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

Box Brownie said:
Very good and valid perspective.

If a bit more environment in the VF and images.......a crop may not be a frame filler but as you point out the slightly wider FoV can be and is beneficial

As I understand the hide advice for this species 400mm is the sweet spot and 300mm mFT is 600mm full frame equivalent......that will too long.

In regard to ISO, in Comms is likely to be in excess of 800!

In summary, the bare 40-150mm f2.8 looks like the most appropriate option........though keeping the x1.4 TC to hand should the situation indicate it's possible usage.
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ISO in excess of 800 does not seem to be excessive, depending on what camera you have. I have used iso 6400 with no problem after using denoising software(on1) and obtained good results. Pershaps a phone call to discuss options would help but keep your options open and have the tc handy if you are not using it. sorry for the ambiguous response but enjoy and hope whatever you decide works well!
 
nc_killie said:
ISO in excess of 800 does not seem to be excessive, depending on what camera you have. I have used iso 6400 with no problem after using denoising software(on1) and obtained good results. Pershaps a phone call to discuss options would help but keep your options open and have the tc handy if you are not using it. sorry for the ambiguous response but enjoy and hope whatever you decide works well!
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The OM-1

In general I am not fussed by noise as DxO PhotoLab handles it so well.

However, a dark bird in mixed light with as I perceive it darker backgrounds there is a potential for more shadows than some 'scenes' where noise could be a factor. Noise (too much???) in the shadows is not welcome.

I will watch my histogram and see how it goes :)
 
Had more macro attempts with the 1.4 on the 90mm this evening. Used a gorilla pod and took 15 shot stacks. Put together in Helicon. Its not perfect but considering this fly is about 0.5cm long and it was in natural evening light I am really impressed by the combo and how its opened up another area of wildlife photography i've never been able to dabble in before.

Fly by Pete, on Flickr
 
I am so happy with the om-1 and 90mm macro. Ive taken photos of this extremely rare moth (pyrausta sanguinalis) for years with all sorts of equipment but being able to do in body focus stacking handheld has meant I can now get photos of it I have always dreamed of.
Its about 7mm long and this was a 15 shot in body stack handheld in natural light.

Pyrausta Sanguinalis by Pete, on Flickr
 
@Bebop @GyRob

By way of thinking out loud........

I have looked in the manual to remind me about the way the DTC (Digital Tele-converter) behaves......I have never used DTC and never seen its potential benefit, so far.......summarised below as I read & understand it.

Stills the DTC applies a x2 enlargement/crop
When shooting raw in the EVF & LCD the image is cropped but the raw is unaffected i.e. a bit like changing the aspect ratio (I do have mine set to 3:2) the full sensor image is saved (NB only if shooting JPEG is the saved file, the zoomed in/cropped area)
The turning on/off of DTC can be button assigned.

Therefore my thinking is:-
That I assign the L-Fn button to control the DTC
I can then see in the EVF & LCD (maybe using the LCD more the EVF and a remote release cable) the effect of a x2 crop but knowing I will have the unadulterated raw file to crop as needed in post

If I have understood the DTC and its use, especially when shooting raw, are there any downsides.......bearing in mind, as I have found myself provided the crop is not too huge the file can be printed quite large following PP) Plus as said by @nc_killie says NR as needed is very good :D

I would welcome any further insights about the use of the DTC :)

PS just a pity the DTC cannot do x1.4 for stills like the video mode :(
 
peat said:
I am so happy with the om-1 and 90mm macro. Ive taken photos of this extremely rare moth (pyrausta sanguinalis) for years with all sorts of equipment but being able to do in body focus stacking handheld has meant I can now get photos of it I have always dreamed of.
Its about 7mm long and this was a 15 shot in body stack handheld in natural light.

Pyrausta Sanguinalis by Pete, on Flickr
Click to expand...

A stunning shot of a beautiful and rare moth, I take it you are based in the Isle of Man to have taken this. The last record for this species near me (Shropshire) was way back in 1952. I've the same combination of camera and lens and am becomming more and more impressed by its capabilities and the quality of the images it enables me to obtain.
 
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Adrian Jones said:
A stunning shot of a beautiful and rare moth, I take it you are based in the Isle of Man to have taken this. The last record for this species near me (Shropshire) was way back in 1952. I've the same combination of camera and lens and am becomming more and more impressed by its capabilities and the quality of the images it enables me to obtain.
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Ty. Yes based in the Isle of Man. My next target will be Heath bee fly next month. I had no idea that’s only found here and Dorset.
 
When i used Olympus I never used DTC - to be honest i always shoot in Manual with any camera and only set a button or 2 just to change something quickly .
The menu in all cameras are so vast in what you can do and set and that's great but not for me jpeg fine /fps / and a little colour profile is about all i touch .

I use Sony now and use it the same .
Rob.
 
Box Brownie said:
@Bebop @GyRob

By way of thinking out loud........

