Image Quality & Background Comparison Olympus & Canon For Bird Photography

[@stephensinger4686]

I found this video very interesting. Only a week ago I changed from a Canon cropped sensor to the Oly OMD E-1 MII. I had been using Canon exclusively since 1968. Also, interesting to me was at the end of the video when you are showing how you shot the images, the Oly was basically hand held with your wrist on the support while the Canon was using the window support.

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

The Olympus gear is so much lighter, I don't feel like I needed to support it with the bean bag. I'll have a review about the Olympus gear out soon. Thanks for watching Tim

[@terrywbreedlove]

Long time landscape and portrait shooter. Just now getting into wildlife. In fact I just bought the the 300mm f4 pro for my EM1.2 a couple weeks ago. Wow this lens is so sharp vey quick accurate AF.

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

That's a great combination of lens and camera. Have fun!

[@johndoskoch5457]

Thanks for this video Tim. What is really striking is the small size of the micro four thirds Olympus vs your Canon gear! Looking forward to your next comparison.

[@klackon1]

Until a few months ago I owned a Nikon D500 system and an Olympus EM1 mark II sytem, which I used in tandem for wildlife photography. I owned a Nikkor 300mm f4 PF ED VR + TC14EIII, a Nikkor 200 - 500mm f5.6 and a Sigma 180mm f2.8 OS macro. I also owned an Olympus 300mm f4 + 1.4TC, Olympus 12 -40mm f2.8, Olympus 40 - 150mm f2.8 and Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro. In all honesty, most of the time I could not tell which image was shot on which camera. Only at extreme range did the APS-C sensor show it's superiority. In my hands, the EM1.2 was actually a better wildlife camera: and I preferred it to my D500, brilliant though it was. I now use a Sony A9/A7III full frame system and when I view images taken on all three format s there is little to choose between them. Provided the exposure is correct and the system is used within it's limits, the EM1.2, and EM1X will produce stunning images.

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

Thanks for your assessment of these cameras. I have thought the same. Tim

[@daycreek]

The effective depth-of-field for M43 cameras is double that of a full-frame sensor. The Olympus E-M1X with a 300mm f/4 with 1.4x TC has an effective reach of 840mm but also has an effective depth-of-field of f/11. I am very curious at how the Olympus 150-400mm f/4.5 lens will perform once it is released in 2020. That lens will bring the effective depth-of-field to something closer to a FF 600mm lens with a 1.4x TC. That might sway me over to using an M43 system for serious bird photography as long as autofocus performance is good enough. I will be very interested in your final report on the E-M1X for bird photography. Thanks!

[@TechnoBabble]

But your noise performance is also equivalent to using an f11 lens on full frame. Even with a 150-400mm f/4.5 you're looking at an 800mm f/9 equivalent. More noise, less reach, and a lower resolution. Sure it's less expensive and smaller, but that's for a reason, they simply aren't comparable.

[@_systemd]

@@TechnoBabblem43 makes a lot of sense for as long as the lenses are small and the prices are low. the 150-400 kinda goes against both of those. for me it leaves the compact and cheap "" territory of the 300f4 behind and aims somewhere up to a different market where it is a lot more consideration worthy to purchase a fullframe system.

[@gary_michael_flanagan_wildlife]

Thanks for the video! I am so torn! I own and love the canon 600mm f4 II lens and it’s phenomenal of course. I’m traveling to Hawaii for our 10th anniversary and would like to photograph birds there. I debated going the Olympus route for my trip, since I use Olympus for my extreme macro work, but I may be better off with a canon 400mm DO II lens adapted to my R6. Have you used the DO? Curious if you have any thoughts on whether you think the Olympus with the 300 f4 would be worse for background blur than the 400mm DO II. Seems so. I guess the beauty of 4/3 is for macro and depth of field for bugs, but for birds it’s the opposite with messier backgrounds. Sounds about right? Thanks, and open to feedback!!

[@gregwilson9890]

Hey Tim, great information! I always look forward to seeing your videos. Are you out doing a workshop or a vacation? I got spoiled by your weekly posting of videos. I hope things are well.

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

Took a few weeks off to try to make progress on my second book, the tutorials will start again soon. Maybe this next week. Thanks for commenting and watching! Tim

[@richerich8007]

Tim, you do give up a little background blur with the Olympus. However look at the crap you had to use to get the 600 to work, and you handheld the Olympus 600. I carry my M1x and the 600 hooked together in the top of my Mindshift rotation. If I had the Canon 600 it would have been a suitcase. I just switched from Canon to Olympus, was the smartest camera move I've ever made.

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

+Rich E Rich I cut out the noise I made when I lifted the 600 f/4 up to the window. It gets heavier each year. Thanks for commenting.

