Pen F autofocus vs. OM-D E-M1 (either version)

yellodog wrote:

ABitGrainy wrote:

As a recent upgrader from an older E-PL model to the PEN, I thought it might be worth registering and bringing up my recent focussing woes here, in case others are having the same problem.

90% of my shots are done in A mode with centre point focussing (reframing as needed). I’m an amateur, a left eye shooter, and I mainly use the viewfinder.

I tried to set up the PEN's A mode as for my earlier cameras. Hideous focus mayhem ensued. Sometimes good, usually bad. Thing was, that danged focus rectangle kept moving. The camera would wake up with it in the wrong place too. So I had to keep diving in and reset to centre point focus. In the middle of picture-taking.

Now I may be a little slow on the uptake, but after a few weeks I realised that my nose was pressing onto the live touchscreen and resetting the focus position! Don’t ask me to describe the nose motions needed to confirm this.

So, I hunted deep into the menus to turn off focal positioning by touch. Oh joy! Photos could now be taken as expected with centre point focussing.

Except that, from time to time, focussing mayhem would recur, with the focal point wandering about and I had to again dive in the menus and reset to centre point.

More weeks passed. And then I eventually realised that there was a live touchscreen icon to lower left that can switch touchy focus point adjustment on and off. Could this be the culprit? It was! Don’t ask me to describe the nose motions needed to confirm this.

I am now the proud owner of a PEN-F that is taking the sort of pictures that I hoped it was capable of. I have, though, paid for a sophisticated touch screen that is permanently turned off and therefore utterly useless.

Why not practice using the touch screen as it was intended to be used? With your eye to the vf you can move the focus point with your thumb, no need to focus in the centre and then recompose. That fraction of a second might save a shot for you.

The E-M1 has a central and more rearly-protruding eyepiece and, therefore, depending on the enormity - and the subtended angle - of one’s nose, most E-M1 shooters are less likely but perhaps not immune from having the same nasal focussing action that I unwittingly experienced. Ditto E-M10. If any readers are having weird focussing issues, maybe check what your proboscis is getting up to when you are not paying attention?

As a left eye shooter, I can relate to the “nose focusing” dilemma experienced by Grainy. Right eye shooters will not experience this, but of course their noses are now exposed to oncoming traffic, and do not benefit from the protection of the strong Pen F body.