I think that the Oly 75-300mm mk2 is a remarkable lens for its size and weight.
I’ve taken some wonderful photos with it over the years…
It’s main weakness from my experience is shooting against the sun. Partially the flare, and partially the aberrations around things like backlit grasses etc…
I bought some lens hoods for it, but really need to use them more often.
I also feel that its resolving power is great on nearby subjects, but not quite as good for far away. (but that could also be a result of camera movement smearing out the fine detail)
I think my main problem with the 75-300mm is that I lost a bit of shooting discipline over the years
Being such a light lens it benefits from being on a monopod…
I was really hoping for a 75-300mm mk3. Maybe with added weather-sealing and some better lens coatings (without adding much weight).
But since that never materialized - I started looking at any options that don’t break the bank (nor my neck
)
The 55-200mm is clearly the “better” lens optically (but also a lot bigger and heavier).
It deals better with challenging light, has really nice blur even in contrasty out-of-focus areas, not to forget the 2 stops faster…
But - having said that - I initially thought I had taken the woodpecker photo above with the “new” 50-200mm… (“see how nice that new lens is”) and only realized after uploading to Flickr that it was taken with the 75-300mm
I think they both live nicely side-by-side…
The 75-300mm had quite an undeserved bad reputation for a while - which I never shared or understood.
On the contrary, it was one of the main draws of m43 for me.