Question for Olympus users

Gareth_R

Gareth_R

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Gareth
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I have been waiting for several months for Nikon to supply a 500mm VR lens, but there is still no sign of it's availability. The latest comment from Nikon UK is that all of the pro glass being produced now is going straight to Beijing.

I have been considering "plan B" which is a Canon 500 f4 pemanently atatched to a canon body & using my Nikon equipment for everything else. The trouble is that I'm not keen on the 40D & while the 1dMk3 may be a contender, I'm a bit worried about the Mk3 autofocus problems.

So..... "plan C" could be an Olympus e3 with a sigma 300 - 800 lens.
I don't want to use that lens with my Nikon body becase it has no image stabiliser, but the Olympus e3 has IS in the body.
Your thoughts on "plan c" would be appreciated.
 
No experience of the lens you mention, but i do have an E-3, 50-200 and the 1.4xTC, as does theMusicMan (Who also has the Bigma 50-500mm)

The IS on the E-3 is top notch, delivering up to 5 stops compensation. However as it in a sensor based solution the image is not stabalised in the viewfinder (no biggie to me, but may matter to some).

With the 50-200 and the 1.4, due to the 2x FOV crop i get the equiv of 560mm at F4.9 and hand holding at that length at 1/80 is not a problem. The 1600mm Equiv of the lens in question may be a little too much for handholding though :shrug:

I will drop John a PM and alert him of this thread :)
 
Hi Gareth

Chilli prompted me re this thread so here's some of my thoughts.

I have the E-3, together with the Oly EC14, Oly 70-300mm and the Sigma Bigma 50-500mm lens. I must say that I am delighted with the (relatively cheap) Oly 70-300mm lens, and have managed some shots that I very much like. Some of these can be seen on my gallery - link here;

http://www.reflectingme.com/p28339871/

All those shots were taken with the E3, Oly 70-300mm and EC14 - all handheld too, no tripod or monopod used.

Although I have the Bigma, I haven't really had a chance to give it a good thrashing and testing out, though I must say that the first few shots I have taken with it - I am very pleased with. I have been way too busy with work and find myself away from home during the week and as I don't carry the bigma or the 70-300 with me (for obvious reasons) is the reason I haven't had chance to test it out and start to get used to it.

The 70-300 though is a superb lens, and is quite capable of some stunning results - even when coupled with the EC14. I don't own the EC20, so am not aware of how the lens performs with the x2.

As for the E3's IS... well... what can I say... it is awesome and works brilliantly. There are many shots on my gallery that are handheld beyond 0.5 seconds... take a look at the Paddington Station pics. You may also want to view the Gordon Giltrap concert pics where I used IS1600 and IS3200, handheld, with the kit 40-150mm lens... it's no D3 but by gosh it's capable of awesome results in low light.

This image was taken handheld at 1/30th, f5.5 @ISO3200

p356363909.jpg


Feel free to contact me or Chilli for more info if we can be of help. I'm no expert, but am an avid Oly user and am happy to share what I know et al.

John
 
Thank you both for the feedback. It looks like "plan c" could be an option if Nikon fail to come up with the goods soon.
 
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