faunagraphy
Active member
Looks like it's sold already! Not that I could have afforded it.
Thank you, geoawelch!Apparently, a used 150-400 recently sold for $8000 on Fred Miranda. The price for a new one is $7500 ... $500 cheaper.
Is anyone exploring the Olympus OM-1 for birds and wildlife?
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Thank you, geoawelch!Apparently, a used 150-400 recently sold for $8000 on Fred Miranda. The price for a new one is $7500 ... $500 cheaper.
StefanSC
Well-known member
But can you put a price on having it now instead of next year?
faunagraphy
Active member
Honestly, I haven't felt the need for it. My 300mm Pro + MC-20 gives me 1200mm of reach at f8. I wouldn't use the 2x TC with the 150-400, so with the 1.4x TC + 1.25x built-in TC, I'd get 1400mm equivalent reach at f8. For my needs, getting an extra 200mm beyond 1200mm (16.7%) won't be all that groundbreaking. It's nice to incorporate a bit of the bird's environment in the photo.
As for the 150-300mm range, I recently sold my Panasonic Leica 50-200 because I never used it. I've found that I use a minimum of 300mm for telephoto and 50-130mm for environmental wildlife shots. On safari I want to have two bodies with me. For now, I want to see what focal range I miss if I only carry the 300mm with me. I might decide that the 12-100mm Pro works best as a second lens ... in which case it would make more sense to get that, rather than the 150-400 which I would almost exclusively use like a prime at the long end.
Who knows, perhaps I will end up feeling like I did after purchasing my 300mm Pro ... I put off trying it for years because I used my Canon FD 300mm f2.8L with Olympus TCs and was perfectly happy with the results, plus had my Nikon 200-500 or Olympus 50-200 SWD for AF. After purchasing the 300mm Pro (the 200-500 was too heavy with not enough reach), I regretted going all those years without it.
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@santiago I haven't set up my OM-1 yet, so I cannot yet report my experience with it. I stepped out yesterday to shoot kestrels but used my E-M1ii instead (also found a Wilson's snipe, which was a nice surprise). I'm sure that Bird AI would have helped but nothing that warranted state-of-the-art autofocus.
dwschmidt
New member
I saw yesterday that Robert’s Camera had in stock the OM-1 kit with 12-40 Pro II lens. I will be totally new to MFT, so want the lens also, so I ordered one yesterday and just got confirmation it will ship out today. As of a few minutes ago, they still show the kit with lens in stock. (Body only showing as backordered.) I’m happy I got lucky and found what I wanted.
Duane.
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santiago
Active member
Most kind of you @faunagraphy, of course, it does seem important to set up properly and get to know the camera before you venture first impressions...
santiago
Active member
@faunagraphy, do kindly share with us your thoughts on the OM-1 when you have a chance please?!
Sorry I'm not faunography, but I have been using the Om-1 for several weeks now and I will share that it works just fine in the field. The bird focus is superior to that of the previous flagship Om-d-EM1x. The image quality seems the same to me, which is not a complaint. The electronic viewfinder is MUCH better. Battery life is good, which was important since when I left for the trip I had no spare batteries, so one battery had to last half a day at a time (I would recharge during the midday lull).
The menu system takes a bit of getting used to for people who have used previous Olympus cameras, but in the end it is simpler. I use it pretty much with the 150-400mm zoom, and this makes for a dynamite, portable bird photography setup. I carry the 1.4x and 2x teleconverters with me. I use the 1.4x regularly, but almost never have used the 2x with the 150-400mm zoom. Having a zoom setup is very useful when encountering birds at different distances and also the occasional "flock" shot that requires dialing back the zoom.
I just got back from Galveston/High Island, where I used the OM-1/150-400mm combo almost exclusively. I carry the 300mm f4 with me "just in case," but I had no real need for this lens on this trip. I will post separately about some of my experiences on this trip (some having to do with what I think were dodgy bird photography ethics I encountered), but overall my gear did the job. I was a bit surprised, actually, that I did not see ANY other photographers at High Island using Olympus. There were two people (a married couple) using older Olympus gear), but no one else using the Om-1 or the 150-400mm zoom. As usual, the seemingly standard rig for birders-with-a-camera at High Island was a Canon camera and the 100-400mm zoom, with a few 100-500mm zooms.
