Cafe Racer
Veteran Member
Same goes for the G80. I don't recall ever having an out of focus first shot, although I don't shoot animals and I rarely use a telephoto lens.
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EM1 2 poor results.
- Thread starter Richandhiscat
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Messier Object
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What’s happening ?
The E-M1 II is showing you that it prefers high contrast subjects with lines and hard edges to low contrast soft and fluffy subjects, and if it decides that something in the foreground or background close to the AF Target Point is a better target in that respect it will lock focus on it.
I suspect that it’s the PDAF operation that’s doing this as the behaviour is much worse when using the Olympus 4/3 lenses and the MMF adapter - with the 4/3 lenses the camera uses only PDAF as most of the 4/3 lenses won’t work with CDAF.
It was reported by some here that this behaviour improved with ver 2.0 firmware, but with the 4/3 lenses I saw no improvement.
IMO, suggestions in this thread that you have a bad lens, the wrong technique, heat haze or other issue external to the camera are incorrect.
This is how the E-M1 II behaves. Being able to precisely pick out your target can be difficult under certain circumstances. A soft fluffy rabbit in grass or in bracken etc looks to be one of those circumstances.
This would be one of those times when a I wish one of the noted Olympus Visionaries or published/awarded wildlife photographers would step into a thread and tell us all what’s going on with the camera and how to best use it.
Peter
Sergey Borachev
Veteran Member
I think there is something there in soft fluffy subjects. No hard lines, reflective or lit surface, like shiny helmets.
I suggest. Olympus should have a Rabbit mode.
JaKing
Veteran Member
Just tried my E-M1 MkII + 12-100 on Rosa's fluffy tummy fur in bright sunlight. Small centre focus point. Instant lock.
007peter
Forum Pro
Why should anyone here be surprised? M43 forum is overwhelmingly biases toward Olympus (hiding & removing thread of any criticism) while Panasonic camera goes under appreciated.
The simplest explanation is that a newer (2018) Panasonic G9 simply focus faster and more reliably than an older (2016) Olympus Em1. II, yet it cost only $1200
Take a look @your experience.
The simplest explanation is that a newer (2018) Panasonic G9 simply focus faster and more reliably than an older (2016) Olympus Em1. II, yet it cost only $1200
Take a look @your experience.
- Same Person shooting the camera
- Same Good or Bad Photo Techniqes
- yet producing 2 completely different results
Exactly the same conditions (all photo's are OOC jpgs by the way I shoot raw + jpg)
Kiwisnap
Senior Member
Ground pod and patience.
I shoot rabbits (the other sort of shooting!) with my rifle on support sticks or bipod and that requires just as much quickness...
In these situations it was just a drama. Then I installed the FW updates (which I should have done long before but I was stubborn) and now it works much better than what I see here with the 12-35 and 35-100 Pannyf2.8. For some reason the 100-400 which I bought in august 2016 worked fine all the time....?
Why did you buy an E-M 1.2 when you already have a G9. Seems the G9 s the better cam (?)
Why did you buy an E-M 1.2 when you already have a G9. Seems the G9 s the better cam (?)
This is very true. Until my FW update I remember in 2017 I shot a big event and was asked too. It was a very bright Sunny day and it was 34 C. People wnet to the shae. Sure enough the Oly just neglected the AF box and went for things like the edges of the trees etc. Incredble. I also used my GH4 and it had no such problems at all. After FW and using face AF this is no longer a problem. But it is very strange Oly just neglects the AF box people tells it to use it. Just...unbelievable.
Richandhiscat
Senior Member
No, it doesn't work like that, I've tried it.
The ground is soft (peat), and where you often find the Hares, very undulating (gullies in the peat), you need to have your camera ready all the time, because once the Hare (not rabbit) has an inkling that you're there it is off at great speed.
You travel as light as possible, because you have to be careful where you put your feet, and you are often scrambling in and out of soft sided gullies.
Where you could use a monopod, when you find them resting/asleep, (if you aren't constantly looking down you can sometimes almost tread on them) you don't need it anyway.
And finally, I don't think I've ever seen a photographer out on Bleaklow with either a monopod or tripod.
Richandhiscat
Senior Member
I'm not sure about dual IS with long lens's after this experience, if I keep the camera I will do some experiments. I wish Pany would give us the option to turn it off.
Three reasons:
I no longer used the G80 (great camera, but the G9 is so much better), the GX80 (never really got on with it, then it locked up a couple of times with the 14-140) and the Sony RX100 3 (tend to take the GM1out instead, prefer it because of the touch screen). So I traded them in for a mint used EM1 2 (should have been a 9-18 trade as well but they said it had fungus inside...I can't see it, even with a torch - bit suspicious about that as they quoted quite a high price, and the deal would have only cost £70 with that).
Ironically, I had a slight problem locking on to an otter swimming with the G9 and the 300, which I never had with the 100-400.
Finally, I thought the extra stop or 2 from dual IS would come in useful.
