My impressions of MC-20 with Oly 300 f/4

[Vahur Krouverk]

Yesterday I purchased MC-20 and updated camera and lenses firmware to latest, today morning I made my first trip with MC-20 to local park.

Shooting with this combination hand-held is hard, much harder than I anticipated. I have used 300 + 1.4TC lot (perhaps 90% of my shooting), but with 2TC it was like learning to shoot again and first trials were not very encouraging: it was much harder to find target (small bird on tree) and even with stabilisation it was hard to keep target under focus point. After couple of hours I got bit more used to this loooong focal length and manage better my trembling hands

This combination is mostly for good light, in low light (deep in forest) focus can get very slow: sometimes it couldn't focus at all, just sagging back and forth, sometimes focusing took couple of seconds and bird I tried to shoot was already flown away. I think that I'll be using 2.0 TC more for sea and wader birds with more light and 300 or 300 + 1.4TC for forest shots.

I wouldn't worry about sharpness: if shutter speed is fast enough and focus aquired then this combination is pretty sharp.

Some test shots from today morning:

Uncropped. Distance ca. 12 m, cat behind window glass.

100% crop

Morning feast. Uncropped, from 24m distance.

Cropped to 2800x2100 (54%), then resized. 15m.

cropped to 3100x2300 (60%), resized. 13m

Uncropped, 10m.

Cropped to 3334x2500 (64%), then resized. 39m.

 

[the bluesman]

I think you have done very well with these test shots, they look good to me and you will only get better with it, are you happy with them??

 

[Vahur Krouverk]

I think you have done very well with these test shots, they look good to me and you will only get better with it, are you happy with them??

Thanks! I got some keepers, so I'm happy with my test walk. And MC-20 is welcome addition to my photo bag, so it's keeper as well.

 

[Vahur Krouverk]

And here are my unscientific comparisons of 40-150 with MC-20 vs. 300 f/4: all 100% crops, handheld with AF-S. Note that DXO I used for processing does not recognize MC-20 yet, so it might be that processing is not optimal but it can be said that 300 f/4 has better contrast and sharpness, even wide open. So if you are looking for reach and quality then buy 300 f/4, it's worth it. My only regret with this lens is that I didn't buy it earlier

300 f/5.6

40-150 + MC-20, f/5.6

300 f/8

40-150 + TC-20, f/8

300 f/4

 

[knickerhawk]

And here are my unscientific comparisons of 40-150 with MC-20 vs. 300 f/4: all 100% crops, handheld with AF-S. Note that DXO I used for processing does not recognize MC-20 yet, so it might be that processing is not optimal but it can be said that 300 f/4 has better contrast and sharpness, even wide open. So if you are looking for reach and quality then buy 300 f/4, it's worth it. My only regret with this lens is that I didn't buy it earlier

300 f/5.6

40-150 + MC-20, f/5.6

300 f/8

40-150 + TC-20, f/8

300 f/4

Looks like the hazing from the MC-20 can be cleaned up with minimal comparative loss of detail. Here's what I achieved with the f/8 version of the 150mm+MC-20 vs. the f/4 version of the 300mm shot applying in Photoshop some texture, clarity and smart sharpening to the 40-150 + MC-20 version. YMMV depending on the shot, the details, noise already present, etc.:

Left=300 f/4; Right=150+MC-20 with PS adjustments applied

 

[EricVan]

Thanks for sharing. I've had the 300mm f/4 for a little over a year and I'm very happy with it. Recently ordered the MC-20 and I'm really looking forward to doing some shooting of my own with that! Unfortunately it's on backorder...

 

[Vahur Krouverk]

Looks like the hazing from the MC-20 can be cleaned up with minimal comparative loss of detail. Here's what I achieved with the f/8 version of the 150mm+MC-20 vs. the f/4 version of the 300mm shot applying in Photoshop some texture, clarity and smart sharpening to the 40-150 + MC-20 version. YMMV depending on the shot, the details, noise already present, etc.:

Left=300 f/4; Right=150+MC-20 with PS adjustments applied

Does this mean that you get same quality with half of price? :-O

As you wrote, YMMV, this image allows easy processing as it has no detailed structure and quite well defined edges, in other cases it may be harder to achieve same result.

This said I have to say that this 2x TC is quite good with 40-150, even wide open (of course it could be that by f/8 diffraction kicks in and that's why wide open has same quality). I was much more sceptical about this combination. Interesting to see what upcoming 150-400 can do with this TC...