Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-03-21)

16

Technique MONEY-SAVING SPECIAL

ANDREWborrowedanoriginalOlympus
E-M1Mark1 body,whichheusedwiththe
OlympusM.Zuiko300mmf/4lens.You
canpickuptheE-M1foraround£250.
‘Thatis a greatpriceforwhatis stilla
capablecamerainmanyways,’he
explains.‘ButtheE-M1doesfeellikea
prototypefortheMarkII,assome of its
ideasweren’tfullydeveloped.’

Imagequality
‘The16.3MPMicroFourThirdssensoris
quitelonginthetoothnowbutyoucan
stillgetquitea lotofdetailfromtheraw
files.It’sthein-bodyimagestabilisation
(IS)thatreallystandsout,however,it’s
stillextraordinary.I couldgoaslowas
1/8secandstillgetsharpshotsofa
roostingtreecreeper(thoughthecamera
wasalsoona dodgytripodwhichI was
alsohavingtosecurebyhand).TheISalso
cameinveryusefulwhentakingpictures
ofstarlingmurmurationsina strongwind.
Thisis stilloneof the camera’s strongest
sellingpoints.’

AutofocusandISO
‘Onthenegativeside,theAFsystemreally
showsitsage,especiallywithfast-moving
subjectsorinlowlight.It’sjustslow,and
usingmultipleAFpointsis notvery
intuitive,whichis notwhatyouneedasa
wildlife photographer. I did manage to get

AndrewFusekPeters

RegularcontributorAndrewis a

highlyregardedwildlifeand

landscapeshooterwhosework

regularlyappearsin national

newspapers.Hehasbeenhighly

commendedtwiceforBritish

WildlifePhotographeroftheYear.

http://www.andrewfusekpeters.com.

somegoodshotsforthisproject,suchas

theonesofthestarlingsandwoodpecker,

andI wouldbehappytosendthesetomy

newspaperandmagazineclients.Butit

wasa lotofeffort.ForeverysharpshotI

got,therewerelotsofunacceptablysoft

ones.TheE-M1’sAFsystemdoesn’talways

lockonasreliablyasyou’dhope,and

requiresa disproportionateamountof

efforttogetgoodresults.It’salsoa shame

thatProCapturenevermadeit tothis

camera,asit enablesa “shootburst”of

60 framespersecond– a godsendfor

wildlifephotographers.TheISO

performancewasbetterandI managedto

geta relativelycleanshotofa long-tailed

titatISO1600,whichis notbadfora 2013

camera.Inmanyways, the ISO technology

is aheadoftheAF.’

Handlingandbatterylife

‘ThisbeinganOlympus,thebuildquality

is reallysolid,butthebatterylifegoes

downquickly.Toconclude,thiscamera

couldpassmusterasa reasonablypriced

second-handpick-upforlandscapes,or

othergenreswhereyoudon’tneedsuch

fastAF,butforwildlifeI reallyneeda

camerathatgivesmethatextrabitofhelp.

WiththereleaseoftheE-M1MarkIII,the

MarkIIis nowplunginginprice,soit

wouldseema bettersecond-hand buy

than this original model.’ ALL PICTURES ON THIS PAGE © ANDREW FUSEK

PETERS

Wildlife

AndrewpushedtheISOto

1600 fortheimageofthis

long-tailedtitandtheimage

is stillveryusableforprint,

with relatively little noise

TheAFsystemon

thecamerawas

hardwork,reckons

Andrew,making

actionshotsof

wildlifea

frustrating process

Foreverysharp

shotAndrewhada

lotofduffers,but

thecameradelivers

with this image