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Beautiful photos of herons. I am a big fan. Thanks Tracey

Mike, you're like a good wine getting better with age. Just so lovely to watch and good to understand some of the intricate technicalities for me as a non-photographer. Your photos were always great when you gave your talks to our society so its great to see you carrying on the good work. Keep it up.

I've been using the mark i for a year, and now mark ii for over a week, and I can definitely tell the difference in autofocus. When the bird is partially obstructed, the mark ii is much more likely to focus on the eye. It is noticeably more reliable. Also there's been a change to the IBIS that I can't really put my finger on, but it makes framing easier. I haven't tried it for long exposures yet, but I was already able to do 8s handheld exposures with the mark i, so if it's any better than that, it'll just be icing on the cake :)

Hi I follow you from a long while ago, as you know things about bird photography that are very difficult or impossible to find by, that is why I give you a little advice to improve about your great videos, and the advice is: work on your music transitions, I know it is a little stupid thing, but it is something you can improve upon very easily, try not to be so abrupt. Keep up with your great work!!

Filming ? in this digital age who still uses film ?

Great lawn-mower you got there Mike, too! Mystery solved.😂

8:41 Don't hit the mic, Mike! Splendid footage as usual. I never managed to capture a singing Pied flycatcher, although I do have a brief footage of a singing Least flycatcher on me channel. I spent something like a few weeks riding my bike to various forests around my location. Eventually I came across one by happenstance almost. Found it in an atypical habitat, and not one was present at a location one forester told me they had nested for many seasons previously (beautiful old beech wood). Cheers!

What a delightful video and excellent footage and stills. I really admire your patience - seven hours sitting on a stool under a portable hide (I have a similar cape which I should use more) would do my head in! Any chance you can be more specific about the make of drone. It looks very interesting!

Have you considered the Wimberley flash bracket system for your mic positioning problem? They aren't cheap but are very well made and flexible. I use mine a lot mounted to an L bracket - which does add to bulk and weight. I'm normally on a tripood when using it though, so it doesn't matter so much. Good luck and thanks for the video.

Your videos are wonderful - thank you!

Great video Mike.thanks for sharing it 👍. Was lucky enough to visit RSPB Coombes Valley recently to photograph the Pied Flycatchers . My favourite UK summer visitors.

OM lending you the lens is an acknowledgement of the fine work you do to promote m4k cameras. Your films are always interesting regardless of what type of camera I have.

Great footage of a beautiful little bird! I've got the 150-600 lens and I would LOVE to know how it compares to the 150-400 pro lens, especially with regard to the focus speed when shooting birds in flight. Since you have both lenses at least for a while, maybe you could compare this? And wow- what a cool drone - I've never seen one so small! Now I have one more thing to add to my Christmas list!

Wonderful - beautiful video

Congratulations on achieving your goal with the singing pied flycatcher, Mike. BTW, that drone looked really impressive. Hope it works out for you,

that is most likely a bug from the software, that OMs should fix it,

Wonderful as always watching you and your adventures. One question, maybe you've already covered it in the past, but does the OM-1MK2 auto-focus work when in the video mode or in slo-mo video mode? If you have cover it maybe you could point me to that video.

Hello, how are you, I would like you to make a new video comparing both objectives. Greetings.😃👋

wow, you are patient. Great shots though, thanks.

I struggle to watch or wait for a bird for 30 minutes..can’t imagine sitting still for 7 hours!

Wow, poor old female flycatcher did't half get stabbed in the eye by the male. That beak is viscious!

thank you very much for this

Mike, As usual I enjoy the your videos. The RODE DCS-1 Dual Shoe would put the mic to off center without increasing the high.

Seven hours! Wow. You got stamina.

Great video Mike. As you say, not many people will have videoed them mating.

As always great (almost boring🤣) One Question: Is the lens worth the money?

