A question for you guys

[Lez325]

I have recently moved to Olympus from Sony (long story)

I bought with advice from a buddy who shoot Olympus 4/3rds

Olympus OM DE M1 Mk3 body

Olympus 100-400 lens + MC 1.4x Teleconverter I shoot mostly wildlife

and a couple of smaller lenses 25mm & 60mm macro

I have a few £££ to spend- around £2,500

OK, here are the questions

1. Do I add or upgrade the lens to an Olympus 300mm f4 pro and use the MC 1.4 tele for my wildlife shoots

2. Upgrade the camera to a higher spec model like the OM1? and stay with the 100-400mm + MC 1/4 tele or I am open to suggestions on bodies based on my present lenses - I cannot afford to buy both as I've just splashed out on a new car for the wife

Thanks in advance

Les

[Dave in Wales]

IMVHO and from experience......WAIT.

Don't rush into anything.......

"Buy in haste, repent at leisure"

[Lez325]

Hi Dave -I remember you from TP- nice to see you here buddy

I just cannot get on with the present set up- soft images and if you remember me from TP my wildlife **** were always 100% IQ

Not so much with the Olympus gear - Jeff helped me do the initial set up and I have watched dozens of YouTube video's - tried everything I know to no avail - low ISO High ISO and Auto ISO

here's my screen at present





Les

[Ross the fiddler]

Ah yes Dave, the voice of experience. but good advice though.

[MJ224]

Tricky one. We have some great photographers here who use your present set up very well.

Personally, I think the OM-1 is a better camera certainly for wildlife work. But also the 300mm lens is also the better lens for the same. Just my opinion......

Out of the two, I probably would go for the lens, but its 49/51% choice. Does not help you 1 bit I know, go for both...and get a mortgage...

[Lez325]

I have a mortgage thanks

[Lez325]

wrong image

[Bikie John]

It depends really what your exact problem is. If it is general image softness, a new body probably won't help much, the 300/4 should as it is a superb lens. If it is noise and related problems with higher ISOs, the new body will (probably) help more and the new lens might because you might be able to use wider apertures (although with the 300/4 and a converter I'm not sure how they compare without looking it up). If the problem is caused by missing focus the only answer is practice and trying a lot of settings, as you have obviously already discussed with another user.

I use the 100-400 for sport, mostly rugby, when there is enough light. I am generally quite pleased with it and the results are fine for my uses - local paper and web use. But pixel-peeping it does seem to go a bit softer at the long end. I am not sure how confident I would be about sticking a converter on it, partly for quality reasons and partly because of losing a stop. I think some people on here have also reported quality variations between copies of the 100-400. I can't remember who but I think someone tried 2 or 3 copies before finding one that really worked for them, and they are now very happy with it.

Do you know anyone local whose 300mm or OM-1 you could try out? Either way it's a big investment to buy one blind!

John

[raichea]

Probably stating the obvious, but your SCP indicates that you're using "All Targets" as your focus target mode. If so, that may be your problem - how do you know where the camera is focussed when you shoot? I'd have expected use of one of the more selective target modes for wildlife.

[Lez325]

I use several points of aim - the screen just happened to show the one I had on at present- I set it up for
1. All Points
2. 3x3
3. 5x5
4 Single point- medium for wildlife
5, Single point small for wildlife/Macro

So, I have most things covered in that dept I think

Thanks for the responce

Les

[Lez325]

It depends really what your exact problem is. If it is general image softness, a new body probably won't help much, the 300/4 should as it is a superb lens. If it is noise and related problems with higher ISOs, the new body will (probably) help more and the new lens might because you might be able to use wider apertures (although with the 300/4 and a converter I'm not sure how they compare without looking it up). If the problem is caused by missing focus the only answer is practice and trying a lot of settings, as you have obviously already discussed with another user.

I use the 100-400 for sport, mostly rugby, when there is enough light. I am generally quite pleased with it and the results are fine for my uses - local paper and web use. But pixel-peeping it does seem to go a bit softer at the long end. I am not sure how confident I would be about sticking a converter on it, partly for quality reasons and partly because of losing a stop. I think some people on here have also reported quality variations between copies of the 100-400. I can't remember who but I think someone tried 2 or 3 copies before finding one that really worked for them, and they are now very happy with it.

Do you know anyone local whose 300mm or OM-1 you could try out? Either way it's a big investment to buy one blind!

