Going Prime

As regular readers of this blog will know I have been trying out a lot of new gear over the last six months. The switch from full frame to micro four thirds (MFT) has been a game changer in terms of the extra reach, and in my experience at least, has made negligible difference to my ability to operate in low light. Before I sold my full frame gear to MPB I took it and the MFT kit to a local hide just before dawn. A quick unscientific comparison between the two suggested that whilst the full frame combination image quality was better, the difference was marginal. No changing of the game there.

A male gadwell duck with an OM1 Mk2 with an Olympus 300mm F4 prime and a 2.0 teleconverter

Both the full frame and MFT zoom lens are great pieces of kit, but their maximum F6.3 aperture at full zoom is just to limiting for the grey skies of North Yorkshire. The key phrase there is "at full zoom" which with my style of photography I always seem to be at. 💡 Selling both my 100-400 F5-6.3 and my 40-150 F2.8 I am now the proud owner of a  second hand Olympus 300mm Pro prime lens along with both the 1.4 and 2.0 teleconverters. This gives me a full frame equivalent reach of 600mm at F4 with the lens, and either 840mm F5.6 or 1200mm F8 with one the teleconverters attached to the lens.

OM1 Mk2 with my new 300mm F4 prime lens and teleconverters

This extra reach combined with the larger apertures is an absolute game changer and has greatly enhanced the conditions under which I can operate. Obviously the F8 2.0 teleconverter can only be used in good light but the 1200mm full frame equivalent reach is mind blowing. Given that the 1.4 teleconverter gives 840mm full frame equivalent at 5.6F, this is more light than the OM zoom lens admitted at 800mm full frame equivalent.

A swan "mid preen". Taken using an OM1 Mk2 with 300mm prime and 2.0 teleconverter.

As demonstrated by this picture of a preening swan the main drawback of the prime is that things can get too close. However that is a limitation that I can live with.