This past weekend I went out to photograph some chickadees with the M.Zuiko 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II zoom lens. The majority of my images were created using Pro Capture H with the Pre-Shutter Frames and Frame Limiter both set to 15. I shot with a frame rate of 60 frames-per-second, using a single auto-focusing point.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

The M.Zuiko 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II does not have the reach, weatherproofing, or teleconverter compatibility of my M.Zuiko 100-400mm. What it does offer is quite decent optical performance in a small, lightweight and cost affordable package.

Weighing in at 423 grams and measuring 116.5mm long and 69mm in diameter, the M.Zuiko 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II is easy to carry around and shoot with for extended periods of time.

In Canada this lens typically sells for $750, which is about 1/3 of the cost of the M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5-6.3 IS. If a photographer was looking for a cost affordable zoom to get into bird photography, this zoom lens deserves consideration.

Bird photographers typically want as much reach as possible, but there are times when a smaller and lighter zoom lens with slightly shorter reach can come in handy.  For example, when photographing small, active birds like chickadees that are constantly flitting about in trees and shrubs. Obviously it is easier to find a bird in our viewfinder when using a 300mm focal length rather than 400mm focal length or longer.

For whatever reason, the chickadees at both Hendrie Valley and LaSalle Park seemed more animated than usual. This made it more challenging to get a bird in my viewfinder, compose an image, acquire focus, and fire off a Pro Capture H image run. I had my M.Zuiko 100-400mm with me, but ended up using the M.Zuiko 75-300mm II for the majority of my images of chickadees that day.

I found the auto-focus to be quick and accurate, and shot the lens wide open,… not feeling a need to stop it down to improve image sharpness. The image below as aggressively cropped to 2772 pixels on the width.

The M.Zuiko 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II is well suited to working in close proximity to small, active birds like chickadees. At a subject distance of 6 metres with the lens fully extended, and shot wide open at f/6.7, this lens provides about 8 centimeters (~3.2 inches) of depth-of-field.

This was sufficient for the entire bird to be in focus as long as the chickadees were moving parallel to my camera’s sensor… or at a slight angle.

I had a few instances when the chickadees were in very close to me (i.e. less than 3 metres away).  This reduced my depth-of-field. As long as I kept my single auto-focus point on the heads of the chickadees, and shortened my focal length somewhat, I found that the resulting images were still acceptable.

I appreciate that some folks don’t have much interest in photographing small, common birds like chickadees. I find them to be great subjects with which to practice rapid eye/hand coordination.

Using Pro Capture H with a fast frame rate like 60 frames-per-second can yield some interesting ‘precise moment’ image captures. The photograph below is one of my favourites from my weekend visit.

I love the feelings of concentration and anticipation captured in the chickadee’s mid-air hopping action.

The M.Zuiko 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II serves as a great reminder that we don’t have to spend a lot of money on a large, heavy telephoto lens in order to have some fun with bird photography.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured handheld using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. Images were produced from RAW files using my standard process. For those readers who are interested in calculating equivalent field-of-view, multiply focal lengths for Olympus M4/3 cameras by a factor of 2. This is the 1,259 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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