and pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space
They are not especially uncommon but they do not permit close approach. The extra reach of the 150-400mm lens and the built in 1.25 teleconverter and some superb field craft has enabled me to get the best Ruddy Turnstone shots of my career. The field craft, I confess, consisted of sitting on a rock and being patient.
So, I’ve had the wife’s OM1 mark ii in my hot sweaty hands for a few days now. I am so in love … with the camera that is. I have been shooting with subject detection on and set to bird. I have set focus area to full. The results are impressive. This first gallery shows that if there’s a bird in the scene, no matter how busy the background is, the camera will find it.
If an eye is showing it will put a small square around it, if the eye is not in view or the bird is very distant it will put a frame around the bird. When multiple birds are in the frame each one will have its own box one of which will be highlighted. Why would you ever have more than one in a shot?
Can you fool it? Yes you can. Distance, poor light, no eye in the frame may lead to failure but not very often. It’s no longer necessary to switch to single point focus to find a bird in a bush. Does the focus stick if the bird moves? Little Terns fly along about 15m above the sea surface looking down. When they see their supper they dive. Focus will stick as long as you can keep the bird in the frame. In the example below focus is perfect all the way to the water. There are 17 frames between the splash and the bird reappearing. At 50 frames per second that’s 0.34 sec. In that time focus had been captured by a wave in the foreground.
Skill it seems is still required. The finger needs to come off at the water and then back on again for the bird’s re-emergence. (You’ve got a third of a second what’s the matter with you!)
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.
bobmcgee 