Testing the Panasonic Lumix 45-200mm - part II
About a week ago, I posted some photos of birds after my first 'practice session' in capturing photos of these fast little creatures with some new gear. That previous session was the first part of a series of tests of different parts of my gear used in different combinations. (You can read that blog post here.)
I'm testing some new Micro Four Thirds format photography gear to use for wildlife photography. I decided to give this format a shot after getting snagged in a few different obstacles in using other formats. So far, I have to say that this Micro Four Thirds gear is hitting a sweet spot for use in wildlife photography.
This morning I happened to see a few more birds visiting my neighbor's back yard not far from one of our kitchen windows so I figured this would be a good time to test a different lens... today would be for the used lens I picked up a couple of weeks ago... the Panasonic Lumix 45-200mm Vario f4 -5.6 OIS lens.
Again, as I mentioned in my previous blog posts, these tests are very unscientific... based more on use in the field, impressions over time, impressions after use in varying real life environmental conditions, the quality of the images produced, portability (read not a painful experience for my injured spine) and, last but certainly not least, easy on my very low fixed income.
The situation with our neighborhood birds has been a bit odd this year. They all seemed to completely disappear through the winter and only recently returned. Even after their recent return, they are still only rarely seen in our area or even heard from our house. This could be due to predators such as crows, hawks, bobcats, and even domestic cats. Or it could be due to a lack of available food sources. Or it could be due to lack of foliage in which to hide from predators. Regardless, there have been very few days when I have seen or heard birds around our house... odd indeed, which makes it difficult to practice shooting photographs of birds!
I had picked up a used lens in "like new" condition a couple of weeks ago at a very good price and I've been waiting for an opportunity to test it. I did some unscientific quick testing around the house and I felt it was a good lens. I then immediately brought the lens outdoors and shot a bunch of static objects... after looking at the images closely, I still felt it was a good lens but I've really been wanting to test it on wildlife which is the primary purpose of me purchasing this lens. This morning I noticed a few small Goldfinches outside so I decided today was the day for Part 2 of testing this lens for its intended use.
Those bird photos in my blog post a week ago were shot using my old Olympus Zuiko 70-300mm lens. This lens is a Four Thirds mount lens as opposed to a Micro Four Thirds mount so I needed to use an adapter with this lens. The photos I shot last week came out beautifully and I was impressed with the autofocus capabilities of this adapted lens on my Micro Four Thirds camera. Autofocus worked like a charm on this new Panasonic Micro Four Thirds camera body... even better than it worked on one of the cameras it was supposedly designed for... my old Olympus E-620! That lens was always slow to focus on the Olympus E-620 and the image quality was miserable most of the time. This lens performed beautifully on this new Micro Four Thirds format which left me surprised and quite happy.
Now, it was time to put the used Panasonic Lumix 45-200mm f4-5.6 Vario OIS lens to the test and a few birds seemed willing to be my test subjects this morning so today was the day for a little more photography practice!
The conditions this morning were a bit tough for this type of telephoto photography. It was quite windy making it difficult to stay as steady as possible. The wind was keeping the birds moving as well. The wind was rustling leaves and swaying branches too. It was completely overcast... it was rather dark... the light was flat (no bright sunshine and, hence, no nice shadows)... and now, unlike last week when I did the first part of my testing, I had foliage obstructing my view. These fast little birds know to hide behind all these new leaves making this type of photography even more difficult than it already is under much better circumstances nevermind the circumstances I was faced with on this day.
Compounding these rather lousy conditions was the fact that this lens I planned to test was not as long as the previous lens I tested last time around. Tiny birds... less of a zoom magnification... plus, less light... this means a tough time getting good shots.
This lens reaches to a 400mm equivalent field of view... the lens last week reached to a 600mm equivalent field of view. Nevertheless, since the birds were cooperative and I had no other place to be, this would be a good day to test this shorter lens in difficult conditions. After all, days like this will plague me at the lake (and have plagued me in the past) if I am not prepared for it.
I have no intentions nor desires of discussing and explaining specific measurements nor describing test details in the way of finite scores in this very unscientific review but, in short, this lens mounted on my used Panasonic G3 camera body performed quite well. Actually, it performed surprisingly well considering the rather lukewarm reviews I have read online about this lens. I found the autofocus was snappy and accurate even through all those new leaves and even considering that my subjects were tiny little flitting and darting birds. The low light capabilities of the camera were pretty damn good. And the clarity, sharpness and tonal qualities of the resulting photos are all beyond acceptable for my purposes... and, as many of you know, I am fairly picky when it comes to what is "good enough".
Actually, truth be told, I despise that term "good enough"... we should always do our best but when limited ecomonically as well as physically, we sometimes need to simply accept that some things are "good enough". So, in this case, "good enough" refers to how well this camera and lens combo meets my needs and not how much or how effectively I am applying myself to this endeavor.
All-in-all, this combination of lens and camera body should do just fine for wildlife photography while we are at the lake this summer. Most of my photography at the lake is done from a kayak so having this small, lightweight 'micro' gear will come in handy in that environment. Smaller, lighter gear for the kayak is welcome relief. Of course, I will still carry more than one body... maybe even three so I have three lens ranges ready to go without the need to change lenses... but having this longest focal length being among the smallest and lightest of all my gear truly is welcome relief.
As I use this Micro Four Thirds format more and more, I am liking it more and more for this type of telephoto photography. As always, I am thinking about the future and the direction I feel I need to go as I grow into this system and my skills improve... Which camera bodies would be best? Which lenses would be best? Are my results justifying the cost of all this used gear?
