Hi all tele-lovers
Well, my usually fast lab provided an even faster service this day as they
turned my push-processed Provia100's and Elite100's (1 stop) in just four
hours.
I did use the 560mm setting most (400+Tamron matched 1.4x) wide-open, and
these first rolls provided me instantly with the sharpest images I've yet
taken at this focal length.
There is some vignetting in this combo, but it's of the very soft type,
hadn't it been for a couple of shots taken with the Zuiko 300+1.4x combo, I
may not have noticed it. (The Zuiko combo produces absolutely no vignetting,
remarkable in itself I reckon, even the latest Nikon 300/2.8+1.4x offering
with silent-wave motors and all produces quite a lot of vignetting, more so
than the Tamron 400+1.4x).
Image quality, the most important thing, what about that then? Well, as
expected, just excellent! But, as in all ultra-telephoto handling, proper
technique is very critical and far more important than the optics you're
eventually holding. I have perfectly sharp hand-held shots from the Sigma
400/5.6 taken at 1/250 sec while in these rolls there are some shaky ones
taken at 1/500 sec and with a tripod! Extreme negligence by me of course.
The next day I managed to capture our local rowdeers in fresh snow at 560mm,
1/30 sec (at 200 ISO) from the car, here one or two slides out of series of
10 seem sharp enough.
The only subject for the 400mm setting this weekend was a beautiful puffed
up robin in the snow. Can't say if there's any vignetting in this one as
there is no sky etc. in the image, I'll have to check for that later.
Apart from the push-processed rolls I also used regular Provia100, this roll
was the best to value colour accuracy in the lens. This lens comes with a
neutral 43mm filter, which, funny enough, is part of the optical formula.
IOW you should always use this or another (sky, 81A etc) filter while
shooting, it shouldn't be removed according to the manual. The colour
balance of my Zuiko 300+1.4x combo shots are more to my taste, but I have a
Olympus sky filter on the 300. I guess I'll substitute the neutral filter on
the Tamron with a sky of some sort, at present results are a bit too cool
for my taste.
That extra stop and extra focal length are worth all the world in bird and
wildlife photography. My wife directly concluded that there was a much
closer contact with the subjects which apart from rowdeers and robins
consisted of a kestrel, blackbirds, eurasian collared doves and numerous
tufted ducks. And then there is the 800/8 setting (and possibly 1100/11,
arty, fuzzy, movements) waiting to be explored.
The only minor drawback I've found is that the tripod collar mount is
mounted too far back in the lens, this makes the lens + camera nose-heavy.
But it's a minor problem, what is far better is that the shutter speed ring
is easily fetched while lens is on a tripod, as there is ample room to
adjust it, especially with the 1.4x, but also without. Try that with the
Zuiko 300/4.5! And the DOF preview latch on the adaptall mounts works
better, IMO, than the Zuiko buttons (blasphemy?).
Speaking of tripod, the stress on that is considerably larger and my 168
Manfrotto head with hexa-plates probably has to go. I hope to find an
as-near-as-good substitute to the Arca Swiss (bank account is terribly low),
any hints and experiences are greatly appreciated!
My next aim is to dig up my monopod, a device I never have completely
friends with. But with added weight and faster shutter speeds, this has to
be way to go when stalking birds. You don't exactly hide a tripod and a
camera + lens of this size, and at times it really becomes clumsy.
I guess it will be a very interesting spring (early that is, after courting
and mating, extreme care has to taken not to disturbe the nest and
offspring!) .
Thanks for still listening (if you haven't fallen asleep)
Ulf Westerberg
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