OM1 focusing - firmware concern?

[Adrian Harris]

I would like to hear peoples opinions and concerns on a dreadfully bad shooting experience I had today and also on one of my fears regarding what might be the cause:

I spent over 30 minutes today sat comfortably trying to photograph a nice big dragonfly which was patrolling up and down in front of me. My kit was and OM1 camera, a Panasonic PL100-400 pro lens and a the Olympus Red Dot sight - I obviously could not fail. I took many hundreds of photos (and attempted hundreds more) but not a single shot had the dragonfly in it. Oh and the red dot sight was correctly aligned.

The camera simply refused to focus on the dragonfly. In fact it just loved the background. When I set the focus limiter to ignore the background the OM1 wouldn't even take a shot. Yes I had the camera set to do not take a photo unless the focus has locked on. I tried large focus areas and small, plus focus limiter on and off.
I was mainly using manual mode at f6.3, with shutter speed 1/2500, floating ISO, EV Compensation at -1/3. C-AF, electronic shutter in burst mode (probably at 5fps).

When I tried pre setting the focus at approximate target distance it made no difference and still failed to detect the target - which was not small in the frame, in fact it would have been filling 1/2 of the frame. I even tried Bird detection on - which has worked well before. Then worryingly I noticed how slow the PL100-400 was focusing on even static subjects.

This got me thinking. Originally a year or so ago, the OM1 fitted with the PL100-400 was focusing seriously fast. Could something somewhere be failing in either the lens or the camera?
...or has one of the firmware updates purposely slowed this fabulous panasonic competitor to the Olympus 100-400 lens?
It would certainly be a very clever way to force everyone to buy the Olympus version of this lens (which I am loathe to do as it is bigger and heavier, plus my PL100-400 is so sharp).

1. Has anyone else had concerns that their OM1/PL100-400 combo not performing as they would expect it should?
2. Does anyone think that it is possible that OMD could have released a firmware update to scupper a competitor?

I shall do some more testing tomorrow using my older EM1-Mk2 (as that always focused very fast), do some focusing speed comparisons.

What sequential mode? What firmware? What focus point? What sort of background? Centre priority or not? Lens switches positions?

Can you furnish some of the initial shots in the sequences or are already deleted?

I re formatted the card 3 times and then frustrated moved on to stationary butterflies.

Firmware was the latest. Sequential silent 5fps (approx), tried every available focus areas and all with centre priority. Back ground was most dark looking water with dragonfly in sunlight and slightly backlit. I checked the lens switch positions - all 3 forward, - stabilisation on, full focus range, AF on.

 

[Adrian Harris]

Hi Adrian

I suggest you setup a test environment with a static target at the expected range of yor draggonflies. I'd use a photo of a DF printed on white paper without backgroud, cut-out and glued to cardboard and then pinned to a stick or better, suspended with some fine thread from a hook such that the supports etc ar not in the frame.

And then, rather than having a moving target you're trying to track you can simulate the live action by moving your camera pointing around and about the target pointing it briefly at the target and then away and try different settings until you get the results you want.

Of course, initially I'd point the camera directly at the subject and use the EVF and confirm that it can actually make an image. Then I'd point it directly the the subject using the Dot Sight to confirm alignment.

Peter

Hi Peter thank you. I have done that and all works well. The only thing you have suggested that I haven't tried was waving the camera about on a static subject, but will do.

 

[Adrian Harris]

A few things occured to me ..........

The subject is closer than the minimum focusing distance?

As mentioned by (an)other poster....... parallax error?

Possibly a settings question, cannot recall which post or whether this forum but IIRC the matter of two places in the menu that can affect AF usage....one global and the other 'selected' change?

If a setting, perhaps save any custom sets and do a full reset to restore defaults?

Thanks yes, I'll go for the reset option.

 

[gary0319]

I would like to hear peoples opinions and concerns on a dreadfully bad shooting experience I had today and also on one of my fears regarding what might be the cause:

I spent over 30 minutes today sat comfortably trying to photograph a nice big dragonfly which was patrolling up and down in front of me. My kit was and OM1 camera, a Panasonic PL100-400 pro lens and a the Olympus Red Dot sight - I obviously could not fail. I took many hundreds of photos (and attempted hundreds more) but not a single shot had the dragonfly in it. Oh and the red dot sight was correctly aligned.

The camera simply refused to focus on the dragonfly. In fact it just loved the background. When I set the focus limiter to ignore the background the OM1 wouldn't even take a shot. Yes I had the camera set to do not take a photo unless the focus has locked on. I tried large focus areas and small, plus focus limiter on and off.
I was mainly using manual mode at f6.3, with shutter speed 1/2500, floating ISO, EV Compensation at -1/3. C-AF, electronic shutter in burst mode (probably at 5fps).

When I tried pre setting the focus at approximate target distance it made no difference and still failed to detect the target - which was not small in the frame, in fact it would have been filling 1/2 of the frame. I even tried Bird detection on - which has worked well before. Then worryingly I noticed how slow the PL100-400 was focusing on even static subjects.

