A Fortunate Woman …

My wife doesn’t realise how lucky she is. I have bought her a brand new camera and lens. Not any old camera, an OM1 mark ii micro four thirds camera and the amazing (and expensive)150 to 400mm pro lens. In full frame camera terms that has the same reach as a 300 to 800mm lens but weighs about half as much. Very convenient for carrying about in the field. Superb in-body and in-lens stabilisation combine to make a tripod unnecessary. A flick of a lever adds an inbuilt extender that takes the reach to 500mm, equivalent of 1000mm in full frame terms. It has fast autofocus, bird and mammal recognition and pretty good low light performance. If she ever develops an interest in photography it will give her hours of pleasure. In the meantime I will familiarise myself with it so that I can help her manage its sophistication if the need arises.

Broome has no camera store it’s either online or telephone. A Perth shop seems the obvious choice – same state, same time zone, but Darwin is a fraction closer (1,871km as opposed to 2,045km) and rather than wait a couple of weeks for the mail you can have it sent by pony express. Actually Greyhound Bus. I am writing this to pass the time as I sit at the bus stop. Scheduled arrival is 3pm but there is water over the road along the way and in recent days the bus has been as much as two hours late. I could pick it up at the depot tomorrow but, child that I am, I can’t contain my excitement that long. I won’t post until I’ve got some photos to share.

The bus was on time to the minute. When I congratulated the driver she said that a bunch of screaming children made sure there was no hanging about. I flourished my consignment note and the parcel was in my hands.

I am at home now. Batteries are charging. According to the manual two and a half hours to wait. It will be dark by then. Sunrise tomorrow is at 05.45.

Just to be sure I was out and about at 5.30. Here’s a few examples …

Most recent bird photos on the blog have been taken with a Sony 200 to 600m lens on a Sony A9. That’s a full frame camera. The extra reach on the new camera means that I will be cropping in less which is just as well as there are fewer megapixels on the OM1. It also means that I will have to pay more attention to composition because less cropping means less opportunity to recompose the shot. This sequence is all from the one photo. The first frame is as it was shot, the poor composition is evident. Cropping in gives a better image. Cropping in further eventually brings about an obvious drop in quality …

Don’t think of this as a review. I need to work my way around the various shooting options, with enough practice I may get to be as good as the camera. Then I will be in a position to give an opinion.