I don't like posting photos in this forum as they always look weird and subpar to me (probably something I am doing wrong), but here is a link to my Flickr page where there are examples of photos I have taken with the Olympus rig(s) in recent months:
The menu system takes a bit of getting used to for people who have used previous Olympus cameras, but in the end it is simpler. I use it pretty much with the 150-400mm zoom, and this makes for a dynamite, portable bird photography setup. I carry the 1.4x and 2x teleconverters with me. I use the 1.4x regularly, but almost never have used the 2x with the 150-400mm zoom. Having a zoom setup is very useful when encountering birds at different distances and also the occasional "flock" shot that requires dialing back the zoom.
I just got back from Galveston/High Island, where I used the OM-1/150-400mm combo almost exclusively. I carry the 300mm f4 with me "just in case," but I had no real need for this lens on this trip. I will post separately about some of my experiences on this trip (some having to do with what I think were dodgy bird photography ethics I encountered), but overall my gear did the job. I was a bit surprised, actually, that I did not see ANY other photographers at High Island using Olympus. There were two people (a married couple) using older Olympus gear), but no one else using the Om-1 or the 150-400mm zoom. As usual, the seemingly standard rig for birders-with-a-camera at High Island was a Canon camera and the 100-400mm zoom, with a few 100-500mm zooms.
I don't like posting photos in this forum as they always look weird and subpar to me (probably something I am doing wrong), but here is a link to my Flickr page where there are examples of photos I have taken with the Olympus rig(s) in recent months:
santiago
Active member
Thank you very much @GrandNagus50, most helpful. Had a look at your Flickr page, some wonderful pictures there, all invariably with tack sharp eyes!
I am about to make the move from a FF (Nikon D850) but I am a bit worried about not having the "cropping safety net" with the OM-1... Other than that, for my narrow type of photography, it does seem the OM-1 should be a good tool
I am about to make the move from a FF (Nikon D850) but I am a bit worried about not having the "cropping safety net" with the OM-1... Other than that, for my narrow type of photography, it does seem the OM-1 should be a good tool
fsi22
Member
Inevitably you lose cropability but you gain more in fov. Add the 4/3 crop and you have about a 90MP vs 44MP on the A1, if you prefer 3/2 it’s about 68MP to 50MP.
If you can use that to your advantage, the loss won’t be an issue. If you can’t, I’d say it’s a dealbreaker.
I use lenses that get me the same fov in 3/2 crop on both the A1 and OM-1 and don’t have any issues. I use their respective aspect ratios unless cropping for composition.
santiago
Active member
Thank you very much again for the input, @fsi22!
Shooting with the A1 and 400mm, I had sometimes the impression that it took a bit to acquire focus, and often that time is enough so that a fast going away bird like the red grouse gets smaller in the frame. I have not shot with the OM-1 so I am not sure whether there will be some noticeable gain on that first focus acquisition. Having said that, In my case, with fast moving birds, it is often not the camera's fault but mainly the photographer's and in those cases it seems the A1 would give a bit more room.
My conclusion is that I need to test the OM-1 and that is my plan. The weight difference is crucial when you always need to shoot handheld and perhaps the focus acquisition also makes a difference. I might need to become a better photographer to rely less on cropping at the computer!
fsi22
Member
Yeah, the A1 is slower than the OM at picking up birds initially.
It balances out once it has focus.
I bought a Dot Sight recently and using it with the OM is giving me better results than with the A1, because it picks up quicker and from a further distance.
Yeah, testing an OM is a good idea.
santiago
Active member
Have also included a Olympus EE-1 Dot Sight to test... it does seem very handy. I understood it does not work on the A1 mount, is that right? Also presumably it would not work with a big prime like the FE 600mm or perhaps even the 400mm. Have you tested it at all on the A1 though?
fsi22
Member
It works as in you can use it as a sight on the A1 , but it doesn’t go all the way in. The A1 has pins that stick out about 3mm but it can still be used.
