- Name
- Miguel Tejada-Flores
My most recent double acquisition: an Olympus Stylus 1S bridge camera + a Nikon TC-E15ED (1.5x) teleconverter. I bought the camera very lightly used from a fellow photographer on our sister (mu-43.com) website, in the hopes that it might become a) a much lighter-weight alternative for birding & wildlife to the Sony RX10m4 (which is a remarkable camera, but over time just felt toooo big and heavy to lug around on long hikes), and b) possibly a cool small travel camera.
The 1S (basically identical to the 1, with cosmetic and firmware improvements) certainly qualifies as a small camera.
Plus it's got that nifty auto-open-auto-close lens cap which I quite like (I had one on my LX7 and another on my G1X MkIII, and they are brilliant little gadgets).
The resemblance to its nearly identically sized (but much larger sensored) mu-43 Olympus sibling, the E-M5, is not accidental.
It's a handsome little camera with a very solid feel to it (though obviously it can't compare to the tank-like heft of my former Sony RX10). But it feels significantly better built than a handful of older Lumix FZ bridge cameras I used to own years and years ago. (No, it's neither as solid - nor as heavy - as the newer generation of much larger Panasonics, the FZ1000's.)
Since birders are never happy until one can get even closer to the subject, the 300mm extreme end of the Stylus 1S's telephoto is decent, but gives only half the reach of the later RX10's 600mm equivalent. Olympus's solution was to offer a 1.7x teleconverter with very good quality, but a handful of obsessive Stylus 1 owners have done experimentation with various other brands of TC's and their conclusions (and images) suggest that the best (IQ-wise) teleconverters to date have been made by Nikon, for some of their bridge cameras. The other advantage of the Nikon TC-E15ED) is that they are dirt cheap these days, less than half the price of the Olympus TCON-17x's. (They do require a step-down ring to fit onto Olympus's CLA-13, which is in turn necessary for any TC use.)
This is what the whole thing (camera + adapter + teleconverter) looks like---
Not only is the whole package waaay lighter (and smaller) than the RX10M4 - but it's also significantly smaller than my other previous temporary telephoto zoom experiments (an Olympus 75-300mm on my GX9, or a 55-300mm on my old Pentaxes).
But in spite of the small size and relatively light weight, it feels quite good 'in hand'.
AF speed can't compare to that of the RX10M4 (with its remarkable lens) but for most of what I do and plan on doing with it, it's more than fast enough. Olympus also designed a cool bit of hardware, a lever on the camera front with two positions - one for AF, the other converting the camera to MF for seriously detailed fine-focusing (of more static subjects). The cool thing about this hardware is that the zoom lens itself has a very-usable, large knurled ring which, in AF mode, serves as a click-stop aperture ring - while in MF mode, converts to a focusing ring. That feature alone, which I had read about but couldn't quite wrap my mind around until starting to use it, is worth its weight in gold.
The lens seems to be another underrated Olympus/Zuiko masterpiece. No, a 1/1.7" sensor can't give me the quality of my other larger-sensored cameras; but as the Fuji X30 and the Pentax Q7 (both of which share this sensor size) have taught me, it's nonetheless a surprisingly good sensor. Best of all, initial returns on the Nikon teleconverter indicate it lives up to its (admittedly not well publicized) reputation. I'm attaching two (uncropped - the whole frame) shots taken with it, for illustration. The first, a visiting adult Bald Eagle, whom I glimpsed this morning sitting in a tree, more than 1/4 mile from my house---
The second, yesterday, but from much nearer (obviously), of a visiting bird (a white-crowned sparrow)---
And, just for fun, two photos taken without the TC. The first, taken during a random neighborhood stroll---
The second, interestingly, was the first photograph I took with this camera after it arrived; taken late at night, inside a closet, at rather high ISO (3200), slowish shutter speed (1/30 second), wide open at max aperture (f/2.8) - really more of an experiment, to see if the constant f/2.8 lens can be used for available light photography, and whether I could live with the noise levels from the tiny sensor.
I think this camera's going to be a keeper.
The 1S (basically identical to the 1, with cosmetic and firmware improvements) certainly qualifies as a small camera.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Plus it's got that nifty auto-open-auto-close lens cap which I quite like (I had one on my LX7 and another on my G1X MkIII, and they are brilliant little gadgets).
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
The resemblance to its nearly identically sized (but much larger sensored) mu-43 Olympus sibling, the E-M5, is not accidental.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
It's a handsome little camera with a very solid feel to it (though obviously it can't compare to the tank-like heft of my former Sony RX10). But it feels significantly better built than a handful of older Lumix FZ bridge cameras I used to own years and years ago. (No, it's neither as solid - nor as heavy - as the newer generation of much larger Panasonics, the FZ1000's.)
Since birders are never happy until one can get even closer to the subject, the 300mm extreme end of the Stylus 1S's telephoto is decent, but gives only half the reach of the later RX10's 600mm equivalent. Olympus's solution was to offer a 1.7x teleconverter with very good quality, but a handful of obsessive Stylus 1 owners have done experimentation with various other brands of TC's and their conclusions (and images) suggest that the best (IQ-wise) teleconverters to date have been made by Nikon, for some of their bridge cameras. The other advantage of the Nikon TC-E15ED) is that they are dirt cheap these days, less than half the price of the Olympus TCON-17x's. (They do require a step-down ring to fit onto Olympus's CLA-13, which is in turn necessary for any TC use.)
This is what the whole thing (camera + adapter + teleconverter) looks like---
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Not only is the whole package waaay lighter (and smaller) than the RX10M4 - but it's also significantly smaller than my other previous temporary telephoto zoom experiments (an Olympus 75-300mm on my GX9, or a 55-300mm on my old Pentaxes).
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
But in spite of the small size and relatively light weight, it feels quite good 'in hand'.
AF speed can't compare to that of the RX10M4 (with its remarkable lens) but for most of what I do and plan on doing with it, it's more than fast enough. Olympus also designed a cool bit of hardware, a lever on the camera front with two positions - one for AF, the other converting the camera to MF for seriously detailed fine-focusing (of more static subjects). The cool thing about this hardware is that the zoom lens itself has a very-usable, large knurled ring which, in AF mode, serves as a click-stop aperture ring - while in MF mode, converts to a focusing ring. That feature alone, which I had read about but couldn't quite wrap my mind around until starting to use it, is worth its weight in gold.
The lens seems to be another underrated Olympus/Zuiko masterpiece. No, a 1/1.7" sensor can't give me the quality of my other larger-sensored cameras; but as the Fuji X30 and the Pentax Q7 (both of which share this sensor size) have taught me, it's nonetheless a surprisingly good sensor. Best of all, initial returns on the Nikon teleconverter indicate it lives up to its (admittedly not well publicized) reputation. I'm attaching two (uncropped - the whole frame) shots taken with it, for illustration. The first, a visiting adult Bald Eagle, whom I glimpsed this morning sitting in a tree, more than 1/4 mile from my house---
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
The second, yesterday, but from much nearer (obviously), of a visiting bird (a white-crowned sparrow)---
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
And, just for fun, two photos taken without the TC. The first, taken during a random neighborhood stroll---
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
The second, interestingly, was the first photograph I took with this camera after it arrived; taken late at night, inside a closet, at rather high ISO (3200), slowish shutter speed (1/30 second), wide open at max aperture (f/2.8) - really more of an experiment, to see if the constant f/2.8 lens can be used for available light photography, and whether I could live with the noise levels from the tiny sensor.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
I think this camera's going to be a keeper.
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