Also, I really need to think about how to best stow all this gear while out and about in my kayak while still keeping it all easily accessible but my thoughts on this topic will have to wait for another blog post...
I'm testing some new Micro Four Thirds format photography gear to use for wildlife photography. I decided to give this format a shot after getting snagged in a few different obstacles in using other formats. So far, I have to say that this Micro Four Thirds gear is hitting a sweet spot for use in wildlife photography.
This morning I happened to see a few more birds visiting my neighbor's back yard not far from one of our kitchen windows so I figured this would be a good time to test a different lens... today would be for the used lens I picked up a couple of weeks ago... the Panasonic Lumix 45-200mm Vario f4 -5.6 OIS lens.
Again, as I mentioned in my previous blog posts, these tests are very unscientific... based more on use in the field, impressions over time, impressions after use in varying real life environmental conditions, the quality of the images produced, portability (read not a painful experience for my injured spine) and, last but certainly not least, easy on my very low fixed income.
 |
| Panasonic G3 camera, Panasonic 45-200mm lens, handheld. |
I had picked up a used lens in "like new" condition a couple of weeks ago at a very good price and I've been waiting for an opportunity to test it. I did some unscientific quick testing around the house and I felt it was a good lens. I then immediately brought the lens outdoors and shot a bunch of static objects... after looking at the images closely, I still felt it was a good lens but I've really been wanting to test it on wildlife which is the primary purpose of me purchasing this lens. This morning I noticed a few small Goldfinches outside so I decided today was the day for Part 2 of testing this lens for its intended use.
Those bird photos in my blog post a week ago were shot using my old Olympus Zuiko 70-300mm lens. This lens is a Four Thirds mount lens as opposed to a Micro Four Thirds mount so I needed to use an adapter with this lens. The photos I shot last week came out beautifully and I was impressed with the autofocus capabilities of this adapted lens on my Micro Four Thirds camera. Autofocus worked like a charm on this new Panasonic Micro Four Thirds camera body... even better than it worked on one of the cameras it was supposedly designed for... my old Olympus E-620! That lens was always slow to focus on the Olympus E-620 and the image quality was miserable most of the time. This lens performed beautifully on this new Micro Four Thirds format which left me surprised and quite happy.
 |
| Panasonic G3 camera, Panasonic 45-200mm lens, handheld. |
The conditions this morning were a bit tough for this type of telephoto photography. It was quite windy making it difficult to stay as steady as possible. The wind was keeping the birds moving as well. The wind was rustling leaves and swaying branches too. It was completely overcast... it was rather dark... the light was flat (no bright sunshine and, hence, no nice shadows)... and now, unlike last week when I did the first part of my testing, I had foliage obstructing my view. These fast little birds know to hide behind all these new leaves making this type of photography even more difficult than it already is under much better circumstances nevermind the circumstances I was faced with on this day.
Compounding these rather lousy conditions was the fact that this lens I planned to test was not as long as the previous lens I tested last time around. Tiny birds... less of a zoom magnification... plus, less light... this means a tough time getting good shots.
This lens reaches to a 400mm equivalent field of view... the lens last week reached to a 600mm equivalent field of view. Nevertheless, since the birds were cooperative and I had no other place to be, this would be a good day to test this shorter lens in difficult conditions. After all, days like this will plague me at the lake (and have plagued me in the past) if I am not prepared for it.
 |
| The shadow on the right side of this frame is actually a shadow in the background and not a problem with the shutter as it may appear. Panasonic G3 camera, Panasonic Lumix 45-200mm lens, handheld. |
I have no intentions nor desires of discussing and explaining specific measurements nor describing test details in the way of finite scores in this very unscientific review but, in short, this lens mounted on my used Panasonic G3 camera body performed quite well. Actually, it performed surprisingly well considering the rather lukewarm reviews I have read online about this lens. I found the autofocus was snappy and accurate even through all those new leaves and even considering that my subjects were tiny little flitting and darting birds. The low light capabilities of the camera were pretty damn good. And the clarity, sharpness and tonal qualities of the resulting photos are all beyond acceptable for my purposes... and, as many of you know, I am fairly picky when it comes to what is "good enough".
Actually, truth be told, I despise that term "good enough"... we should always do our best but when limited ecomonically as well as physically, we sometimes need to simply accept that some things are "good enough". So, in this case, "good enough" refers to how well this camera and lens combo meets my needs and not how much or how effectively I am applying myself to this endeavor.
All-in-all, this combination of lens and camera body should do just fine for wildlife photography while we are at the lake this summer. Most of my photography at the lake is done from a kayak so having this small, lightweight 'micro' gear will come in handy in that environment. Smaller, lighter gear for the kayak is welcome relief. Of course, I will still carry more than one body... maybe even three so I have three lens ranges ready to go without the need to change lenses... but having this longest focal length being among the smallest and lightest of all my gear truly is welcome relief.
As I use this Micro Four Thirds format more and more, I am liking it more and more for this type of telephoto photography. As always, I am thinking about the future and the direction I feel I need to go as I grow into this system and my skills improve... Which camera bodies would be best? Which lenses would be best? Are my results justifying the cost of all this used gear?
Also, I really need to think about how to best stow all this gear while out and about in my kayak while still keeping it all easily accessible but my thoughts on this topic will have to wait for another blog post...
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