When shooting fish from land, a telephoto lens becomes necessary. Until recently, I had been using the Zuiko Digital ED 50-200SWD, but it broke the other day. When I turned it on this month after a long while, pressing the shutter button halfway only resulted in a faint, weak sound from inside the lens. In other words, the autofocus (AF) wasn’t working. The letters SWD on the barrel shone emptily. Manual focus (MF) works, so it’s not unusable, but I can’t expect to do any serious shooting this year with it. Under these circumstances, I have no choice but to step up and buy a new lens.
My camera system uses the Micro Four Thirds mount. For photographing fish, I often need a focal length of around 100-300mm. Given my budget and needs, my options for Micro Four Thirds telephoto lenses boil down to either the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40-150mm F2.8 PRO with a teleconverter (MC-20) or the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 100-400mm F5.0-6.3 IS. There’s not much difference in price between the two if buying second-hand, and both are dust and splash-proof, suitable for the field. My selection criteria were image quality and size. Based on image quality comparisons online, the 40-150mm lens appeared to be more to my liking. It’s lighter, slimmer, and more compact. For the 100-150mm range I frequently use, I can manage without the teleconverter, making it even more compact. It feels like having two lenses in one, with and without the teleconverter attached.
Obviously, the 100-400mm can capture distant objects larger, and it would be the preferred choice for primarily bird photography. However, my main subjects are fish. While I do want the 100-400mm eventually, I decided the 40-150mm is the best choice for now and purchased it this week. I can’t wait for the spawning season of the fish to start. I’m looking forward to using it in the field.
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