p.1 #1 · My proposed test of the 50-200 vs 100-400, 150-400 and 180-600/Z8
As it turns out my wife declared the 50-200 HER LENS! My wife is the typical wife who questions ever dollar I spend on camera gear so her declaring "Go buy another one" is all you need to know about what she thinks about this lens.
My wife shoots an OM-1ii/100-400 or at least DID before getting her hands on the 50-200. She shot with a 1.4TC attached most of the time and somehow lost the 2.0TC so she never shot with the 2.OTC or the 100-400.
I borrowed a 2.0 and took a couple shots before my wife demanded the 50-200 back and checked the sharpness. It was similar to the 100-400, serviceable, usable as expected. However, when I exchanged the 1.4TC with a 2.0 the difference was immediately noticeable in the viewfinder and in the images.
If the reach of the 50-200 with a 1.4 TC is enough than the combination beats the 100-400 hands down. My wife was getting shots that she never was able to get with the 100-400. The lens, with the 1.4TC is sharper, focuses faster and is better in the hand than the 100-400. In particular and as I have said before, 50f/s is a game changer in ProCapture.
I will post comparisons with the 150-400 and the Z-8/180-600 as I get my act together.
p.1 #8 · My proposed test of the 50-200 vs 100-400, 150-400 and 180-600/Z8
Imagemaster wrote:
But she is the only one who knows that, because others have not seen proper comparison photos side by side.
correct and Ginnie is the only person who needs to know that.
p.1 #9 · My proposed test of the 50-200 vs 100-400, 150-400 and 180-600/Z8
Paul_100A wrote:
correct and Ginnie is the only person who needs to know that.
Well no kidding? Others do not 'need' to know that, but they may 'want' to know that. Which is why the OP is going to do comparison tests that will hopefully help those that 'want' to know that.
p.1 #10 · My proposed test of the 50-200 vs 100-400, 150-400 and 180-600/Z8
Unfortunately, I did not have the ability to do direct competition tests between the 100-400 and the 50-200 with a 2.O TC. I only had the borrowed 2.0 TC on for 10 min before Ginnie wanted the 50-200 back,
I have a 2.0 TC coming and will do those tests. However, even then other than myself, who can view an image on a 4K monitor may need to take my word for it or to receive the RAW from me and do the comparison themself.
p.1 #11 · My proposed test of the 50-200 vs 100-400, 150-400 and 180-600/Z8
This is a process test. The shots are not matches as well as they might be and I didn't evaluate and take the sharpest shot. I am waiting on Burt and the Z-8/180-600.
On Sunday, October 26, 2025 at 02:30:54 PM PDT, Tom Reynolds <xxxxx> wrote:
1-Find a profile of the Yellow Fronted Woodpecker on the afternoon of the last day
2-Open in camera RAW, turn off sharpening and denoise.
3-Open in Photoshop/lightroom. View to 100%
4-Take picture of the entire head of the bird like the two I sent
5-Save in .JPG max detail (12) adjust brightness to generally match
6-Compare all 3. Comment on sharpness
Different angles will have different backgrounds. Expand to 200%. What do you think Now?
p.1 #13 · My proposed test of the 50-200 vs 100-400, 150-400 and 180-600/Z8
Yep, that is what I see on my monitor. This is not necessarily a fair test. I am just setting up my process and waiting for Burt and his Z-8/180-600 shots,
p.1 #16 · My proposed test of the 50-200 vs 100-400, 150-400 and 180-600/Z8
I don't mean this as a critical comment but comparing images at ISO 2000 or 1600 isn't ideal.
When shooting stationary birds, the shutter speed can be lowered from 1/3200s to 1/400s that is by three stops when your ISO should drop from e.g., 1600 to 200.
p.1 #17 · My proposed test of the 50-200 vs 100-400, 150-400 and 180-600/Z8
ruthenium-
True but when the bird does something like take off that shot is blurred because of the low shutter speed. It depends on the shots you want. I want the action and don't care much about additional stops.
From my perspective these shots will clean up nicely and are just fine to display on the web or print @ 300dpi.
p.1 #18 · My proposed test of the 50-200 vs 100-400, 150-400 and 180-600/Z8
And exposure should be compatible. I find with the om-1 mk2 you should not be flirting with disaster shooting to the right. Back off and feather details get better.
p.1 #19 · My proposed test of the 50-200 vs 100-400, 150-400 and 180-600/Z8
Tom Reynolds wrote:
ruthenium-
True but when the bird does something like take off that shot is blurred because of the low shutter speed. It depends on the shots you want. I want the action and don't care much about additional stops.
From my perspective these shots will clean up nicely and are just fine to display on the web or print @ 300dpi.
Tom
True, but this is why you may want to save settings for perched birds and BIF to different C1/C2 sets.
At ISO 2000, efficient denoising creates the illusion that the noise " will clean up nicely" but this is an illusion, and an ISO200 image should always give you better quality, if you want to pursue better image quality. I don't mean to suggest you should do something you don't want or don't find necessary. Nevertheless, it is unnecessary to have the 1/3200 shutter speed when shooting perched birds.
p.1 #20 · My proposed test of the 50-200 vs 100-400, 150-400 and 180-600/Z8
When I am at a hide and birds are coming in, I'm dropping the shutter speed and ISO to get the happy clean portrait, when possible. I need to do that quickly as I am interested in action, conflict, interaction. This requires Pro Capture to not miss the moment.
I do have Pro Capture SH2 to "C2" and SH1 Pro Capture on "C3" with the proper shutter speed and exposure etc set up and updated when idling waiting. These are assigned to the two front buttons. Sounds easy enough... Not really.
I am at either shooting SH2 with 25 or 50 FPS at normal shooting mode. All I need to do is drop ISO and adjust shutter speed for exposure to get an portrait. If using manual mode in Auto ISO, just would drop shutter speed, ISO follows.
Bird comes in and flirts' around on perch and get some images at reasonable high shutter speed to prevent motion blur. Bird decides to stay there for a while and okay drop down setting for some nice portraits.
Now the bird wants to do something, but OMD camera will not allow you to get into "C3" Pro Capture because the card is still writing! ... Swear words to follow and rant.... Same when in custom mode and want to get out of pro capture quickly, you cannot.
The buffer might have improved with the OM-1 mk2 but a better design needs to happen!!!
Suggestion to OMD.... Take the M1X body and shrink the battery. Use the card side and put in dual card slots with faster write speed cards. There will be room. Have a processor that is dedicated to writing to the card. If this was done you should be able to hold down the shutter and never have a buffer issue. Okay... rant off.
I always believed to have camera settings ready for action to not miss the moment fiddling with the settings thus missing the shot or ending up capturing a blurry one with portrait settings. So, it is a balance of reading the situation and sometimes you just need to pick one and miss the other. Understand behavior helps.
