Testing How Quickly and Accurately the Olympus 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 SWD Lens/E-M1 Combination Focuses on Moving Objects

Test image from series below; testing the combination of the Olympus E-M1 and the
Olympus 50-200 f/2.8-3.5 lens (click to enlarge)

As I mentioned I would last week, I took the Olympus 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 SWD lens out to see how well it functioned with moving objects. Now, I don't normally photograph many moving objects so this was a test of relative capabilities for information purposes only.  I am primarily a landscape, travel and nature photographer and sometimes things in nature do move, so I need to know how well this lens works with moving subjects.  I don't photograph sports, children playing, etc., so that is not how I plan to use this lens. Overall, I made 250 exposures running the various tests on capturing moving subjects successfully.

For all of these motion tests, here is how I set up the camera and lens:

–Camera and lens attached to an Induro CT-414 carbon fiber tripod with a RRS BH-55-LR ball head
–Camera at base ISO of 200 as it was a sunny day
–White balance was set to daylight
–Camera set on aperture priority
–Image format was set to record in RAW
–Camera in-body-image-stabilization (IBIS) turned off
–Camera set to 5 frames per second
–Camera set to continuous autofocusing with tracking
–Autofocusing set to use all 37 phase detect autofocusing (PDAF) points
–Lens set for 1/2 stop down from wide open as I wanted depth of field to be shallow to better judge focusing accuracy
–

Since I have photographed trains over the past 30 or so years, I wanted to see how this camera/lens combination would fare on a fast moving train.  My first test then was to head over to the CSX Railroad tracks and photograph the incoming Amtrak passenger train.  The train rolls through where I photographed it at 79 mph (127 kph).  The track is straight so the train would come straight at me.  Additionally, and to further strain the camera/lens ability, photographing the front of a train with its bright headlight increases the difficulty of locking onto it.

I set up the tripod and framed the composition.  The lens was set to 138mm equivalent, aperture at f/4 (3.2 would have been wide open) and the shutter speed was 1/1600th second.  I shot 9 frames as the train approached an overhead signal.  Here are the nine images.

The first 7 images are dead on sharp as can be.  The camera/lens combination quickly picked up the moving train and zeroed in on the front of it.

The 8th image is ever so slightly soft when looking at it at 100%.  Looking at it at normal viewing size, it also looks very sharp and is certainly acceptable.

The 9th image is out of focus.  I'm not totally sure why the failure.  The camera and lens totally lost the focus for the entire frame, evidently not being able to quite keep up with the fast moving train, I suspect, because it was so close at such a high rate of speed. Or, it may have been because the front of the train exceeded the positioning of the left most of the central 37 focus points. I would estimate the train was no more than 25 yards from me when I made the last exposure.

The first 8 of the nine exposures were good, the last was not acceptable.

All in all, my opinion is the camera/lens combination did a great job quickly and accurately acquiring initial focus, then tracking the very fast moving locomotive moving almost directly at the camera.  I'll call this test a success.  If this was my Nikon D800E, I would not call it a successful test.  I would expect 9 out of 9 in focus.  But, with a mirrorless camera which we accept at marginal in tracking and focusing accurately on moving subjects, I think it is a success.  In the future, with the next generation of mirrorless cameras, I suspect we will see 9 out of 9 in focus.  For now, not too bad.

NOTE:  Looking through the electronic viewfinder (EVF) of the E-M1, the locomotive's headlights nor the other two side lights were not visible.  Nope.  Nothing there.  Interesting.  Anyone know why?  Are all EVFs like this?  I hadn't noticed this phenomenon before.

My second series of tests were to gauge the ability of the camera and lens to accurately focus on slower subjects, but moving in different directions relative to the camera.  For these tests, I panned with the objects.  I photographed automobiles coming directly at me at about 30 mph (48 kph), moving away from me at about the same speed and moving across in front of me at about the same speed.  I also tracked a young man on a bicycle, certainly a smaller target, as he rode directly at me.

The camera/lens settings for these tests were as follows:

Camera and lens mounted on a tripod but not locked into a singular position as I was panning with targets
Camera set to ISO 200 (base)
Camera set on aperture priority
Aperture set to f/3.2, which was wide open
Lens set to 202mm equivalent focal length
Shutter speeds varied but exceeded 1/100th second so subject movement would not be an issue
Focus set as above
Frames per second as above

Here are some representative samples of images made during the test:

Tracking across in front of the camera (click to enlarge)

Tracking across at 1:1 (click to enlarge)
You can clearly read the words Mercedes-Benz in the wheel center

Tracking object coming at camera (click to enlarge)

Tracking moving away from camera (click to enlarge)

Tracking bicyclist (click to enlarge)

The last test I performed was to test manual versus autofocus.  Since this lens uses PDAF, I wanted so gauge how accurately the camera/lens combination accurately focused in an absolute manner.

I saw some construction going on about 1/4 mile (.40 km) away and pointed the camera and lens, still mounted on the tripod, directly at a piece of the equipment, which was in use.  I changed the focusing mechanism to manual and then used the 10X magnification focusing aid in the camera to accurately focus on the equipment.  I made a few exposures, manually refocusing in between.  I then set the autofocusing for single autofocus, defocused the lens, then autofocused.  I then made an exposure.  I repeated that three more times.  I found the manually focused images, which focused directly off the sensor plane, were the same sharpness as the ones that were autofocused.  Great!  As it should be.  

Just to note, the E-M1 allows the user to micro-adjust each focus point individually or all focus points at once in order to marry up to a particular lens.  Additionally, if the lens is a zoom lens, the camera allows this adjustment at the near end as well as the far end of the zoom lens.  Now, that is an amazing feature. Thankfully, this lens focuses as accurately as it can and the camera doesn't need adjustment.  Another note: every one of my Nikon lenses needed adjustment to fine tune focus with my D700 as well as my D800E.

Here are the images from this last test; Aperture priority at f/5.6, ISO 200:

Full image, manual focus (click to enlarge)

Full image, autofocus (click to enlarge)

Manual focus at about 100% crop (click to enlarge)

Autfocu at about 100% crop (click to enlarge)

These tests are relatively rudimentary and certainly don't cover any and all situations.  But, I wanted to gauge for myself how well this camera and lens combination worked together under circumstance I may encounter.

I have absolutely no reason to complain in any way about the combination of the Olympus E-M1 with the Olympus 50-200 f/2.8-3.5 SWD lens.  All of my tests proved to me that this is a winning combination.  You can judge for yourself if this combination would be suitable for your types of photography.  It certainly is for mine.

I will post my last words on this camera/lens combination in a couple of days.

Thanks for looking.  Enjoy!

Dennis Mook

Many of my images can be found at www.dennismook.com.  Please pay it a visit.  I add new images regularly.  Thank you.


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