biglouis
Well-known member
Christmas came early for me, or rather I decided it would be foolish not to take advantage of 'winter discounts' here in the UK on Oly cameras and lenses, to trade in my Fuji X-H2S, XF100-400 and TC1.4x in for an Olympus OM-1 and Olympus 100-400f5-f6.3 zoom lens. The X-H2S/100-400 was my main birding combo and for various reasons I was dissatisfied with it. Firstly, the hype surrounding the X-H2S never really convinced me in reality. I kept on expecting it to do a lot better in terms of Bird AF detection and C-AF than it actually did in practice, or at least in my case. I'm not exactly inexperienced when it comes to photography in general and wildlife in particular, so I don't think it is entirely down to user error. Secondly, the XF100-400 is recognised as being weak at the long end and in use I always had to stop down by at 1-2 stops to get good centre sharpness. Yes, it could be I have had a bad lens all these years but other complain about the same issue. On top of that I was riven with indecision about the XF150-600 based on the performance of the X-H2S and the additional weight and very dark long end.
It is surprising how many pros and enthusiasts swear by the Oly OM-1 and 100-400, 300f4 and 150-400. So, I decided to check it out at my local camera store and just picking up the combo felt like the equivalent of putting on a comfy pair of slippers. The shape of the body and heft of the lens felt just right so impetuous as it may seem I decided to go for it trading in the Fuji kit so that the difference was affordable (plus the aforementioned cashback from Ooly which will make a contribution to reducing the difference I had to pay).
Unfortunately, given the time of the year I have had very little opportunity other than to use the camera to photograph birds in my back garden. I can't wait to give it a good thrashing at a reserve where there may be a greater variety than just common song birds. But the ability to tune the camera to my needs and pop back and forth inside to consult the manual and tipsters on YouTube is convenient.
None of the photos of birds below are particularly exciting but I have been pleasantly surprised at the ability to create usable results at high iso (6400-12800, it really is that dim here in the UK at present!), where I actually thought I would see a real reduction in usability over the Fuji. In fact, there is none. On top of that, the bird subject detection and in fact the bird eye subject detection is in a totally different league to the Fuji. In fact the AF is much better all round (there was a very annoying problem with the Fuji that if you left IBIS on and shot at high speeds it actually introduced shake, none of that is apparent with the Oly lens). Another very pleasing difference is that the Oly 100-400 is very sharp, even wide open. I used to shoot with the XF100-400+TC1.4x which would darken down to f8. In fact, I would have to shoot at f9 to sharpen up the central area. Although I have lost 40mm equivalent at the long end I have a brighter lens at f6.3 which appears not need any further stopping down.
The Oly has so many customisable features I feel a bit intimidated. But as this is pretty much a dedicated bird photography set up it was fairly easy to set up the four customisable mode setting for my uses. The only negative thing I have noticed is that the colour science of the RAWs is not as good as the Fuji, or it may just be I have not understood how to modify the settings quite yet (what do other Oly users think about the colour science?). In one of the photos below the grass was very green, the leaf was very yellow and the stone has in places very purple. I just desaturated the photo to my taste.
Anyhoo, so far, so good and no major regrets. I will keep the rest of my Fuji kit (for now) for my small amount of pro-photography but once the current project I am working on is finished in 2024 I may well dispose of the rest of it.
Here are some early samples from the OM-1 and 100-400 (except the first one taken on my smartphone).
It is surprising how many pros and enthusiasts swear by the Oly OM-1 and 100-400, 300f4 and 150-400. So, I decided to check it out at my local camera store and just picking up the combo felt like the equivalent of putting on a comfy pair of slippers. The shape of the body and heft of the lens felt just right so impetuous as it may seem I decided to go for it trading in the Fuji kit so that the difference was affordable (plus the aforementioned cashback from Ooly which will make a contribution to reducing the difference I had to pay).
Unfortunately, given the time of the year I have had very little opportunity other than to use the camera to photograph birds in my back garden. I can't wait to give it a good thrashing at a reserve where there may be a greater variety than just common song birds. But the ability to tune the camera to my needs and pop back and forth inside to consult the manual and tipsters on YouTube is convenient.
None of the photos of birds below are particularly exciting but I have been pleasantly surprised at the ability to create usable results at high iso (6400-12800, it really is that dim here in the UK at present!), where I actually thought I would see a real reduction in usability over the Fuji. In fact, there is none. On top of that, the bird subject detection and in fact the bird eye subject detection is in a totally different league to the Fuji. In fact the AF is much better all round (there was a very annoying problem with the Fuji that if you left IBIS on and shot at high speeds it actually introduced shake, none of that is apparent with the Oly lens). Another very pleasing difference is that the Oly 100-400 is very sharp, even wide open. I used to shoot with the XF100-400+TC1.4x which would darken down to f8. In fact, I would have to shoot at f9 to sharpen up the central area. Although I have lost 40mm equivalent at the long end I have a brighter lens at f6.3 which appears not need any further stopping down.
The Oly has so many customisable features I feel a bit intimidated. But as this is pretty much a dedicated bird photography set up it was fairly easy to set up the four customisable mode setting for my uses. The only negative thing I have noticed is that the colour science of the RAWs is not as good as the Fuji, or it may just be I have not understood how to modify the settings quite yet (what do other Oly users think about the colour science?). In one of the photos below the grass was very green, the leaf was very yellow and the stone has in places very purple. I just desaturated the photo to my taste.
Anyhoo, so far, so good and no major regrets. I will keep the rest of my Fuji kit (for now) for my small amount of pro-photography but once the current project I am working on is finished in 2024 I may well dispose of the rest of it.
Here are some early samples from the OM-1 and 100-400 (except the first one taken on my smartphone).