I tend to need the camera to my eye and manually pull focus, the OM I hardly pull focus, I just try to keep the bird in the viewfinder.
OM picks up initially quicker and doesn’t jump to background like the A1, if I start out trying to AF too close, so I need my eye in the vf alot more than on the OM.
Against a clear sky, I think it will work well on the A1 but add messy backgrounds and foilage and it didn’t work for me.
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faunagraphy
Active member
@GrandNagus50 and @fsi22, thank you for sharing your experience, as always!
Hi @santiago,
Last Friday and Saturday, I finally stepped out with my new OM-1, a week after receiving it. After returning home on Friday, I transferred my photos to the computer and found that Windows 10 cannot yet read the OM-1's RAW files. I shoot RAW and process my images in Luminar 4, DxO PhotoLab and Topaz Sharpen AI, as appropriate. This time, I downloaded OM Workspace, which you can get for free by entering your Olympus camera's serial number. I haven't liked the software much - I find it clunky and confusing to use. However I've used it to do some JPEG exports using default settings. Then I used PhotoScape X (a basic but quick processing application) to resize these JPEGs to 1200 px so that I can post them here.
Long story short, I haven't transferred my photos from Saturday yet (which includes swallows-over-water shots), and the ones you see here were processed twice as JPEGs using rudimentary applications, so take that for what it's worth in terms of IQ.
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Now, on to my experience ... I will mention a few things that I haven't seen mentioned in any of the reviews, and which therefore came as a surprise to me.
Starting with unboxing: some of the buttons have a soft, "spongy" feel to them, rather than "clicky". This is something I loved in my old E-M5 and missed in more advanced E-M1 cameras, so that made me happy. Secondly, everyone's mentioned how nice the EVF is, but what surprised and delighted me is how nice the eyecup is. Olympus cameras have always, invariably had terrible, plasticky eyecups. They sell deeper, rubbery eyecups which you have to buy separately (I've also used Nikon eyecups in the past) but this one is very comfortable out of the box. Better still, it has two flexible appendages at the bottom for easy removal.
It's little things like these that add up and make it a better camera than previous OM-Ds in every respect. The menu is intuitive, and if an option is grayed out, the camera can tell you why. You can use it while charging it, the battery is incredible for a mirrorless (had 65% left after 5 hours of use). Something that made me ecstatic is a "night vision" mode that can be programmed to a button. This is essentially a sensitivity boost to the EVF which introduces lag but makes it possible to 'see' things clearly in near-complete darkness. Very useful for manual focusing at night, e.g. if you want to take a long exposure. This was also available on older E-M1s but was a setting buried in the menu and could not be enabled/disabled easily using a button.
Two features from my D500 that I miss are illuminated buttons and a top LCD screen. I also cannot figure out what pressing the joystick does. I can't use it to AF ...
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So on my first time out, I planned on photographing a pair of American kestrels who I have built a relationship with and are quite comfortable around me. Since these are small birds, I had my 2x TC attached to my 300mm Pro lens. As I arrived at their favorite tree, I saw an osprey lining up for a dive into a nearby pond. I had no time to remove the 2x TC but decided to take the shot anyway. To my astonishment, the OM-1 tracked the diving osprey despite the 2x TC and I got about 70% of shots which were reasonably in focus, and 20% which were sharp. Following action at this speed and with a 2x TC would have been impossible with my older E-M1ii. Although the camera missed some shots, I was happy to get any keepers at all!
First, a demo of Bird AI: the camera found this osprey two frames prior to this one, when just the wing was coming into the frame. By this frame (No. 3) it had sharpened up focus despite the backlighting and 2x TC.
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faunagraphy
Active member
Images in the previous post were all taken with SH2 (50 fps), Bird AI, 1/3200 sec, f8, 0 EV.
