Recently I decided to do a small subject test at 2400 mm efov with my M.Zuiko 150-600 super zoom and MC-20 teleconverter. In my experience the M.Zuiko 150-600 has proven to be a wonderful lens that provides a tremendous range of in-field capability.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

A few people have contacted me, asking about using the M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 IS with the MC-20 teleconverter.

There are appears to be some hesitancy about this combination being “too soft” to be of any practical use.

So, I decided to go out in my backyard for a couple of hours and photograph some small subjects handheld with this combination fully extended to 1200 mm (efov 2400 mm).

As one can imagine, it was a bit of a challenge to find subjects in my viewfinder with this incredible reach. As a result my handheld compositions are of a “catch as catch can” nature. The smooth push/pull focal length adjustment of the M.Zuiko 150-600 was a key success factor.

This article features 14 test images, all of which were captured at an equivalent focal length of 2400 mm. A single, small auto-focus point was used for all of the photographs featured in this article. I did not use any computational photography technology like Pro Capture or Bird Recognition AI Subject Tracking for the images featured in this article. All images were captured handheld.

Most of the test photographs are presented as full frame captures without any cropping. A few of the images were cropped on the width to help improve balance.

It is important to remember that using the M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter costs two stops of light… so the minimum aperture available when the 150-600 is fully extended is f/13. There is also a loss of two stops of IBIS performance.

Unless one has very good handholding skills, and very cooperative subjects that allow for slower shutter speeds to be used… decent light is needed to use this combination handheld.

I imagine that some photographers would feel that the best use of 2400 mm of equivalent field-of-view would be to capture images of distant birds and other subjects.

The effects of heat haze and particulates in the atmosphere can reduce the practicality of using the combination of the M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 IS and M.Zuiko MC-20 in this manner.

For my specific needs, a more effective use of the M.Zuiko 150-600 and MC-20 teleconverter combination is to photograph small birds and other wildlife that are a maximum of about 15-20 metres away.

A closer shooting distance allows a photographer to get a lot more pixels on a subject bird, or other animal… and avoid wasting pixels by cropping. Shooting in RAW, and doing a modicum of work in post, produces the best results.

From a creative standpoint getting in tighter on small subjects like birds, mammals, and reptiles helps to create a more intimate feeling with our images.

For example, the photograph above of this pesky, little chipmunk that was stealing seeds from one of our “squirrel proof” bird feeders was one of my favourites from the afternoon session in my backyard. To me this image, presented as a full frame uncropped capture, oozes personality.

Every photographer has their own specific needs when it comes to the image quality and functionality that they expect from their camera gear. For my purposes, I have no hesitation using the M.Zuiko 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 IS in tandem with the M.Zuiko MC-20 teleconverter as illustrated in this article.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured handheld with the camera equipment  noted in the EXIF data. All images were created from RAW files using my standard process in post. This is the 1,421 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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