EM1 continous AF and tracking

Paul Amyes wrote:

DonParrot wrote:

Paul Amyes wrote:

SkiHound wrote:

You should have been using High burst. With m43 lenses I believe the system only uses the PDAF focusing system in H sequential.

I tried both and even contacted Olympus for advice. They are actually very coy about saying when the camera switches over from contrast based to phase detection AF. So coy that they would not give a straight answer just "depends" and I got no answer to "Depends upon what exactly?". I don't wish to slag them off as the EM1 is a nice product but I wish they weren't so obtuse on the AF issue. If they wish more professionals to use the system then they should say straight up how it is implemented. Sony took a lot of grief over the AF in the A7R and quite rightly so it was absolutely appalling, but they have redressed a lot of the issues with the mk ii and the 399 point phase detection system is pretty impressive. It would be nice if Olympus could implement something similar that just works straight out of the box.

Well, as I said there are µFT cameras that C-AF out of the box - the DFD AF equippped Panny cameras. And they C-AF really alright, giving you a lot of keepers. If you want the maximum result, however, you have to learn to adapt the E-M1 to your likings and your shooting to the E-M1. Have you ever read the chapter im the 7D manual on the use and optimisation of the C-AF system? Compared to that, optimising the E-M1 is a walk in the park. And someone like you who has been shooting sports for decades should be aware that new tools need a new approach.
If the E-M1 soesn't suit your kind of shooting - fine.
If you couldn't adjust it to meet your needs - fine.
If you just don't like it - fine.
But claiming that it can't do what it can do - as it has been provem thousands of times by pictures and long bursts of fast moving subjects - is just a bit, well, inappropriate. You as a long-term action shooter should know better.

Oh I see! No cricism of the camera allowed.

Criticism is always only talking about positive and well done things and using those to tell what can be done differently to improve the weak areas.

Criticism isn't about being negative or bashing etc.

As I said I tested the thing, got nowhere, contacted Olympus here in Oz and got nowhere. No I've never used the 7d but the zone and mode focusing system on the 5d iii is similar and it was easy to set up thanks to the instructions and it did just what it says on the tin. There was no such help in the manual for the EM1, Oly support couldn't help me because they didn't really know.

Sure not, as firmware 3.0 was the one that added the PDAF-only focusing that improved the focusing. Before that firmware you could only use sequential L to get C-AF and you were limited to 6.5fps and camera used so called hybrid mode where PDAF was used to guide focus system the direction where to go, and CDAF was used to focus to end when using m4/3 objectices. Firmware 3.0 changed that by supporting C-AF in sequential H mode, offering 9fps and only PDAF is used in the PDAF when PDAF covered AF points are used (visible on screen when taking images) and otherwise if using AF point outside the AF system uses CDAF in normal mode (but not in hybrid mode).

And like with many corporations, support personnel, sales personnel and even education personnel doesn't know everything or even many things as after all they are just humans.

For me a camera is not a play thing, I earn money with them, if they are not reliable, easy to operate or have good support they don't stay in the tool chest. Simple. If that upsets your fanboy sensibilities then so be it.

Same to me, if I can't make he sum (that you would know, would change your opinion) per year, the gear is useless. And 7D doesn't offer the whole package and the critical situation reliability like E-M1 (especially since fw3.0) it was gone. Yet I gladly let others use what they want to use, as I can only perform easily better when competitor is suffering from using a tool that doesn't provide same capability.

So as You got upset from simply someone pointing that You had wrong settings and likely had wrong firmware, it is just your experience, but when others manage to use E-M1 to perform better than Canon 7D Mk2 (or Mk1) with more challenging situations, it doesn't really matter what do You think as your negative attitude to everything is just that. We can all be negative as much we want and we should be...