Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: Arlen on May 08, 2015, 01:03:48 am
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I've had my Olympus E-M1 camera and its companion 12-40mm f2.8 lens since they were released in Nov. 2013. Both are superb, and I have been thoroughly enjoying shooting with them ever since. The relatively new Oly 40-150mm f2.8 lens (35mm-equivalent field of view = 80-300mm) has recently joined my arsenal, and I got a chance to test it in some real-life shooting situations during a road trip from Oregon to northern California and back. I thought I would share some of the resulting images here. All are close to full frame, with just slight amounts of cropping. On tripod, except where otherwise noted.
Image 1: Mt. Shasta, on one of the few occasions that I have been by it when it was not mostly obscured by clouds; from a viewpoint that is off the beaten path, and about 17 miles away. At 50mm, f8, 1/640, ISO 200.
Image 2: San Francisco from a (rocking) tour boat on the bay; the E-M1's image stabilization was a big help here. At 150mm, f5.6, 1/640, ISO 200 (handheld).
Image 3: N. CA coast just south of Mendocino. At 62mm, f11, 15 sec., ISO 100.
Image 4: Red-breasted Sapsucker, 40-150mm lens at 150mm, plus Oly 1.4x teleconverter. The teleconverter adds very little weight or length, and has only a very slight effect on image sharpness, easily compensated in LR. Total 210mm (420mm equivalent), f5.6, 1/125, ISO 800 (on monopod).
For comparison, I'll show also show you some images from another couple of lenses that went along for the ride. But because we are limited to 4 attachments per post, I'll add those in a separate post below.
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I also have the less expensive Panasonic 100-300mm (200-600mm equivalent) f4-f5.6 zoom lens. It is pretty good at the low-to-mid zoom range, but is (sometimes very) noticeably softer at 300mm. Still, for things like skittish small birds, its extra reach can come in handy; and if stopped down a notch, to f8, the results can be pretty good after optimization in LR. So I include another small bird shot with this lens, to demonstrate.
Image 5: Tree Swallow, Panny 100-300mm lens at 300mm, f8, 1/320 sec, ISO 2000 (handheld).
And finally, the last few of the images below were taken with the flagship Oly 12-40mm lens, which I employ most of the time.
Image 6: Mendocino county coast. At 40mm, f8, 110 sec., ISO 100; plus Hoya ND filter.
Image 7: Mendocino county coast. At 21mm, f8, 376 sec., ISO 100; plus Hoya ND filter.
Image 8: Redding CA; abstracted bridge. At 31mm, f8, 459 sec., ISO 1000; plus Hoya ND filter.
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Like the first set. Looks to be a very good lens. Thanks for posting.
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Great shots Arlen
Love the floating mountain!
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Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. And I thought that maybe someone might come along who will find this system and lens of interest. While it's heavier than you might expect for a camera in this format, it's of excellent quality and a lot lighter than a dSLR lens with equivalent range.