This got me thinking. Originally a year or so ago, the OM1 fitted with the PL100-400 was focusing seriously fast. Could something somewhere be failing in either the lens or the camera?
...or has one of the firmware updates purposely slowed this fabulous panasonic competitor to the Olympus 100-400 lens?
It would certainly be a very clever way to force everyone to buy the Olympus version of this lens (which I am loathe to do as it is bigger and heavier, plus my PL100-400 is so sharp).

1. Has anyone else had concerns that their OM1/PL100-400 combo not performing as they would expect it should?
2. Does anyone think that it is possible that OMD could have released a firmware update to scupper a competitor?

I shall do some more testing tomorrow using my older EM1-Mk2 (as that always focused very fast), do some focusing speed comparisons.

What sequential mode? What firmware? What focus point? What sort of background? Centre priority or not? Lens switches positions?

Can you furnish some of the initial shots in the sequences or are already deleted?

I re formatted the card 3 times and then frustrated moved on to stationary butterflies.

Firmware was the latest. Sequential silent 5fps (approx), tried every available focus areas and all with centre priority. Back ground was most dark looking water with dragonfly in sunlight and slightly backlit. I checked the lens switch positions - all 3 forward, - stabilisation on, full focus range, AF on.

Just a thought, I found that my PL100-400 focused better with using only the OM-1 in camera stabilization. Although the 240 frames per second focus motors of the PL100-400 work great with the OM-1 focusing, the camera seemed to be slowed waiting for the OIS.

 

[drj3]

I've never had that issue in the past with C-af. I couldn't use the focus limiter as when activated it would not take a shot at all ! ..

If it would not take a photo with the electronic focus limiter when this was pointed at a stationary target, then the set distances were not correct. The focus limiter distances are only approximate and the accuracy varies with the specific lens. After setting them always try focusing on an object at the maximum distance and the minimum distance and confirm that the lens will focus and correct the settings as necessary.

As an example with my MC14+300mmf4 on the OM1

A target 16.4 feet away is equivalent to 20 feet on the Electronic Limiter setting.

A target 45.8 feet away is equivalent to 58 feet on the Electronic Limiter setting.

 

[Regor250]

You could always try to use ProCapture while using Manual Focus. One is bound to be in focus.

 

[Trevor Carpenter]

I've got a red dot sight but never found it very useful. I assume that you thought the camera had focused on the dragonfly but my issue with RDSs is that you never know that you have successfully focused on your subject. tbh I'm not sure that you ever really know when you are using the EVF but the odds are much more in your favour.

 

[Adrian Harris]

Have you successfully used the OM1 with the dot sight and PL lens to photograph dragonflies in the past?

Hi drj3. Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful comments.

'I am fairly certain I have', I won't say 100% as I frequently take an EM1-Mk2 with me as well.

The dot sight would need to be adjusted very accurately for the distance, since parallax error would be a potential problem at the very close target and limited field of view at 400mm.

Yes I constantly checked the red dot was centred at the distance I was shooting, the dragonfly was patrolling in a fairly regular sweep. Occasionally when the in focus background was close I could see the ghost of a totally out of focus dragonfly slap bang in the middle of the picture. I was shooting at about 300mm to provide a slightly wider field of view and did use the viewfinder a few times. I was pre-focusing fractionally closer than the anticipated subject distance and when the shutter button was pressed saw the focus go through the dragonfly and settle on the background. I've never had that issue in the past with C-af. I couldn't use the focus limiter as when activated it would not take a shot at all ! ... as suggested by some helpful comments in this thread I think I best try a factory reset before spending time trying anything else.

Last week when attempting swallows skimming water I was not using the focus limiter and got a few in focus shots, but the background was still preferred for the majority of shots.

The AF scanner on the OM1 only works with initial shutter press and it only scans once. The target must be in the focus area during that scan with such a small target. If the OM1 fails to focus initially, it will only begin focusing again when the target happens to move to a distance the same as the last focus distance of the lens at the end of the scan (which is unlikely). If you are using the EVF you will know it fails to focus and you can release and repress the shutter button.

The E-M1.2 (and later E-M1s) have an AF scanner mode 3, which will rescan if the first scan fails, so it may have a somewhat higher success rate for this situation.

Ah that's very interesting, I am wondering if the AF scanner setting on the OM1 was changed by the firmware update. - I found out the hard way that quite a few settings had been altered from original factory pre-sets by the last update. But admit I have never looked at adjusting any scanner or AF options as previously the factory pre-sets have always worked so well for me. The em1-mk2 I always found particularly good.

Later today after my chores I will test my pl100-400 lens on a few other cameras (I keep all my older ones) to see if the slowness to focus is in fact the lens beginning to fail (I do hope not, as although its stiff it is razor sharp).

Thanks once again for all your help.

