A Larely Unknown Gem Of A Feature On The Olympus E-M1 Or, Another Reason Why I Love Olympus And Their Engineering

Olympus E-M1 w/40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens + MC-14 1.4x tele-converter + 1.5x internal digital tele-converter
(click to enlarge)
1/1000th sec. @ f/4; ISO 400 (in other words "wide open" and not stopped down for more quality and not at base ISO)
Focal length of 315mm or 630mm equivalent in 35mm terms

One feature that, not only don't many owners of the Olympus E-M1 know exists, but one that those who may know about it, and probably have never tried, is the digital tele-converter (DTC) located in Menu 1.

I know.  Your a quality fanatic, only shoot RAW files and would never even consider a high quality optical tele-converter, let alone a digital one.  Before you rule it out, you owe it to yourself to at least try it at a time when you find that you need 50% more reach than the lenses you have with you can provide.

Several months ago, I went out and experimented with using the DTC.  I made a number of images with and without the feature enabled and then very closely examined the image files for detail at 100%.  You can read about it here.  I was pleasantly surprised with the negligible loss of quality and detail when using this feature.

When you enable the digital tele-converter, the viewfinder crops to the center 50% of the image.  After you make your exposure, the camera's internal software then upsizes the cropped image to a full sized file and the best part is that if you are using the RAW format, it gives you a RAW image!  No processed JPEG.

I found the DTC worked pretty well with a high quality lens.  A few days ago, however, I thought I would push that envelope just a tad farther.  I was out photographing a pair of bald eagles that were coming and going from their nest. On the E-M1 I was using the Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens plus the matched Olympus MC-14 1.4x tele-converter.  If you have not tried this combination, I will tell you my copies of the lens and converter are superb!  In my tests with my copies, I saw no degradation of image quality, even examining the files at 100%.  Your copies and milage may vary, of course.

Pushing the envelope, I then made images in normal mode as well as using this combination with the DTC turned on.  And....guess what?  Here is what I found.

100% crop from DTC enabled image above (about 150% of normal file) (click to enlarge)
The leaf's serrated edges and veins are clearly visible as well as the edges of the holes in the leaf.

Another 100% crop from the DTC enabled image above (about 150% crop from a normal image (click to enlarge)
Again, the detail in the leaf is clearly visible with this really odd combination.

Same combination as above (click to enlarge)
1/1000th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 400
Focal length of 315mm or 630mm equivalent in 35mm terms

~100% crop from image above (click to enlarge)

While I wouldn't often use this combination to make images, it is a viable option.  If I were in a pinch and needed the extra focal length or not get the photo, I think these images show that the combination produces images good for almost any situation.  But, as always, you will have to judge for yourself using your own gear.

I think Olympus has hit a homerun with how they engineered the abilities of the digital tele-converter.  Thank you Olympus for giving us photographers another useful feature!


Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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