Olympus OM-D E-M5, E-M1, E-M10 - Mk1, Mk2 & Mk3 Owners Thread

Pound Coin said:
Would be good to see the whole image. There isn't a band of the image in more focus, which I'd expect with a long telephoto shot.

Also, what saving settings do you have - is the image from an ORF, or jpg, and what image size are you saving? If not ORF Large, then you'll be losing detail. It looks more likely to be saved as jpg and not at full resolution.
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Seem to recall you need to set jpegs at superfine somewhere in the menu.
Default I think for jpeg is fine or at least it is on the E-M1 ii

Not that I think for one minute this is down to that sort of setting.
Looks like good old camera shake blur to me, FF equivalent of 800mm is very hard to remain steady handheld.
Pretty sure there is no sync ic with this lens so that would lessen the stabilisation capability too
 
tijuana taxi said:
Seem to recall you need to set jpegs at superfine somewhere in the menu.
Default I think for jpeg is fine or at least it is on the E-M1 ii

Not that I think for one minute this is down to that sort of setting.
Looks like good old camera shake blur to me, FF equivalent of 800mm is very hard to remain steady handheld.
Pretty sure there is no sync ic with this lens so that would lessen the stabilisation capability too
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he has a 1-mk3 so that will give pitch and yaw , I use that combo and hand held at 400mm is not a problem not even with a 1.4 tc fitted . taking into account I,m nearly 76 with a dodgy ticker .. theres only one way to solve this and thats to see the SCP we are all just guessing till don himself comes back with more info
 
Thank for all the answers! I don't know how to use the multiquote system yet, so I'll answer as many questions as I can here.

I took at least 50 shots of the rabbits at various settings. They all looked similar - apart from ISO noise. I also moved further away, and tried some more. Some of these turned out much better, but not quite "tack" sharp.
I tried various IS settings. My default is to have both camera and lens set to IS on. Yesterday, I tried some shots with both on, both off, and lens alone, and camera alone. When both were off, you could see the effects of camera shake, as well as the "fuzzy" effect in the image above.

I generally use C1 for ground shots. I only shoot RAW, so I don't bother too much with the JPEG items. WB is set to AUTO, picture mode natural.
Mode = MANUAL
ISO is set to AUTO max 6400.
Focus = Manual ( Pushing AEL button forces an autofocus)
Focus Area = single small spot at centre
Face Detect = OFF
Aperture = F5.6
Shutter = 1/250 ( I change this depending on how bright the day is - 1/640 on bright day)

C2 ( for birds in flight)
As C1 except cluster autofocus in CA (without tracking), and shutter usually 1/800 - 1/2000.
I've also been trying IS off for C2.

I'll post the full image when I get home this evening. However, there isn't an obvious area of focus.
I've done quite a bit of astrophography at focal lengths up to 6400 mm, so I have a good feeling of focus issues and camera stability. For example, if you pass through the point of focus slowly you will get flashes of "clarity" even when handheld. This wasn't happening yesterday. The image looks fuzzy the whole time as I pass through focus.

I'm familiar with camera shake, and this looks quite different. There are no double twigs, or ghost images for example.

I was using the camera handheld, but I can successfully get good images down to 1/25s at 400mm. The image stabilisation on these cameras is really superb.

I'll take a photo pf the SCP as soon as I get home - about 6:30.

I'll also figure out a way of making the raw file available.

The images were taken near Hannington in Berkshire. There are lots of red kites there, and I've found a good spot to park up.
 
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Don153 said:
I'm familiar with camera shake, and this looks quite different. There are no double twigs, or ghost images for example.
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That's what I thought...
 
the black fox said:
he has a 1-mk3 so that will give pitch and yaw , I use that combo and hand held at 400mm is not a problem not even with a 1.4 tc fitted . taking into account I,m nearly 76 with a dodgy ticker .. theres only one way to solve this and thats to see the SCP we are all just guessing till don himself comes back with more info
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Quite!

