider before purchasing. The lens experiences a noticeable drop in absolute sharpness when zoomed out to its maximum telephoto reaches of 300mm and 400mm, where diffraction limiting starts to take a slight toll. There is also a trace amount of corner shading (vignetting) when shooting wide open at 100mm and f/4, though it is minor at under a half-stop darker than the center. Physically, the...

The Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmar 100-400mm f/4-6.3 Asph. Power O.I.S. is a compact and lightweight super-telephoto zoom lens designed for Micro Four Thirds (MFT) cameras, capitalizing on a 2x crop factor to deliver a massive effective full-frame focal range of 200-800mm. Built in partnership with Leica, this 985-gram lens features an intricate optical layout of 20 elements in 13 groups, a 240fps autofocus system, and a minimum focusing distance of 1.3 metres. In real-world testing paired with a Panasonic Lumix DC-G90, its dual optical and in-body "Power O.I.S." stabilization provides 4 to 5 stops of compensation, making it highly effective for handheld wildlife, action, and sports photography. The review highlights several key advantages and drawbacks regarding its overall performance and handling. On the positive side, the lens earns praise for its impressively quick and near-silent autofocus tracking, excellent centre-sharpness at 100mm when shot wide-open, and minimal chromatic aberrations or distortions. Conversely, it falls short past the 200mm mark where sharpness visibly tails off, and it suffers from a narrow maximum aperture of f/6.3 at the 400mm telephoto end. Furthermore, it...