Lens Quality
Above it’s Weight
The 300 PF punches way above its weight class, producing excellent sharpness and contrast throughout. I would put it up against any of my Z series telephotos even to this day and it would hold its own.
You will see below that in terms of sharpness the lens is sharpest in the center at f/8, but I do want to stress that pixel-peeing at 200% does measure what your images will look like when shot practically in the field. I am consistently blown away by the quality of images rendered, even when shot wide-open.
The most consistent theme that you will notice in my example images below is the ability of this lens to blow out a background due to it’s maximum aperture of f/4. I reach for this lens when I want to get up-close to achieve a professional-looking, clean background with pleasing bokeh.
Sharpness Tests
Center Sharpness
In the center, the 300 PF gets noticeably sharper as you stop down to f/8.
Edge Sharpness
As with the center, the edges get noticeably sharper as you stop down to f/8, although they never quite get as sharp as the center. There is also a slight vignette that you can see when shooting wide-open that is mostly gone when stopped down to f/5.6.
Example Photos
