Many of us want our photos to be sharp. Sometimes we have images that are a bit unsharp. The reason might be that the shutter speed is too long for stopping the motion and the image has some motion blur. Sometimes we have camera shake pr we miss the focus.
In many cases, we can remake the image, but not always. Then it would be great if there was a software that could help us. TopazLabs has a solution, Topaz Sharpen AI. It is part of their AI-driven software sets like DeNoise AI and Gigapixel AI.
Topaz Sharpen AI can fix images that have motion blur, camera shake or are slightly out focus. Like I say in the linked video below it is not a solution for sloppy photography, but a rescue method if you really need a photo that has something wrong with the sharpness.
It does not work if you need to print big. Images that are for social media or another online posting, it works great.
Here you can see images before and after. There was some motion blur and Sharpen AI made the images ok for use in small size in social media for example.
The downside of the Topaz Sharpen AI that it is quite slow. You need to have a powerful computer for it to work.
The great thing is that you test Topaz Sharpen AI. It has a 30-day unlimited trial version. So there is no risk. If you do not like it or it is not for you just delete it after you have tested it.
If you have tested the Sharpen AI, please let me know what do you think about it.
Olympus launched about a month and a half ago their much-waited lens the M.Zuiko 100-400mm f5.0 -6.3 telezoom lens. I have heard that it is very popular. There is still a waiting list. That is good news.
I have had a chance to test it a couple of times. I have linked two videos about at the end of this blogpost. M.Zuiko 100-400mm is the longest lens from Olympus at the moment. The upcoming lens the M.Zuiko 150-400mm f4.5 lens will match that. It should be out by the end of the year.
If you need a long lens for your MFT camera M.Zuiko 100-400mm f5.0-6.3 one is very good option. I teamed up with Matti Sulanto nad we tested it also with Panasonic cameras and it worked quite ok. The link to that video is at the end of this post.
Versatile focal length
M.Zuiko 100-400mm 5.0-6.3 zoom has an equivalent field of view as 200-800mm FF lens on a FF body. That is quite narrow. The field of view is from 12 to 3,1 degrees. The lens is very suitable for bird photography, sports, etc. The fastest aperture is 5.0 at 100mm so need some light to get fast shutter speeds to stop the action. I think the lens has a very versatile focal length.
1600mm beast with MC-20
M.Zuiko 100-400mm f5.0-6.3 lens is compatible with the extenders MC-14 and MC-20. That will make the lens even longer. With the MC-14 the focal length is from 140mm to 560mm. That is 280mm to 1120mm in FF terms if we talk about the field of view. To get even more reach it is a 200mm to 800mm lens when used with MC-20. That is of course equal to a 400-1600mm FF lens. That is very long. It comes of course with a cost. The fastest aperture is 13 at the long end. A lot of light is needed to get fast shutter speeds.
What about the image quality?
When adding an extender the image quality is always a question. From 100mm to about 300mm I would say that the image quality is not affected that much. When using 400mm and the MC-20 to get the 1600mm FF equivalent field of view the image quality is a bit less than with other focal lengths.
The DC-3 Air Veteran is about 2km (1,24 miles) from the spot I photographed it.Olympus E-M1 MKIII, M.Zuiko 100-400mm f5.0-6.3 + MC-20 at 800mm (1600mm in FF)1/2000s f13 ISO800, handheld.
There are two reasons for that. The first one is that image quality actually is a bit less and the other one is that the objects that is photographed are far away. There are a lot of air and the particles in the air that will make the image quality worse. As you can see from the image above. The distance was about 2km (1,24 miles) to the plane.
A lot of light is needed.
As I wrote earlier in this blog post te aperture at 6.3 is f13 when the lens is used with MC-20. Of course, that is no problem in sunny weather. The shutter speeds are fast even with f13. When the weather is not nice or when it gets dark f13 can be a problem.
Olympus E-M1 MKIII, M.Zuiko 100-400mm f5.0-6.3 + MC-20 at 400mm (801mm in FF)1/15s f13 ISO800, handheld.
Handheld with 1600mm!
I used it with Olympus E-M1 MKIII and had no problems with handheld shots at all. The IBIS and the IS in the lens work nicely together. It is not SyncIS, but it still works very well. If you are using the lens with E-M1 MKII or E-M1X remember to upgrade your firmware. The IBIS and lens IS works better with the new firmware that is available for those cameras. The image of the duck above was made with 801mm in FF terms with a 1/15s shutter speed handheld.
👉 Pre-order it from Amazon: Olympus M.Zuiko ED 100-400mm f5.0-6.3 IS lens is here. My first impression of the new telephoto zoom lens…
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Does gear matter in photography is a question that I get asked quite a lot. There is no one answer to this. You can answer No and you can answer Yes. It all depends on the perspective you take on this one.
Let’s start with No.
Many of us think that getting new gear will make you a better photographer. In my opinion that is false. To be better you must learn how to use your existing gear. Getting new once won’t help in that at all.
Sometimes limiting yourself will be a better solution. Having limitations makes you think more. You need to solve problems and that will make you better. You might come up even ith new ideas and totally new kinds of images.
For example, in landscape photography, most of us think that a wide-angle is a must. Yes, a wide-angle lens is often used in landscape photography. If you do not have an ultra-wide-angle, what then?
Why not try a standard lens or even a telephoto lens. That can give you a totally new kind of landscape photos.
When the answer Yes?
When you get better here might a time to start thinking about better gear that actually will make you better. Well it is maybe a bit too much to say that it is the gear, it is the possibilities that the new gear gives. What I mean by that is that it might open up all new ways of making photographs. Sometimes it might even give a possibility to try new genres.
One example is bird photography. You can photograph birds with a wide-angle, but getting a longer lens will give new possibilities and new kind of mages that was possible for you before.
In the video below I talk more about the No and Yes.
![Topaz Sharpen AI – [BEST sharpening software or is it?]](https://peterforsgard.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Screenshot2020-10-14at9.50.47.png)
