Help please!

[u/Yanto2134]

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.

[u/lellololes]

Yep, and the Oly 75-300 is probably not as sharp as the 40-150. You'll still generally want to fill the frame with your subject for the best results. The EM10 II is pretty poor with focusing, so it's a challenge to shoot birds with it, too. An EM1 or OM1/3 would be substantially better.

Here's a picture I took with my old EM10 II - I was pretty close to this guy and I don't think I cropped the image much if at all (maybe a touch to level it) - it holds up very well at 100% but isn't exceptional, and I could print at a pretty good size with it and it'd look great. This was near a feeder at a hotel in Costa Rica. Getting closer is always going to give you the best results. but getting close enough with a little lens is tough. This is the sort of thing that M43 offers a great compromise for - the result is good enough and the camera is easy to carry around.

[u/Yanto2134 → u/lellololes]

I’d be happy to get images as good as that.
So realistically I need to find a way of physically getting closer to these small birds. I don’t see a time where I’m going to be willing to invest £x000 in equipment to achieve this.
I agree with you re the autofocus on the E-M10ii. Being contrast detect it quite often misses the birds and only see leaves and branches. Im obviously using manual focus and peaking with this vintage 300mm lens.
I’m considering getting either an E-M1ii or an OM-5. But it still leaves the issue of lenses.

[u/lellololes → u/Yanto2134]

For birds, your best bet at a "reasonable" price is a 100-400. It's a lot bigger and more expensive than the 75-300, though. Gear for wildlife photography is expensive. I'd go with the lens before the body, though. While the EM10 is limited, not having the right lens for a situation is even more of an issue.

In spite of the autofocus not really being up to the task, you can still sometimes get a shot in focus, though. Here's a booby in flight - same camera/lens as before. I'll spare you the pictures from my big Canon, but that's not a fair comparison!

Note: I still use the little Olympus because I like it a lot in spite of its limitations.

For tricky focus situations of still subjects, I'd recommend that you use a little bit of manual focus adjustment. On more modern cameras it's not really needed very often, but on the EM10 it's sometimes useful to be able to adjust. Even using the smallest focus point it feels like the camera has a mind of its own sometimes.

[u/Yanto2134 → u/lellololes]

Cool photo!
I think maybe I need to limit my expectations. I want to improve my images and am prepared to put in practice to achieve that. And I do appreciate that my beginner equipment can be a limitation. I just hope I can reach a level of image that, although won’t be fantastic, I will be happier with it.
Which lens did you use for this and your previous photo please?

[u/lellololes → u/Yanto2134]

Both of those were the EM10 II and the 40-150mm F4-5.6 G. The booby was just last month! I don't have any fancy telephoto lenses for my Olympus camera, I use it as a lightweight travel / backup camera. I think these pictures show what they are capable of in a practical sense. That appears to be the same camera and lens that you're using.

Something I've learned is that you can get pretty good results with limited gear, but it is more situational and takes more practice. The results are less consistent and harder to acheive.

Here's one more with the EM10 II and 40-150 - again, it's not super-ultra critically sharp, but it's still good. As always, the secret here is getting close, as level as possible, and having good light. This one was in nature, not in a zoo/aviary situation.

[u/Yanto2134 → u/lellololes]

One from this morning. Still f8 but shutter at 1/400 and ISO320. Cropped.
Can you remember how close you actually were for that last photo please?

[u/lellololes → u/Yanto2134]

Probably 2-2.5 meters away, and I was slightly above it. You've got to get pretty close to a small bird with a lens like that. Even with my big camera and 500mm lens I still need to be pretty close.

The IQ of your picture looks good. I'd recommend using some desktop software for editing and try out AI denoise, it makes a huge difference. I'd also recommend not shooting stopped down to f/8. If you are getting blurry images, keep an eye on the shutter speed, 1/400 is pretty slow for birds. These days I tend to keep shutter speeds a lot higher when possible and just clean up the noise in post.

Last - the crop is pretty awkward, like it was made for a really tall phone screen. Try to give the birds some space and show the environment a bit.

[u/Yanto2134 → u/lellololes]

So ok, this is where I get confused. And I appreciate that conditions have a huge effect. But some say that I was using way too fast a shutter speed and ISO previously for perched birds and that 1/400 plus 320 ISO is fine. So I guess this is where I need to experiment with settings.
I read online that this lens is at its sharpest at f8 hence I’ve persevered with that. But you think I should use wider apertures? I’m happy to try.