This is exactly how it should be done. Daniel i have a some advice. Try to use silent mode (electronic shutter) and anti shock mode. I mainly use an electronic shutter, even with shorter focal lengths, like 45mm. Photos are much sharper even with a higher shutter speed(1/200) Many "professional reviewers" complain about teleconverters. The problem is with their methodology, not with the teleconverter. I thought that the mc-14 and mc-20 make no sense. I quickly discovered ,this is not true and the 300 f4 (and 40-150pro) with teleconverter and electronic shutter and ibis on is sharper than 300mm without teleconverter but with mechanical shutter. Shutter shock is the problem. Reducing vibrations is a key. This is how I compared r5 (45mpx) with rf100-500 with m1miii and 300 f4. Iso 1233 test chart and the same distance to the object, flash, both cameras on a tripod and a shutter delay. The apsc mode on the canon (17mpx and 800mm equivalent) didn't look good compared to the 300 f4 with teleconverter and without teleconverter (mc14) Honestly.. i can't afford a 150-400 pro, but I'm curious how it looks compared to the 300 f4. Regards from Denmark.
I always enjoy your videos and so appreciate what you do. I do find the newspaper focus difficult since newsprint quality typically is not very good. You being able to read the actual physical newspaper and compare would be fine, but for us not knowing the quality of the newsprint makes it difficult to tell how well it is actually rendering if that makes sense. Thanks for your work.
Yes, that makes sense but I still find newsprint very helpful. You can actually see the fibers in the paper on the really sharp lesnes. Using the same newspaper makes it easy to compare. I've actually used a lens test target and I've found it more difficult to judge sharpness due to the random nature of the lines and shapes. The newspaper hAS a consistent type across the entire frame. As I mentioned, this is not super scientific and one of the reasons I call this my "Layman's Sharpness Lens Test". I'm not an optics engineer and thus the reason for those of you who find this interesting is to do some tests yourself. My goal is to show how I do it so others can do the same.
Great tip re flash to eliminate movement. My 85mm Nikkor wasn't quite sharp so I replicated your test. After a lot of head scratching I cleaned the front filter - no difference. Then I looked at the back of the lens.....huge fingerprint. Must have been there since I bought it! Problem solved. It was diffusing the light. Thanks very much!
My pleasure. Nothing like a big fat thumbprint on the back of a lens element to give it that soft focus effect. Some people pay big money for that special technique.😊
Hi Daniel .. any regrets about the 150-400 mm ? I got an offer to buy a new one .I have already a 300 mm and converters .. want to use the lens for wild life.
Absolutely no regrets. It's probably the sharpest telephoto, fixed or zoom, I've ever shot. It's AF with th E-M1X is not perfect but it's getting close. I have the full youtube video coming in a few days with additional files to download and a writeup on my blog. More to come.
I have seen your previous lens tests and appreciate them very much. However, when you judge the sharpness in the corners you probably could set the focus to the corners, because curvature of focus plane does not matter too much in wildlife photography. (It can matter in landscape or astrophotography where everything is at virtually the same infinite distance).
If you really want to test lens sharpness at home, check out this link to Norman Koren's site. He's the guy behind Imatest.com that does professional lens testing setups. Make your own MTF charts at home, I did! www.normankoren.com/Tutorials/MTF5.html#using
This is exactly how it should be done. Daniel i have a some advice. Try to use silent mode (electronic shutter) and anti shock mode. I mainly use an electronic shutter, even with shorter focal lengths, like 45mm. Photos are much sharper even with a higher shutter speed(1/200) Many "professional reviewers" complain about teleconverters. The problem is with their methodology, not with the teleconverter. I thought that the mc-14 and mc-20 make no sense. I quickly discovered ,this is not true and the 300 f4 (and 40-150pro) with teleconverter and electronic shutter and ibis on is sharper than 300mm without teleconverter but with mechanical shutter. Shutter shock is the problem. Reducing vibrations is a key. This is how I compared r5 (45mpx) with rf100-500 with m1miii and 300 f4. Iso 1233 test chart and the same distance to the object, flash, both cameras on a tripod and a shutter delay. The apsc mode on the canon (17mpx and 800mm equivalent) didn't look good compared to the 300 f4 with teleconverter and without teleconverter (mc14)
Honestly.. i can't afford a 150-400 pro, but I'm curious how it looks compared to the 300 f4.
Regards from Denmark.
I always enjoy your videos and so appreciate what you do. I do find the newspaper focus difficult since newsprint quality typically is not very good. You being able to read the actual physical newspaper and compare would be fine, but for us not knowing the quality of the newsprint makes it difficult to tell how well it is actually rendering if that makes sense. Thanks for your work.
Yes, that makes sense but I still find newsprint very helpful. You can actually see the fibers in the paper on the really sharp lesnes. Using the same newspaper makes it easy to compare. I've actually used a lens test target and I've found it more difficult to judge sharpness due to the random nature of the lines and shapes. The newspaper hAS a consistent type across the entire frame. As I mentioned, this is not super scientific and one of the reasons I call this my "Layman's Sharpness Lens Test". I'm not an optics engineer and thus the reason for those of you who find this interesting is to do some tests yourself. My goal is to show how I do it so others can do the same.
Thanks for the explanation Daniel. I look forward to the results of this test.
Great tip re flash to eliminate movement. My 85mm Nikkor wasn't quite sharp so I replicated your test. After a lot of head scratching I cleaned the front filter - no difference. Then I looked at the back of the lens.....huge fingerprint. Must have been there since I bought it! Problem solved. It was diffusing the light. Thanks very much!
My pleasure. Nothing like a big fat thumbprint on the back of a lens element to give it that soft focus effect. Some people pay big money for that special technique.😊
Hi Daniel .. any regrets about the 150-400 mm ? I got an offer to buy a new one .I have already a 300 mm and converters .. want to use the lens for wild life.
Absolutely no regrets. It's probably the sharpest telephoto, fixed or zoom, I've ever shot. It's AF with th E-M1X is not perfect but it's getting close. I have the full youtube video coming in a few days with additional files to download and a writeup on my blog. More to come.
I have seen your previous lens tests and appreciate them very much.
However, when you judge the sharpness in the corners you probably could set the focus to the corners, because curvature of focus plane does not matter too much in wildlife photography.
(It can matter in landscape or astrophotography where everything is at virtually the same infinite distance).
If you really want to test lens sharpness at home, check out this link to Norman Koren's site. He's the guy behind Imatest.com that does professional lens testing setups. Make your own MTF charts at home, I did!
www.normankoren.com/Tutorials/MTF5.html#using