It's a shame that your video camera (Osmo Pocket?) moves in an attempt to follow you during your pieces to camera, even though it's sitting on a tripod and you're standing or sitting in more-or-less the same place. Isn't there a setting to switch off the follow-me feature? Great bird footage though :)

oh my so much going on here..thanks for the work you do & time put in…now, i could be wrong, i often am, but the image quality doesn’t seem up to your regular high standards, is this the lens or my old tired eyes? … and finally, a drone, i looked at that little follow you arnd drone when it first came out, i won’t go into my experience with it but i am curious abt your experience .. again, thanks for sharing an important bit of bird mating practices 👍🏼

Great video, Do you find it to be a sharp lens?

To move the mic out of the way, you need a hotshoe handle. You need to find one with a cold shoe at the end. It'll be up and out of the way. Ideally, I think you need a parabolic microphone. Even better, attached to a 32bit float recorder. This would offer the very best experience. Maybe with a GH7?

Another great video. I too am interested in what you think of the 150-600. I would particularly like to know if you think it's worth the extra cost over the 100-400.

Mike, I know you're only 21 but it really is truly inspirational to see you getting out there every week, doing what you're doing. Long may it continue

Beautiful shots, worth sitting for. Sadly one that's still missing off my list.

Twist the mic inputs so they are out of your way Mike. It's what I do on my G9 with the videomicro.

Many thanks for your very helpful video. I have OM1 and 100-400 lens. I’ve tried to replicate your settings in aperture mode but just cannot get the speed to 1/2500. Any thoughts please? Thank you

Brilliant video of the Pied Flycatchers. I've been waiting for a wildlife photographer to do a real in the field review of this lens, looking forward to your review

Fantastic work as always Mike, fascinating stuff! 😀👏👍

Fantastic work as always Mike, fascinating stuff! 😀👏👍

Great stuff as always.

Did the male poke the female in the eye while mating? How odd is that!

As for the mics... That is my cup of tea although I don't have big budget. What you have looks like Rode Video Mic Go. This is an OKish mic with some side rejection, nothing fancy though. I am positively surprised how much the lawn mower is NOT audible in the footage. If you want the improvement in audio cuality and side rejectrion you will need proper shotgun mic. I have Sennheiser MKE600 which is prosumer-level mic that can be used with battery power straight to the camera via 3,5mm jack or with phantom power to sound regorder via XLR. It gives professional-level results. And with your G9II (as well as GH7) it can be used with Panasonic DMW-XLR2 adapter that not only allow you to have better audio but it naturally puts the mic higher and further forward. But my dream setup would be DMW-XLR2 adapter and Rode NTG-8 rifle mic. It is Insanely directional and clean. I think this would be a dream for recording bird song along the video. It is close to the parabolic mic in terms of directionality, but with slim profile and without all the hassle of parabolic mic.

Fantastic footage Mike. To capture a Plied Flycatcher singing is one thing, but them mating is something else. Brilliant.👍

Super video Mike and I was impressed with the lens - can you also use the extender with this lens? As for the drone Mike - well done in embracing technology for your art made me smile though.😊

Wow! Love that little Drone! I've had a good two days. Regent Honeyeater and Swift Parrots photographed in the last two days. I remember one of your comments when photographing birds on a perch not requiring high shutter speeds. It was fairly dark so I reduced my shutter speed to take advantage of the poor light. Worked a treat!

The difference when you moved on the male was like night and day , a small change a huge benefit

BTW @7:40 that is a great footage! It is so important do have steady base for video. No ammount os OIS, IBIS or stabe in post can replace it.

Real dedication Mike, thank you for making this. An absolute pleasure to see singing and mating pied flycatcher, top work as always 👍

Superb as always Mike looking forward to the lens review would like to purchase this or the 300 next 👍📷

Marvelous footage Mike great spot . No stopping you Mike with the latest tech 👍

I know that I am a lens nerd, but THANK YOU! You are one of the few independent wildlife shooters that is going to review this lens!