Jerrin1 Loc: Wolverhampton, England

First of all I will reiterate that this is the perfect gear for ME. It has taken me eleven months to get to the point where the kit I now have is stonkingly brilliant and will last me for the forseeable future. Previously, I had a Canon 7D mark 11, Canon 70D, quality Canon glass, speedlight and ring flash. Though a top quality wildlife system the one massive drawback for me was the weight. After three months of walking for up to 15 miles/7 hours a day the impact on my hip was making walking quite difficult. I made a major decision and sold all my Canon gear and changed to Olympus mirrorless. I bought 2 x EM 1 bodies, an Olympus 300mm f4 PRO, PanaLeica 100 - 400mm and Olympus 60mm macro. The 300mm and the 100 - 400mm close focus to 1.4 - 1.5 metres and the 300mm takes the Olympus 1.4TC. These lenses have virtually superceded my macro lens. They provide the ability to stand off from the subject and away from such hazards as bum piercing thistles, stinging nettles and brambles but still, with the use of cropping in LR6.6, provide superb close up images. These M43 lenses provide the equivalent FF format angle of view of between 600/840mm for the Olympus and 200 - 800mm with the Leica. The additional advantage in standing off is being able to use higher shutter speeds with smaller apertures to provide a greater depth of field. The only problem I encountered with my Olympus EM 1 system revolved around my inability to match the percentage of BIF keepers when compared to my Canon 7D mark 11. With the 7D mark 11 I reckon I would score around 75% in focus (judged by eye detail). With my Olympus system the keeper rate fell to about 5% - 10%. Having found this more frustrating than I imagined, I purchased a Nikon D500, Nikon 300mm f4 PF VR and a Nikon 1.4TC. This Nikon set up is the perfect partner to my Olympus system. It is beautifully lightweight and simply incredible for BIF. I used it in bright sunlight yesterday and obtained better than a 90% keeper rate on pigeons, seagulls, ducks and geese. I would run out of superlatives for this camera, it is simply amazing. So, with my Metz speedlight, Metz ring flash, Sirui 204S hybrid monopod and Vanguard carbon fibre tripod I now have the best wildlife system for me. There is, perhaps, one issue with my perfect system - it is bloody expensive.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Best of luck with your ultimate perfect system! Please post some of your images with detail as to which camera/lens was used in each case. You are an inspiration to those of us who have only imagined OUR perfect system and haven't (yet ) invested the horse-choking sum required to obtain it.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Enough already. Let us see the pictures.

Jerrin1 Loc: Wolverhampton, England

OK. The flying stuff is taken on the Nikon D500 - I've only had it two days, all the other stuff is EM1.

EM1 300mm PRO


EM1 300mm PRO


EM1 PanaLeica 100 - 400mm


EM1 PanaLeica 100 - 400mm


D500 300mm PF VR + 1.4TC


D500 300mm PF VR + 1.4TC


D500 300mm PF VR + 1.4TC


EM1 300mm PRO + 1.4TC


EM1 PanaLeica 100 - 400mm

DOOK Loc: Maclean, Australia

WOW!! These are magnificent, Jerrin. I have seen nothing but super results from the D500.

Jerrin1 Loc: Wolverhampton, England

Thank you very much, very kind of you to say so. We have had some really naff weather in the UK and I have only managed a couple of hours between rain storms at a couple of local parks so far during the two days I have had it. I hope to get down to a couple of birds of prey centres once the weather brightens up and use the D500 for the purpose I bought it. The image of the pigeon illustrates just how fast it grabs focus. I had been shooting a seagull, turned back and saw the pigeon flying straight at me - it thought I had food. I just pointed the D500 at it and it focused without hesitation. The first day I took it out it tracked a heron flying across a lake at ISO 32 000 - 40 000 (thirty two - forty thousand) and even under the noise it was possible to see that the eye was in focus on all 12 images. I've never had a camera like it, hats off to Nikon. I have it set up at 1/1600, f8 and auto ISO.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Jerrin, very impressive, especially the close-ups. Thanks for posting.

Jerrin1 Loc: Wolverhampton, England

You are most welcome, and thank you for your comment.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Certainly makes me think twice about mirrorless. I just bought the Canon 80D and Sigma 150-600. That plus the rest of my Canon gear makes me highly invested. However, I suspect my next camera in four or five years will be mirrorless. Schlepping all the weight gets to you eventually and my time will come. I probably would have switched already if not for battery life and fewer lenses as the major considerations.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

ABC - what lenses do you have now that you couldn't replace in the m4/3 system?

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

I have an 18-200 which I may eventually upgrade to an 18-300. I replaced an 18-55 and 55-200 with it. I use the entire focal range all the time and switching back and forth is not really acceptable. I then have a 70-200 f/2.8 for low light. And finally, 160-600 for nature work. The 18-200 was the big stumbling block.

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

Nice to see that another person has seen the light...The em1, despite being several years old has served me well. If I did more things that required C-AF, I'd likely end up elsewhere, but since I don't, I'm quite happy like yourself.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

My Perfect system for BIF is the Nikon 500 and the 200-500 which allows me to zoom depending where the bird is flying

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I'm happy for you.

Bob55 Loc: Valhalla NY

Very beautiful photos Jerrin. Congratulations. Are the 100 - 400 photos all cropped??