Olympus 300mm f/4
I think that it has been clear from previous posts that I've been struggling to get to grips with the Olympus System. Issues with Dynamic Range, and Low Light were to be expected, at least to a certain extent, due to the decrease in sensor size, but I have also had problems with the sharpness of the images and noise, which are both more of a concern to me.
It hasn't been constant, some images have been incredibly sharp while others haven't. So I've put it down to user error, and practised. Practised some more and compared settings in various situations and different lenses.
The two pictures below were both taken in Basel and are both of wild animals. They have very similar settings, the same lens, a 300mm f/4 with the same x1.4 converter to bring the focal length up to 420mm was used, ISO was 6400 in both cases, and the aperture was f/5.6. The distance to the subject in both cases was also similar. The only difference is the shutter speed. The one of the Nutria is 1/1600 sec, and the one of the Tawny Owlet is 1/1000 sec. In addition to this, there is an obvious lighting difference, not considerable though. The Tawny Owlet image has been darkened and vignetted to emphasise the tunnel effect through the leaves. Yet there is a considerable difference in the quality of the image, in particular, noise.
![P5250391cop[2].jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6647a073665da56af4b732f6/1716109049055-WA5L85PSTJL4XO1G3F4O/P5250391cop%5B2%5D.jpg)
Unfortunately, most of my images are the quality of the Tawny Owlet. After looking at the settings it became clear that in general sharper ones had an ISO of under ISO-3200, and improved greatly under ISO-1600. This is not always the case though as you can see from the previous two images which are both ISO-6400. There has to be an exception to every rule.
Nevertheless, I decided to try to keep trying. I like the Olympus system, and I want to like the Olympus system, but if I can only use it in bright light and fair weather, it defeats some of the main reasons for using the system. What is the point of a water, cold, shock and dust-resistant camera, if I can only use it in bright light and fair weather?
Practice helps though, and I think that I am finally getting to a place where I'm at least going in the right direction. It's still not quite where I'd like it to be, but it's getting better.
I recently took a trip to the top of a snow-covered hill, to a place where I've often seen birds of prey. The plan was to test the 300mm with distant and moving subjects. I set up my tripod and placed the camera on top, added the Dot Sight EE-1 waited, and waited some more. I put another jacket on as it was very cold, and waited some more, jumping up and down on the spot, partly to try to keep warm but mostly out of frustration as I watched distant birds flying everywhere but close to where I was.
Then one started flying towards me, I could still just about move my fingers so I started to take some images with the new knowledge that I'd gained from the practice at home. The results can be seen in the following images.
Unfortunately, most of my images are the quality of the Tawny Owlet. After looking at the settings it became clear that in general sharper ones had an ISO of under ISO-3200, and improved greatly under ISO-1600. This is not always the case though as you can see from the previous two images which are both ISO-6400. There has to be an exception to every rule.
Nevertheless, I decided to try to keep trying. I like the Olympus system, and I want to like the Olympus system, but if I can only use it in bright light and fair weather, it defeats some of the main reasons for using the system. What is the point of a water, cold, shock and dust-resistant camera, if I can only use it in bright light and fair weather?
Practice helps though, and I think that I am finally getting to a place where I'm at least going in the right direction. It's still not quite where I'd like it to be, but it's getting better.
I recently took a trip to the top of a snow-covered hill, to a place where I've often seen birds of prey. The plan was to test the 300mm with distant and moving subjects. I set up my tripod and placed the camera on top, added the Dot Sight EE-1 waited, and waited some more. I put another jacket on as it was very cold, and waited some more, jumping up and down on the spot, partly to try to keep warm but mostly out of frustration as I watched distant birds flying everywhere but close to where I was.
Then one started flying towards me, I could still just about move my fingers so I started to take some images with the new knowledge that I'd gained from the practice at home. The results can be seen in the following images.
