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Im just not happy with Om1 single shot af performance

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Ahgre

Ahgre

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I can already see all the posts saying they do not have any issues with their cameras. Also telling me that I do not know how to use the camera or my settings are wrong. I have been using Olympus since E-5 and used various Oly mirrorless cameras over 10yrs. Ive pre ordered om-1 and have used it for good few months so I know what Im doing.

Here is a thing, if you are those birders who just go out with a telephoto lens and shoot burst, you can skip this post.

If you are someone who pair with a small 1.8 lenses and s-af or c-af single shot here and there then continue.

Indoor, outdoor, moving subject, not moving subject, wtv, I get out of focus shots way too often when shooting single shots and now I have a low expectations of the camera. I shoot my family and I get way too much wrong focuses and its really annoying. I do not even use face tracking because it sux (Yes it's a bold thing to say. But Olympus face or people tracking is far behind the competition and for a camera released in 2022 it sux for computation face tracking. Yes it does work and has improved, but not good enough).

I know all the comments will accuse thag I said such a negative feedback to the great om-1 but it is a true feedback and I bought the camera with the expectation that the af has major improvement. Funny thing is yes it did have a major improvement in af, but only for those listed in the computation target list(bird car train etc). Even that, if there is a branch or fence or something that is in front, Oly af do not pin exactly at the eye but points with a cluster of many af points and it focuses on the front subject more then the actual target. Different brands get around this better.

I know I will get every hate comments but really negative feedback is also important to improve on the camera and can help thoseceho have not bought the camera yet.
 
Ahgre said:
Here is a thing, if you are those birders who just go out with a telephoto lens and shoot burst, you can skip this post.
Click to expand...
I am one of those wildlife enthusiasts but I generally agree with your post. The face detection with the OM-1 is marginally better than E-M1.3 so it’s not up to par with the latest Canon or Nikon Z9, Sony A9/A1 level. You need formal subject detection AI to be added in the future.

Although the Z9 is great for professional sports, for fast moving children at close distances (running toddlers for example), it struggles. It makes sense because toddlers move erratically AND you are usually shooting near minimum focus distance where the actual focus throw is greater.

For the OM-1, with kids, you pretty much need to use a sports lens like the 40-150/2.8 and stand back. With the 12-40/2.8 it’s not fast enough and I imagine the f1.2 and f1.8 lenses are even worse. But the Z9 with a Z24-70/2.8 doesn’t have a high hit rate either. (Z9 with the EF24-70/2.8 II on an adapter actually has a higher hit rate!)

I think S-AF only makes sense for landscapes since C-AF (not tracking) is able to capture micro motion from you/subject moving forward and back a little.
 
Ahgre said:
I can already see all the posts saying they do not have any issues with their cameras. Also telling me that I do not know how to use the camera or my settings are wrong. I have been using Olympus since E-5 and used various Oly mirrorless cameras over 10yrs. Ive pre ordered om-1 and have used it for good few months so I know what Im doing.

Here is a thing, if you are those birders who just go out with a telephoto lens and shoot burst, you can skip this post.

If you are someone who pair with a small 1.8 lenses and s-af or c-af single shot here and there then continue.

Indoor, outdoor, moving subject, not moving subject, wtv, I get out of focus shots way too often when shooting single shots and now I have a low expectations of the camera. I shoot my family and I get way too much wrong focuses and its really annoying. I do not even use face tracking because it sux (Yes it's a bold thing to say. But Olympus face or people tracking is far behind the competition and for a camera released in 2022 it sux for computation face tracking. Yes it does work and has improved, but not good enough).

I know all the comments will accuse thag I said such a negative feedback to the great om-1 but it is a true feedback and I bought the camera with the expectation that the af has major improvement. Funny thing is yes it did have a major improvement in af, but only for those listed in the computation target list(bird car train etc). Even that, if there is a branch or fence or something that is in front, Oly af do not pin exactly at the eye but points with a cluster of many af points and it focuses on the front subject more then the actual target. Different brands get around this better.

I know I will get every hate comments but really negative feedback is also important to improve on the camera and can help thoseceho have not bought the camera yet.
Click to expand...
Maybe you should contact OM-System also.. then they also know this and can do something to that problem.
 
