230422_061747_0046 Starting At The Shallow End (Olympus M.12-100mm F4.0 IS Pro, Sat 22 Apr 23)

            Woonona Rock Pool, Woonona, Illawarra, NSW, Australia

At the end of March 2023, two of us were supposed to go on a doors-off helicopter flight over Sydney. It will be in one of my albums... one day. We could have only one camera with each of us (secured around our neck, obviously) because of the risk of something falling 1,000 feet to the ground and ruining somebody's day. Ditto with the lens; no swapping lenses in flight. Everything bar ourselves and our one camera needed to be secured either in the company's office on the ground or in the pilot's flight suit in the air. (The latter included our phones. I set mine up to run the OM System GPS tracking app before I handed it over. Spoiler: No, it doesn't work when you're airborne.)

Which lens would I take on that flight? Why, the best lens I've ever owned, of course! The Olympus 40-150 f/2.8 Pro! Sure, it would mean some compromises on the wide angle, but it would be worth it for the image quality (IQ)!

We got into the chopper and were strapped in and... wow, 40mm (effective 80mm) is way too long, I realised.

The helicopter motor wouldn't start.

The flight is postponed to the end of June. In the meantime I wonder what to do about my little focal length problem. The 12-40 f/2.8 Pro is a fine lens, but 1,000 feet into the air you want to be able to reach out way more than an effective 80mm. 

I discover this lens, the 12-100 f/4 IS Pro. OK, it's a stop slower than my "front line" lenses. I lose about 100mm of effective length. But at least it's a constant f/4, it's a PRO series lens, and it has a reputed 5 stops of image stabilisation built in. (Rather handy on a helicopter flight, no?) I check some sample shots... hmm, that's some nice IQ. And it's on special. Street price at the time of writing (2025) is $AUD1,745 and I think it was about the same in 2023. 

"Go on," the photography gods (or demons, depending on your point of view) whispered into my ear. "You know you want it. You know you need it...", they continued.

Reality check... this flight is not cheap. (It was actually a gift to the two of us who were taking it, but it wasn't cheap for the person who bought it for us.) If I were to go up with gear that could effectively cover only half the flight... well, the flight wouldn't be wasted, but I wouldn't have extracted the maximum value out of it. And it's not like I can see this being the one and only time that I'll be in a situation where I can have only one lens, but a very large range of focal lengths to cover.

So on Sunday 16 April 2023, I go to the Digital Camera Warehouse website. (The often mentioned Foto Riesel long since having departed the scene by 2023, as I mentioned way back in the post for the Canon 24-105 (shot 060408_111616_0676).) I digitally slap down $AUD1,679, and the lens arrives a couple of days later.

Naturally I wanted to see for myself how it would perform as soon as possible in an environment that required decent IQ without being too demanding. A sunrise shot by one of the areas many rock pools seemed to be the order of the day.

The greatest shot? No, clearly. But I like the clarity at the focal point. Yes, I'd say there's potential.

You'll see what I mean if I ever get time to work my way through the 1,504 shots that I took on the flight. (Processing the photos is easy. Researching and writing the reams of commentary for each shot... that's hard.)

Taken in: Australia / New South Wales / Woonona (show map)

Taken on: April 22, 2023

Tags:

Illawarra

Australia

Woonona Beach Rock Pool

Pre-Dawn Light

Neutral Density ND

Pool Ladder

The Book Of Firsts

Woonona

New South Wales (NSW) « less

Sets appears in: • The Book Of Firsts

Groups appears in: • Wollongong • Micro Four Thirds Community more » • Olympus M.zuiko Digital ED 12-100 F4 PRO • OM Digital Solutions OM-5 « less

Camera: OM Digital Solutions OM-5, f/4.0, 1/8 sec, 31mm (=62mm), ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	OM Digital Solutions OM-5
Lens:	OLYMPUS M.12-100mm F4.0
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.125 sec (1/8)
Focal Length:	31mm (35mm equivalent: 62mm)
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 25.9 (Windows)
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