Anyone use olympus or Panasonic for wildlife

the black fox

the black fox

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Jeff
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been looking at both brands systems of micro two thirds recently ,and wondering if they are any good for wildlife /b.i.f etc . Don’t want to jump in and find it not suitable , budget is very limited and overall weight is a deciding factor but thinking along the lines of up to 300mm zoom or a 400 if funds allow ,and fast a/f and fast burst rate .
 
I'm in a similar position to Jeff and having looked at the link you posted Wez, I'd say it looks like a good option.
 
Wonder if he’s using a mk1 or mkii body , will be going to my local lce shop later to play
 
Plenty of bird photographers here though I'm not one of them I shoot Olympus M43
http://e-group.uk.net/forum/index.php

The E-M1 has better autofocus than most of the Olympus bodies - the Mkii version is supposed to be head and shoulders above the Mki.
The Mki is now very cheap used
No idea about Panasonic bodies.
 
cheers good useful link .
 
the black fox said:
Wonder if he’s using a mk1 or mkii body , will be going to my local lce shop later to play
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If you scroll down to the tags he has them tagged as EM1MK1
 
Out of interest the one wezza linked to go to his first page and see what he could do with a Nikon P610 bridge camer;)
 
Ive moved over to Olympus with the Em1ii. I also have a Nikon D500.
For the past few months Ive locked the D500 away and made myself use the Olympus in order to get used to the system and eventually sell the Nikon gear.
For birds in flight there is little doubt that the D500 gave me more keepers. There has been much written about the focus tracking on the Em1ii, I think it would be fair to say that it isnt particularly good in comparison to the Nikon and I generally dont use it unless shooting against a clear sky.
Weight wise....the D500 and 80-400 that I have are definately heavyweight compared to Oly kit. However the Oly 300f4 is no lighweight either.
In fact the D500 and newer Nikkor 300 lens are lighter together than the Oly Em1ii and Oly 300 mm f4.
The Olympus IBIS is amazing and Sync IS (where the in body stabilisation works with that of the 300mm lens) is amazing too.
Image quality is of course slightly less with M43 as you would expect in comparison to full frame or APS-C, but not so much that it causes me any issues as I rarely print massive prints,
Overall Im pleased I made the move (though still cant bring myself to sell the D500) :)
 
I've recently purchased an Olympus Em1ii and 300mm lens for wildlife and birds - many because I couldn't afford the price or weight of a FF set up. I'm quite impressed with it, but it's early days. I don't think it's as good as my Canon 5D4, but then I didn't expect it to be.

One thing I would say, is that the body is very important. I took the EM1ii and EM5ii to Marwell Zoo on Sunday. The EM5ii just doesn't cut it with speed of focus and tracking.

I'm sure there are plenty of pics on Flickr, but I was impressed when I used the tracking on the EM1ii for birds in flight. I still haven't set it up for Back Button Focusing- so still finding my way around it at the moment. I'll see if I can post a pic when I'm on my proper computer.
 
I went to a talk recently at my local camera club - David Tipling was the speaker, a very successful wildlife photographer with many books and awards to his name. I was talking to him during the interval as he mentioned in his talk that he had recently been loaned by Olympus an EM1 mkii and lenses including the Olympus 300mm f4 Pro lens with 1.4x extender. He said he was reluctant at first to use the kit but when he did he was very impressed with it...his words. So much so that he is considering changing from his proven Nikon system that he has used for several years. Some of the pictures he featured in his talk were taken with this combination and I have to say, they were really very good indeed. I thought this was quite an endorsement coming from a guy whose quality work speaks for itself.
 
If you compare in absolute terms of AF and IQ then m43 simply can’t win (yet) but I look at it in a different way: would I have been able to take 7-800mm (FFE) in a small backpack on a road trip through Alaska? No, so in those instances m43 was infinitely better as I actually had the super long reach with me which enabled me to get shots I wouldn’t have been able to get with DSLR kit I was prepared to carry.
 
I have the Olympus OMD MK II and 300 f4 Pro and it's a very impressive setup for birds ,it does need good light to keep below ISO 800 or noise will show in plain sky .
SAF is spot on CAF can be a little hit and miss but generally it will get you some sharp shots from a burst but most cameras seem to be like that anyway .

The Silent electronic shutter really helps with wiled life I use it all the time .

One thing you have to be on the ball with is always be ready to wake the camera up, a jab of any button will do this other wise the VF will be Blacked out you can't leave it on as it will drain the battery .
so you must try and predicted what is going on that way the camera will be ready .
Rob.


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I've been trying to use mine for wildlife over the past 12-18 months, I have the EM1 Mk2 and the 300Pro. I am relatively happy with what I have captured so far, but its all new to me as I never tried wildlife and have not come from another system so I cant compare. As said above it does need good light as it does suffer when you have to pump up the ISO.

