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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jim M." data-source="post: 3481297" data-attributes="member: 60675">I have not done formal tests, so not sure how useful my comments will be.I probably would have just bought the Panasonic/Leica zoom, but I wound up with both because I was going on a trip and only the Olympus was available at the time.  I had never used a prime telephoto lens before, and decided after the trip that without a zoom I was going to be missing some shots in key situations.  My practice now is to generally stick with the Olympus, but switch to the zoom when I am viewing wildlife from a vehicle (e.g. boat or car), or when I expect animals to be close, or large animals to be at medium-range, such as around a lodge where they are accustomed to people.  The specs of the Olympus with teleconverter also make it slightly preferable when you are at a distance--40mm more reach and slightly wider aperture.My impression is that the image quality between the two is quite close.  I think in ideal conditions the Olympus is going to give you more of a “wow factor” in terms of being tack sharp and contrasty, but I've been very happy with the results from the Panasonic as well.As for focusing, I seem to have a problem with getting the Olympus to autofocus when my camera wakes up from sleep mode, e.g. sometimes I have to resort to firing off a shot before it will focus.  Not sure if this is a problem with my camera or my settings or the lens.  I have not noticed a big difference in autofocus between the two lenses otherwise, except that, obviously, birds in flight are easier to acquire in the viewfinder if you can be zoomed out first.  I seem to have mis-focus problems with both lenses similar to what I had with the 100-300 mm Panasonic, which was my previous zoom lens.  But I find these easier to correct on the Olympus because I can switch to manual focus simply by sliding the focus ring on the camera forward; the zoom has a switch near the base of the lens which is harder to find when you are looking at a bird.As for speed, I typically use the teleconverter with the Olympus, so it is at F5.6. (I find the extra reach more beneficial than a somewhat wider aperture). Inside rainforest, I try to take advantage of the dual image stabilization by switching to much lower shutter speeds than I used to use, even down to 1/30.  I find shooting with burst mode you can usually get a decent shot of even a fast moving bird at slower shutter speeds, since almost all birds pause briefly when moving.  I take a similar approach with the Panasonic, but do not push the shutter speed quite so low because I do not have the dual image stabilization on my camera for that lens.  If I go on night walks where I anticipate taking photos of spotlighted animals, I will remove the teleconverter and take advantage of the faster lens.Hope this helps.</blockquote>

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