New Olympus 40-150mm Lens (& Friends) Go on a Road Trip

[Arlen]

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.

[Arlen]

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.

[JohnBrew]

Like the first set. Looks to be a very good lens. Thanks for posting.

[Bruno Gil]

Great shots Arlen

Love the floating mountain!

[Arlen]

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.