John

Thank you John - I'm not 100% ofay with the Olympus systems yet moved over from Sony FF with a massive 600mm lens - so maybe I'm just fussy - I think I transferred mentally the settings for wildlife on my Sony bodies ISO 800 @ 1/2500th sec - which do not suit the Olympus 4/3rds
Not wanting to make a rash decision on Len/ Body although I have seen great reviews on the 300mm f4 pro with and without the MC14

Les

[gazza95]

Dave’s comment about waiting seems sensible as the gear you have should work fine. Changing camera will not change sharpeness at normal ISO’s, < 1000.

I would suggest going back to basics and take some simple pics with camera on tripod. Set iso to 200 and just take some pictures at various apertures with 100-400 and macro without converter.

what you are looking for is general sharpness and any slight focus errors. Remember that c-af uses phase detect only so possible to get focus errors.

gary

p.s. I would not be expecting m43 to match Sony ff with 600mm prime. It will get close but will alway loose a pixel peeping comparison.

[blackfox]

O.K YOUR GOING TO GET BOTH BARRELS .. you asked me for help with the set up which we did over the phone .but looking at your SCP on here I see you have changed quite a few of them ??? I can only guess what else has been changed in the cog menu .. we all mess around the secret is being able with experience say oops I made a mistake and revert to previous settings .. I did warn you about watching u.tube vids from across the pond as they tend to be mainly waffle that just confuses you more .

so where can I see possible problems in your SCP 1 I advised you to use vivid not natural as it tends to get better results , 2 you have changed from SRGB to ADOBE this again alters the colour range of shots . 3 I also advised that the two single point focus modes are more accurate for getting the birds eye in focus and honestly with practice that even works with b.i.f .4 your shooting in j.peg and though it gives decent results thats only up to a point . your never going to get the same i.q as a RAW file from a j.peg . 5 your shooting in centre weighted change it to ESP . 6 why the hell have you got -2.3 exp comp dialled in .. the metering on these cameras is extremely good I only use exp comp in difficult circumstances

yes a OM1 might help ,yes a 300mm f4 might help but personally I would take onboard the above comments before splashing out more cash .. my gut feeling is your trying to make it perform the same as your sony gear . it won't happen but with patience and practice you will get the desired results

[BDennis]

I have both the 100-400mm and the 300mm f4 and I was lucky to be able to afford to keep both. I’d say the decision whether to upgrade from the 100-400 to 300mm depends on what sort of wildlife you want to shoot (birds, mammals, insects etc or all of the above) and in what situations. I find the 300mm f4 has the best IQ with my own usage especially with TCs but sometimes the flexibility of the zoom is good for things like butterflies.

Some on here have taken excellent shots with the EM1Mk3 and 100-400mmm.

I mostly use the 300mm for bird photography outings and the 100-400mm I have used for walks spotting butterflies. Sometimes it just depends which is on the camera!

With the 100-400mm I had to be prepared to go to higher ISOs like ISO 1600 and 6400 on the Mk3. With the OM-1 you can get away with higher up to ISO 16000 maybe. The software like DxO PureRaw helps a lot with this.

For me the main reason for getting the OM-1 was for bird photography with the subject detect AF especially flight shots. Otherwise the Mk3 was doing fine and it is just a matter of figuring out the best settings with the Mk3 - say for bird flight photography.

If you have just recently switched to this system why not stick with the gear you have for a while and see how it goes rather than rush into an upgrade? I’d recommend to try something like the DxO PureRaw software if you have not tried it on the RAW files from the Mk3 at higher ISOs.

For the lens upgrade path, if you can afford the £2k or even 2nd hand prices for a good copy maybe get the 300mm f4 and try it in parallel with the 100-400mm to decide which of those you prefer. I think resale prices should be pretty good for the 100-400mm if you do upgrade to the 300mm. Looking at Wex they don’t seem to have the 100-400mm in stock new or second hand but the 300mm f4 they have some new and 2nd hand. I might consider buying a good 300mm f4 second hand in this situation to try it - it is a great lens.

It’s a shame OMDS haven’t been doing any of their events at wildlife centres like WWT where you can try these lenses out, worth keeping an eye out if they do some more.

Some tricky decisions though!

Generally I go for lens upgrades over body upgrades, but then a new body comes out with something better and blows that plan out of the water.

