Quick HHHR test

So what do you do on a cold windy day in summer?

Pick up your longest lens, newest camera and try the most unlikely of things.

Hand Held High Res. ISO 400 1/20th F4 300mm (!) lens. Raw, no extra processing from C1. This arrangement was about 20 feet away.

Hand Held High Res. ISO 400 1/20th F4 300mm (!) lens. Raw, no extra processing from C1. This arrangement was about 20 feet away.

Closer

Closer

And closer until pixels are showing.

And closer until pixels are showing.

A different JPEG shot, ISO 1600 1/90th. Basically no noise!!!

A different JPEG shot, ISO 1600 1/90th. Basically no noise!!!

One of the reasons I stuck with Olympus, despite it’s possible demise and the possible limited potential growth of the M43 sensor, is the clever tech they are offering now, that may stave off obsolescence* for a while.

Think about the above scenario in Cannon, Sony or Nikon terms;

A hand held 600mm f4 with 2 stops less depth of field, that costs $10,000au+ mounted on a 45+ mp camera (another $5,000au +), at 1/20th ISO 400? A lot of money for a cute exercise in Bokeh management. Up the ISO to engage the Full Frame advantage (and mitigate it’s disadvantages) and the HHHR may still beat it for noise!

HHHR is a likely candidate for indoor group portraits. The higher ISO will effectively triple available lighting** power, which when added to the DoF benefit I have with M43 (2.8 being equal to 5.6 full frame) gains another two stops, giving me a 4-5 stop advantage over a full frame rig.

In the right circumstances I will have both better ISO noise control and higher resolution than some of the best cameras on the market, all for a dirt cheap $2500au total (EM1x Black Friday special and any decent standard lens). To top it off, I then have a top tier sports camera to boot.

With some light processing to the RAW. Loving C1!

With some light processing to the RAW. Loving C1!

*Real world obsolescence, not reviewer scorn.

**No flash in HR modes as it cannot fire with multiple captures, so LED’s or ambient will have to be it.