EM1 continous AF and tracking

Andrew Ellis wrote:

Hi all, quick question please.

I've never used the EM1 before for anything other than single point AF. But we have just bought a new puppy to fill the hole in our lives left by the passing of our beloved cocker spaniel "Jake" a few weeks ago, and I want to document "Charlie's" life in photos and video.

With the advent of the Olympus Firmware V3 (which I have), one of the improvements was CAF and tracking, however there were also mixed comments about needed to have the correct frame rates (Continuous high vs medium), and Tracking vs non tracking etc. and it all got a bit confusing.

The question is then basically for an unpredictable Puppy, what's the best camera settings for CAF modes, drive modes, tracking etc. from all you experts that have already figured this out ?

Whilst I know that the Olympus will not be as good as the best DSLR set ups, if I can get a 50% keeper rate, I'd be happy with that. I will be mainly using either the 12-40 F2.8 Pro or the 40-150 F2.8 Pro.

Thanks.

Hi Andrew, I feel with you having lost your long-term comrade. It always is an oh so painful experience to let them go. 
But I hope the need to care for your puppy will help you to cope with it.
Anyway, now to shooting you dog in action. Other than all the others here, I wouldn't recommend usuing burst rate H, as it doesn't give you live view and you haven't got experience in shooting action or the EE-1 Dot sight. So, you probably quickly will lose track of it.
So, I recommend using burst mode L with 4 or five FPS - depending on how your eyes can cope with the blackout periods and the nine-field block. 
Disabling the IS and the EVF IS will accelerate the acquiring of focus but for a puppy, you arguably won't have to do so.
And forget the tracking, it's useless for anything but panning at not too high speeds.