My experience with the Olympus 75mm f1.8

salbano wrote:

tkelly11 wrote:

salbano wrote:

Hey Tom,

I checked out your website, and enjoyed reading out the 75mm 1.8. It's on my list. I see that we have something in common, Airshows! My experience is a little different than yours regarding the EM-5 and airshows, and I wrote about it on my website if your interested:

http://wp.me/p2xyD1-c0

By the way, I'd love to attend that Duxford Airshow if I ever get across the pond!

My Flickr Photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/steves_photoart/
My Website:
http://www.upatdawnphotography.com

Ah, always love to hear from someone an interest in airshows. I am very fortunate to live in Cambridge which is only 15 minutes drive from Duxford so I probably shouldnt admit it but I do go to all 4 shows they have each year. I am from Scotland originally and my dad often comes down for them and its a very nice way to spend a day. If you ever get the chance, you should jump at it. Its not just the aircraft but the entire experience, it feels far more relaxed than full on military airshows, more civilised.

I live very close to Chino (in California) and they put on a wonderful show every year. Last year they had 5 P-38's in the air, including Glacier Girl. But, it's only once a year. Duxford is on my bucket list!

I read your piece on the EM5, its interesting to read how others find these things. I do particularly like your shot of the Wildcat (although that camouflage doesnt look like anything I have seen a Wildcat in :)). However my one suggestion having read your thoughts (and i can say this as i had the same issue) the 45-200mm is actually pretty poor. It was the first telephoto I got when I had the GF1 as it was the more affordable of the two long lenses available from Panasonic at the time. I have since got the 100-300mm and it is absolutely miles ahead of the 45-200mm. Its actually amazingly sharp at the short end and starts to get a bit soft at 250+ but in between its entirely usable. So if I could make one suggestion, it would be giving that a go. Its still far from perfect. As you rightly point out, the evf blacking out when you hit the shutter button isnt particularly helpful, thats why I actually just shoot single shot and try desperately to time it right (not always successfully). But I would say I have around a 60-70% success rate for getting a usable shot which for m43 is pretty ok I think.

Thanks for the info on the 45-200. I did get it because of a decent price, but while it works, I'm not overly thrilled with it. Good to know about the performance of the 100-300mm, and now I have 2 more lenses on my list. I did promise the wife no new cameras this year, but I didn't say anything about another lens (or 2).

The other thing I use is C-AF (not the tracking version). So the technique I use is shutter priority, C-AF and basically follow the plane and when I got to take the shot press the shutter half way down for a split second and then all the way down, whilst still following the aircraft. I have found that works surprisingly well. It might even look blurry at the moment you take it but invariably the final shot is in focus. Its a bit of a different technique but I have had a fair bit of practice and it works reasonably well. In honesty though, one thing I can be guilty of is using a faster shutter speed than I really should which can lead to the props not being as blurred as they should be but I am still learning. Oh and the other thing is I leave the IS on 5 axis as I have tried all the variations and found that to work best for me.

I tried the C-AF and didn't really like it, but to be fair I should spend more time with it. It didn't react the same as my Canon 60D in a similar mode, and I think I made an unfair comparison and turned it off. There's another airshow coming up in March so I'll give it a go there (Blue Angels performing)!

Thanks for sharing, great to see stuff from the other side!

Thank you! I bookmarked your website and will be looking in from time to time!

Cheers
Tom

Ah, Chino is a place I would love to visit as well, got some amazing stuff over there. Duxford has an amazing array of aircraft and at times you can have 9 Spitfires flying at the same time which is quite the sight. Although they used to do a Balbo (Big Wing) at the end but sadly that is no more I think because of a crash during one a few years ago when a Mustang pulled up clipping the wing of the Skyraider leading to the Mustang crashing. Impressively the Skyraider landed with half its wing missing. Amazing aircraft that one and both pilots were unharmed amazingly as the Mustang pilot managed to get out when he was only about 500ft in the air, but his aircraft was aiming upwards at the time which I think bought him the time he needed.

Coming from the 60D or most traditional DSLR's is probably a bit painful. I never had a DSLR before this so all new to me so I just learned to adapt.

Well I hope you get some nice pics this year and I have followed you on Flickr, good to see what others are getting at these shows.

Cheers

Tom