Top Dog If You're Using a OM-1

Messier Object wrote:

can you use it with the 1.4x, and if so how well does it perform ?

the 150-400mm f/4.5 has the 1.25x taking it to 500mm, but that's a super expensive lens in the MFT lineup beyond the $ reach of most casual wildlife shooters

the 100-400mm with a 1.4x teleconverter would offer 500mm on a budget

Peter

There are many folks that chose to go the route of a TC on the 100-400. Personally 800mm eq. reach is plenty for my use. But I do hear and have seen examples of the 1.4x on the 100-400 with NO compromise in sharpness. Just be in decent light and you're all set.

RSTP14 wrote:

Your conclusion is consistent with the initial reviews I've read when the lens first came out, but more recently there has been an increase in popularity of the Panasonic with the popular belief that it is the better of the two, not sure why that is though. I own neither, it is just an observation and I can't speak from personal experience.

I know so many of the reviews of that PL lens mentioned considerable copy variation especially where the zoom ring tightness was concerned. Sharpness wise I've seen evidence there is some copy variation so who knows. The size is certainly attractive, but in the end for my personal taste I'm more concerned about getting most of my shots illustrating ideal sharp images that demand the least post processing. The Oly fit that bill in this instance. I suppose it might be possible if I had the luxury of living near a dealer who was willing to drag out several copies of that lens for evaluation I might get a "good one". Who knows. In this case going back and forth to B&H dealing with multiple copies simply was not in my agenda. The Oly nailed it first time out so I'm not going to move beyond this.

I have used the O100-400mm lens with the TC1.4. In fact the availability of this combination was one of the reasons for buying the lens. However, after buying the lens last December the TC was out of stock – new and used – until mid January as I recall so I didn't use it too much. This lens needs light and with the TC needs a really bright winter day ...no clouds and no leaves to cast a shadow … I personally cannot use this lens at less than 1/800sec very often without introducing some shake and with the TC I need a bit more shutter speed … I even need considerable shutter speed when using the TC off a monopod, which restricts my field of view. And I never have used it with a tripod. After about a month of using it with the TC, which allowed me to work further away from sitting birds to their relief and to reach higher into trees, I decided it was more trouble than I needed most the time and moved closer to my sitting birds and took it off and haven't used it since...... I will use the TC again next winter if I get back to the Cranes at the local Wildlife Refuge.

I am not terribly critical about sharpness or noise but for my purposes I saw no difference in quality when using the TC at similar exposures. However, using the TC often introduces the need for higher ISO so I suspect close inspection would lead to finding some loss of detail …

The picture has almost no crop but has been PP and thus probably has some Neat Image noise reduction and maybe minor sharpening... It's been a while and I don't keep the detailed file more than a couple months after which these picture files get sent to backup drives ….

I find that the 12-100 and 100-400mm lenses have pretty much retired most other lenses for daytime adventures and where I don't have to carry them too far but I occasionally revert back to the old 50-200mm lens to counter the shade in my yard in summer. ...

WhyNot wrote:

I have used the O100-400mm lens with the TC1.4. In fact the availability of this combination was one of the reasons for buying the lens. However, after buying the lens last December the TC was out of stock – new and used – until mid January as I recall so I didn't use it too much. This lens needs light and with the TC needs a really bright winter day ...no clouds and no leaves to cast a shadow … I personally cannot use this lens at less than 1/800sec very often without introducing some shake and with the TC I need a bit more shutter speed … I even need considerable shutter speed when using the TC off a monopod, which restricts my field of view. And I never have used it with a tripod. After about a month of using it with the TC, which allowed me to work further away from sitting birds to their relief and to reach higher into trees, I decided it was more trouble than I needed most the time and moved closer to my sitting birds and took it off and haven't used it since...... I will use the TC again next winter if I get back to the Cranes at the local Wildlife Refuge.

I am not terribly critical about sharpness or noise but for my purposes I saw no difference in quality when using the TC at similar exposures. However, using the TC often introduces the need for higher ISO so I suspect close inspection would lead to finding some loss of detail …

The picture has almost no crop but has been PP and thus probably has some Neat Image noise reduction and maybe minor sharpening... It's been a while and I don't keep the detailed file more than a couple months after which these picture files get sent to backup drives ….

I find that the 12-100 and 100-400mm lenses have pretty much retired most other lenses for daytime adventures and where I don't have to carry them too far but I occasionally revert back to the old 50-200mm lens to counter the shade in my yard in summer. ...

I would agree with a friend of mine who happens to be an engineer. His comment to me, regarding the annoying effects of atmospherics was to test a lens at it's long distance but in a controlled environment. So I've done so in my home which is an open design where from my office it's a long way across the living room and kitchen to the end of the dining room. I handheld the Olympus 100-500 in embarrassingly low light (it's not supposed to be subjected to such low light) from one end to the other at some photographs on a cabinet and some objects with very small print at the full 400 extension. Low and behold it can consistently be handheld with just the OM-1's IBIS at 1/15th a second rendering flawless sharp images in absurdly low light. Yeah I know it's not the same as outdoors, but it simply allows one to remove weather as a reason it might not get a shot. It's not the lenses fault. So I too need to adjust my expectations regarding outdoor shoots at long distance and temper my disdain for shots that may not be ideal under all weather conditions. It's just a reality.