PS. A quick note to others: If OMD were being crafty - which I think would make commercial sense, - being truthful, how many here on this forum really would notice if the focus on the PL100-400 lens had been slowed just a little, leaving the Olympus lens to be a slightly superior performer in that respect ?

Update: I haven't had the chance to go out shooting again yet for testing, but after spent ages looking for any af scanning options in the OM1 menus - if only to confirm there wasn't any! Sadly other than finding a -5 to +5 scale, with mine set on '0', there were none, well I couldn't find any Unlike the em1-mk2 which does!

Frankly I was astounded.

However can someone please explain what the -5 to +5 scale is for. Thank you.

 

[Box Brownie]

Have you successfully used the OM1 with the dot sight and PL lens to photograph dragonflies in the past?

Hi drj3. Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful comments.

'I am fairly certain I have', I won't say 100% as I frequently take an EM1-Mk2 with me as well.

The dot sight would need to be adjusted very accurately for the distance, since parallax error would be a potential problem at the very close target and limited field of view at 400mm.

Yes I constantly checked the red dot was centred at the distance I was shooting, the dragonfly was patrolling in a fairly regular sweep. Occasionally when the in focus background was close I could see the ghost of a totally out of focus dragonfly slap bang in the middle of the picture. I was shooting at about 300mm to provide a slightly wider field of view and did use the viewfinder a few times. I was pre-focusing fractionally closer than the anticipated subject distance and when the shutter button was pressed saw the focus go through the dragonfly and settle on the background. I've never had that issue in the past with C-af. I couldn't use the focus limiter as when activated it would not take a shot at all ! ... as suggested by some helpful comments in this thread I think I best try a factory reset before spending time trying anything else.

Last week when attempting swallows skimming water I was not using the focus limiter and got a few in focus shots, but the background was still preferred for the majority of shots.

The AF scanner on the OM1 only works with initial shutter press and it only scans once. The target must be in the focus area during that scan with such a small target. If the OM1 fails to focus initially, it will only begin focusing again when the target happens to move to a distance the same as the last focus distance of the lens at the end of the scan (which is unlikely). If you are using the EVF you will know it fails to focus and you can release and repress the shutter button.

The E-M1.2 (and later E-M1s) have an AF scanner mode 3, which will rescan if the first scan fails, so it may have a somewhat higher success rate for this situation.

Ah that's very interesting, I am wondering if the AF scanner setting on the OM1 was changed by the firmware update. - I found out the hard way that quite a few settings had been altered from original factory pre-sets by the last update. But admit I have never looked at adjusting any scanner or AF options as previously the factory pre-sets have always worked so well for me. The em1-mk2 I always found particularly good.

Later today after my chores I will test my pl100-400 lens on a few other cameras (I keep all my older ones) to see if the slowness to focus is in fact the lens beginning to fail (I do hope not, as although its stiff it is razor sharp).

Thanks once again for all your help.

PS. A quick note to others: If OMD were being crafty - which I think would make commercial sense, - being truthful, how many here on this forum really would notice if the focus on the PL100-400 lens had been slowed just a little, leaving the Olympus lens to be a slightly superior performer in that respect ?

Update: I haven't had the chance to go out shooting again yet for testing, but after spent ages looking for any af scanning options in the OM1 menus - if only to confirm there wasn't any! Sadly other than finding a -5 to +5 scale, with mine set on '0', there were none, well I couldn't find any Unlike the em1-mk2 which does!

Frankly I was astounded.

However can someone please explain what the -5 to +5 scale is for. Thank you.

--
Adrian
http://www.artfotografia.co.uk/

Can I suggest you say exactly where in the menu that you are referring to?

Without looking yet myself.......are you talking about 'scanning sensitivity' i.e. how sticky on the subject the AF is (slow moving vs erratic subject)?

 

[Adrian Harris]

Have you successfully used the OM1 with the dot sight and PL lens to photograph dragonflies in the past?

Hi drj3. Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful comments.

'I am fairly certain I have', I won't say 100% as I frequently take an EM1-Mk2 with me as well.

The dot sight would need to be adjusted very accurately for the distance, since parallax error would be a potential problem at the very close target and limited field of view at 400mm.

Yes I constantly checked the red dot was centred at the distance I was shooting, the dragonfly was patrolling in a fairly regular sweep. Occasionally when the in focus background was close I could see the ghost of a totally out of focus dragonfly slap bang in the middle of the picture. I was shooting at about 300mm to provide a slightly wider field of view and did use the viewfinder a few times. I was pre-focusing fractionally closer than the anticipated subject distance and when the shutter button was pressed saw the focus go through the dragonfly and settle on the background. I've never had that issue in the past with C-af. I couldn't use the focus limiter as when activated it would not take a shot at all ! ... as suggested by some helpful comments in this thread I think I best try a factory reset before spending time trying anything else.

Last week when attempting swallows skimming water I was not using the focus limiter and got a few in focus shots, but the background was still preferred for the majority of shots.

