Olympus OMD-EM1 Mk II - First Outing

Picked up my new body from LCE in Colchester late yesterday, too late to do any photography.  Spent the evening configuring the camera to match the setup on my Mk 1 as far as possible.

Today the weather was very gloomy nevertheless I was keen to get out and test the much publicised improvements in AF speed and tracking capabilities of the Mk II

Decided to go to Landguard Point, Felixstowe as there are always a good selection of gulls to photograph.

All photos in this session were taken with the Olympus 300mm f4 and are handheld.  In order to achieve a high enough shutter speed all the flight shots were taken at ISO 800 with the lens wide open at f4.  Normally I would stop down to achieve a greater depth of field but due to the low light that was not possible.

First tried some perched shots using S-AF, the AF is noticeably faster than the Mk1.

European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), adult winter.  Landguard Point, Felixstowe)



European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), adult winter and first winter.  Landguard Point, Felixstowe)

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), adult winter, Landguard Point, Felixstowe.
 

Next tried some flight shots which I knew that the Mk1 would have struggled with.  First a fairly distant bird against a fussy background, the Mk2 quickly locked onto the bird and managed to continue tracking it.  I know that for this shot the Mk1 would have locked onto the dock cranes in the background.

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), adult winter in flight,  Landguard Point, Felixstowe..

Next a fairly distant bird against a plain background.  In this situation my Mk1 would frequently not manage to obtain focus on the bird at all and, even if it did, it would frequently then lose focus way to the background making it impossible to refind the bird because of the very shallow depth of field of the 300.  The Mk II quickly achieved focus and continued tracking without zooming off into the background.

European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), first winter in flight.  Landguard Point, Felixstowe) (large crop)

European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), first winter in flight.  Landguard Point, Felixstowe) (large crop)

Next a sequence of a bird flying towards me.  This type of sequence was very difficult with the Mk1 due to the EVF blackout between shots.  With the Mk II I noticed no discernible blackout it was just like shooting with one of my old Canon DSLRs.

 

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), adult winter in flight,  Landguard Point, Felixstowe..

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), adult winter in flight,  Landguard Point, Felixstowe..

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), adult winter in flight,  Landguard Point, Felixstowe..

Also briefly tried the CAF-TR (tracking mode), this is not something I ever used on the Mk1 as it just never worked for me.  on the Mk II it actually did manage to track a wagtail much to my surprise!  I still think I prefer tracking myself but I will try this facility again at a later date.

 

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii), adult male,  Landguard Point, Felixstowe..

Given the less than optimal lighting today the AF on the new body performed admirably.

 

Had one go at using the 4K video the stabilisation is very good and I managed to take an acceptable video using the 300 handheld.   The only jerkiness is my own inadequate attempts at panning.  The video is straight out of the camera but reduced in size to 1920 x 1080 for viewing on the internet.

 

See the video here http://photos.birdingimages.com/Birds/NonPasserines/Gulls/i-kSmc7dw/A