DLBlack
Forum Pro
I have the same issue when it comes to sandhill cranes that are a good distance away. I first assume that it was an issue with the small AF box acquiring focus on something slightly outside its small square. I then stated using the enlarged AF function set at either 10X or 14X and I noticed how much I move the camera especially when pushing the shutter button. The movement is enough to move the small AF box off of the small target. This will mean that the target will not be in focus and something in front or behind will be. I now got really good at looking at the target after half pushing to acquire focus and if it is sharp take the photo, in not sharp refocus(bump focus). Usually the second time the subject will be sharp. I haven't really done it a lot yet but it might be better to go with the regular size AF box for such a small target. Anyhow experiment around and do try the enlarged AF box view set at 14X to see for your self how much movement you have when trying to focus.
Richandhiscat
Senior Member
Yes, you're right, but some of the targets were quite big, and the G9 on such targets doesn't move off (even on the smaller ones), even though with no dual IS there is less stabilization.
I've been going through the pictures again, and I'm quite shocked at how many have nothing in focus - this one is typical:
unadj jpg from raw
DLBlack
Forum Pro
I agree that it is a odd behavior. I have experience that with birds like sandhill cranes and great blue herons where at a certain distance where the subject (bird head in my case) is on the smaller size due to distance of the subject the camera will miss focus and either nothing obvious or something near the target will be in focus. I initially solved this issue by having the enlarge focus function assigned to a button and go to this when needed. I have now gone to rechecking the focus and bump the focus again when it mis-focus. It usually nails it on the bump focus. I guess another work around is to use AF+MF option. I am guessing this behavior has to do with the size of the target, camera movement when acquiring focus and he small AF box. Anyhow when out photographing rabbits again try the enlarge AF option and see if it will help and also see how much movement you have when trying to handhold the camera with the 300mm lens.
sanjaykool
Senior Member
In wild life shooting now or never cases 5 group target gives much consistent and reliable results. If one is not sure of hand holding targeting and aim with single point. Even setting release priority off gives better results. No harm trying these options, - Sanjay
Last edited:
Skeeterbytes
Forum Pro
This is adorable! Did some Olympus users give you a wedgie? Bullies!
Here's where you show your work. Hypothetical photographers wielding hypothetical gear will produce hypothetical photographs. Flickr has banned those recently but you can still overcome that oppression by showing your direct comparison. Not wordy things.
Cheers,
Dad
Richandhiscat
Senior Member
Went out this afternoon and did a few tests :
CAF
SAF
SAF
SAF G9
While the sheep in the G9 pic is a bigger target, the EM1 2 shouldn't have had a problem, instead it's jumped to a dark target, not in the centre of the frame. Strange.
CAF
SAF
SAF
SAF G9
While the sheep in the G9 pic is a bigger target, the EM1 2 shouldn't have had a problem, instead it's jumped to a dark target, not in the centre of the frame. Strange.
DLBlack
Forum Pro
Great to see you gout and experimenting. Did you try the enlarge AF function? Did you try other AF box sizes Like the regular size box or the 5 box pattern. ? Or did you continue using the small AF box. Did you try it with the camera on a tripod. The AF jump you experience could still be from handholding the camera and the slight camera movement moving the small AF box off the subject when you half press the shutter button to acquire focus. Did you check the EVF when you half press the shutter to check to see if the subject is in focus and if not did you try bumping the focus?
boxerman
Senior Member
Correction accepted. Thanks for the demo.
Can I make a few suggestions?
- Don't get upset when someone says something wrong on the internet.
- Don't assume everyone who says something wrong is an idiot and not intent on helping. Have you never mis-remembered something?
- You might further consider the track record of being right vs. saying idiotic things, before you get into "how the heck!" mode.
- I think it's best focusing on how to help the OP, on how a technical issue relates to a problem, rather than on just being right. You could have made the obvious inference about the OP's problem.
-- Boxerman
luigibenet
Forum Enthusiast
I LOCK the Small focus point to center and NOT let the camera choose.
I started doing that several OLY cameras ago when I was shooting Live Theater in Low light with No focus light help (no beep to confirm focus either, just the green square!)
Did that just yesterday when I saw this in my back yard. Actually had to focus on the base of the post he was sitting on. Kept back focusing until I did that. (12-100mm with dual IS on, F8)
I started doing that several OLY cameras ago when I was shooting Live Theater in Low light with No focus light help (no beep to confirm focus either, just the green square!)
Did that just yesterday when I saw this in my back yard. Actually had to focus on the base of the post he was sitting on. Kept back focusing until I did that. (12-100mm with dual IS on, F8)
Richandhiscat
Senior Member
No point, so long as the camera works fine in CAF mode, that'll do for me, I only want it for wildlife. The focus point was on the sheep, no wind, the camera was steady, the subject appeared to be in focus. The shot with the G9 was spot on.
It's the shots where nothing is in focus that puzzle me.
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