The AF scanner on the OM1 only works with initial shutter press and it only scans once. The target must be in the focus area during that scan with such a small target. If the OM1 fails to focus initially, it will only begin focusing again when the target happens to move to a distance the same as the last focus distance of the lens at the end of the scan (which is unlikely). If you are using the EVF you will know it fails to focus and you can release and repress the shutter button.

The E-M1.2 (and later E-M1s) have an AF scanner mode 3, which will rescan if the first scan fails, so it may have a somewhat higher success rate for this situation.

Ah that's very interesting, I am wondering if the AF scanner setting on the OM1 was changed by the firmware update. - I found out the hard way that quite a few settings had been altered from original factory pre-sets by the last update. But admit I have never looked at adjusting any scanner or AF options as previously the factory pre-sets have always worked so well for me. The em1-mk2 I always found particularly good.

Later today after my chores I will test my pl100-400 lens on a few other cameras (I keep all my older ones) to see if the slowness to focus is in fact the lens beginning to fail (I do hope not, as although its stiff it is razor sharp).

Thanks once again for all your help.

PS. A quick note to others: If OMD were being crafty - which I think would make commercial sense, - being truthful, how many here on this forum really would notice if the focus on the PL100-400 lens had been slowed just a little, leaving the Olympus lens to be a slightly superior performer in that respect ?

Update: I haven't had the chance to go out shooting again yet for testing, but after spent ages looking for any af scanning options in the OM1 menus - if only to confirm there wasn't any! Sadly other than finding a -5 to +5 scale, with mine set on '0', there were none, well I couldn't find any Unlike the em1-mk2 which does!

Frankly I was astounded.

However can someone please explain what the -5 to +5 scale is for. Thank you.

Can I suggest you say exactly where in the menu that you are referring to?

Without looking yet myself.......are you talking about 'scanning sensitivity' i.e. how sticky on the subject the AF is (slow moving vs erratic subject)?

I'm hoping I have attached an image of the menu.

--
Adrian

Artfotografia for Photography and Art

 

[Box Brownie]

Have you successfully used the OM1 with the dot sight and PL lens to photograph dragonflies in the past?

Hi drj3. Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful comments.

'I am fairly certain I have', I won't say 100% as I frequently take an EM1-Mk2 with me as well.

The dot sight would need to be adjusted very accurately for the distance, since parallax error would be a potential problem at the very close target and limited field of view at 400mm.

Yes I constantly checked the red dot was centred at the distance I was shooting, the dragonfly was patrolling in a fairly regular sweep. Occasionally when the in focus background was close I could see the ghost of a totally out of focus dragonfly slap bang in the middle of the picture. I was shooting at about 300mm to provide a slightly wider field of view and did use the viewfinder a few times. I was pre-focusing fractionally closer than the anticipated subject distance and when the shutter button was pressed saw the focus go through the dragonfly and settle on the background. I've never had that issue in the past with C-af. I couldn't use the focus limiter as when activated it would not take a shot at all ! ... as suggested by some helpful comments in this thread I think I best try a factory reset before spending time trying anything else.

Last week when attempting swallows skimming water I was not using the focus limiter and got a few in focus shots, but the background was still preferred for the majority of shots.

The AF scanner on the OM1 only works with initial shutter press and it only scans once. The target must be in the focus area during that scan with such a small target. If the OM1 fails to focus initially, it will only begin focusing again when the target happens to move to a distance the same as the last focus distance of the lens at the end of the scan (which is unlikely). If you are using the EVF you will know it fails to focus and you can release and repress the shutter button.

The E-M1.2 (and later E-M1s) have an AF scanner mode 3, which will rescan if the first scan fails, so it may have a somewhat higher success rate for this situation.

Ah that's very interesting, I am wondering if the AF scanner setting on the OM1 was changed by the firmware update. - I found out the hard way that quite a few settings had been altered from original factory pre-sets by the last update. But admit I have never looked at adjusting any scanner or AF options as previously the factory pre-sets have always worked so well for me. The em1-mk2 I always found particularly good.

Later today after my chores I will test my pl100-400 lens on a few other cameras (I keep all my older ones) to see if the slowness to focus is in fact the lens beginning to fail (I do hope not, as although its stiff it is razor sharp).

Thanks once again for all your help.

PS. A quick note to others: If OMD were being crafty - which I think would make commercial sense, - being truthful, how many here on this forum really would notice if the focus on the PL100-400 lens had been slowed just a little, leaving the Olympus lens to be a slightly superior performer in that respect ?

Update: I haven't had the chance to go out shooting again yet for testing, but after spent ages looking for any af scanning options in the OM1 menus - if only to confirm there wasn't any! Sadly other than finding a -5 to +5 scale, with mine set on '0', there were none, well I couldn't find any Unlike the em1-mk2 which does!

Frankly I was astounded.

However can someone please explain what the -5 to +5 scale is for. Thank you.

Can I suggest you say exactly where in the menu that you are referring to?

