alexisgreat wrote:
[Guy] The E-PL6 of course will have Levels added to the Live View choices.
Thanks I think I set it up right. I dont see the Levels lines but I think that's because I have the "zebra stripes" turned on in Live View? Can those and Levels not be used at the same time in Live View?
True, you need to cycle the display with the Info button, page 23 of the manual.....
And in Custom Menu D you get to set the displays that can be cycled in Info Settings, as per my E-P5 menu page at http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~parsog/olyepl1/56-ep5-custom-menus.html#d
edit- I have all the options you mentioned EXCEPT the Levels option. It's not in my menu system- no wonder I couldn't find it!
It has to be in Custom Menu D as an option for Live View.
I set upper 255 and lower 0 as that gives a sensible indication of highlight blowouts in the jpeg that usually are not blown out in the raw file. It depends on jpeg settings, I use Natural with Sharpness, Contrast and Saturation all at -1. But use the raws anyway.
Thanks I did exactly the same thing, however I left Saturation at 0, everything else is -1. What is this keep WB "warm" setting in WB Auto? I was thinking of setting that to Normal because maybe setting it to warm will have more noise or false color at higher ISO? I kept NF on Low.
Most people turn Keep Warm off as I think it was intended for situations where incandescent lights were used and to keep the yellow instead of trying to bend it to daylight. It seems to have other effects on white balance so maybe best kept off.
Again I can't handle any Noise Filter so I leave it off, but then I use DxO for the raw files and then can fine tune the noise reduction as I like. If using Olympus Viewer 3 it also automatically applies some sharpening and noise filtering even if you tell it not to.
The Exmor 16MP sensor does have some noise reduction built in so some noise is removed even before the raw file is created.
Thanks, is this [dust catching] sticky strip something that needs to be replaced?
For pro use with many thousands of clicks per year an annual service is advised and the strips get replaced then, otherwise the average amateur user could go 5 to 10 years before it needed fixing. Usually the camera is well obsolete by then so it doesn't matter. I've never had the strips replaced and I've never had any dust issues at all in years of 4/3 and M4/3.
Yes, I think our cameras are much less prone to dust than larger DSLR. I live near the beach and never had a dust issue either- and none of my bodies are weatherproof.
I've looked through other people's DSLRs and have been disgusted by the obvious giant chunks of dust I see in the review of the image, when I point it out to them they hardly seem concerned. I guess they must be only uploading to Farcebook where quality is the last thing on their tiny minds.
If the default is set to Custom Menu A - Reset Lens = On makes the lens reset to infinity at turn off. But we all know that is often not truly infinity so fine tuning needs to be done. I don't do night sky shots so I suspect that trying to get a very distant streetlight (or the moon when available) in focus would be close enough to infinity, especially at the widest angle.
Thanks, I have that setting, but just to be sure I'm going to do the streetlight method. My shots came out a bit blurry last night, so maybe it's because the IS isn't great
The 2 axis IBIS adds a tiny amount of blur, best left off as much as possible and definitely off when on tripod or telescope.
(aren't small bodies more prone to camera shake- is the IS on this camera good for 2 stops, or more like 1?) or it could be a focus issue.
In everyday hand-held use I reliably get 3 stops with the 2 axis IBIS or with Mega OIS lenses. But again, I only turn it on when proven to be needed, it works better without it.
Although the camera said it locked focus and yet it was still blurry.
You need to try Manual Focus and see what can be achieved.
Shutter speed was set to 2 sec, focal length was 14mm. Focus mode was S-AF+MF. I didn't try the streetlight thing though I'll try that tonight, I hope the focus mode I am using is the right one. I also set Anti Shock to 1/8 sec, not sure if this is right, but there is no 0 sec option.
The 1/8 second anti-shock does seem to help a bit, but there is truly no substitute for 0 second anti-shock or a fully electronic shutter. It is very lens and shutter speed dependent with around 1/60 to 1/125 about the worst speeds, above 1/320 then there's no problem and for very long times like 1 or 2 seconds there's no problem as the shock lasts only a tiny proportion of the exposure in that case.
Is there an AE/AF lock button somewhere on this camera?
Use the setup as seen on page 80 of the manual....... (all manuals from http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/support/imsg/digicamera/download/manual/pen.cfm#body )
Alright I see I need to update the firmware! Is this something I can download to the memory card and let the camera update it internally
No, not possible.
or do I need to connect the camera to my computer via the included USB cord? Thanks for all the help, Guy!
Make sure that the battery is freshly charged, connect via the special USB cable (never lose that cable) and follow the instructions http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/support/imsg/digicamera/download/software/camera/cameraupdate.cfm
The camera must be in Storage mode and press OK to enable that.
Start Olympus Viewer 3 and select camera update. OV3 found at http://support.olympus-imaging.com/ov3download/ (use '123456789' as a serial number for the download, it works).
The battery is labeled April 2015, I take it this means my camera was "made" around then? That explains why it has Firmware 1.1, as 1.2 wasn't released until June. I hope the battery sitting around this long without being charged didn't lessen its overall lifetime of 500 charge cycles. It was sitting uncharged for 9 months.
Batteries can sit around for many years in a partial charge state, the recommendation is to store them at 40% charge, charge fully again after one year, then discharge to 40% and store again, repeat again in one year.
So I guess the battery makers would leave them at something like 40% when they ship them.
Batteries and bodies may have come together at different times, it depends on how they store stock and at what point they pack them into whatever kits. The only way to get an idea of body date is to find the motherboard date, that is shown on John Foster's page down near the bottom in Section Two http://www.biofos.com/cornucop/hidden.html
I've found most of the settings I asked you about, except I tried touching the left part of the LCD where the touch screen settings are supposed to be and that doesn't do anything.
Oh yes, Custom Menu J - Touch Screen Settings must be On, then...
On page 22 of the manual.......
Item 33 is where you touch to cycle the setting.
If set to touch AF then you can drag the point around almost all the screen, hold OK and the box centres, press OK or hold the Magnify button and it reverts to regular shutter button AF.
Change the LCD touch AF box size by the vertical slider on the right of the screen, I get from 5x to 14x box size on my E-PL5.
That LCD touch screen AF is a different AF system to the regular shutter button AF where it could be set to multiple points. If an AF point is selected via the LCD then the shutter button will use that point for AF, until reset via turn off, or press OK or hold Magnify button.
I also haven't been able to see the levels axes but that might be because I have the "zebra stripes" turned on in Live View? Aside from that I think I have everything else.
Only one thing at a time, it cannot walk and chew gum at the same time.
Latest bodies are actually managing to be able to do that trick.
In my case with E-PL5 I set the jpeg to 16:9 so the live view details are as large as possible on the LCD, then shoot raw+jpeg so I can recover the 4:3 or 3:2 as needed from the raw file. Framing involved a little guessing re top and bottom edges but the 16:9 display was way better to look at than the small 4:3 display.
Regards..... Guy