Here's a sequence of 5 shots to show how the AF performed with the 2x TC (1200mm equivalent reach). What's interesting is that as Fsi22 said, when the camera starts losing focus it self-corrects and acquires focus again. Resized to 800 px for ease of scrolling.
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5.
Here's a sequence of 5 shots to show how the AF performed with the 2x TC (1200mm equivalent reach). What's interesting is that as Fsi22 said, when the camera starts losing focus it self-corrects and acquires focus again. Resized to 800 px for ease of scrolling.
1.
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3.
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faunagraphy
Active member
While photographing swallows, I found that the AF was very confident in challenging situations, like with violet-green swallows on water with a lot of waves / surface movement and contrasting details (I haven't transferred these shots yet). It didn't seem to matter if the subject was really small in the frame. When the camera was having trouble finding the subject, reducing the AF area (with a flick of the Fn lever) helped it acquire focus - even if the bird wasn't in the AF area. I have no idea how that worked, and I might be wrong about this, given my limited experience. But tinkering with the AF area definitely helped. On the other hand, engaging the AF limiter didn't seem to matter much.
As for non-action shots, the camera had no problem whatsoever. Older Olympus cameras have had a tendency to "hesitate" with AF, resulting in some photos in a burst being sharper than others (especially with the 2x TC). This camera had none of it. I have thousands of photos now that I will have to cull because they are all so good.
Sometimes there would be a branch in the foreground and Bird AI would fail to find the bird (especially in poor light) but changing the AF area to Small helped correct that, even if, like I said, the AF area wasn't actually on the bird. Plus the manual focus clutch came in handy. The OM-1 has a very useful setting to allow AF in manual focus mode through BBF so that you can approximate focus and then let Bird AI take over.
All the below shots taken with the 300mm Pro, 2x TC, Bird AI. Sadly this site limits posts to 5 images per post.
Bird AI is great because it frees me up to compose the shot instead of worrying about keeping the AF area on the eye of the bird ... allowing for special photos like this one:
For the four custom modes, I now have C1 set to perched birds (sequential silent shutter at 20 fps), C1 for BIFs (50 fps), C3 for ProCapture (120 fps - stunning!) and C4 for Animal AI to photograph my pets and wild mammals. I have also enabled eye detect so that I can use this mode for humans by turning off Animal AI. All are in C-AF except for C3, and I use the Fn lever to change AF areas on the fly.
My photos with this camera are the sharpest they've ever been. Part of this is no doubt the new sensor and processor, but it's clearly also the better AI, which maximizes the potential of the superb optical qualities of the 300mm Pro. It's nearly impossible to take an OOF shot of a non-action scene. With so many keepers, this is where the slower, 'normal' sequential silent shutter mode (20 fps max) will be helpful. I was wondering what the point of this mode was (aside from lower burst rate) if SH2 gives blackout-free AF. Well, SH2 does not work for slower than 1/320s. This limits the utility of SH2 in poor light and makes 'normal' silent burst mode invaluable for low light or slow shutter shots. I also did not notice any AF performance difference vs SH2 for non-action shots (haven't tried action) so this will be my mode of choice for slower subjects.
Before I discovered this "1/320 sec" limitation, I took a few high ISO shots, like this one at sunset. I'm including this one to show sensor performance in low light. ISO 10,000. Pretty good!
Upon switching to 'silent sequential' and lowering my shutter speed (and ISO), I discovered that even though this isn't a 'blackout free' mode, I didn't sense any distracting blackout at all. Just a slight flutter in the EVF, very unlike my E-M1ii or D500. I even forgot that this mode has 'blackout', and only noticed it when I paid attention to it.
Here's a shot taken at dusk (7:58 PM), at 1/20 sec, handheld, at f8 and a whopping 600mm (1200mm equivalent reach). The kestrels were mating - note the sharpness of the male's head! If Olympus IBIS could work miracles before, this new camera truly brings it into its own. Who says Micro Four Thirds can't do low light?
I hope this has been helpful! I wish I could include more photos as examples but that darned 5-photo limitation makes it inconvenient, plus I have a few thousand sharp "keepers" from two days with the kestrels and I wouldn't know where to start.
