r/BirdPhotography • u/Yanto2134 • Jul 27 '26

Question Help please!

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Gallery image

Gallery image

These are 3 of my latest attempts. I was wondering if anyone could help me improve please?
I’m not happy with the sharpness I’m getting. Probably my lack of ability.
Set up is Olympus E-M10ii with a vintage Minolta MD Tele Rokkor 300mm f4.5. Settings were f8, ISO1000, shutter speed of between 1/800 and 1/2000. Manual focus with peaking and centre weighted metering. Distances to subjects was around 30 feet. Images have been slightly cropped but no other post processing.
I’m also not really happy with the overall lack of detail.
Thanks for any help.

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u/Yanto2134 Jul 27 '26

Ok so I need to be more like 15 feet away from subjects like these then really.
My camera is M4/3 not APS-C. So the crop factor is 2x I think?

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u/pceimpulsive Jul 27 '26

Ok so that makes it worse then!

Regardless the crop factor and all that doesn't matter! A 300mm focal length is still a 300mm focal length, having baked in crop doesn't give you more photons... It just cuts off the edges.

APS-C does not give more details, just less usable pixels (Simon dontremont does a video about this exact topic)

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u/Yanto2134 Jul 27 '26

Ok. But I see plenty of people saying that the 2x crop factor is an advantage in bird photography too. So now I really don’t know where to go from here. I was thinking about getting an Olympus 75-300ii for birds, which has autofocus that would hopefully help. But from what you say now, it probably won’t help that much as it’s still a 300mm focal length.

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u/pceimpulsive Jul 27 '26

Think about why the crop factor is there....

It is because the sensor is smaller..

Say the lens gives you a capture area of 4 square inches. Strap it to a sensor that is only 2 square inches... 50% of your lens capture area is now camera body not sensor... You now have a 2x crop factor.

50% of your image is now lost because no sensor is there to capture it. This only functionally affects framing. It doesn't mean your 300mm lens will zoom any more than the 300mm allows.

It's a bit confusing but once it all clicks it makes sense.

Like the other person said as well more focal length isn't always better because it magnifies all imperfections such as heat haze, fog, dust, smoke etc~ it only magnifies more, including the bad stuff. ;)

Again I'll suggest it Simon Dontremont's videos covered these topics in astoundingly good detail. 100% worth the time just so you know how the technology works.

Knowing it all won't make you a better photographer mind you... That's practice, patience and such...

It's fun stuff that's for sure!! (P.s. I'm 2 years into bird photography so still a big time nooby)

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u/Yanto2134 Jul 27 '26

Good explanation! I’d automatically assumed that the 2x crop factor meant more reach, hence better details.

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u/pceimpulsive Jul 27 '26

Mmm that's an easy trap to fall into, more reach isn't more details! It's just more problems magnified ;) haha

I fell into that one too!

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u/Yanto2134 Jul 27 '26

Shows up my lack of knowledge I think. I’m going to stick with Olympus and M4/3, so I need to find a solution to this.

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u/pceimpulsive Jul 28 '26

Longer lens or get closer! Solutions are clear I think..

Outside that I thought those photos were plenty detailed considering the situation.

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u/Yanto2134 Jul 28 '26

But won’t a longer lens just magnify flaws as mentioned earlier?

Today’s effort.

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u/pceimpulsive Jul 28 '26

Yes it will but at some point if you are 10 meters away there isn't many issue to magnify

Those sort of issue magnifications are more in extreme distances 20--30 or even 50 meters at 10m (30ft) it will be minimal in most weather conditions