Thursday, August 29, 2024

The birds of Skiathos Island - Greece

At the middle of august I was in Skiathos for holiday. I had some time to look for birds. So here I will post some photos & info with the species I found during this trip.

The best birding spot was the medieval Kastro from the northern are of the island. I found there 6 species of birds : 

        Eleonora's falcon (Falco eleonorae) : 


        Alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba, formerly Apus melba):



        Pallid swift (Apus pallidus):


        Red-rumped swallow (Cecropis daurica):

 


         Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica):

 


        Blue rock thrush (Monticola solitarius):


 

 In many places of the island I found the common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)


and Yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis):

 


I also saw a common buzzard (Buteo buteo)  but I don't have photos with it. 

In Skiathos town I saw sardinian warblers (Curruca melanocephala, formerly Sylvia melanocephala) and I also don't have photos with it.

In Skiathos town, in the old port area, I saw a lot of common swifts (Apus apus)

 

 I also saw a Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) at Limni Strofilia Lake and 2 mute swans (Cygnus olor) on Troullos beach:

 


As a conclusion, there are not so many species of birds in Skiathos. I don't think Skiathos it is a birding destination, the island is rather famous for its beautiful beaches and nice colorfull reefs fish. 

But if you go there in vacation, and want to invest some time in birding, you can find a few species of birds. Go out very morning when the temperature is low and the birds are active.


I will finish my post here with a few more pictures Eleonora's falcon (Falco eleonorae) : 









 

 

 

 

 



Saturday, February 6, 2021

Landscape photography in Tenerife

 In january I was in Tenerife - a place which offers al lot of opportunities for the landscape photographers : wonderfull beaches, lava fields, rocks, mountains, big waves, beautiful sunsets and sunrises.

The most important advantage of a small island is that both - sunset&sunrise - are accesible. It's easy to move from one side of the island to another. I booked my hotel in Playa de las Americas, so that I can have quick acces to both sides : east and west. To rent a car is a must in order to reach easily any place. 

Near Costa Adeje I found a nice beach for sunsets - Mirador Stone Pebble Beach. It has rocks in the water and the sun is in the perfect angle in january. 

Mirador Stone Pebble Beach

Mirador Stone Pebble Beach



A very nice place for sunsets is the road which goes up to Teide. From a high altitude (ex. 1800m) there are nice landscapes with the ocean and with the islands arround. 

Tenerife from Teide

Tenerife from Teide

For sunrise I went in the other side of the island. I looked for nearby places and I found  La Tejita beach and Punta de Los Abrigos

 A photo from La Tejita beach:

La Tejita beach

And near Punta de Los Abrigos, there is a spectacular rocky beach:

Punta de Los Abrigos

Playa de las America is not the ideal place for sunrise because it's on the west side, but even so, the morning light can be interesting:

Playa de las America

 

Sometimes I use the fisheye lens to get curved images. Bellow image is a sunset done with an 180' fisheye on Playa de Fanabe:

Playa de Fanabe


Big waves can be nice. 

Some big waves at Playa del Castillo in Puerto de la Cruz :


Playa del Castillo
Playa del Castillo in Puerto de la Cruz

Playa del Castillo in Puerto de la Cruz

Playa del Castillo in Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife

I found big waves also at Almaciga and Benijo:

Almaciga

Almaciga

El Teide - the big volcano - it's also an important destination. From high altitude there are nice views, either with the big mountain, either arround, with the ocean and volcanic rocks. In january the big mountain is covered by snow.

Teide

view from Teide

road to Teide

Teide volcano

Teide park


Any place from Tenerife has a good photographic potential and can be interesting. 

I spent there only one week. Probably minimum three weeks are need it to explore all places. 


Costa Adeje







 



Sunday, January 31, 2021

Surfing photography in Tenerife by Olympus 300mm F/4.0 & MC-20

Tenerife is one of the most attractive surfing destinations for Europe and a nice place for photography. It has a great variety of beaches, big waves and good light. 

The pictures bellow are done in Playa De Las Americas, Tenerife. The distance to the surfers was quite big - about 100 meters. So I decided to mount the teleconverter 2x (MC-20) on my Olympus 300mm F/4.0 in order to get close to the action. 

I used manual mode with AUTO-ISO, exposure time 1/2000s, the combo wide open - F/8.0, C-AF and a group of 25 active focus points on my Olympus E-M1 Mark II

 I got very good results and a suprising keeper rate higher than 90%. The very long focal length helped me to get a good framing. I thought using the teleconverter will be a wrong decision because it will affect focus and the image quality, but it was not the case. I am very happy about the results I got, MC-20 made a big difference bringing the scene very close.

surfer
surfer
surfer
surfer
surfer
surfer
surfer
surfer
surfer
surfer
in Playa De Las Americas, Tenerife
in Playa De Las Americas, Tenerife
surfer
surfer

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Olympus MC-20 2x teleconverter - wildlife review

I love wildlife photography and my favourite lens is Olympus 300mm F/4.0. 

When Olympus announced the MC-20 teleconverter I was excited about the idea of having a 600mm combo. So I got the teleconvertor and used it in my photo sessions for more than one year. The teleconverter gave me more flexibility, I could address prudent animals and cover longer distances which I did not imagined before.
In this article I will post impressions and tips from my user experience and a lot of pictures.