Let me know if you have any questions / corrections!
As for non-action shots, the camera had no problem whatsoever. Older Olympus cameras have had a tendency to "hesitate" with AF, resulting in some photos in a burst being sharper than others (especially with the 2x TC). This camera had none of it. I have thousands of photos now that I will have to cull because they are all so good.
Sometimes there would be a branch in the foreground and Bird AI would fail to find the bird (especially in poor light) but changing the AF area to Small helped correct that, even if, like I said, the AF area wasn't actually on the bird.
Plus the manual focus clutch came in handy. The OM-1 has a very useful setting to allow AF in manual focus mode through BBF so that you can approximate focus and then let Bird AI take over.All the below shots taken with the 300mm Pro, 2x TC, Bird AI. Sadly this site limits posts to 5 images per post.
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
Bird AI is great because it frees me up to compose the shot instead of worrying about keeping the AF area on the eye of the bird ... allowing for special photos like this one:
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
For the four custom modes, I now have C1 set to perched birds (sequential silent shutter at 20 fps), C1 for BIFs (50 fps), C3 for ProCapture (120 fps - stunning!) and C4 for Animal AI to photograph my pets and wild mammals. I have also enabled eye detect so that I can use this mode for humans by turning off Animal AI. All are in C-AF except for C3, and I use the Fn lever to change AF areas on the fly.
My photos with this camera are the sharpest they've ever been. Part of this is no doubt the new sensor and processor, but it's clearly also the better AI, which maximizes the potential of the superb optical qualities of the 300mm Pro. It's nearly impossible to take an OOF shot of a non-action scene. With so many keepers, this is where the slower, 'normal' sequential silent shutter mode (20 fps max) will be helpful. I was wondering what the point of this mode was (aside from lower burst rate) if SH2 gives blackout-free AF. Well, SH2 does not work for slower than 1/320s. This limits the utility of SH2 in poor light and makes 'normal' silent burst mode invaluable for low light or slow shutter shots. I also did not notice any AF performance difference vs SH2 for non-action shots (haven't tried action) so this will be my mode of choice for slower subjects.
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
Before I discovered this "1/320 sec" limitation, I took a few high ISO shots, like this one at sunset. I'm including this one to show sensor performance in low light. ISO 10,000. Pretty good!
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
Upon switching to 'silent sequential' and lowering my shutter speed (and ISO), I discovered that even though this isn't a 'blackout free' mode, I didn't sense any distracting blackout at all. Just a slight flutter in the EVF, very unlike my E-M1ii or D500. I even forgot that this mode has 'blackout', and only noticed it when I paid attention to it.
Here's a shot taken at dusk (7:58 PM), at 1/20 sec, handheld, at f8 and a whopping 600mm (1200mm equivalent reach). The kestrels were mating - note the sharpness of the male's head! If Olympus IBIS could work miracles before, this new camera truly brings it into its own. Who says Micro Four Thirds can't do low light?
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
I hope this has been helpful! I wish I could include more photos as examples but that darned 5-photo limitation makes it inconvenient, plus I have a few thousand sharp "keepers" from two days with the kestrels and I wouldn't know where to start.
Let me know if you have any questions / corrections!
Thought I'd throw in my early two cents. Less than two weeks in, it's too soon to provide educated insight given this is my first mirrorless system, coming from Pentax but preferring the D500 and 500 PF for hiking, birding and wildlife. I've been exploring the OM -1 camera settings and studying multiple video tutorials to get comfortable. Thus far, I am very impressed with this system. Carrying the OM-1 and 150-400 + TC feels similar to the D500 and PF 500 for handheld weight and portability (I wasn't excited about the Z-9 weight, size and balance with that lens and adaptor). I'm getting sharp handheld shots with no problems. The 150-400 + TC autofocus quickly recognizes birds, even in thick brush. When I first attached the lens in my kitchen and pressed the bird ID button, it picked out a bird and its head in a painting on my wall! If it's having trouble finding a bird in brush, I just zoom in and it immediately finds the bird and picks out the eye. Once I get some better weather, open space and anticipated arrival of spring migrants I'll put it to a real test. The autofocus easily nails my dogs running around the yard without fail.