Without looking yet myself.......are you talking about 'scanning sensitivity' i.e. how sticky on the subject the AF is (slow moving vs erratic subject)?

I'm hoping I have attached an image of the menu.

--
Adrian
http://www.artfotografia.co.uk/

Ah! when you said +5 to -5 that threw me

That has IIRC had been present in all the EM1 series and now the OM1

It is AFAIK as I said above about the C-AF "reaction sensitivity" the + end of the scale means highly sensitive e.g. an erratically flying BiF or perhaps a dog running around. The - end is for the likes of a BiF flying against/in a cluttered background and is 'designed'(?) to avoid the AF slipping off of the subject onto the background.

I have found its setting in the EM1 series to be a bit vague in response but IIRC on my OM1 I have still it on 0 (middle setting)

 

[Atho]

Have you successfully used the OM1 with the dot sight and PL lens to photograph dragonflies in the past?

Hi drj3. Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful comments.

'I am fairly certain I have', I won't say 100% as I frequently take an EM1-Mk2 with me as well.

The dot sight would need to be adjusted very accurately for the distance, since parallax error would be a potential problem at the very close target and limited field of view at 400mm.

Yes I constantly checked the red dot was centred at the distance I was shooting, the dragonfly was patrolling in a fairly regular sweep. Occasionally when the in focus background was close I could see the ghost of a totally out of focus dragonfly slap bang in the middle of the picture. I was shooting at about 300mm to provide a slightly wider field of view and did use the viewfinder a few times. I was pre-focusing fractionally closer than the anticipated subject distance and when the shutter button was pressed saw the focus go through the dragonfly and settle on the background. I've never had that issue in the past with C-af. I couldn't use the focus limiter as when activated it would not take a shot at all ! ... as suggested by some helpful comments in this thread I think I best try a factory reset before spending time trying anything else.

Last week when attempting swallows skimming water I was not using the focus limiter and got a few in focus shots, but the background was still preferred for the majority of shots.

The AF scanner on the OM1 only works with initial shutter press and it only scans once. The target must be in the focus area during that scan with such a small target. If the OM1 fails to focus initially, it will only begin focusing again when the target happens to move to a distance the same as the last focus distance of the lens at the end of the scan (which is unlikely). If you are using the EVF you will know it fails to focus and you can release and repress the shutter button.

The E-M1.2 (and later E-M1s) have an AF scanner mode 3, which will rescan if the first scan fails, so it may have a somewhat higher success rate for this situation.

Ah that's very interesting, I am wondering if the AF scanner setting on the OM1 was changed by the firmware update. - I found out the hard way that quite a few settings had been altered from original factory pre-sets by the last update. But admit I have never looked at adjusting any scanner or AF options as previously the factory pre-sets have always worked so well for me. The em1-mk2 I always found particularly good.

Later today after my chores I will test my pl100-400 lens on a few other cameras (I keep all my older ones) to see if the slowness to focus is in fact the lens beginning to fail (I do hope not, as although its stiff it is razor sharp).

Thanks once again for all your help.

PS. A quick note to others: If OMD were being crafty - which I think would make commercial sense, - being truthful, how many here on this forum really would notice if the focus on the PL100-400 lens had been slowed just a little, leaving the Olympus lens to be a slightly superior performer in that respect ?

Update: I haven't had the chance to go out shooting again yet for testing, but after spent ages looking for any af scanning options in the OM1 menus - if only to confirm there wasn't any! Sadly other than finding a -5 to +5 scale, with mine set on '0', there were none, well I couldn't find any Unlike the em1-mk2 which does!

Frankly I was astounded.

However can someone please explain what the -5 to +5 scale is for. Thank you.

Can I suggest you say exactly where in the menu that you are referring to?

Without looking yet myself.......are you talking about 'scanning sensitivity' i.e. how sticky on the subject the AF is (slow moving vs erratic subject)?

I'm hoping I have attached an image of the menu.

Ah! when you said +5 to -5 that threw me

That has IIRC had been present in all the EM1 series and now the OM1

It is AFAIK as I said above about the C-AF "reaction sensitivity" the + end of the scale means highly sensitive e.g. an erratically flying BiF or perhaps a dog running around.

Or an erratically flying odonate! My setting is +2 based upon Matthieu Gasquet’s (mirror lessons) recommendation.

The - end is for the likes of a BiF flying against/in a cluttered background and is 'designed'(?) to avoid the AF slipping off of the subject onto the background.

I have found its setting in the EM1 series to be a bit vague in response but IIRC on my OM1 I have still it on 0 (middle setting)

May I also say that 5fps (imo) seems a bit hopeful when shooting dragonflies.

Here is a flycatcher in consecutive shots (at 20 fps). I’m sure you’ll agree that despite the higher frame rate many steps between the 2 poses were missed but perhaps this is down to the SD card and not the camera/lens combo. Shutter speed was 1/6400.

Just wondering if you’ve tried turning the ibis off?

--
the whole is something besides the parts

 

[drj3]

Have you successfully used the OM1 with the dot sight and PL lens to photograph dragonflies in the past?