The IS works brilliantly. I can do hand held shots at 1/25s. They don't all come out perfectly, but there is a decent hit rate.
One further bit of information is that I put on my 40-150 F4-F6.3 for a couple of test shots, and they were exactly the same.
I also power cycled the camera, and removed the battery for a minute, but that didn't have any effect.
 
I'll have to do two posts. My attempt to post two images hasn't gone according to plan!!!
The rear dial changes the shutter speed, and the front dial he exposure compensation.
C1 and C2 are just starting points.
Here is C1, which I usually use for ground based wildlife:-

C120211206_175953.jpg
 
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This is C2, which is my starting point for birds in flight:-
C220211206_180008.jpg
 
o.k I have sent you a p.m with my comments but for clarity
s.is auto all the time
CAF only
sequential low
forget that 2.3 stops of exp comp up to 2 to 3 parts of a stop is all thats needed on olympus or none at all in winter
try changing picture style to vivid ( the yanks found out it gives better results) and imho it does .
use mechanical shutter and time/pace your shots

even I dont shoot 10,000 shots a week no wonder your sensor is rattling

I really do suspect your use of silent shutter at high speeds is the problem
 
Looking at the RAW file, the focus is in front of the rabbits, maybe two fence posts, or more.
 
the black fox said:
o.k I have sent you a p.m with my comments but for clarity
s.is auto all the time
CAF only
sequential low
forget that 2.3 stops of exp comp up to 2 to 3 parts of a stop is all thats needed on olympus or none at all in winter
try changing picture style to vivid ( the yanks found out it gives better results) and imho it does .
use mechanical shutter and time/pace your shots

even I dont shoot 10,000 shots a week no wonder your sensor is rattling

I really do suspect your use of silent shutter at high speeds is the problem
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Thank you. I've copied my C2 into C3 and modified it to match your settings. I'll do a comparison next weekend if the weather allows. I've had strong suspicions about the electronic shutter, but I haven't been able to prove it one way or the other.
 
magicolor1 said:
Isn’t C1 set to MF?
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Yes, it is. I have had huge difficulty getting the autofocus to work predictably. This was mainly because I didn't understand all the settings. In C1, although t is set to MF, it still performs an autofocus if I press the AEL button.

However, for the rabbits, I tried both C1 and C2. I also used both the AEL button, and the focusing ring in C1 mode.

I also tried upping the ISO to 25,600 and took some shots at 1/4000 and 1/5000, and they are just the same - except a bit noisier.
 
@Don153 Donal, I would go back to absolute basics rather than complicate the issue with customised settings. Start with single shot, not burst etc.

Establish whether the issue is with a lens or a body by testing it with different Olympus lenses and then progress from there in a process of elimination.

Select something in your garden and shoot all your tests on the same subject to be able to make meaningful comparisons.
 
In other news ....

The Olympus big white supertelephoto Star Wars StormTrooper lens is now retailing at £6,499 instead of £6,100 when I bought mine in August. It is still only available on preorder and with no forecast yet of when preorders will be met.

Why would a camera lens retail price increase in the same territory? They usually either remain the same or decrease over time.

I won't be selling mine, even for a profit - I love it far too much - It's the best lens I have ever had or even shot with.

Flickr Album : https://www.flickr.com/photos/114775606@N07/albums/72157719681673385

:olympus:
 
Superb album there Robin
 
Has anyone used the viltron efm2 with the Olympus OMD E-M1 mark 2? Reason I ask is that the AF with an older OMD Em5 mark 2 is FAR superior than with the 1 mark 2. The 1 struggles and is very very slow, whereas the Em5 is as fast as native. I wondered if it's simply a different AF stystem with is far inferior (which doesn't seem right as it's a newer model!)
 
