In praise of the lowly Olympus 75-300mm

Recently I was lucky to capture a hummingbird visiting our backyard. I was delighted with the feather detail and colors.  Lightly cropped, converted from raw with DXO.

The closeup photos of others encouraged me to see what I might capture. We have a bumper crop of bees visiting the backyard flowers.  I used a 21mm extension tube to get closer, about 2 feet away at 300mm.   Most likely they would have been a bit sharper if I had backed off from 300mm a little.   Cropped some and raw processed with DXO.

Ron Nash wrote:

Recently I was lucky to capture a hummingbird visiting our backyard. I was delighted with the feather detail and colors. Lightly cropped, converted from raw with DXO.

The closeup photos of others encouraged me to see what I might capture. We have a bumper crop of bees visiting the backyard flowers. I used a 21mm extension tube to get closer, about 2 feet away at 300mm. Most likely they would have been a bit sharper if I had backed off from 300mm a little. Cropped some and raw processed with DXO.

Wow, I love both!  How far away were you for the hummingbird shots?  And what kind of focus mode do you use for both the hummingbirds and the bees?  Thanks!

It was a sunny day for a change -

To get there needs a 10 minute ferry trip

The Sky Tower needs an extra 10 minutes walking, but I shot this from a park bench in Devonport.

The song thrush posed for me 6 minutes walk from the park bench on the way to the super market.

The E-M10 IV had a firmware update specifically to improve focusing with fixed-focus lenses, but it helps a lot with my zoom lenses. Also, the exposure routine no longer gets confused when doing videos of a sunrise or a sunset.

Henry

Henry Falkner wrote:

It was a sunny day for a change -

To get there needs a 10 minute ferry trip

The Sky Tower needs an extra 10 minutes walking, but I shot this from a park bench in Devonport.

The song thrush posed for me 6 minutes walk from the park bench on the way to the super market.

The E-M10 IV had a firmware update specifically to improve focusing with fixed-focus lenses, but it helps a lot with my zoom lenses. Also, the exposure routine no longer gets confused when doing videos of a sunrise or a sunset.

Henry

I noticed you have both the EM-10 II and the EM-10 IV.  Does this lens focus as well with the EM-10 II at the long end and is the resolution as good?

Thanks, Henry!

OutsideTheMatrix wrote:

Ron Nash wrote:

Recently I was lucky to capture a hummingbird visiting our backyard. I was delighted with the feather detail and colors. Lightly cropped, converted from raw with DXO.

Wow, I love both! How far away were you for the hummingbird shots? And what kind of focus mode do you use for both the hummingbirds and the bees? Thanks!

Thanks! I was about 5 or 6 feet away from the hummingbird for those photos. I use CAF with the smallest rectangle, and try to place the rectangle on the birds head, and the bee's body. I use the Electronic Shutter (heart on SCP) with low speed burst mode.  I usually shoot around 3 shots each time I press the shutter.  I'm surprised how often I catch a bird blinking.

Ron Nash wrote:

OutsideTheMatrix wrote:

Ron Nash wrote:

Recently I was lucky to capture a hummingbird visiting our backyard. I was delighted with the feather detail and colors. Lightly cropped, converted from raw with DXO.

Wow, I love both! How far away were you for the hummingbird shots? And what kind of focus mode do you use for both the hummingbirds and the bees? Thanks!

Thanks! I was about 5 or 6 feet away from the hummingbird for those photos. I use CAF with the smallest rectangle, and try to place the rectangle on the birds head, and the bee's body. I use the Electronic Shutter (heart on SCP) with low speed burst mode. I usually shoot around 3 shots each time I press the shutter. I'm surprised how often I catch a bird blinking.

Thanks I love electronic shutter too!  On your camera how many fps is the low speed burst mode? On mine it's 4.3

TomFid wrote:

Ron Nash wrote:

OutsideTheMatrix wrote:

Ron Nash wrote:

Recently I was lucky to capture a hummingbird visiting our backyard. I was delighted with the feather detail and colors. Lightly cropped, converted from raw with DXO.

Wow, I love both! How far away were you for the hummingbird shots? And what kind of focus mode do you use for both the hummingbirds and the bees? Thanks!

