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Thursday 3rd September. While I had been enjoying snapping away with the Lumix Leica 50-200 + 1.4x TC for 280mm, it still lacked enough reach. Distant subjects were shrunken below the tolerable level for heavy cropping. So I have added a [hopefully] final lens to my Micro 4/3 collection. The
Lumix Leica 100-400mm. [200-800mm in 35mm FF terms] With twice the
reach of the bare 50-200 its power is truly remarkable. It also holds
serious promise for close-ups.
Here are some first examples though not standing very close. I could have done with more light but the sky had become overcast. 400mm 1/200s @ f/8 ISO250. Pinpoint metering. Cropped from 5000 to 2000 pixels. Then resized to 1000 x 800. Not ideal for maintaining the original sharpness.
My experience with the 50-200 is that its size and weight are easily tolerable on a diagonal camera strap. I hardly noticed the camera even after a couple of hours of walking over very rough ground. The size and weight of the 100-400 is not really that different to the 50-200. So it looks promising as a do-all lens for the great outdoors.
Any fear that I would be too close to many subjects evaporated after using the 1.4 TC on the 50-200. I spent most of the time at 280mm. 70mm minimum with the TC was fine except for near pictures of buildings. So 100mm minimum is not a deal breaker. I was hoping to test it out on the grebe lake but the sky has become solid grey and overcast. With rain promised for this afternoon.
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