Olympus MC-20 sample


1. Focus speed and birds in flight

MC-20 affects the focus speed. Although the difference is visible, the speed is still fast enough for slow birds in flight like herons or buzzards or for birds which are far away. I tried the combo for fast birds like swallows or bee-eaters, but I would not recomand it. In such case the lens alone is a much better option.

The focus speed improves when a smaller number of focus points it is active. The best setting I found for the focus speed and accuracy is the group of 5 focus points. 

I don't consider 300mm+MC-20 a perfect combo for birds in flight because:

1. the teleconvertor cuts 2 stops of light, so ISO needs to be increased which has impact to the IQ;

2. the focus accuracy is not good in low light, especially in C-AF mode;

3. the focus speed drops in lowlight, sometimes camera is hunting in C-AF mode. 

4. it is hard to keep the bird in the frame of such long combo (1200mm FF equiv.). When the birds comes to close, it does not fit into the frame.  It happenned often to me. 

5. in low light S-AF mode is better than C-AF : faster, more accurate. 

For static subjects, when there is good light, the teleconvertor shines : the system focuses relatively fast and the accuracy is OK. The ISO can stay at a medium value where the details are better preserved. 

I use sometimes MC-20 for birds of prey because the photo-shooting distances are long. When the light is good light, the results are nice.

MC-20 sample


 

Olympus MC-20 sample

 

2. Image quality

In the past I used all the teleconverters built by Olympus: EC-14, EC-20, MC-14 and MC-20.
In my opinion MC-20 is the best teleconvertor which Olympus ever built:

-no chromatic aberations;

-although the TC has a small impact on the image quality,  the image quality is still good, the details are well preserved.

I recomand using the teleconverter in good light only. In low light the image quality will be heavily affected by high ISO and low focus precision. 

Olympus MC-20 sample


Crop from previous image:




Crop from previous image:


3. Background

The teleconverter doubles the focal lenght, so ussually the background is very nice blured. In fact it's easy to get a blured background when MC-20 is mounted on the lens.

 

 Shooting against light can provide interesting backgrounds like the one bellow:

Olympus MC-20 sample

There are special conditions when the background looks bad. By example when the ground and the air are hot.

Bellow I posted a negative example - the ground and the air were very hot, so the background came out harsh. In my bellow example not only the background was affected by the heat, but also the sharpness of the subject was affected.
I found that the hot ground can affect the focus accuracy too. 



4. Keeping the subject in the frame

600mm (1200mm echiv) is a very long focal length. 

Before getting this teleconverter, I was worried that it would be dificult to find the subject by viewfinder or to keep it in the frame. 

In general it was better than I expected. I can get the subject in the frame relatively quickly. With birds in flight is more dificult, but stil possible.

Accidentally it happened to spend long time to find a subject through the viewfinder or to fail completely to capture birds in flight. It also happened that the subject came to close and did not fit into the frame. 

This harrier came too close. So at the end I could produce only a "portrait in flight":


5. Image stabilization (IS)

The Olympus Image Stabilization it prooved to be a very efficient stabilization. 

MC-20 + 300mm is a very long combo (1200mm FF echiv.) and the efficiency of IS will decrease by minimum 1 stop compared to the 300mm lens alone. This is stil a very good performance.

It is crucial to keep the hands steady, to keep the shaking in the range of what the IS can cover. When the hands are steady, the IS system can handle sharp pictures at 1/20s...1/50s.

Bellow I posted a picture taken at 1/13s, ISO-200 and F/8.0 :

The IS will also stabilize the image in the EVF. I tried to track birds in flight without IS. The image in the EVF was shaking too much. I can do it with with 300mm, but 600mm is too long. So the IS will  stabilize the image in the EVF and makes 600mm usable for tracking birds.


6. Tips and sugestions

a) Do not keep the teleconvertor mounted all the time ! Use it only when there is good light ! In low light the high ISO and low focus accuracy will heavily affect the image quality. If you use it in low light, use S-AF mode because it will focus faster and accuracy will be better.

b) Avoid using the TC when is hot outside. From my experience, the background is affected, the focus accuracy is also affected. In the hot summer days I use it only early morning. When is 09:30 and the temperature goes over 21'C, I remove it from the lens. 

c) MC-20 is not an ideal tool for birds in flight:

        -ISO must be increased by 2 stops;

        - the focus speed is ok but not fast enough for some species of birds (swallows, bee-eaters..);

        -sometimes the bird is too close and does not fit into the frame or is dificult to keep it in the frame. 

For BIF I prefere to use the lens alone - it's faster and more versatile. 

d) use the IS as much as possible, not only to stabilize the lens but also to stabilize the image in the EVF.

 



MC-20 sample


7. Conclusions:

a) MC-20 is the best teleconverter which Olympus ever made : good image quality, nice blured background, relatively fast focus.

MC-20 sample


b) It is a must-have tool for wildlife photographers because it provides a very long reach - 600mm (1200mm FF echiv.). With such long combo I was able to address far subjects. Before having MC-20 I would not even try to address so far away subjects.

 

c) In good light it performs good, it brings a big plus. It preservers well the details while offering a very comfortable reach.

d) In low light focus accuracy drops. Sometimes camera will hunt the focus. The loss of two stops will impact the ISO and then IQ.



Final words:

With the compromise of loosing two stops and slowing the focus speed a bit , MC-20 can stil make a difference in some situations. It improved my wildlife photography, it allowed me to address prudent animals which tolerate me only at far distances.

For wildlife photographers using Olympus gear, MC-20 is a nice adition. I recomand it.