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Olympus OM-D M1 Mark II for Bird photography.

Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 7:24 pm
by Karl Egressy
I was wondering if anybody had used this camera with 100-300 or 100-400 Panasonic lens for birds.
I friend just bought the camera and I bought his OM-D M10 Mark II for generic basic photography.
I keep an eye on the aforementioned combo for future purchase using it for birds especially with the 100-400 lens. 
Thanks.

Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 8:21 pm
by Arnie Berger
I have used the the 100-400 with my Panasonic GH4 and it is a great lens. When I bought my EM1 Mark 2 I sold the lens and bought the Olympus 300 f 4 lens to take advantage of the 5 axis stabilization. The 100-400 was had the advantage of being able to crop using the lens but I enjoy the constant aperture of the 300mm

Re:

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 10:00 am
by Karl Egressy
Arnie Berger wrote:I have used the the 100-400 with my Panasonic GH4 and it is a great lens.  When I bought my EM1 Mark 2 I sold the lens and bought the Olympus 300 f 4 lens to take advantage of the 5 axis stabilization.  The 100-400 was had the advantage of being able to crop using the lens but I enjoy the constant aperture of the 300mm

Thanks Arnie.
You probably can use the 1.4x extender on the 300 lens.
Any experience of BIF shooting with the EM1 Mark 2 and 300 f 4 lens?
I still shoot BIF with Canon 500 f 4.0 mostly and it gets heavier every year.
(I'm 74)

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 2:24 pm
by Arnie Berger
Karl
Being able to use a TC is another advantage of going with the 300 mm. I have done some BIF shots with the 300 and it is a lot easier than with the 500. At least I can hold it a lot longer. I haven't touched my 500 since I went with the micro 4/3 system. The EM1 Mk 2 is quite a camera. Take a look at Scott Bourne's shot of his recent trip to shoot eagles. My biggest test will be how it does with Warblers.

Arnie

Re:

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 3:15 pm
by DChan
Arnie Berger wrote: ...Take a look at Scott Bourne's shot of his recent trip to shoot eagles.  My biggest test will be how it does with Warblers.

And Scott said:
The Olympus gear really surprised me. Micro Four Thirds has come a very long way. The fact that the OMD MK II can autofocus fast enough for eagle photography blows my mind. We all know the price, size and weight benefits of M43 gear, but most people associate M43 cameras with slow autofocus. Not any more. The OMD MK II is very fast and accurate to autofocus as evidenced by the images posted with this article.

I was blessed with 10 perfect shooting days of nothing but great light and that really does benefit the M43 camera. Had it been overcast here in Alaska the DSLR would have been a slightly better choice (in limited situations) because it has wider dynamic range and better low-light performance. But that is not to say the Olympus couldn’t work in those cases. Just not quite as well.

In every other way, the OMD MK II was completely up to the task and I am very happy with the images I made using this gear. In fact, I think I got some of my favorite images ever and this is my 19th trip to this area to photograph eagles.
https://photofocus.com/2017/03/29/alaska-eagle-photography-diary-2017-part-3/

Re: Olympus OM-D M1 Mark II for Bird photography.

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:05 pm
by DChan
And here's Scott Bourne's podcast about that Alaska eagle trip and his use of the EM 1 Mk II:

https://photofocus.com/2017/03/31/photo ... -larousse/


It's the Mar 28 2017 podcast. It tells you more about the actual use of the camera.


And he said on his Apr 10 2017 podcast that he was getting too old for his Canon.

Re: Re:

Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 8:02 am
by DOglesby
Karl Egressy wrote:
Arnie Berger wrote:I have used the the 100-400 with my Panasonic GH4 and it is a great lens.  When I bought my EM1 Mark 2 I sold the lens and bought the Olympus 300 f 4 lens to take advantage of the 5 axis stabilization.  The 100-400 was had the advantage of being able to crop using the lens but I enjoy the constant aperture of the 300mm

Thanks Arnie.
You probably can use the 1.4x extender on the 300 lens.
Any experience of BIF shooting with the EM1 Mark 2 and 300 f 4 lens?
I still shoot BIF with Canon 500 f 4.0 mostly and it gets heavier every year.
(I'm 74)

I got the camera recently and while I haven't shot BIF enough to have an opinion on the camera's tracking ability, I can tell you firsthand the 300 f/4 + extender is incredibly sharp, even wide open. And zero problem hand holding as you probably expected. 

Re: Olympus OM-D M1 Mark II for Bird photography.

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 2:45 pm
by gcookie
Karl Egressy wrote:I was wondering if anybody had used this camera with 100-300 or 100-400 Panasonic lens for birds.
I friend just bought the camera and I bought his OM-D M10 Mark II for generic basic photography.
I keep an eye on the aforementioned combo for future purchase using it for birds especially with the 100-400 lens. 
Thanks.

I owned the EM1 Mark 2 and found that the Panasonic 100-400 has some minor issues with the EM1 Mark 2.  First Pro Capture mode turns off (I think a little used function). Second in CAF mode the camera won't focus. It works fine otherwise.  I'm thinking of selling the Panasonic lens and going to the Oly 300.  But the OLY 300 forces lens changes in a changing environment and so the perfect zoom telephoto for the EM1 Mark II hasn't been made yet....The OLY 40-150 is wonderful but short on legs even with the 1.4 extender.