I have looked in the manual to remind me about the way the DTC (Digital Tele-converter) behaves......I have never used DTC and never seen its potential benefit, so far.......summarised below as I read & understand it.

Stills the DTC applies a x2 enlargement/crop
When shooting raw in the EVF & LCD the image is cropped but the raw is unaffected i.e. a bit like changing the aspect ratio (I do have mine set to 3:2) the full sensor image is saved (NB only if shooting JPEG is the saved file, the zoomed in/cropped area)
The turning on/off of DTC can be button assigned.

Therefore my thinking is:-
That I assign the L-Fn button to control the DTC
I can then see in the EVF & LCD (maybe using the LCD more the EVF and a remote release cable) the effect of a x2 crop but knowing I will have the unadulterated raw file to crop as needed in post

If I have understood the DTC and its use, especially when shooting raw, are there any downsides.......bearing in mind, as I have found myself provided the crop is not too huge the file can be printed quite large following PP) Plus as said by @nc_killie says NR as needed is very good :D

I would welcome any further insights about the use of the DTC :)

PS just a pity the DTC cannot do x1.4 for stills like the video mode :(
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Ive never used it and I wouldnt to be honest. If I need to crop in I would do that all in post process so I have the control of how much to crop in.
Its useful in video mode but the drop in image quality isn't as obvious in video.
 
peat said:
I am so happy with the om-1 and 90mm macro. Ive taken photos of this extremely rare moth (pyrausta sanguinalis) for years with all sorts of equipment but being able to do in body focus stacking handheld has meant I can now get photos of it I have always dreamed of.
Its about 7mm long and this was a 15 shot in body stack handheld in natural light.

Pyrausta Sanguinalis by Pete, on Flickr
Click to expand...
That's beautiful
 
GyRob said:
When i used Olympus I never used DTC - to be honest i always shoot in Manual with any camera and only set a button or 2 just to change something quickly .
The menu in all cameras are so vast in what you can do and set and that's great but not for me jpeg fine /fps / and a little colour profile is about all i touch .

I use Sony now and use it the same .
Rob.
Click to expand...

peat said:
Ive never used it and I wouldnt to be honest. If I need to crop in I would do that all in post process so I have the control of how much to crop in.
Its useful in video mode but the drop in image quality isn't as obvious in video.
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As mentioned, in my perception of its use is purely(?) for framing/cropping insight.

Having said that I did find this linked Thomas Stirr's webpage about DTC usage by Andy Rouse

smallsensorphotography.com

Digital Teleconverter Test Images - Small Sensor Photography by Thomas Stirr

This article shares a selection of digital teleconverter test images that were captured handheld today at 40 Mile Creek in Grimsby.
smallsensorphotography.com

View: https://youtu.be/hXtjBhpZCkI


I know Andy Rouse can be a bit marmite and frankly him recommending DTC so strongly IMO is poor.

Why do I say poor, well it obviously suits him for good light and time pressure to get images to publishers quickly......he barely mentions the key benefit of shooting raw in reduced light conditions. And as in his own admission he is a dinosaur when it comes to relying on Photoshop! He IIRC says that cropping the raw and PPing to match the jpeg is too much trouble so is Adobe Camera Raw in the top class of .orf converters.... IMO not.

Edit ~ I have now watched the whole video and he does, somewhat, expand on his approach/advice.

PS having said that I may set raw + jpeg LS to just see what they look like.
 
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Box Brownie said:
@Bebop @GyRob

By way of thinking out loud........

I have looked in the manual to remind me about the way the DTC (Digital Tele-converter) behaves......I have never used DTC and never seen its potential benefit, so far.......summarised below as I read & understand it.

Stills the DTC applies a x2 enlargement/crop
When shooting raw in the EVF & LCD the image is cropped but the raw is unaffected i.e. a bit like changing the aspect ratio (I do have mine set to 3:2) the full sensor image is saved (NB only if shooting JPEG is the saved file, the zoomed in/cropped area)
The turning on/off of DTC can be button assigned.

Therefore my thinking is:-
That I assign the L-Fn button to control the DTC
I can then see in the EVF & LCD (maybe using the LCD more the EVF and a remote release cable) the effect of a x2 crop but knowing I will have the unadulterated raw file to crop as needed in post

If I have understood the DTC and its use, especially when shooting raw, are there any downsides.......bearing in mind, as I have found myself provided the crop is not too huge the file can be printed quite large following PP) Plus as said by @nc_killie says NR as needed is very good :D

I would welcome any further insights about the use of the DTC :)

PS just a pity the DTC cannot do x1.4 for stills like the video mode :(
Click to expand...
Sorry for delay, I’ve been away for the weekend. I have never used the DTC and hadn’t realised it leaves the raw unaffected.

The only downside I can see is that a wider field of view is easier to get a bird in flight, so it may be harder to track a bird with it activated.