Button customization is fantastic and pressing the OK button for a quick review allowing speedy changes of any parameter without a menu or button search is really great. The computational features are honestly amazing and will make non wildlife photography a lot of fun as well. I haven't used the ND filter or pro-capture features yet (the latter probably best for birds around a feeder or perch) but focus stacking in camera has amazed me with the 60 mm macro lens.
My workflow has changed as my culling program (Breeze browser) doesn't really handle OM files (yet). Using OM workspace seems to be pretty good at reviewing and eliminaing photos before I import them to Lightroom or Photoshop. For a free program, it has some real potential and I need to spend more time with it.
I recognize this is mostly a wildlife oriented forum so once I can contribute something more substantial (ie BIF, Procapture ) I'll chime back in. Zero regrets thus far and I'm excited to gain proficiency with this camera and system. The input and encouragement from those of you with more experience with Olympus/OM is really appreciated.
Button customization is fantastic and pressing the OK button for a quick review allowing speedy changes of any parameter without a menu or button search is really great. The computational features are honestly amazing and will make non wildlife photography a lot of fun as well. I haven't used the ND filter or pro-capture features yet (the latter probably best for birds around a feeder or perch) but focus stacking in camera has amazed me with the 60 mm macro lens.
My workflow has changed as my culling program (Breeze browser) doesn't really handle OM files (yet). Using OM workspace seems to be pretty good at reviewing and eliminaing photos before I import them to Lightroom or Photoshop. For a free program, it has some real potential and I need to spend more time with it.
I recognize this is mostly a wildlife oriented forum so once I can contribute something more substantial (ie BIF, Procapture ) I'll chime back in. Zero regrets thus far and I'm excited to gain proficiency with this camera and system. The input and encouragement from those of you with more experience with Olympus/OM is really appreciated.
fsi22
Member
Yes, the eyecup was a surprise for me. High quality, comfortable and much better for easy removal.
The joystick can be set to AF Home or to activate the Focus selector.
Backlit buttons on the D500 was awesome, it’s a bit disappointing that it didn’t catch on with everyone else.
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So on my first time out, I planned on photographing a pair of American kestrels who I have built a relationship with and are quite comfortable around me. Since these are small birds, I had my 2x TC attached to my 300mm Pro lens. As I arrived at their favorite tree, I saw an osprey lining up for a dive into a nearby pond. I had no time to remove the 2x TC but decided to take the shot anyway. To my astonishment, the OM-1 tracked the diving osprey despite the 2x TC and I got about 70% of shots which were reasonably in focus, and 20% which were sharp. Following action at this speed and with a 2x TC would have been impossible with my older E-M1ii. Although the camera missed some shots, I was happy to get any keepers at all!
First, a demo of Bird AI: the camera found this osprey two frames prior to this one, when just the wing was coming into the frame. By this frame (No. 3) it had sharpened up focus despite the backlighting and 2x TC.
The 2x TC performance with the OM has been a highlight for me as well. With the OMD cameras I’d given up
santiago
Active member
@faunagraphy, unbelievably helpful, thank you very much indeed!!!While photographing swallows, I found that the AF was very confident in challenging situations, like with violet-green swallows on water with a lot of waves / surface movement and contrasting details (I haven't transferred these shots yet). It didn't seem to matter if the subject was really small in the frame. When the camera was having trouble finding the subject, reducing the AF area (with a flick of the Fn lever) helped it acquire focus - even if the bird wasn't in the AF area. I have no idea how that worked, and I might be wrong about this, given my limited experience. But tinkering with the AF area definitely helped. On the other hand, engaging the AF limiter didn't seem to matter much.
As for non-action shots, the camera had no problem whatsoever. Older Olympus cameras have had a tendency to "hesitate" with AF, resulting in some photos in a burst being sharper than others (especially with the 2x TC). This camera had none of it. I have thousands of photos now that I will have to cull because they are all so good.