No arguments from me, been shooting studio work for years and loved the em5 em52 and em12 over 6 years got some great images sold thousands , but when i revisit my old files there are a lot of out of focus images, not unusable just not 100% but much better than my previous dslrs i used for 7 years. now the a6300 a7r2 that i have been using now for 2 years for the identical work are with out a word of a lie near 100% accurate , every image i process is spot on and im shooting at less than 1/2 the dof i used to allow for. im down to f4.5 FF, always used f6.3 on mft. full body and projected backgrounds in low light studio environment.

Ds
 
GXAlan said:
Ahgre said:
Here is a thing, if you are those birders who just go out with a telephoto lens and shoot burst, you can skip this post.
Click to expand...
I am one of those wildlife enthusiasts but I generally agree with your post. The face detection with the OM-1 is marginally better than E-M1.3 so it’s not up to par with the latest Canon or Nikon Z9, Sony A9/A1 level. You need formal subject detection AI to be added in the future.

Although the Z9 is great for professional sports, for fast moving children at close distances (running toddlers for example), it struggles. It makes sense because toddlers move erratically AND you are usually shooting near minimum focus distance where the actual focus throw is greater.

For the OM-1, with kids, you pretty much need to use a sports lens like the 40-150/2.8 and stand back. With the 12-40/2.8 it’s not fast enough and I imagine the f1.2 and f1.8 lenses are even worse. But the Z9 with a Z24-70/2.8 doesn’t have a high hit rate either. (Z9 with the EF24-70/2.8 II on an adapter actually has a higher hit rate!)

I think S-AF only makes sense for landscapes since C-AF (not tracking) is able to capture micro motion from you/subject moving forward and back a little.
Click to expand...
Yes that too, but I was really focusing on how ‘inaccurate’ om-1 caf single shot performance was. Saf is bit better but its suffering from af lock bug so its equally useless (at least for me). I make sure I am pointing a non moving subject and make sure all the greenbox af is pointing the exact target and shoot!. Out of focus… it doesnt always happen but happens often enough to give me the habit of 100% zooming in after every shot. I think its about 1/4 to 1/3 shots that are unusable.
 
JuhaV said:
Ahgre said:
I can already see all the posts saying they do not have any issues with their cameras. Also telling me that I do not know how to use the camera or my settings are wrong. I have been using Olympus since E-5 and used various Oly mirrorless cameras over 10yrs. Ive pre ordered om-1 and have used it for good few months so I know what Im doing.

Here is a thing, if you are those birders who just go out with a telephoto lens and shoot burst, you can skip this post.

If you are someone who pair with a small 1.8 lenses and s-af or c-af single shot here and there then continue.

Indoor, outdoor, moving subject, not moving subject, wtv, I get out of focus shots way too often when shooting single shots and now I have a low expectations of the camera. I shoot my family and I get way too much wrong focuses and its really annoying. I do not even use face tracking because it sux (Yes it's a bold thing to say. But Olympus face or people tracking is far behind the competition and for a camera released in 2022 it sux for computation face tracking. Yes it does work and has improved, but not good enough).

I know all the comments will accuse thag I said such a negative feedback to the great om-1 but it is a true feedback and I bought the camera with the expectation that the af has major improvement. Funny thing is yes it did have a major improvement in af, but only for those listed in the computation target list(bird car train etc). Even that, if there is a branch or fence or something that is in front, Oly af do not pin exactly at the eye but points with a cluster of many af points and it focuses on the front subject more then the actual target. Different brands get around this better.

I know I will get every hate comments but really negative feedback is also important to improve on the camera and can help thoseceho have not bought the camera yet.
Click to expand...
Maybe you should contact OM-System also.. then they also know this and can do something to that problem.
Click to expand...
 
Dspider said:
No arguments from me, been shooting studio work for years and loved the em5 em52 and em12 over 6 years got some great images sold thousands , but when i revisit my old files there are a lot of out of focus images, not unusable just not 100% but much better than my previous dslrs i used for 7 years. now the a6300 a7r2 that i have been using now for 2 years for the identical work are with out a word of a lie near 100% accurate , every image i process is spot on and im shooting at less than 1/2 the dof i used to allow for. im down to f4.5 FF, always used f6.3 on mft. full body and projected backgrounds in low light studio environment.