If you take a look at my instagram you will see what I have managed to capture, any questions let me know
 
Less cropping closes the gap significantly in terms of image quality between M43 and APSC [which is what a lot of wildlife shooters tend to use] - In decent light, hardly any noticeable difference, in dim light, well you will get grainier shots but you're still getting more reach for a lot cheaper.
 
well after a lot of hummmmmming and harrrrrrring today ,I bit the bullet and have gone for G80 with kit lens and a 100-400 Lumix lens ,obviously working within budget constrictions but realising that the lens will probably be with me far longer than the camera body
 
the black fox said:
well after a lot of hummmmmming and harrrrrrring today ,I bit the bullet and have gone for G80 with kit lens and a 100-400 Lumix lens ,obviously working within budget constrictions but realising that the lens will probably be with me far longer than the camera body
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You could be in for a steep learning curve if you want BIF :D but with your experianceyou well be ok.

These are my basic settings on the G80 as a possible starting point for you to work round.

Shutter priority, shutter control on the back wheel
Auto iso
Expsure compensation on the front wheel
This means shooting wide open but the 100-400 is not bad at that.

Burst rate medium
Shutter AF on
Pinpoint AF time mid
Focus/release priority
AF sensitivity +2 (there has been debate about this)
Constant preview off
Auto review off

I only use single center point focus, unless its fast moving small birds against a clear sky.
 
the black fox said:
well after a lot of hummmmmming and harrrrrrring today ,I bit the bullet and have gone for G80 with kit lens and a 100-400 Lumix lens ,obviously working within budget constrictions but realising that the lens will probably be with me far longer than the camera body
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That's what I use.
Switched from D7000 and sigma 150-600c.
No concerns or issues here.
 
thanks for those settings mike .only just unpacked it battery on charge ,mine and the cameras been a hectic few days
 
mickledore said:
So has the big Canon gear all gone now?
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Yes frank the only thing left is the sigma 150mm o.s macro ,which I shall be advertising as time permits .couple of possibly useful other Knick knacks in the drawers .been a hectic couple of days so need time to reflect now
 
the black fox said:
Yes frank the only thing left is the sigma 150mm o.s macro ,which I shall be advertising as time permits .couple of possibly useful other Knick knacks in the drawers .been a hectic couple of days so need time to reflect now
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It may be worth not selling the 150 straight away, i use a Nikon fit Sigma 105 via a dumb adapter on my G80 and EM10MK11,you can stop it down and use focus peaking its not like optical viewfinders.

Something you may realise but if your chaseing birds :eek: and struggle check what FL your lens is on,if its 400mm you have reduced your FOV to 800mm
 
Explain a “dumb” adaptor please mike
 
It has no electric contacts and acts as a spacer to make up for the lack of mirror box, you would have to use the Panasonic body stabilisation and manual focus via focus peaking, the thing that struck me was with you having such a great macro lens it may be worth the cost of an adapter before selling it.

Not sure which is the right Canon one.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...adapter.TRS0&_nkw=canon+m4/3+adapter&_sacat=0
 
I held on to my sigma 150mm 2.8 OS when I switched from Nikon FX to Fuji, but it's so heavy it becomes uncomfortable fast when used on the smaller bodies. There's good reason that lens comes with a tripod collar.

I'm using a G80 now and would not recommend the Sigma 150mm for it. I would sell it and buy an Olympus 60mm macro, or adapt a much lighter lens such as a Nikon 105, which is at least half the weight and will balance better on mirrorless bodies.
 
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mike as Keith says the sigma is to heavy it weighs more than the camera and 100-400
 
the black fox said:
mike as Keith says the sigma is to heavy it weighs more than the camera and 100-400
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Don't know if you fancy the legacy approach?
I fancied a macro on the X-T2. Didn't fancy either the weight or price of the Fuji 80mm so I bought a Tamron Adaptall 90mm macro lens. Cost me less than £100. Needs an adaptor but they are easy to get. Light and pin sharp. Only manual focus and no exif info transmitted but I can live with that. Seems more in keeping with the mirrorless concept. The big lenses just seem to be negating the advantages I sought when ditching the Canon full frame stuff.

Lots of similar lenses around on a certain auction site, and they sometimes crop up on here.
 
Bebop said:
Which rig did you get? Is this with a macro lens?

Edit - just clicked on Flickr :rolleyes: :) 100-400 Panasonic.
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yep hand held no flash and I dont fully understand the camera settings yet .but the potential is there
 
Aye, trial and error for the most part, that's how I learn any camera's layout, screw the manual :D
 
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