Hi drj3. Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful comments.

'I am fairly certain I have', I won't say 100% as I frequently take an EM1-Mk2 with me as well.

The dot sight would need to be adjusted very accurately for the distance, since parallax error would be a potential problem at the very close target and limited field of view at 400mm.

Yes I constantly checked the red dot was centred at the distance I was shooting, the dragonfly was patrolling in a fairly regular sweep. Occasionally when the in focus background was close I could see the ghost of a totally out of focus dragonfly slap bang in the middle of the picture. I was shooting at about 300mm to provide a slightly wider field of view and did use the viewfinder a few times. I was pre-focusing fractionally closer than the anticipated subject distance and when the shutter button was pressed saw the focus go through the dragonfly and settle on the background. I've never had that issue in the past with C-af. I couldn't use the focus limiter as when activated it would not take a shot at all ! ... as suggested by some helpful comments in this thread I think I best try a factory reset before spending time trying anything else.

Last week when attempting swallows skimming water I was not using the focus limiter and got a few in focus shots, but the background was still preferred for the majority of shots.

The AF scanner on the OM1 only works with initial shutter press and it only scans once. The target must be in the focus area during that scan with such a small target. If the OM1 fails to focus initially, it will only begin focusing again when the target happens to move to a distance the same as the last focus distance of the lens at the end of the scan (which is unlikely). If you are using the EVF you will know it fails to focus and you can release and repress the shutter button.

The E-M1.2 (and later E-M1s) have an AF scanner mode 3, which will rescan if the first scan fails, so it may have a somewhat higher success rate for this situation.

Ah that's very interesting, I am wondering if the AF scanner setting on the OM1 was changed by the firmware update. - I found out the hard way that quite a few settings had been altered from original factory pre-sets by the last update. But admit I have never looked at adjusting any scanner or AF options as previously the factory pre-sets have always worked so well for me. The em1-mk2 I always found particularly good.

Later today after my chores I will test my pl100-400 lens on a few other cameras (I keep all my older ones) to see if the slowness to focus is in fact the lens beginning to fail (I do hope not, as although its stiff it is razor sharp).

Thanks once again for all your help.

PS. A quick note to others: If OMD were being crafty - which I think would make commercial sense, - being truthful, how many here on this forum really would notice if the focus on the PL100-400 lens had been slowed just a little, leaving the Olympus lens to be a slightly superior performer in that respect ?

Update: I haven't had the chance to go out shooting again yet for testing, but after spent ages looking for any af scanning options in the OM1 menus - if only to confirm there wasn't any! Sadly other than finding a -5 to +5 scale, with mine set on '0', there were none, well I couldn't find any Unlike the em1-mk2 which does!

Frankly I was astounded.

However can someone please explain what the -5 to +5 scale is for. Thank you.

Can I suggest you say exactly where in the menu that you are referring to?

Without looking yet myself.......are you talking about 'scanning sensitivity' i.e. how sticky on the subject the AF is (slow moving vs erratic subject)?

I'm hoping I have attached an image of the menu.

Ah! when you said +5 to -5 that threw me

That has IIRC had been present in all the EM1 series and now the OM1

It is AFAIK as I said above about the C-AF "reaction sensitivity" the + end of the scale means highly sensitive e.g. an erratically flying BiF or perhaps a dog running around. The - end is for the likes of a BiF flying against/in a cluttered background and is 'designed'(?) to avoid the AF slipping off of the subject onto the background.

I have found its setting in the EM1 series to be a bit vague in response but IIRC on my OM1 I have still it on 0 (middle setting)

There was a publication after the release of the E-M1.1 which indicated that the AF Sensitivity setting was simply a hold time before allowing any large changes in focus. The camera appeared to delay large changes in focus distance rather than make a large focus change. The same thing appears to be true of the later E-M1s and the OM1.

It is easy to see this difference if you compare AF Sensitivity settings of -2 and +2. Focus on a more distant target and while half holding the shutter button, quickly move the camera to a much closer target. With a +2 setting, the change in focus appears to be primarily a function of lens focus speed. With a - 2 setting the camera will change focus distances by small amounts until it focuses correctly on the closer target. If you are shooting at a high frame rate, you will see incremental small changes in focus distance (EXIF focus steps) as the camera focuses at the closer distance.

Either setting will focus quickly for small changes in distance of the target.

--
drj3

 

[Box Brownie]

Have you successfully used the OM1 with the dot sight and PL lens to photograph dragonflies in the past?

Hi drj3. Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful comments.

'I am fairly certain I have', I won't say 100% as I frequently take an EM1-Mk2 with me as well.

The dot sight would need to be adjusted very accurately for the distance, since parallax error would be a potential problem at the very close target and limited field of view at 400mm.

