The Longer The Lens, The Bigger The Win… Possibly!
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© Will Cheung – Taken on an OM System OM-1 with M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5-6.3 lens at 400mm. Exposure was 1/1000sec at f/6.3 and ISO 400. At 1/1000sec the head was sharp but you can still see wing blur. However, the big win was the lens’s pulling power and the image is shown here uncropped so you can see that the extra focal length was really useful.
My summer holiday was a week photographing my latest favourite subject, butterflies in the Austrian Tyrol. Frankly, with early starts, long days and high temperatures, I needed a holiday when I got home.
I’d planned to take my OM System OM-1 with 60mm macro and 40-150mm f/2.8 lenses plus a 1.4x teleconverter, macro flash and wireless trigger.
The OM-1 is a recent arrival and while I love using full-frame as well as medium-format, Micro Four Thirds is playing an ever-increasing role in my photographic life. That’s primarily because I am shooting more and more nature and the 2x crop factor is a serious benefit. Add in-camera focus stacking and Pro Capture, and I am loving the OM-1.
As I was pondering my outfit, having paid for extra hand baggage, I realised I had the capacity to squeeze in an additional lens. The 40-150mm/1.4x converter combo is a potent weapon giving the 35mm format equivalent of a 420mm f/4, but I concluded having even more focal length wouldn’t do any harm.
You can usually get pretty close to butterflies, especially early morning or late evening when they are roosting. However, during the main part of the day, they are more alert so having a longer lens to give a decent image size from further away would be a boon.
I decided to check out the OM Digital 100-400mm f/5-6.3 zoom – an 200-800mm equivalent lens in full-frame. New, it sells for £1169; at MPB for a ‘Like New’ sample, there was a £140 saving, so it was an easy decision to make.
Will Cheung
With its minimum focusing distance of 1.3m, which gives a magnification of just over quarter life-size, I reckoned this lens would give me more wiggle room in terms of working distance with nervous insects.
In practice, the plan more or less worked. The 100-400mm’s slower maximum aperture and modest 3EV benefit optical image stabiliser meant it needed to be used with more care than the 40-150mmf/1.4x combination, but fortunately, I had good sunlight most days. I majored on using ISO 400 going up to ISO 800 and 1600 when required. For instance, I had a couple of brief but wonderful encounters with swallowtails when shutter speed was even more important than usual.
On the first swallowtail shoot, I was caught napping because it just came swooping in and I was concentrating on something more sedate at the time. I ended up shooting at 1/1000sec at ISO 400 and that wasn’t fast enough to stop its wings blurring. Note to self: shoot at 1/2000sec or 1/4000sec to get swallowtail wings sharp.
© Will Cheung – Moorland clouded yellow taken on an OM System OM-1 with M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5-6.3 lens at 400mm. Exposure was 1/1000sec at f/7.1 and ISO 400. The Raw was processed in Adobe Lightroom and put through DxO PureRaw 3.
A great example of the usefulness of the longer lens came when I got some shots of a moorland clouded yellow. On the afternoon, there were plenty of them flying around but they were impossible to shoot on the wing, and I only saw two land, very briefly. Luckily, one landing was within range of the 100-400mm and I didn’t have to move position to get a decent image size of the lovely butterfly. I got some shots at 400mm in the can, and when I tried to creep in closer, off it went. The thing was that I’d got something usable and didn’t need to crop into the file too much for a good image size.
Having proved its worth in Austria, it was time for the M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5-6.3 to justify its existence back home. It’s very early days, and the less-than-sunny July has been challenging, but the signs are more than a little promising.
© Will Cheung – A skipper taken on an OM System OM-1 with M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5-6.3 lens at 400mm. Exposure was 1/500sec at f/7.1 and ISO 800. Depth-of-field at f/7.1 was minimal and the modest wide aperture still gave a smooth background.
News from MPB – Vote in The Photo and Video Kit Hall of Fame and you could win a Sony A7 III worth £1200 thanks to MPB
MPB, the largest global platform for photo and video kit, has unveiled the 25 cameras, drones and lenses nominated for The Photo and Video Kit Hall of Fame.
There are five categories – Classic, Game Changer, Road Tested, Trendsetter and Iconic – with five nominations in each. The products were selected by a nominating committee of industry experts from the UK, USA and Europe, led by Matt Barker, CEO and founder of MPB. Speaking about the Kit Hall of Fame, Matt Barker said: “Our purpose is to open up the world of visual storytelling in a way that’s good for people and the planet. The Photo and Video Kit Hall of Fame is just one avenue to help people celebrate the very best of kit.”
Voting is free and as an incentive, MPB is offering the chance to win a Sony A7 III worth £1200. Click here to vote and voting closes 4 August 2023.
MPB will announce the five inductees on 19 August 2023, World Photography Day.