I can’t really see an upside other than getting your composition better in camera. What am I missing?

edit: just read your follow on post. Will watch the video later, but agree with your thoughts re effort to crop in post etc.
 
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Bebop said:
You are getting some stunning results with this combo. Fabulous images :love:
Are you stacking them in post or in camera?
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thanks. I shoot all different depending on what the insect is doing (ie moving or even its antenna moving or something).
The clearwing was just 1 shot as it rarely stayed still long enough.
For stacking my thinking is use in body method, if it works great. If it doesn't try and use the sequence of photos taken and use helicon because then I can do a lot of fine tuning to try and get a result but I wont do all that effort if the camera in body has gotten something good enough in the first place.

If its a stacked shot Ill say in my post. (and whether its helicon in post or in body).
 
peat said:
thanks. I shoot all different depending on what the insect is doing (ie moving or even its antenna moving or something).
The clearwing was just 1 shot as it rarely stayed still long enough.
For stacking my thinking is use in body method, if it works great. If it doesn't try and use the sequence of photos taken and use helicon because then I can do a lot of fine tuning to try and get a result but I wont do all that effort if the camera in body has gotten something good enough in the first place.

If its a stacked shot Ill say in my post. (and whether its helicon in post or in body).
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Thanks. I’m about to help a friend out with some more focus stacked images for a scientific paper. We had a session ages ago and I’m just trying to think of best practices for next time. I wonder how Helicon stacks up ( :ROFLMAO: ) against Affinity Photo 2. Last time I ended up manually choosing my focus points and then stacking in post. I might download a trial.
 
Bebop said:
Thanks. I’m about to help a friend out with some more focus stacked images for a scientific paper. We had a session ages ago and I’m just trying to think of best practices for next time. I wonder how Helicon stacks up ( :ROFLMAO: ) against Affinity Photo 2. Last time I ended up manually choosing my focus points and then stacking in post. I might download a trial.
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Yes defo get the trial. I didnt realise about retouching for a while as well. That is such a useful tool for when the rendering has not gone perfectly.
 
One of the reasons to get the 300mm f4 was to hopefully have better chances with Dragonflies in flight. (Even though the 100-400 got me ones I was very happy with). But sure enough the 300mm can do even better, helping me catch species in flight I couldn't get good ones of before. (Common Blue Damselfly and Four-spotted chaser)

commonbluedamselfly290523.jpglast year.
4spot290523.jpg
 
Super Pete went looking for some yesterday and drew a blank .. weird year..

cameras all packed away now ,off to bempton cliffs on thurs for 10 days
 
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the black fox said:
Super Pete went looking for some yesterday and drew a blank .. weird year..

cameras all packed away now ,off to bempton cliffs on thurs for 10 days
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Safe journey and hopefully a great time......

I look forward to seeing your posts :)
 
Update about the Tawny Owl session
No photos to share yet as did not get home until 11:30pm

The Tawny Owl session was a real joy, a beautiful bird.

As for settings, well it was a learning curve.......

The guy who owns the setup is a published photographer who now concentrates on videography of wildlife.

The owl does not appear until after sunset and last night came to visit 4 times. So the light was getting progressively worse(?).

With his guidance...I had never used this specific methodology before:-

Full manual ( 1/320 , f2.8 , starting iso for establishing the setup 3200). Focus & spot metering on the perch, NB AF once on the perch and then AF turned off.....gimbal locked off. Cannot recall now but think I was @ 6400 for her first visit.

By about 10:10pm the owl made its last visit and ISO, raising a stop @ time (test shot to 'check' the light on the perch), was 10,000 !

Other than above settings....wired remote used....and to avoid light from the rear screen it was closed off.....as the bird approached the perch it was press the shutter = goodly amount of culling to be done where not in frame & oof.

Oh, I used standard silent sequential not SH2 (I was unsure whether SH2 would affect the metering and no time to be testing.

Should I go again and I might but next year? I would add ProCap SH1 into the session....

I have only looked at them in the camera but many look very good. Once on PC and cull I will pp a couple and post to show the results :)
 
Thank you for providing a summary, glad that you enjoyed it and look forward to seeing some posted results!
 
Stephen L said:
Stunning and atmospheric
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Thanks and noiseless in flight too :)
Bebop said:
Those are fabulous! What a joy! Thanks for sharing the set Up.
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Thank you. As with all wildlife it was a privilege to be in the presence of that wonderful wild owl.

The chap is very knowledgeable about its behaviour so helped immensely to have had the opportunity.

Just need to save/put aside the funds to go again somewhen but my next one might be Little Owls. Though sadly the nest site was abandoned due to poor behaviour around it on semi public land. I am on his list in case they re-establish in the area?
 
Stunning set m8
 
Hi all, I'm a new OM system user and currently trying the OM Workspace software.

I've downloaded the AI noise reduction thing, but how do I actually use it in the OM Workspace program?
 
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