Yes I constantly checked the red dot was centred at the distance I was shooting, the dragonfly was patrolling in a fairly regular sweep. Occasionally when the in focus background was close I could see the ghost of a totally out of focus dragonfly slap bang in the middle of the picture. I was shooting at about 300mm to provide a slightly wider field of view and did use the viewfinder a few times. I was pre-focusing fractionally closer than the anticipated subject distance and when the shutter button was pressed saw the focus go through the dragonfly and settle on the background. I've never had that issue in the past with C-af. I couldn't use the focus limiter as when activated it would not take a shot at all ! ... as suggested by some helpful comments in this thread I think I best try a factory reset before spending time trying anything else.

Last week when attempting swallows skimming water I was not using the focus limiter and got a few in focus shots, but the background was still preferred for the majority of shots.

The AF scanner on the OM1 only works with initial shutter press and it only scans once. The target must be in the focus area during that scan with such a small target. If the OM1 fails to focus initially, it will only begin focusing again when the target happens to move to a distance the same as the last focus distance of the lens at the end of the scan (which is unlikely). If you are using the EVF you will know it fails to focus and you can release and repress the shutter button.

The E-M1.2 (and later E-M1s) have an AF scanner mode 3, which will rescan if the first scan fails, so it may have a somewhat higher success rate for this situation.

Ah that's very interesting, I am wondering if the AF scanner setting on the OM1 was changed by the firmware update. - I found out the hard way that quite a few settings had been altered from original factory pre-sets by the last update. But admit I have never looked at adjusting any scanner or AF options as previously the factory pre-sets have always worked so well for me. The em1-mk2 I always found particularly good.

Later today after my chores I will test my pl100-400 lens on a few other cameras (I keep all my older ones) to see if the slowness to focus is in fact the lens beginning to fail (I do hope not, as although its stiff it is razor sharp).

Thanks once again for all your help.

PS. A quick note to others: If OMD were being crafty - which I think would make commercial sense, - being truthful, how many here on this forum really would notice if the focus on the PL100-400 lens had been slowed just a little, leaving the Olympus lens to be a slightly superior performer in that respect ?

Update: I haven't had the chance to go out shooting again yet for testing, but after spent ages looking for any af scanning options in the OM1 menus - if only to confirm there wasn't any! Sadly other than finding a -5 to +5 scale, with mine set on '0', there were none, well I couldn't find any Unlike the em1-mk2 which does!

Frankly I was astounded.

However can someone please explain what the -5 to +5 scale is for. Thank you.

Can I suggest you say exactly where in the menu that you are referring to?

Without looking yet myself.......are you talking about 'scanning sensitivity' i.e. how sticky on the subject the AF is (slow moving vs erratic subject)?

I'm hoping I have attached an image of the menu.

Ah! when you said +5 to -5 that threw me

That has IIRC had been present in all the EM1 series and now the OM1

It is AFAIK as I said above about the C-AF "reaction sensitivity" the + end of the scale means highly sensitive e.g. an erratically flying BiF or perhaps a dog running around.

Or an erratically flying odonate! My setting is +2 based upon Matthieu Gasquet’s (mirror lessons) recommendation.

The - end is for the likes of a BiF flying against/in a cluttered background and is 'designed'(?) to avoid the AF slipping off of the subject onto the background.

I have found its setting in the EM1 series to be a bit vague in response but IIRC on my OM1 I have still it on 0 (middle setting)

May I also say that 5fps (imo) seems a bit hopeful when shooting dragonflies.

Here is a flycatcher in consecutive shots (at 20 fps). I’m sure you’ll agree that despite the higher frame rate many steps between the 2 poses were missed but perhaps this is down to the SD card and not the camera/lens combo. Shutter speed was 1/6400.

Just wondering if you’ve tried turning the ibis off?

I missed the 5fps

I wonder why such a low burst rate was chosen???

IIRC I have never gone below 10fps (more often than not in excess of that) for any subject that is in or anticipated about to going into motion/take flight

 

[Atho]

I wonder why such a low burst rate was chosen???

IIRC I have never gone below 10fps (more often than not in excess of that) for any subject that is in or anticipated about to going into motion/take flight

5 fps could well account for the failure on its own (imo). I tend toward the maximum of the low settings as the thought of wading through 50 frames + per shutter release fills me with dread.

 

[Brandon birder]

I would like to hear peoples opinions and concerns on a dreadfully bad shooting experience I had today and also on one of my fears regarding what might be the cause:

I spent over 30 minutes today sat comfortably trying to photograph a nice big dragonfly which was patrolling up and down in front of me. My kit was and OM1 camera, a Panasonic PL100-400 pro lens and a the Olympus Red Dot sight - I obviously could not fail. I took many hundreds of photos (and attempted hundreds more) but not a single shot had the dragonfly in it. Oh and the red dot sight was correctly aligned.

The camera simply refused to focus on the dragonfly. In fact it just loved the background. When I set the focus limiter to ignore the background the OM1 wouldn't even take a shot. Yes I had the camera set to do not take a photo unless the focus has locked on. I tried large focus areas and small, plus focus limiter on and off.
I was mainly using manual mode at f6.3, with shutter speed 1/2500, floating ISO, EV Compensation at -1/3. C-AF, electronic shutter in burst mode (probably at 5fps).