[@vking5665]

Back in the early 2000’s I worked as an Executive in manufacturing & did some consulting at a Medical Equipment facility. They insisted on using only Olympus lens technology as they said it was second to none. Minimal variations & distortion of captured or projected images. As we all know the tolerance for error in surgical equipment is zero. Not sure if that is still the case. So , I’m not surprised at all.

[@maximme]

lovely You clearly deserve more viewers

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

Thank you really enjoyed your comment

[@stevencoffin48]

Interesting about the color. Would never have expected that result. Where were you? The Quail is cool. Is it a Gimbrel, like in Bosque?

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

+Steve Coffin Hi Steve it's a California Qusil. A little different then it's Bisque cousin.

[@boetschge]

I really liked the little Movie in the End,absolutely beautyful!

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

+boetschge Thanks!

[@MrPhilbautista]

Would love to hear your thoughts on shooting birds with EF lenses adapted to M43 bodies, particularly an E-M1 to an EF 300/4 L IS.

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

When I switched to Olympus I got rid of all my Canon lenses. But, I'll look into this to see how it works. Thanks for the question.

[@BurkmanInVancouver]

Thanks for the comparison.Although it's not directly about the image quality, I see that you were handholding the Olympus and using a window mount for the Canon. I find that you could handhold and get the same image quality to be an advantage for the Olympus.

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

Yes I agree the lightness of the Olympus system and thus versatility is a great advantage. And then there's the in body stabilization!

[@grahamhopkinson1816]

You haven't posted for a while Tim, is everything ok?

[@albertryckman5548]

Tim. I Wonder how much of the blue Olympus vs the yellow Canon wasn't related to White Balance. Were you using Auto White Balance for both cameras? What were the Color Temperature differences?

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

+Albert Ryckman Borh were setup for AWB. I'll have to check the actual values. Good question, thanks.

[@777sib]

Thanks fort he comparison. Why do you use a car for birding? That’s funny. We had a lot of fun. Your video makes us happy. Tried to imagine how it works on a mountain... One Abo more! Looking forward seeing your next video.

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

I was on a road that had bluebird nest boxes every hundred feet or so, so I just drove alnong, stayed in teh car so teh birds won't get scared. The California Quail was a bonus, the male jumped up on the perch to see if there were any predators around.

[@ZaberAnsaryOfficial]

Shouldve included some 1 to 1 crop examples to see which was sharpest.

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

+Zaber Ansary Thanks I thought about that when I hit the upload button. Next time I'll get the 1:1's in there. Thanks

[@MrTJCCREATIONS]

Thanks for this. You don’t mention your settings, but micro 4 third sensors and full frame sensors have different depth of fields. For the Olympus system to get a softer background larger apertures are needed. If your images are at the same aperture that could account for some of the difference. Love your videos.

[@pjf7943]

Something odd in the second bird pics... What is it with all the background banding in the Canon pic.? Cheap lenses, low mega pixel sensors, high ISO, low light or improper settings do that... Is this a RAW or JPEG image.??

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

The banding shows up on the video but not the original RAW file. Somewhere in the process Lightroom raw to jpg into Powerpoint, then using screenflow then iMove the file changed. I haven't seen this before. The EOS R does have a banding issue but I thought the new update fixed it. Obviously something about the file isn't right.

[@juanalvarado7794]

Holly crap that 600mm Canon lens is Huge! For A bit box extra Blur? Hell nah. Lmao 😂

[@willnotbetracked8222]

The Canon background was much better and the colour looked fine to me! Sometimes folks need to convince themselves that what they are about to do is right even if it isn't...

[@tomkro9704]

Sadly Olympus is dead. How much lighter is the Olympus setup compared to the eos r setup (with lenses)

[@GodwitMediaLLC]

The Canon 600 mm f/4 (the one I had when I switched) weighed 11.6 pounds, the Olympus 300mm f/4 lens which with a micro 4/3rd sensor weighs 3.2 pounds.

[@JT-gm4fk]

Tom, Olympus is still putting out cameras. The new em1 mark iii is a great camera

[@19Photographer76]

I always felt that Nikon had the best color science starting with the D810, D5 and D850?

[@charliedebravo3960]

The details are not quite sharp ..... bokeh is ok. For wild life, I feel it is good to have a good amounts of sharp details of the subject.

[@Stefan1968ful]

Ah, Olympus just an MFT system. Not comparable with a real camera system.

[@golaoi]

Well, I have both systems and it is. But what would I know? Working from theory you have all the aces!

[@gertvaneisden5270]

Well Stefan, at some point in your life you will realize this was not your brightest post on the internet.

[@Stefan1968ful]

@@gertvaneisden5270 Ah, for the brightest moments in life we have of course people like you :) Hahahaha...LOL