This article features a selection of handheld images of ducks captured with the M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 zoom and MC-20 teleconverter. As noted in a previous article, I was not initially planning to do any bird photography on this particular day, and left my M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS at home.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

When I first moved into the Olympus M4/3 system I regularly photographed ducks with the PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 lens and MC-20 teleconverter. I quite enjoyed using this combination and found that it was capable of producing very good results.

After purchasing the M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS I used that lens almost exclusively for all of my bird photography. It was an interesting experience to re-acquaint myself with the PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 for this genre of photography, as well as experiment with Pro Capture L and Bird Detection AI with this particular lens.

Suffice to say that this combination worked very well with the combination of technologies noted. My understanding is that the M.Zuiko 100-400 mm is not capable of performing continuous auto-focusing at 50 frames-per-second like PRO lenses such as the 40-150 mm f/2.8 can.

This is shown by information on the OM System website which states the 100-400 mm is limited to 25 frames-per-second when using continuous auto-focus with the OM-1 body.

Feedback I had from OM Systems indicated that this is not a firmware issue… but something to do with physical ability of the lens. On a subjective basis it appears to me that the AF on the PRO 40-150 f/2.8 is a tad quicker than the 100-400 mm. This becomes more noticeable when the MC-20 is used.

As noted in a previous article, the M.Zuiko PRO 40-150mm f/2.8 zoom is my favourite M4/3 lens. I’ve found this to be a very flexible lens that delivers outstanding optical performance.

If the M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS did not accept teleconverters I likely would not have purchased that zoom lens. I would have stayed with the PRO 40-150 f/2.8 and MC-20 as my primary birding combination.

There are certainly times when a fast zoom comes in very handy… especially a M4/3 lens that extends out to 150 mm at f/2.8. I’m looking forward to using this lens in some lower light environments to photograph birds later this year.

While photographing ducks with the PRO 40-150 f/2.8 at LaSalle Park, I moved to a few different vantage points so I could capture ducks flying in using a variety of flight paths.

With the spring migration season just around the corner in Southern Ontario, it is always a good idea to get in some pre-season practice. Even with very common birds like ducks.

My session photographing ducks with the M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 was an impromptu affair. I had no real objective other than to get in some practice with eye/hand coordination. I fully expected to delete most… if not all… of my images from that LaSalle visit. That’s probably why it took me over 5 weeks to even look at my images from that day.

Finding a few dozen potentially useable photographs from the outing was an unexpected bonus. Getting re-acquainted with the M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 with the MC-20 as an effective birding combination was another one.

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. A single auto-focus point was used, along with 18 frames-per-second. Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking was engaged. My standard Pro Capture L settings were used with Pre-Shutter Frames set to 10 and Frame Limiter turned off.

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 1,263 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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