Jeff would you be kind enough to send me your settings for both static and BIF please (seeing as it was you that got me into this whole Olympus thing)!!
Presumably once I have dialled in the settings it would be wise to commit them to a custom mode.
What is the best way to switch quickly from static birds to BIF temporarily?
Is Pro capture useful - So many questions, so little time......
I could wade through hours of videos (I have) but first hand advice could cut months off my learning curve. All the customisable buttons are just too much to take in in one go, and what is that 2 position switch on the AEL button all about. I watched a you tube explanation and after a certain point my brain started to go numb!!!
I will mainly be using the 100 - 400 lens + 1.4 converter.

Any help would be appreciated. I have lots of questions but will drip feed them!!
 
RedRobin said:
@Don153 Donal, I would go back to absolute basics rather than complicate the issue with customised settings. Start with single shot, not burst etc.

Establish whether the issue is with a lens or a body by testing it with different Olympus lenses and then progress from there in a process of elimination.

Select something in your garden and shoot all your tests on the same subject to be able to make meaningful comparisons.
Click to expand...

I have been thinking along similar lines.

I did try a different lens (40-150mm F4-5.6), but the results were the same.
I should make it clear that the problem only seems to occur under certain lighting conditions. Most of the time the camera performs flawlessly.

I have set up a new C3 as per Jeff's suggestion above, and taken two test shots this morning in my garden. They both looked fine through the viewfinder, but I will examine them this evening.

Just to show that the issue is sporadic, here is an example of the sort of image quality that I usually get, taken just over a week ago at the same location. It isn't up to the standard of most of the images here, but it is infinitely better than I was getting just 4 months ago. It is a crop showing about 1/3 of the frame, IIRC.
 

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Nothing wrong with that shot don ,any adjustments can be easily done in PP
 
Fordsabroad said:
What is the best way to switch quickly from static birds to BIF temporarily?
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.... My only experience with Olympus is the E-M1X mounting various Pro lenses but rather than faff around losing shot opportunities while switching the top Mode Dial to a C-mode, the trick is to allocate whatever settings to a C-mode and then allocate that C-mode to a single button to then be able to toggle the whole set on/off.

You then have the opportunity to have different patterns of AF etc etc allocated too.

I dunno how much of that you can do on other Olympus bodies but I have C1 and C2 independently routed to different single buttons on my M1X.
 
RedRobin said:
.... My only experience with Olympus is the E-M1X mounting various Pro lenses but rather than faff around losing shot opportunities while switching the top Mode Dial to a C-mode, the trick is to allocate whatever settings to a C-mode and then allocate that C-mode to a single button to then be able to toggle the whole set on/off.

You then have the opportunity to have different patterns of AF etc etc allocated too.

I dunno how much of that you can do on other Olympus bodies but I have C1 and C2 independently routed to different single buttons on my M1X.
Click to expand...
Can't remember about the mk2 but as far as I recall the mk3 also (like the M1X) allows for such 'custom button' setting. :thinking:
 
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Fordsabroad said:
What is the best way to switch quickly from static birds to BIF temporarily?
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I would look at either using the lens function button if you have one, or one of the buttons on the front of the camera - I can't remember off hand, but you may be able to set one of those to C1. There are lots of custom buttons to set :)
 
testing out a new to me four thirds lens the 11-22mm f2.8 , handheld after dark . quite surprised by the clarity of this lens .street lights taken with a film era starburst filter fitted , castle was in total darkness bar the dim lights
lights trial by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr

castle illuminati by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr
 
the black fox said:
testing out a new to me four thirds lens the 11-22mm f2.8 , handheld after dark . quite surprised by the clarity of this lens .street lights taken with a film era starburst filter fitted , castle was in total darkness bar the dim lights
lights trial by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr

castle illuminati by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr
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It was always a good lens on the E1 and E520. The drawback was the limited zoom range, and it was a bit bulky. But quality. Used it on my EM5 (mark 1) and the lens dwarfed the body.
 
