Impressive Super-Telephoto Zoom Range. The Olympus 100-400mm f/5-6.3 ED IS’s big selling point is the zoom. Its 200-800mm equivalent focal-length range and rounded nine-blade diaphragm make it great for wildlife and nature photography. The variable f/5-6.3 aperture isn’t useful for low-light shooting, though, so you’ll probably want to stick with outdoor-lighting conditions for best results.

Advanced Optical Design. This lens’s complex optical construction consists of twenty-one elements in fifteen groups and includes two Super High-Refractive Index elements, two High-Refractive Index elements, and three extra-low dispersion elements. This glass menagerie works together to control aberrations and make things sharp and clear, all while reducing color fringing. A ZERO coating is applied to each lens element to reduce surface reflections and prevent lens flare and ghosting. The bottom line: this lens makes a pretty nice picture.

Optical image Stabilization. The 100-400mm’s built-in three-stop optical image stabilization system minimizes the appearance of camera shake, allowing you to shoot hand-held and in other unstable conditions without worrying about your photos’ sharpness.

Built-In Autofocus System. The Movie and Still Compatible autofocus system offers fast, smooth, and nearly silent performance, making it ideal for video and still applications. You get a 4.3-inch minimum focusing distance and a 0.57x maximum magnification, which benefits working with close-up subjects and even telemacro shooting from a distance.