Performing Arts HS Marching Band Competition with mu4/3-X and Fast Aperture Tele or Zoom Question

Penfan2010

All-Pro
Location
NJ, USA
Name
Ed
My son's marching band had its first of 5 competitions last night. Brought along my two low-light/high ISO specialists, the E-M5 and X-Pro1. Shot with the MkII Oly 75-300mm on the E-M5 and with legacy lenses on the X-Pro-1 (Voigtlander Cosina 15mm F4.5 Super Heliar and Olympus OM 135mm F2.8). Focus peaking on the X-Pro 1 worked really well with the legacy lenses. Shot the entire night on M mode, given that the different colored uniforms and differences in light across the field were causing the exposures to change dramatically on the auto modes. I did have auto-ISO set to 3200 on the high end, so not entirely fully manual. What really amazed me was the IBIS on the E-M5; I was hand holding a lot at the longest end of the zoom using shutter speeds between 1/80 and 1/125. Some minor blur, and the files are obviously noisier than normal, but still very impressed with the performance.

That all said, an extra stop or two would have made a big difference, especially as the light fall-off between the brightest and less lit parts of the field was between 1 to 1 1/2 stops. Any ideas on good legacy MF lenses between 200 to 300mm with fast maximum apertures? I was also thinking of the new Fujinon 55-200mm, but that still has a max aperture of only F3.5.

Wides with the X-Pro and 15mm; 2nd image with the X-Pro 1 and OM 135mm F2.8. All the rest with the E-M5 and Mk II zoom. JPEG on Fine mode, some PP with LR 4.4.

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Ed, I think this is a wonderful set of photos. I bet even ISO 6400 would have been absolutely useable. Given the subject matter and your immersive captures, I couldn't imagine being concerned about image noise in the least.
 
Thanks, Chris. I am ending up in the same place as you; I checked out "reasonably priced" options for 300mm F2.8s and the downside is they are so heavy and bulky. Given that the files from the E-M5 and X-Pro 1 are very usable to 6400 to your point, I should probably just stick to the great kit I already have.
 
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