Thanks! I was about 5 or 6 feet away from the hummingbird for those photos. I use CAF with the smallest rectangle, and try to place the rectangle on the birds head, and the bee's body. I use the Electronic Shutter (heart on SCP) with low speed burst mode. I usually shoot around 3 shots each time I press the shutter. I'm surprised how often I catch a bird blinking.

Great shots. Pretty good close focus is one of the advantages of the Oly 75-300. I also find it easier to maneuver around small twitchy creatures.

Yup I love that about this lens.  I just need to figure out how to get the most feather detail on birds lol.

The song thrush posed for me 6 minutes walk from the park bench on the way to the super market.

The E-M10 IV had a firmware update specifically to improve focusing with fixed-focus lenses, but it helps a lot with my zoom lenses. Also, the exposure routine no longer gets confused when doing videos of a sunrise or a sunset.

Henry

I noticed you have both the EM-10 II and the EM-10 IV. Does this lens focus as well with the EM-10 II at the long end and is the resolution as good?

Thanks, Henry!

Sorry for the long wait -

The E-M10 II has slightly less resolution than the E-M10 IV has.

The E-M10 II firmware is no longer being updated. I do not follow moving ships in the dark on video. Movement in the dark plus the ship lights confuse the E-M10 II.

The E-M10 IV has cluster focus (works on the whole screen area) since its release, and it got a firmware update on February 28th 2022, aimed to improve focus with single focal length lenses. The result is, the Mark IV recaptures focus at night while zooming. By day, temporary loss of focus while zooming on video is hardly noticed.

This applies to my 40-150, 14-150 II and 75-300 II lenses I have. Here is a wax eye bird reluctantly posing for me on the E-M10 IV with 75-300 II lens yesterday -

I can work with the E-M10 II without frustrating Sandra when I fumble with the 3-level-deep custom menus. The super-control panel on the E-M10 II largely bypasses the custom menu settings.

But the E-M10 IV does not lead me up the garden path in the first place.

Henry

It is a lovely lens, especially in good light.

Sonyshine wrote:

It is a lovely lens, especially in good light.

Wow excellent feather detail, even at ISO 1250! Did you process all these from RAW with OW or are these all Superfine JPG? Also, how far were they from the camera (especially that woodpecker!) and what focusing method did you use, S-AF+MF? Did you shoot these with electronic shutter? What's the highest ISO you would use to maintain high feather or fur detail? Anything under ISO 6400?

I see you have the 45mm f/1.8 lens, I was thinking of getting that for astrophotography, would that be good for it?  (Mostly shooting meteor showers and star clusters).  Is the resolution of that lens similar to the 75-300 lens at 75mm?  Thanks!

OutsideTheMatrix wrote:

I see you have the 45mm f/1.8 lens, I was thinking of getting that for astrophotography, would that be good for it?

probably, not good due to field curvature

sigma 56/1.4 would be much better choice

Wow excellent feather detail, even at ISO 1250! Did you process all these from RAW with OW or are these all Superfine JPG?

I shoot jpeg mainly, just process in Apple Photos.

Also, how far were they from the camera (especially that woodpecker!) and what focusing method did you use, S-AF+MF? About 5Metres, usually use C-AF in a burst

Did you shoot these with electronic shutter? Yes. Nice and quiet in a bird hide

What's the highest ISO you would use to maintain high feather or fur detail? Anything under ISO 6400? I try and stay below 1600

I see you have the 45mm f/1.8 lens, I was thinking of getting that for astrophotography, would that be good for it? (Mostly shooting meteor showers and star clusters). Is the resolution of that lens similar to the 75-300 lens at 75mm? Thanks! Yes - good resolution but not sure about using it for astro.

Here are a few more taken in my garden in the winter when light was poor.

Ignore the EXIF that says Panasonic, I have never owned that camera. It was taken with the EM10 mk 11 - Apple Photos quite often gets the EXIF wrong.

SonyX wrote:

OutsideTheMatrix wrote:

I see you have the 45mm f/1.8 lens, I was thinking of getting that for astrophotography, would that be good for it?

probably, not good due to field curvature

sigma 56/1.4 would be much better choice

Thanks, this is exactly what I was wondering about!

