About the Image(s)

A Great Blue Heron (biggest heron in North America) catches a snake. I watched this poor snake meet its unfortunate end. Olympus OM1 F8.0, 1/1600, ISO 1250, 1002mm.

When I started shooting birds I switched from Canon to Olympus (now OM1). The main reason was the 150-400 f4.5 lens with an internal 1.2 build in teleconverter. Because it is on a micro 4/3rds camera the lens is small and light enough to hand hold. In a full frame camera this is equivalent to a 300-800 f4.5. When I push the build in teleconverter lever it becomes a 420-1002 mm lens at f5.6 full frame equivalent. But because at those magnification levels depth of field becomes less, I usually shoot at f7.1 or f8 to be sure I get all the bird in focus. So … since I am shooting at those f stops I can also attached an external OM1 1.25 teleconverter. This allows me to shoot 525-1250 mm at f8.0. On bright days I have replaced the external 1.25 with a 2x teleconverter. Then I get from 840mm-2004mm at f11. I lose a bit of detail when shooting at those magnifications but I get shots that I would otherwise miss. The camera has a very fast focus with bird tracking as do the other major manufacturers. I usually shoot birds at 20f/s using the electronic shutter. I rarely use the mechanical shutter. Using the electronic shutter can create some weird blur with moving objects but shooting birds at a minimum of 1/1600 or faster it is not a problem.