Bill

[Lez325]

so where can I see possible problems in your SCP 1 I advised you to use vivid not natural as it tends to get better results , 2 you have changed from SRGB to ADOBE this again alters the colour range of shots . 3 I also advised that the two single point focus modes are more accurate for getting the birds eye in focus and honestly with practice that even works with b.i.f .4 your shooting in j.peg and though it gives decent results thats only up to a point . your never going to get the same i.q as a RAW file from a j.peg . 5 your shooting in centre weighted change it to ESP . 6 why the hell have you got -2.3 exp comp dialled in .. the metering on these cameras is extremely good I only use exp comp in difficult circumstances

yes a OM1 might help ,yes a 300mm f4 might help but personally I would take onboard the above comments before splashing out more cash .. my gut feeling is your trying to make it perform the same as your sony gear . it won't happen but with patience and practice you will get the desired results [/QUOTE]

Thank you Jeff- the screen shot I posted was a custom one I was trying out- here is the one I have set and used normally and for your information I changed nothing in the cog menus

I have watched a chap called Espen Helland who seems very knowledgeable on all things Olympus - Espen Helland - YouTube

Just for a few tips on BIF shooting and as you suggested Low Pro capture

[blackfox]

o.k les apologies then . you probably need more practice till you gel with it .. as I said initially even moving from a a mk2 to a mk3 it took me 3 months to adjust and settle and gel with it .. but all of a sudden you will go bam its working with me now

[Ray99]

I find Espen very good. Don't always agree with him but 95% his advice is spot on (and that probably applies to most people, so... ).

[Lez325]

I seem to have Video length on card slot one - can I alter this? I don't shoot video ever or is this as it is as I also see card 1 slot below 5589 RAW images too

[blackfox]

heres one I took last Saturday hand held . on flickr to if you want exif data .. about a 50% crop from full size .. give me a bell when your wife wakes up

[Lez325]

I have both the 100-400mm and the 300mm f4 and I was lucky to be able to afford to keep both. I’d say the decision whether to upgrade from the 100-400 to 300mm depends on what sort of wildlife you want to shoot (birds, mammals, insects etc or all of the above) and in what situations. I find the 300mm f4 has the best IQ with my own usage especially with TCs but sometimes the flexibility of the zoom is good for things like butterflies.

Some on here have taken excellent shots with the EM1Mk3 and 100-400mmm.

I mostly use the 300mm for bird photography outings and the 100-400mm I have used for walks spotting butterflies. Sometimes it just depends which is on the camera!

With the 100-400mm I had to be prepared to go to higher ISOs like ISO 1600 and 6400 on the Mk3. With the OM-1 you can get away with higher up to ISO 16000 maybe. The software like DxO PureRaw helps a lot with this.

For me the main reason for getting the OM-1 was for bird photography with the subject detect AF especially flight shots. Otherwise the Mk3 was doing fine and it is just a matter of figuring out the best settings with the Mk3 - say for bird flight photography.

If you have just recently switched to this system why not stick with the gear you have for a while and see how it goes rather than rush into an upgrade? I’d recommend to try something like the DxO PureRaw software if you have not tried it on the RAW files from the Mk3 at higher ISOs.

For the lens upgrade path, if you can afford the £2k or even 2nd hand prices for a good copy maybe get the 300mm f4 and try it in parallel with the 100-400mm to decide which of those you prefer. I think resale prices should be pretty good for the 100-400mm if you do upgrade to the 300mm. Looking at Wex they don’t seem to have the 100-400mm in stock new or second hand but the 300mm f4 they have some new and 2nd hand. I might consider buying a good 300mm f4 second hand in this situation to try it - it is a great lens.

It’s a shame OMDS haven’t been doing any of their events at wildlife centres like WWT where you can try these lenses out, worth keeping an eye out if they do some more.

Some tricky decisions though!

Generally I go for lens upgrades over body upgrades, but then a new body comes out with something better and blows that plan out of the water.

Bill

Thank you, Bill- I can afford to keep both lenses should I go down that route - I use Photoshop 2022 and Topaz Denoise if required and I shoot RAW

I am in no rush to spend - just a tentative enquiry

Les

[blu-by-u]

Since you are using 2 SD, set the slot one to ORF(Raw) and slot 2 to L [SF] then the Save settings to DUAL INDEPENDENT.

[Lez325]

Thank you it appears as I change slot two to L(SF) it also changes Slot one

Sorry I am so new to this system

Les

[griffljg]

Change Save Settings to DUAL INDEPENDENT first.