Does the 75mm f/1.8 have this same field curvature issue or would it be a better match?

I have read that wide open the 75-300 resolves as much detail as either the 75mm f/1.8 or the 45mm f/1.8 (adjusted for focal length of course) but the two f/1.8 primes need to be stopped down to either f/2.8 or f/4 to counteract false color aberrations (very important for astrophotography) while the 75-300 doesn't have this issue since its maximum focal ratio wide open is f/4.8?  Does the Sigma need to be stopped down a bit too, or is it fine wide open?  Thanks again!

tomhongkong wrote:

Camrarat wrote:

tomhongkong wrote:

GinaRothfels wrote:

Henry Falkner wrote:

I am using the 75-300 with both my E-M10 II and E-M10 IV on a tripod mount using the camera body fixture. The slightest wind causes the shakes at the 300mm end.

I have been unable to find a bracket that fits on the body at one end and a lens support at the other to suit the 75-300 lens in particular.

There are such mounts for other long lenses, some even come with a built-in tripod mount.

I dread the day when I find I can't stop shaking. It will be the end of my photography.

Henry

I hate using a tripod and certainly can't see myself using one for shooting birds, so I guess this isn't the lens for me.

Gina

I am 82 and not nearly as steady as I used to be, and I am sure not as steady as you! The shots below were taken hand held with the 75-300 on my EM5iii in poor light with back lighting. I did everything wrong according to the pundits, the exposure correction for the backlight reduced my shutter speed even below what I would normally use. to 1/250! I used iso 640, I could have upped it a bit to shorten shutter speed. I used f6.7....I personally don't find a great benefit of stopping down to 7.1 but I sometimes do. I used the full 300mm.

All around me were the local photographer gang, with big DSLR's and HUGE lenses. I felt very inferior, but the results are fine for me.

So, first the SOOC shot to give you the context and the distance to the bird

Then, the next image is ready for printing. I find I can crop to 2000 on the long side and get decent prints on my Epson L4160, so this is cropped. It was opened in PL5, I upped the exposure a bit and added some micro contrast. I exported in Deep Prime normal setting, but PL5 sharpening was turned off. I sharpened with Topaz Sharpening. (Takes longer to type than do!). Any suggestions for improvement to my workflow would be gratefully received. I am still experimenting with Topaz.

I guess the message is to persevere, the 75-300 can produce acceptable output (for my needs) even in bad conditions. Initially I was disappointed with the results I was getting. If I had to take a tripod it would spoil the enjoyment of walking light with this set up

Good luck

tom

So very clear! Question—do you think the same shot would be possible handheld with the e-m10iv rather than the e-m5? I think the em10 has a few stops worse ibis, iirc. Im trying to decide which cam to get. Have you used the em10 as well?

(Coming from a canon t2i, without enough reach and too much weight/bulk in my current setup.)

Sorry, I only just noticed your reply. I had an EM10ii and really liked it, one of the nicest cameras I have had (given to my Grandson) and think that based on its performance (its 16 Mp) on static subjects like this you would be very happy with EM10iv. I think there are a few things which got deleted from EM10ii by Olympus in going to Mkiii, and some of those got put back in Mk iv. I don't think that there would be any effect on this shot, though. The benefit of the EM5iii is that having PDAF the focus is better for moving subjects when using C-AF.

I hope this helps a bit

tom

I was considering getting a second EM10 Mark 2 as back up to my primary since that one gets so much use!  Even though I always use it in electronic shutter mode do you still think it would be a good idea to get a second one?  I don't think the electronic shutter ever experiences any wear (knock on wood of course.)  I have an extra lens I could put on the back up if I get it.

netHead wrote:

I rented one and found that it was much slower to focus than my Panny 100-300 but it was meaningfully lighter (about 425g vs about 525g).

If you're not trying to focus on moving it was okay. Olympus really needs to make something like the current Fuji 75-300, though. A lightweight reasonably priced lens in this telephoto range that supported dual IS and focused quickly would be a big asset to the system.

at the wide end, the 75-300 is much sharper and resolves detail better than the 100-300 from Panny does though.  They are about equal on the long end.  At the wide end the 75-300 rivals the 75mm f/1.8 and 45mm f/1.8 on resolution tests.