Holding the E-PL6

Guy Parsons wrote:

pterosonus wrote:

I had the EPL-6 and the stock grip is more uncomfortable than no grip at all. You need to buy the large grip MCG-2. It makes a world of difference. You can usually find one for $20 or less.

Thanks I haven't even used the stock grip but would love a better one. Does the MCG-2 attach to the same place as the stock grip?

With same body E-PL5 I did fit the MCG-2 but I found it to be of no real benefit. But that's just me. I have one E-PL5 with standard grip and one with the MCG-2 and it does not make any difference to me which one I pick up with whatever lens. None of the Pens are as good as the E-PL1 grip, that was the sensible one.

In my case always a wrist strap, and basically hold the lens plus camera with the left hand, that takes most of the weight, then the right hand has only a light hold no matter what lens, small or big.

With normal stance hand holding at 14mm and 2 axis IBIS I would not expect any good results below about 1/3 second, extra bracing with elbows on a solid rest would maybe extend that down to nearly 1 second with extreme luck.

Don't forget that you are now using 16MP and any little error shows up more readily, lower MP counts on older cameras are more forgiving of shake and shock problems.

Regards........ Guy

Good point, I had forgotten about that, one of the drawbacks of a higher MP sensor!  Was the E-PL1 grip detachable and if so can it be used on the E-PL5/6?

Guy, where do you get the wrist strap?  Do you attach it to the little loop things on the side of the camera?  I'm trying to picture how you hold the camera, basically you have the left hand under the body and lens (near the base of the camera where the tripod socket is).  This is good as your hand is probably dampening some of the image shake!

I have gotten a *few* good ones down to 2 seconds, but it's really difficult....basically I have the entire length of my arms braced against a flat surface- to keep movement as low as possible.

I'm using shutter priority mode to try and stay out of the 1/80 sec - 1/320 sec shutter speed zone I was told to avoid (because of shutter shock.)  I would use full manual but full manual has no exposure compensation that I'm aware of.  So basically, if you use AUTO ISO in full manual mode you lose the ability to "push" or "pull" the exposure since the camera sets the ISO to balance out whatever shutter speed and aperture settings you choose (as long as it's within its range) to 0.0  But I want to do a +1.3 stop EC for my night time shots.  In shutter priority, as long as maximum aperture is being used, applying EC will push the ISO (which is what I want it to do- it functions as an easy way to control the ISO without having to delve into menus.)  BTW Guy, I'm really glad you told me about the Mode 2 settings, my out of focus starfield shots are no longer out of focus because I shutter half press and focus on a distance street lamp then move and recompose on the starfield and the stars look in focus now.  But, with Mode 1, with the shutter half press it locks both focus and exposure and I just want to lock focus and not let the camera meter until I've recomposed the shot!  So that's Mode 2.  Come to think of it, can I program the AEL button to AF lock only so I dont even have to do the shutter half press and recompose thing after every shot- because I can lock focus to infinity for my entire shot sequence!  Also, if I set one of the function buttons to EC and press it in manual mode, what will it do?  Also, is there a way to program the function buttons to change aperture and/or shutter speed so I dont have to use the rear dial to do that?  Thanks!