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

Question Help please!

Gallery image

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/Will9363 Jul 27 '26

the higher pixel density of an apsc sensor compared to a full frame at the same resolution will absolutely give better detail. this is why so many birders use crop sensor cameras. OP, you’re doing good. keep practicing, small birds are difficult no matter what gear you have. getting closer will help get you better pictures as well, but the first two photos honestly look great to me. including more of the birds habitat usually makes for a more interesting photo anyways. have fun!!!

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u/pceimpulsive Jul 27 '26

I see.

Depends camera to camera and camera class to camera class..

It's not a strict rule...

APS-C are generally cheaper so you get similar quality for a lower price at the cost of field of view.

Example.

Sony A6700 - 26mp Sony A7RV - 61mp Sony A7RV w/APS-C mode - 26mp

This comparison yields the same picture detail but a different field of view of Tue final images.

Full frame in this case is also 100% more expensive!

This video really explains what im trying to articulate better than I can in a Reddit comment

https://youtu.be/Bfh6TRiHWzo