I recently did an M.Zuiko 150-600 with MC-20 teleconverter handheld field test at 40 Mile Creek in Grimsby. Many of the launch videos for the M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 zoom lens done by OM Ambassadors, made specific mention of the M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter… and the possibility of achieving 2400 mm efov reach.

The question that begs to be asked is how realistic is it to use the MC-20 with the M.Zuiko 150-600 mm, especially when that lens is fully extended? And… is this possible to do that handheld? This article shares my observations using this combination. It is not intended to represent a definitive assessment… only my first hand experience.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

All of the images featured in this article were captured handheld and are displayed as full frame captures without any cropping on the width.  Two of the images were cropped slightly on the height only. Recognizing that many folks are trying to get additional pixels on a subject when they use teleconverters, I thought it was important to display only uncropped images (on the width) in this article.

It is also important to remind ourselves that a number of factors come into play when using teleconverters. These include the sharpness and optical qualities of the original lens, the sharpness and optical qualities of the teleconverter, atmospheric conditions, and the skill of the photographer.

Some folks might assume that one of the primary uses of the M.Zuiko MC-20 with the M.Zuiko 150-600 would be to capture distant birds-in-flight. In my experience this is an impractical attempted use of the MC-20 for three main reasons.

One… I observed a noticeable slowdown of Continuous Auto-Focus speed when the 150-600 is fully extended. Two… the angle of view is so narrow that it is extremely difficult to pan with a distant bird-in-flight.  And finally, the distance to subject is likely so far that atmospheric conditions could result in unusable images.

Would I ever entertain using the MC-20 with the 150-600 to photograph birds-in-flight? Nope. In my experience, all of the success I had with this combination photographing birds-in-flight ended up being at focal lengths that I could have pretty much achieved with the 150-600’s native focal length range… without a 2 EV loss of light. In short, adding the MC-20 to my set-up specifically for birds-in-flight would not add any value.

Are there potential benefits using this combination? Yup. My subjective assessment is that the M.Zuiko 150-600 is much sharper than the M.Zuiko 100-400 and delivers better colour rendition. As such it delivers better quality images when the MC-20 is used with it. I seldom use the MC-20 with my M.Zuiko 100-400 as I find the handling is somewhat difficult in terms of finding a bird-in-flight in my viewfinder as the zoom ring is on the slower side.

The image quality of the MC-20 is extremely good when it is mounted with the M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 f/2.8, and there is almost no loss of C-AF speed. Based on my experience… I can’t say the same things when it is used with the M.Zuiko 100-400.

Photographers would need to make their own determination whether they wanted to use the MC-20, or crop their images. In specific situations the M.Zuiko MC-20 can come in handy. For example, when dealing with skittish birds it may be possible to fill the frame with a subject bird through the use of the MC-20 and not risk flushing a bird out by getting too close.

Depending on our photographic style, it may be important to get as many pixels on the head of a bird as possible when creating portraiture type images. Using the M.Zuiko 150-600 with the MC-20 may be an ideal combination. A few samples of this approach are below.

The Sync-IS works very effectively, although it is important to remember that using the MC-20 comes at a cost of 2 EV stops. I was able to get useable images at 1/250 and a few at 1/125.

For me, given subject movement a realistic bottom end shutter speed when fully extended to 600 mm, and using the MC-20 with wild water birds, is likely 1/320.

Being able to fill the frame with a subject bird is something that many photographers may choose to do, rather than cropping. Having the MC-20 mounted with the 150-600 can accomplish that… but it comes with the risk of missing other opportunities. My field test was designed to force me to use the MC-20 to demonstrate how it performs with the M.Zuiko 150-600. That combination led to me missing numerous other opportunities as I had far too much focal length available.

Using the MC-20 with the M.Zuiko 150-600 is a far cry from using it on a smaller, lighter lens like the M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 f/2.8. With that shorter focal length lens a photographer can put in on/remove it fairly quickly. The size and weight of the 150-600 makes it much more difficult and time consuming to use/remove a teleconverter.

As noted earlier, using the MC-20 comes down to personal choice. While I would not personally use the M.Zuiko MC-20 with the 150-600 for birds-in-flight, there are situations that I would use the MC-20 to capture behaviours that are exhibited from more stationary positions.

These would include birds flapping their wings while floating in the water, or interactions/fights between birds that are basically in the same proximate area. The two mallards fighting in the image below is a good example.

These two birds kept fighting on and off for about 20 minutes. They were well away from the shoreline at 40.9 metres (~134 feet) away. This made using the MC-20 with the M.Zuiko 150-600 fully extended to 600 mm for an efov of 2400 mm, ideal to capture the action, and fill the frame.

This combination can also be very effective with distant perched/stationary birds, or when portraiture style images are desired.

I suppose the fundamental question is, “Do I intend to include the MC-20 as a regular component in my bird photography kit?” No, I don’t think it would make sense for me. But, I would take it with me when photographing bees, wasps, butterflies and dragonflies with the M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 IS… as I would be photographing subjects in a more contained area. And, usually under very good light.

Ultimately I think touting the use of the MC-20 with the M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 IS to achieve an equivalent field-of-view of 2400 mm is a bit more hype than a practical reality. At least for bird photography the way that I approach it.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured handheld with the equipment noted in the EXIF data. All images were created from RAW files using my standard process. This is the 1,366 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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