I've been all through this forum. Thanks for all the advice and information I've found.

I'm trying to find the fastest lens for wildlife and nature for under $1,000. I have the olympus E-500 and love it. Just need to get a little faster than the 40-150 f/3.5-5.6. Does anyone have any recommendations???

The Zuiko lenses are going to way past a grand, your best bet would probably be Sigma. Check B&H Photo Video. There are a couple here at this link, one is about $600 and the other to be released next month is $1000.00
Greg


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=8457&A=details&Q=&sku=460531&is=USA&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

What about the 50-200 f/2.8-3-5? And does this lens have autofocus?

Yes it's Auto Focus, Here are some customer reviews. I think it would be a good lens if 200mm would be all that you wanted

.http://www.photographyreview.com/sf-1/befid-96323/pid-25724575/productreviewscrx.aspx


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B0000Y5TI4/ref=cm_cr_dp_pt/104-9894093-3223150?ie=UTF8&n=502394&s=photo

Thanks Greg.

Your welcome, come back and share some pictures.......
Greg

Welcome to the site. I know nothing about Olympus gear, but I do love to shoot nature & wildlife so I thought I would throw in my 2 cents worth. For wildlife, you will always want a longer lens than what you have. I have a Sigma 170-500mm lens, and with my Canon's 1.6x crop factor, I have the field of view of 800mm. Even this is not enough a lot of times. Especially when it comes to shooting small birds. I don't know what the crop factor is on the 4/3rds system, but my guess is that a 200mm lens is not going to give you what you want.

I would say that 300mm would be the shortest you would want to go for wildlife. 400mm or 500mm would be better if you can find something in that size in your price range.

Sigma makes a 135-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens for the 4/3rds system, as well as the BIGMA (50-500mm) that Greg linked too. I don't know anything about either of them so be sure to read some reviews. One thing I can tell you tho, it that f/6.3 is pretty slow, and is at the far limit of most DSLR's to auto focus. You may find that a lens with that size aperture will hunt a lot before it locks the focus, if it's able to lock at all. My Sigma has a max aperture of f/6.3 at 500mm and the AF is not good, unless you have really good light.

I hope this helps. Crawling back to the Canon Forum now. :)

Hi,
What I would like to know/learn how one would classify a telephoto lens, is there a distance attached to it. Say one can see the eyes clear of a small bird at two hundred yards or the face of a person that one can recognize at three hundred yards. Can anyone help, I have an eye on the sigma 50-500mm for my E-330. Thanks.
K815 Robert.

Describing what you are asking is difficult. Field of view is measured by how many degrees you see in relation to 360. Play with this calculator I found and it might help. Your best bet may be to go to a camera shop and play with the different lenses and see for yourself. But if birds are what you are after the 50-500mm would sure do it. If you are going to shot N&W pictures the more Focal length you can afford the better. Also the speed of the lens is important to. The more light it let's in the less you will have to use a tripod. I hope that helps. Check the link for the calculator.
Greg


http://www.howardedin.com/articles/fov.html

Hi Greg,
Thanks for your nice comments I agree with you. It has always puzzed me when one clasifies a telephoto lens. At present I am waiting for the Sigma 50-500mm and perhaps the 2x converter. I love to take pictures of distant birds and also ships. At present I use the sigma 55-200mm, the zuiko 18-180mm and the 40-140mm lenses and the telescope whic is 90mm-1200. I use this on a tripod and use the remote control to fire the camera. Greg please fell free to comment. Good day.

Hey Greg - this is Greg,

You say you are waiting on the Sigma 50-500mm and perhaps the 2X converter. Do you mean you are waiting for it to come out? What is the 2X converter? Do you know if the Sigma has autofocus? Thanks!

The Sigma 50-500mm is already out. Olympus has came out with a few new lenes as well. Check the links. The X2 converter goes between your camera and lens and it doubles your focal lenght. I haven't tried a X2 converter since my film days but never had any luck with them. They slow the lens down some and the quality of my pictures wasn't good. Yes the Sigma is AF. I think it would be a great lens for N&W shots.
Greg





http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/460531-USA/Sigma_736107_50_500mm_f_4_6_3_EX_DG.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/463463-REG/Sigma_727107_135_400mm_f_4_5_5_6_APO_DG.html

I've got the Sigma 135-400 and it's a great lens, in the middle of the afternoon. The low light performance leaves a lot to be desired. It isn't a particularly fast lens, and it's a heavy beast. In order to get the best quality image out of it I've found you've got to stop down to around f11, which negates it's abilities in a low light environment. Where it does a great job is at airshows, kids on the beach, playing ball, in a well lit environment. For nature, it isn't the greatest.

Mark

Hi,
All good people, I finally purchesd the sigma 50-500mm lens from Adorama very nice peolpe to deal with. I now had for a few days and need to experiment with it for days to come. I took some distant photos of people on a boat some 300 yards and could regognize the people. I also took some photos of washing and could see the pegs very clear which means it it was a bird I could easly see different feathers. As for the 2x teleconverter I need to learn more and hear more. But thereis a great improvment already.
Happy to hear any comments. Good day.

Hi,
All good people, I finally purchesd the sigma 50-500mm lens from Adorama very nice peolpe to deal with. I now had for a few days and need to experiment with it for days to come. I took some distant photos of people on a boat some 300 yards and could regognize the people. I also took some photos of washing and could see the pegs very clear which means it it was a bird I could easly see different feathers. As for the 2x teleconverter I need to learn more and hear more. But thereis a great improvment already.
Happy to hear any comments. Good day.

I hope you share some pictures. I have a new extention tube for the 510. I hope to post a few pictures here.

Gents,
I know this is not the proper section but like to warn all E-330 owners. Very recently I had the misfortune of damageing my moitor glass and could only use the camera on P mode or like someone taking photos blindfolded. I tried to get advice on cost. I was shocked to hear the price of the part. In fact it`s cheaper to buy a new camea body then the part. Thats what I did from Cameta Auctions. SO BE ADVICE AND TAKE CARE HOW TO TRANSPORT YOUR CAMERA.