There seems to be a lot of disappointment over what's not in the specs rather than what is! The C-AF needs to be top notch otherwise there's not a lot of new stuff there for bird photography - we'll see when the test reports are published.
.........I shoot the PanaLeica 100-400 which is the 200-800 equivalent. ............
Niels
I'm personally more interested in the new lenses that might be announced. We wait pretty long in-between announcements for new lenses from Olympus and tomorrow the rumor is there will be more than one plus a road map.
Dave
I wouldn't mind seeing several new or upgraded smallish f/2 or f/2.8 primes, maybe weather-sealed, including a longer macro at say 100 or maybe 125mm. Olympus is such a great camera for macro with their automatic focus stacking features, but still only the 60mm macro. I know it's a nice lens, but having the choice of a longer macro with more working distance would be nice. I don't think I'm the only one who's been hoping for a lot of this, but Olympus is doing their own thing. Oh well.
Dave,
That is a good point about a longer macro lens. I have actually been using my PL100-400 in that capacity on my E-M1 mk. ii, since it has about a 50 inch minimum focus distance, and allows you to stand off while still giving up to .25 reproduction. It works great for, e.g., dragonflies and larger butterflies, but you really need a larger image for the smaller stuff. I'm currently considering lugging around another body with the 60 mm macro attached, but I would much prefer to have one lens that would allow me to both stand off and get a larger image when necessary (or at least an alternative that's more versatile than the 60 mm).
150-400 will be f4.5 with 1.25x TC but it looks as big as the comparable f4:s out there. Around 3 kg probably.
Available 2020.
https://www.dpreview.com/news/61923...-5-pro-lens-with-built-in-1-25x-teleconverter
Actually this year I'm going to try adapting a ~630mm telescope to my E-M1 II (manual focus at ~f/6.9). Looking forward to that.
Dave
I think because it's f/4.5, the outer lens diameter will be less and overall the size/weight will be noticeably less than the f/4 Canon and Nikon xxx-400 f/4 zooms, and the Olympus will also surely be at least a little more affordable.
BUT, I'd rather it was a bit longer, not a zoom (I'm trying to keep an open mind on that), and not white. Still 500mm with the teleconverter isn't much more reach than 420mm, which I already have using my 300mm with the 1.4X teleconverter. Anyway it's a long way off so I have quite a while to think about it.
Actually this year I'm going to try adapting a ~630mm telescope to my E-M1 II (manual focus at ~f/6.9). Looking forward to that.
Dave
Dave, is this better than using an adapter to position the camera with a short lens above the ocular of the telescope, and thereby retain autofocus? I realize that there is additional glass involved, but some people love that type of digiscoping. I just feel limited by the fact that it takes time getting on the bird you want to photograph with all digiscoping setups.
Niels
I did take the smaller f4.5 in consideration in the "around 3 kg" figure as the Nikon/Canon similar 180/200-400mm/f4 zooms are 3.5-3.6 kg. 2.8 kg would be theoretically possible if considering relative f-stops and use of fluorite-glass and conventional optics.
An extension ring would allow the PL100-400 to focus closer. I do not know if any are made that allow the full electronic functions to come across, though.
Niels
Interesting interview with VP of sales and marketing for Olympus America:
"First of all we won’t use any other mount other than Four Thirds. If we had more than one mount, that’s not really user-friendly, and we’re creating the risk that we’d lose customers. If we ask you to buy a camera and lens and then step up to another mount, you might not want to do that. We want to create one, cohesive system with M43. We know our strengths. We have a small and lightweight system, which is good for shooting telezoom lenses, outside. So we’re focusing on this area, to provide suitable products for this field of photography."
https://www.dpreview.com/interviews...ympus-exec-explains-the-thinking-behind-e-m1x
Using "Airplane AF Tracking Mode" in the EM1x for birds (eagles) seems to work. o
https://youtu.be/zQIyu-rO0J0?t=260
Let's hope Oly is already working on the dedicated "bird AF-mode".
Sony is "most likely" adding "eye-tracking for wildlife" in the A9
in one of their 2 scheduled firmware updates this year.
Olympus needs to get back to what its most loyal customers want and love: Upgrades to the smaller bodies and hopefully some new/upgraded small lenses. I guess maybe that is what he is trying to say that here, but I think his answer could have been better:
This is still a fairly large camera - do you still have any interest in developing the smaller, lighter cameras?
"[E]specially last year we used a lot of R&D resources on this [E-MX1] camera, not only because we want to have professional users, but because we wanted to add ultimate reliability to our lineup. We wanted to meet the requirement of professionals who shoot sports and wildlife. Now that [the E-M1X] has arrived, and it's our 100th anniversary, you can expect more."
Absolutely! Eye-tracking for wildlife will be a major breakthrough when it gets here; I think that is what will finally force a lot more sports and wildlife people to start switching to mirrorless. But the super telephoto lenses also have to be there. Olympus' new long lens is more than a year out and I'm not sure Sony or Fuji have many lens choices for us yet.
I'm not going to get an E-MX1, but I'm going to try to be patient with Olympus because I like a lot of what they have done so far and it seems they really are targeting wildlife and bird photographers (not just sports/motor sports, which I don't really care about at all). Also I still think the micro-4/3 format could be ideal for small birds.
Dave