Classic
The gold standard of photo and video kit, Classics have stood the test of time for pros and amateurs alike. Nikon, Canon and Fujifilm have all been Classic Inductees in previous years. Will history repeat itself in 2023 – or will Sony or Sigma snatch the top spot?
This year’s Classic nominees are:
- Nikon D3
- Sony A7R V
- Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
- Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM ART
- Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L II USM
Game Changers
Game Changers disrupted the fields of photography and videography by ushering in new technology, expanding product capabilities or making quality more accessible. For two years in a row, DJI drones have been the name of the game in the Game Changer category. Will 2023 see DJI win again – or will Canon, Nikon or Ricoh get an Inductee?
The 2023 Game Changer Nominees are:
- Ricoh GR III X
- Canon EOS R3
- Nikon Z9
- DJI Mini 3 Pro
- DJI Mavic 3 Pro
Road Tested
The workhorses of kit, Road Tested nominees are the tried-and-true gear you reach for when you absolutely have to get the shot. Nikon has dominated the Road Tested category for three years running. Now will another brand finally break through?
The 2023 Road Tested Nominees are:
- Sony A7 IV
- Fujifilm X-Pro 3
- Canon EOS R6 Mark II
- Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L II USM
- Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II
Trendsetter
Leading the way, we look at photography and videography, Trendsetters are beloved for their style as well as the way they shoot. Leica, Fujifilm and Sony have all triumphed with a Trendsetter trophy. Which kit is setting the trend right now?
The 2023 Trendsetter Nominees are:
- Fujifilm X-T5
- Canon EOS R5
- Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III RXD
- Fujifilm X100V
- DJI Mini 3
Iconic
The crème de la crème of photo and video kit, Iconic cameras and lenses are the ones you idolise. Last year, the Fujifilm X100 ended Hasselblad’s reign in the Iconic category. Which iconic gear will be the best of the best this year?
The 2023 Iconic Nominees are…
- Sony A1
- Leica Q2
- Mamiya RZ67
- Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM
- Leica M6
Vote In ‘The Photo And Video Kit Hall Of Fame’ Today
MPB Explained
You need kit to take photographs and produce videos, and taking the pre-owned route is a cost-effective way of making the most of your budget and keeping up with the latest developments in imaging technology.
MPB is one of the biggest pre-owned retailers with bases in the UK, Germany and the USA.
Trading with MPB the process is fair, safe, painless and incredibly easy.
Whether you have kit to sell, want to make a purchase or part exchange, start by going to the MPB website which is intuitive and straightforward to use.
If you have kit to trade, just start typing the name in and a list of suggestions from MPB’s huge database will appear. If a name on that list matches your product click on it and add its condition; if not, continue typing in the whole name and condition.
It’s worth bearing in mind that MPB’s database covers much more than cameras and lenses so if you have, for example, a photo backpack, tripod or filters to sell these can be shown as you type in their name too.
With all your kit listed, add contact details and a quote will appear in your inbox soon afterwards, although manually entered items will take one working day.
If you are happy with the quote, accept it and follow the instructions to get the kit ready for courier collection on a day to suit you. For higher-value deals, an MPB account manager will also be in touch, so you have a personal point of contact if you have any queries.
Once received by MPB, you will get a notification and after checking by its product specialists you will receive a final quote. This can vary from the original quote if there is a missing item – like a battery not being supplied – or your assessed condition differs from the actual condition.
A quote can go down, but it can also increase if the kit’s condition is better than your assessment.
The whole process doesn’t take long and MPB are in touch by e-mail at every step so you’re never in the dark, and only when you are totally happy with the deal, pass on your payment details or pay the balance in the case of part-exchange. Either way, the money or your new kit will be with you soon after.
About MPB
- MPB is the largest global platform to buy, sell and trade used photo and video kit.
- MPB are the simple, safe and circular way to trade, upgrade and get paid.
- MPB is not a marketplace, instead buying directly from visual storytellers and evaluating all items before reselling MPB-approved kit.
- MPB’s dynamic pricing engine provides the right price upfront for all items.
- Circularity is at the centre of MPB, promoting sustainability, diversity and inclusion in everything they do.
- MPB prioritise inclusive recruitment and supports employees with extensive training and development. They promote inclusive visual storytelling and an inclusive circular economy.
- MPB’s business model is 100% circular. All packaging is 100% plastic free. Their cloud-based platform uses 100% renewable electricity.
- MPB has served over 625,000 visual storytellers while recirculating more than 400,000 products annually
- MPB provides first-class customer service. Customers can receive support through their Help Centre or by speaking directly with a kit expert.
- MPB’s product specialists are trusted by thousands of visual storytellers in the UK.
- MPB is rated ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot with over 19,000 reviews.
Source: Photography News
The Longer The Lens, The Bigger The Win… Possibly!
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