I do – two years into enthusiast-level photography with MFT, I find it a good workout for my skills. In preparation for the real thing, I can experience fairly consistent and controlled conditions to understand which lenses and settings do best for capturing animals, when it comes to things like feather/fur detail, speed/unpredictability, and various lighting conditions.
Some of the newer zoos have elaborate habitats, so it is possible to get practice with a variety of scenarios all in one morning. On a recent trip to a zoo here in Japan, I was able to test my 50-200 SWD and 12-100 f/4 under various conditions, including a nice surprise in the form of a very dark nocturnal flying squirrel habitat. With the following shots from that day, I have included shooting notes, which should hopefully be useful to the OP:
This was probably the most challenging subject of the day – a gibbon, I believe. The adapted SWD is not the fasted-focusing lens on an E-M1 II, but performs quite well. I shoot BBF and M mode, and I think I was using one of the small single boxes with C-AF when I got to this enclosure. I almost always shoot at ISO 200, but will go up to 800 or 1000 if light or shutter speed require. At 130mm I was able to shoot wide open for that focal length, at f/3.3.
The gibbon started to warm up, and so I had to shift from portrait thinking to action thinking. I was still in M mode with ISO set at 200, so I started to crank up shutter speed, to 1/1000. Hence the darker result. Kind of moody. For all shooting modes I have the 4-way pad set up to move the focus point around, which will give my thumb a workout for moving targets. I don’t trust facial recognition for people, and anyway it wouldn’t work on a primate, so I just try to move the focus box around the central 50% of the EVF to allow for flexibility in composition while keeping the face in focus. In cases like this I can really appreciate the utility that a joystick on a new camera would provide.
At 110mm, aperture closed down slightly f/3.5 and shutter speed 1/1250. Not quite fast enough to freeze all the hair in motion, but enough to demonstrate that the ol’ SWD still delivers, I think. At this point I have shifted to one of my Custom modes, which I have set up for ProCap H (SWD does not support ProCap L) with a single regular-sized focus box and S-AF. Here MFT depth-of-field was my friend as I panned left to right, activating ProCap to hopefully get some balletic poses, occasionally releasing the shutter button completely to then half-press to refocus at a spot where the gibbon would be, like the end of a post. I ended up with dozens of shots after this routine, and kept a handful that had pleasing detail and catchlight in the eye.
This orangutan was in the adjacent enclosure, which was surrounded by a combination of bars, netting, and foliage. This all made for challenging focusing. The E-M1 II does not have subject recognition, and its autofocus often stayed locked on the bars despite using the smallest focus box. I have the +M manual focus option activated, and both lenses allow manual focusing on the fly. Here I found that I had to close down the aperture a bit in order to get the entire broad face in focus. Once again I was pleased with the SWD’s detailed rendering. It is definitely not as sharp as the 12-100, but I needed the extra distance, as I was standing apart from a large crowd that had gathered to see feeding time. Still at ISO 200, which was a bit of a challenge as it required a shutter speed of 1/160 and the orangutan was still ambling around as I took this (one of many shots).
Another shot to demonstrate practice with manual focus through multiple obstructions, and also working on composition. By this time the orangutan had sat down to wait for the zookeeper to come out with the food, but was still moving its head and hand. So, timing was important.
Just a context shot from my phone to show the crowd gathering around the enclosure, and also the impressive structure provided to the orangutan. It did not climb up there while I was present, unfortunately. What looks like dust on the lens is a grasshopper that flew into the shot!
One shot from the aforementioned flying squirrel habitat. This was just a wild attempt with the 12-100, taken through the enclosure window and relying on image stabilization at ISO 1000 and a longish exposure. If I had another try at this, I would bring my aquarium cone to minimize window glare, and maybe my adapted EF 100mm f/2 and a speedbooster.
Another lower-light shot. This one was taken through a fence, which is partially visible but hopefully not too distracting. Here I was trying once again to keep ISO low, which meant straddling the boundary of adequately fast shutter speeds to freeze motion. I am not sure I completely succeeded, but the overall look is pleasing to me. The light was captured in a way that highlights the fur patterns and textures, and I learned that it is not required for the eyes to be visible in order to illustrate an expression.
This zoo was promoting its recently-born polar bear cub, but apparently the birth occurred several months ago. So, a larger subject than anticipated. But still fun to practice composing parent-child shots. Here I was trying to get interesting foot positions, while using aperture changes to try balancing sharp fur detail and a bit of background blur.
Zoo penguins are fun to watch, but perhaps less interesting to photograph (at least for me) due to the very visible wing and foot tags. This time, rather than giving up, I tried to wait until I could find a pose that hid both as much as possible. Lately I have come to appreciate overcast skies a little more, even though shutter speeds go down, which can be a challenge when a bird is moving frequently, like this one grooming. At times they do pause, or – as with most animal movements – there is a period of deceleration that can be captured when using a burst shooting mode.
None of these are award winners, of course. More like practice notes for the shooting journal. Over the past year especially, I have come to see wildlife photography as a sport in its own right. So to me, places like the zoo and the canals near my home are like practice fields. Good luck honing your skills!
(and yes… I’m joking)