Sometimes there would be a branch in the foreground and Bird AI would fail to find the bird (especially in poor light) but changing the AF area to Small helped correct that, even if, like I said, the AF area wasn't actually on the bird.
All the below shots taken with the 300mm Pro, 2x TC, Bird AI. Sadly this site limits posts to 5 images per post.
View attachment 36656
Bird AI is great because it frees me up to compose the shot instead of worrying about keeping the AF area on the eye of the bird ... allowing for special photos like this one:
View attachment 36657
For the four custom modes, I now have C1 set to perched birds (sequential silent shutter at 20 fps), C1 for BIFs (50 fps), C3 for ProCapture (120 fps - stunning!) and C4 for Animal AI to photograph my pets and wild mammals. I have also enabled eye detect so that I can use this mode for humans by turning off Animal AI. All are in C-AF except for C3, and I use the Fn lever to change AF areas on the fly.
My photos with this camera are the sharpest they've ever been. Part of this is no doubt the new sensor and processor, but it's clearly also the better AI, which maximizes the potential of the superb optical qualities of the 300mm Pro. It's nearly impossible to take an OOF shot of a non-action scene. With so many keepers, this is where the slower, 'normal' sequential silent shutter mode (20 fps max) will be helpful. I was wondering what the point of this mode was (aside from lower burst rate) if SH2 gives blackout-free AF. Well, SH2 does not work for slower than 1/320s. This limits the utility of SH2 in poor light and makes 'normal' silent burst mode invaluable for low light or slow shutter shots. I also did not notice any AF performance difference vs SH2 for non-action shots (haven't tried action) so this will be my mode of choice for slower subjects.
View attachment 36662
Before I discovered this "1/320 sec" limitation, I took a few high ISO shots, like this one at sunset. I'm including this one to show sensor performance in low light. ISO 10,000. Pretty good!
View attachment 36661
Upon switching to 'silent sequential' and lowering my shutter speed (and ISO), I discovered that even though this isn't a 'blackout free' mode, I didn't sense any distracting blackout at all. Just a slight flutter in the EVF, very unlike my E-M1ii or D500. I even forgot that this mode has 'blackout', and only noticed it when I paid attention to it.
Here's a shot taken at dusk (7:58 PM), at 1/20 sec, handheld, at f8 and a whopping 600mm (1200mm equivalent reach). The kestrels were mating - note the sharpness of the male's head! If Olympus IBIS could work miracles before, this new camera truly brings it into its own. Who says Micro Four Thirds can't do low light?
View attachment 36658
I hope this has been helpful! I wish I could include more photos as examples but that darned 5-photo limitation makes it inconvenient, plus I have a few thousand sharp "keepers" from two days with the kestrels and I wouldn't know where to start.
Let me know if you have any questions / corrections!
I read somewhere that Lightroom has now been updated to work with the OM-1's RAW files (at least in OS X), is that correct?
faunagraphy
Active member
Thank you Fsi! Much appreciated!
Santiago, I do not use Lightroom so I do not know if this is true.
santiago
Active member
No worries at all, for any other Mac users support has been added from Lr Classic 11.2 (https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-supported-cameras.html)
The latest OM-1/Sony A1 comparison video from Mike Lane for anyone interested:
Both Lightroom and Photoshop work fine on OM-1 Raw files. The sticky point for me is that DxO PureRaw and the Topaz add-ons are NOT yet set up for the OM-1. This is hardly an "end of the world" situation, but it does remind one of the slight downside to being an early adopter.
A few shots from last weekend.
The OM-1 and 150-400 4.5 TC1.25 combination is a mirrorless upgrade that preserves everything I absolutely love about the D500 and 500 PF.
Calliope hummingbird
Rufous hummingbird
Red crossbill
The OM-1 and 150-400 4.5 TC1.25 combination is a mirrorless upgrade that preserves everything I absolutely love about the D500 and 500 PF.
Calliope hummingbird
Rufous hummingbird
Red crossbill