Olympus E620 DSLR & Zuiko Olympus OM 1000mm F11 lens

My first foray into the digital world has been the purchase of the Olympus E620 DSLR. This was driven by 4 reasons; 1) to have a camera that has auto focus for taking bird & animal wildlife photography, 2) interchangeable with my existing OM lens kit, with the use of the MF-1 OM adapter, 3) it comes with in camera image stabilisation and 4) it was second hand!

With 2) you will have to manual focus when shooting. I used the aperture priority mode for the following shots.

The 1 lens I wanted to trial out in particular was the Olympus OM 1000mm F11 lens as I have had limited success with film, and the 2 big benefits of digital are 1) you can delete images (after you have purchased a memory card), reducing the cost per shot, and 2) unlike my other camera bodies I can review the results on location for image blur.

Please note this lens is not included in the official list of compatible OM lenses with the E system, and when contacted advised it was not recommended due to the poor image quality.

I visited Blashford lakes several times over the festive period, and getting more familiar with the E620 with each visit. My set up to support this heavy long lens is a manfrotto tripod, manfrotto 393 gimbal head, and manfrotto 359 long lens support.

The 2 limiting factors were the poor lighting, overcast & dull, and just a handfull of species due to the unseasonally warm weather.

Here are a selection of the best images so far, starting oldest through to most recent, with the most recent being the best.

Greylag goose, ISO 800, 1/500

Tufted Duck, ISO 1600, 1/125

Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)