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[SteveAdler]

I've had teachers look at me like that, Steve.

A VERY long time ago ...

Me too.

 

[atomicmak]

Excellent shot. Do you find the EM1.3 faster or more accurate to focus than the EM1.2 with native and/or adapted lenses?

EM1.3 has better color science thats for sure as i get true white's in AWB compare to all other Oly bodies include the EM1X.
About the C-AF its a marginal diff between 1.2 and 1.3 which Personally i would not consider an option to upgrade but yes i did upgraded to em1.3 and i do have em1.2 as well.

Adapted lenses i have used canon 500 and 600 with / without tc and I have found that i am liking its rendering because i can get 2x crop already while taking images . It has its own con's like AF one has to work only S-af and that too on limit as you can not get action unless you have steady hands and bigger bird to catch in flight or a slow moving bird can be achieved like cranes / pelicans / partially bigger eagles in soaring mode or some bigger ducks or owls but song birds or mamals in rapid or erratic movement action will be a miss in s-af.

I have been testing the native 300 with em1x this days on local bird sanctuary lake but in our part of world bird photography is not that easy and one has to fight with distance shots .. Plus heat in atmosphere very early in day and stay till evening .


My general evaluation for myself or my own experience if the bird is in a descent range s-af gives super results with native lens like 300/f4 .. c-af is a 50-50 chance as in limited low burst 2-3/10 frames can be usable having fine feather and bit of processing is also required.

Hope this helps.

 

[MJRodock]

Flight of the Heron. And a perfect 2 point landing! E-M1MkIII

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[MJRodock]

Tufted Titmouse working over an acorn. EM1.3

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[MJRodock]

Eastern Towhee posing in the brush. EM1.3

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[atomicmak]

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[CD77]

View attachment 876418

Outstanding image!

 

[atomicmak]

Outstanding image!

Thank you appreciate a lot.

 

[wonglp]

Ballerina - Blue tailed Bee-eater.
E-M1X, 150-400mm F4.5 Pro.

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[SteveAdler]

I took this one a couple of years ago and just processed it in darktable. I didn't find C-AF that reliable with the 300mm f4 pro and there were only a few keepers. I guess this was one of them

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[PeHa]

@atomicmak
Several really very nice images with that EF600 lens, congrats! But I can't stop wondering why you are using both a .71 adapter and 1.4 TC combined as they will cancel each other out and adding more glass (which is generally to avoid). Wouldn't it be better to just use a straight open adapter and skip the TC to get the same focal length or keep it to get even longer reach? (Excuse me if you've had this question before , couldn't find it in a quick search )

 

[SteveAdler]

@atomicmak
Several really very nice images with that EF600 lens, congrats! But I can't stop wondering why you are using both a .71 adapter and 1.4 TC combined as they will cancel each other out and adding more glass (which is generally to avoid). Wouldn't it be better to just use a straight open adapter and skip the TC to get the same focal length or keep it to get even longer reach? (Excuse me if you've had this question before , couldn't find it in a quick search )

Since the gyms are all closed here during the lockdown, I'm thinking of getting an EF 600mm f4 to work my bicepts

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[DickB]

American Kestrel this morning.

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[Nam-in-Sonoma]

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Burrowing owl by Nam Ing, on Flickr

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Burrowing owl by Nam Ing, on Flickr

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Since the gyms are all closed here during the lockdown, I'm thinking of getting an EF 600mm f4 to work my bicepts
View attachment 876443

My back aches just looking at that thing.

 

[atomicmak]

@atomicmak
Several really very nice images with that EF600 lens, congrats! But I can't stop wondering why you are using both a .71 adapter and 1.4 TC combined as they will cancel each other out and adding more glass (which is generally to avoid). Wouldn't it be better to just use a straight open adapter and skip the TC to get the same focal length or keep it to get even longer reach? (Excuse me if you've had this question before , couldn't find it in a quick search )

Hi Peha,
First the place i live where bird photographers are less aware about the process of how to aproach the fear limit of bird. I am bird watcher first then a photographer and hence i keep my limit at little back off situation and take whatever i can since i have these things. You may be right to not add the glasses more to have glitches but as you can see those clarity with the glass and output I wouldnt mind using them to get some extra reach not to crop on already 2x crop body. I do have the 1dx to use on 600 on regular basis and these were the occassional trials i keep myself doing so to have some multiplied view.

 

[atomicmak]

I took this one a couple of years ago and just processed it in darktable. I didn't find C-AF that reliable with the 300mm f4 pro and there were only a few keepers. I guess this was one of them
View attachment 876442

This is pretty good sharp image I would love to keep just to my test on upper side of the contrast level as the left underwing of the tern as blown out the highlights. I am sorry I took liberty to discuss the critique without asking your permission.

More so over in my finding that miss you are talking about is. As per my reading and experience all mirrorless uses hybrid af over the evf meaning evf is fraction of a delay then a realtime and during the BIF's if you notice when you do hit the shutter in sequence and release it the bird might have moved out of the focus zone because of 1. IS is stabilizing the frame while the bird has / had moved out of the AF zone thats a calculative logical miss frame has to happen .. 2. it is the evf refresh rate which is really slow for the fast moving subjects.

I have tried many combination to test this and eventually I am coming to a conclusion that it is the evf refresh plus IS hunting the keeper ratio.

I have also noticed that the AF speed on the olympus body even if I put it on -2 which is once locked into focus it should not hunt to the background and forground more often but it does so quickly just like +2.

considering these situation I guess we are tend to have the miss out frames during sequential shoots.

 

[Nam-in-Sonoma]

@whizwalk if you use it with E-M1X or Mark III the tracking C-AF+Tr is pretty good...especially with the new Bird AI tracking.

 

[atomicmak]

here are some processed cropped images I am sharing ..
Em1x with 300f/4 and 1.4 tc taken same day last year.

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[SteveAdler]

This is pretty good sharp image I would love to keep just to my test on upper side of the contrast level as the left underwing of the tern as blown out the highlights. I am sorry I took liberty to discuss the critique without asking your permission.

More so over in my finding that miss you are talking about is. As per my reading and experience all mirrorless uses hybrid af over the evf meaning evf is fraction of a delay then a realtime and during the BIF's if you notice when you do hit the shutter in sequence and release it the bird might have moved out of the focus zone because of 1. IS is stabilizing the frame while the bird has / had moved out of the AF zone thats a calculative logical miss frame has to happen .. 2. it is the evf refresh rate which is really slow for the fast moving subjects.

I have tried many combination to test this and eventually I am coming to a conclusion that it is the evf refresh plus IS hunting the keeper ratio.

I have also noticed that the AF speed on the olympus body even if I put it on -2 which is once locked into focus it should not hunt to the background and forground more often but it does so quickly just like +2.

considering these situation I guess we are tend to have the miss out frames during sequential shoots.

Thank you for the thoughtful critique (which I welcome) of the photo. I agree that the highlights are blown there. As for the frame misses, this wasn't a hard moving subject. It is one tern in the foreground against a green background that is far away. It should be easy for our cameras to track and follow it, the way the Sony A9 does. The Sony also has on-chip IS, yet somehow its AF is able to lock on to birds in flight even when flying a few inches from the water surface with many distractions in the foreground.

IMHO, Olympus has some work to do to get its cameras as competent with BIF as Sony when using CAF. I normally use SAF and track the birds on my own and take hundreds of frames with the hope that 1-10 will be good.