Stephen L said:
It was always a good lens on the E1 and E520. The drawback was the limited zoom range, and it was a bit bulky. But quality. Used it on my EM5 (mark 1) and the lens dwarfed the body.
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I also have a 18-180 another very much underrated lens
 
Well I went out today to play with my new system, the om1 mk iii with 100-400 and 1.4 converter attached. All i can say is I need a LOT more practise at BIF. I had about a 95% failure rate. If only the little blighters would stay in that green square life would be much easier!! It was very windy and they were all distant. Now before you say I need to go to specsavers even I know that one of these is not a bird but at least it sat still for me.
Oh well tomorrow can only get better!gull by Gordon Ford, on Flickr
gull by Gordon Ford, on Flickr
gull by Gordon Ford, on Flickr

wader by Gordon Ford, on Flickr
squirrel by Gordon Ford, on Flickr
 
I was getting a 95% failure rate a few weeks ago. It has dropped to about 50% now. Although I have been playing with lots of settings, the main thing seems to be the practise.
Lovely reflection in the squirrel's eye!
 
Fordsabroad said:
Well I went out today to play with my new system, the om1 mk iii with 100-400 and 1.4 converter attached. All i can say is I need a LOT more practise at BIF. I had about a 95% failure rate. If only the little blighters would stay in that green square life would be much easier!! It was very windy and they were all distant. Now before you say I need to go to specsavers even I know that one of these is not a bird but at least it sat still for me.
Oh well tomorrow can only get better!gull by Gordon Ford, on Flickr
gull by Gordon Ford, on Flickr
gull by Gordon Ford, on Flickr

wader by Gordon Ford, on Flickr
squirrel by Gordon Ford, on Flickr
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good start there gordon .it does take time but nothing to worry about with any of them
 
one from back in the summer 100-400 lens hand held using the close focus limiter button nearly as good as a macro lens
simply red by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr
 
Fordsabroad said:
Well maybe I can't call the BIF excercise a total success but I am quite pleased with the built in ND filters.
incoming tide. by Gordon Ford, on Flickr
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Very nice. If you don’t mind me saying so, the horizon looks squint to me. (It’s a particular peeve of mine!)
 
Stephen L said:
Very nice. If you don’t mind me saying so, the horizon looks squint to me. (It’s a particular peeve of mine!)
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That's why the sea is rushing off to the left that 2.3 degrees tilt is a lot try the spirit level in the EVF in future.
 
Fordsabroad said:
Well maybe I can't call the BIF excercise a total success but I am quite pleased with the built in ND filters.
incoming tide. by Gordon Ford, on Flickr
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I think that’s really beautiful, even if it needs a little tilt. Lovely colours and composition.

Our local beach often looks like it tilts because of the shape of the coast as it curves into the distance. I often leave off the true horizon if it’s a snippet, so I can straighten it according to where the cliff meets the sea, or else I need to put lots of the horizon in, so you can see it is an illusion that the land is tilting.
 
Thanks to all who commented on this picture. I put my hands up to the fact that I should have straightened the horizon. Trust me I will do it on the original but won't re post it.
Constructive criticism (such as this) is always welcome.
This is an easy fix, but BIF now there's another story!!
 
kestrel this morning after the storm viewing me with disdain

Couple of excellent shots Jeff, certainly got its eye on you. Like the sharpness of the head and the motion blur of the wings in *2.
 
Fordsabroad said:
Well today was my second attempt at BIF with the Olympus and I am pleased to to say it was only a 90% failure rate this time!! To keep the exposures short a lot were shot at 6400 ISO with some hefty crops which shows in the results. Not even close to Jeffs pictures but progress all the same.


untitled (42 of 258)-Edit-Edit-Edit.jpg by Gordon Ford, on Flickr
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.... Step by step you'll get there. I think the third shot is the best - Always aim to primarily get your sharpest focus on the subject's eyes. We naturally look at anyone or any animal's eyes first, even unconsciously.
 
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