When I tried pre setting the focus at approximate target distance it made no difference and still failed to detect the target - which was not small in the frame, in fact it would have been filling 1/2 of the frame. I even tried Bird detection on - which has worked well before. Then worryingly I noticed how slow the PL100-400 was focusing on even static subjects.

This got me thinking. Originally a year or so ago, the OM1 fitted with the PL100-400 was focusing seriously fast. Could something somewhere be failing in either the lens or the camera?
...or has one of the firmware updates purposely slowed this fabulous panasonic competitor to the Olympus 100-400 lens?
It would certainly be a very clever way to force everyone to buy the Olympus version of this lens (which I am loathe to do as it is bigger and heavier, plus my PL100-400 is so sharp).

1. Has anyone else had concerns that their OM1/PL100-400 combo not performing as they would expect it should?
2. Does anyone think that it is possible that OMD could have released a firmware update to scupper a competitor?

I shall do some more testing tomorrow using my older EM1-Mk2 (as that always focused very fast), do some focusing speed comparisons.

Sorry to hear that Adrian.

I'm on FW 1.3 still and very happy with the speed of acquisition and focus of the PL 100-400.

Still loath to update firmware as everything is workin so well.

--
Cheers, Brandon.
Olympus OM1, EM10 mII, Sony RX10 M4, RX100 M7
Nikon V1,V3, D500, D810
FlickR Photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandon_birder/

 

[S Jones]

"and all with centre priority."

I would try with centre priority turned off. Unless the dragonfly is in the centre the background always will be and the camera will focus on that.

Good Luck.

Stephen

 

[Adrian Harris]

Thanks everyone for all the wonderful suggestions.

I probably won't get the opportunity to try out all the suggestions until the weekend, but am looking forward to experimenting.

Why I am so frustrated is because when I first acquired the OM1 - an early one and on the original factory software, - it was a very impressive performer. Eventually I was forced to upgrade the software because there was a bug in the original which was preventing something I needed from working (I think it was flash related).

Unlike others other than curing the bug, I noticed no other improvements. However I did notice some things were NOT work well. Digging deep revealed the firmware had modified some settings which I needed to reset.

I'm no youngster (72) so I normally suspect any errors are me and the kit .

However my reactions are still really good, yet my success rate capturing difficult small birds and insect in flight suddenly got worse by an order of magnitude, starting after the firmware update.

To me that seems very strange!

 

[Adrian Harris]

I would like to hear peoples opinions and concerns on a dreadfully bad shooting experience I had today and also on one of my fears regarding what might be the cause:

I spent over 30 minutes today sat comfortably trying to photograph a nice big dragonfly which was patrolling up and down in front of me. My kit was and OM1 camera, a Panasonic PL100-400 pro lens and a the Olympus Red Dot sight - I obviously could not fail. I took many hundreds of photos (and attempted hundreds more) but not a single shot had the dragonfly in it. Oh and the red dot sight was correctly aligned.

The camera simply refused to focus on the dragonfly. In fact it just loved the background. When I set the focus limiter to ignore the background the OM1 wouldn't even take a shot. Yes I had the camera set to do not take a photo unless the focus has locked on. I tried large focus areas and small, plus focus limiter on and off.
I was mainly using manual mode at f6.3, with shutter speed 1/2500, floating ISO, EV Compensation at -1/3. C-AF, electronic shutter in burst mode (probably at 5fps).

When I tried pre setting the focus at approximate target distance it made no difference and still failed to detect the target - which was not small in the frame, in fact it would have been filling 1/2 of the frame. I even tried Bird detection on - which has worked well before. Then worryingly I noticed how slow the PL100-400 was focusing on even static subjects.

This got me thinking. Originally a year or so ago, the OM1 fitted with the PL100-400 was focusing seriously fast. Could something somewhere be failing in either the lens or the camera?
...or has one of the firmware updates purposely slowed this fabulous panasonic competitor to the Olympus 100-400 lens?
It would certainly be a very clever way to force everyone to buy the Olympus version of this lens (which I am loathe to do as it is bigger and heavier, plus my PL100-400 is so sharp).

1. Has anyone else had concerns that their OM1/PL100-400 combo not performing as they would expect it should?
2. Does anyone think that it is possible that OMD could have released a firmware update to scupper a competitor?

I shall do some more testing tomorrow using my older EM1-Mk2 (as that always focused very fast), do some focusing speed comparisons.

Sorry to hear that Adrian.

I'm on FW 1.3 still and very happy with the speed of acquisition and focus of the PL 100-400.

Still loath to update firmware as everything is workin so well.

Very wise. I only updated because a firmware bug was preventing something I needed (I think flash related) working.

 

[Tom Caldwell]

Red dot sight, manual pre-focus, shutter fires when not in focus?