Ds
Click to expand...
 
Ahgre said:
Dspider said:
No arguments from me, been shooting studio work for years and loved the em5 em52 and em12 over 6 years got some great images sold thousands , but when i revisit my old files there are a lot of out of focus images, not unusable just not 100% but much better than my previous dslrs i used for 7 years. now the a6300 a7r2 that i have been using now for 2 years for the identical work are with out a word of a lie near 100% accurate , every image i process is spot on and im shooting at less than 1/2 the dof i used to allow for. im down to f4.5 FF, always used f6.3 on mft. full body and projected backgrounds in low light studio environment.

Ds
Click to expand...
Yes Sony has amazing saf caf performance. Om-1 kinda feels like my old dslrs where you just accepted the wrong af shots as it was the norm.
Click to expand...
that used to annoy me too, even second shooters that worked for me on some jobs useing canon and nikon were worst than my pentax gear. The em51 was a revelation by comparison. but still behind on streaming live preview hdmi to monitors, only could do analogue av. sorry to hear the om1 is letting you down, looked like it was going to be a perfect camera in every aspect.

Ds

--
The confusion starts when the scientists can't agree amongst themselves. Henry F
 
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can you make the af points dance around the subject with the om1 ? on multi point, i love that feature, as you know the system is working.

Ds
 
Dspider said:
can you make the af points dance around the subject with the om1 ? on multi point, i love that feature, as you know the system is working.

Ds
Click to expand...
 
Ahgre said:
Dspider said:
can you make the af points dance around the subject with the om1 ? on multi point, i love that feature, as you know the system is working.

Ds
Click to expand...
Yes, it looks very cool. But because I was not happy with the performance of the af I am not sure how useful it was.
Click to expand...
the small single af point on the a7r2 was never any good and others told me to use the medium or large when using single box. now its great , was wondering if i was using the wrong point on the em12 now. as i used small quite a bit. give the larger single boxes a try !

Ds

--
The confusion starts when the scientists can't agree amongst themselves. Henry F
 
Last edited:
I have shot m43 for about 14yrs and until 4 or 5 years ago only Panasonic. Except for fast action indoor sports, plus insects and birds in flight against busy backgrounds the focus was always perfect.

My first foray with my Olympus em1-mk2 was a disaster. I couldn't even rely on it to guarantee focus on large in the frame anything (depressingly missed a very special steam train ). Anyway I retained my Panasonic gx8 for work purposes for many many months (maybe longer).

Why am I mentioning this, well only last week it realised that I rarely have that happen now. They did improve the firmware a little but Possibly I have just found optimum settings for this camera?

Mind you, I still always shoot a burst of 3 just in case as a guarantee when using c-af.

It's not just Olympus though. Last week out with a Nikon D4 (apparently it's one of the best focusing sports cameras made) shooting friend, I mentioned that unusually that day my Em1-mk2 was struggling to focus (on birds), to which he surprised me by saying, yes strangely so is my D4!

I know it's a pain but hopefully you will find settings that will work.

Just a final thought, have you got the camera set to focus priority before shooting?
 
meow said:
I'm not sure I understand what everyone is saying here. Is S-AF worse than that of previous Oly models or just not as much better as expected, compared to other brands?
Click to expand...
Ill say compared to em1-2 and em1-3 (which has a very similar if not the same single shot performance) I can probably say previous em-1 prob has higher hit rate for single shot target.
I believe it is the ‘new improved and much better’ af focusing point mechanism they newly introduced with om-1 that is unreliable for single af. The zoned cluster of af points are very tracking purposed. It works well with burst shooting as you probably have money shot somewhere from few hundred clicks (whether they are all in focus or not, usually not).

For single shot, either you have a very small af point or next step is 3x3 pointts and you are making a guess from 9 af points to hope the camera will focus what you want (and they often dont for single shot)
 
Dspider said:
Ahgre said:
Dspider said:
can you make the af points dance around the subject with the om1 ? on multi point, i love that feature, as you know the system is working.

Ds
Click to expand...
Yes, it looks very cool. But because I was not happy with the performance of the af I am not sure how useful it was.
Click to expand...
the small single af point on the a7r2 was never any good and others told me to use the medium or large when using single box. now its great , was wondering if i was using the wrong point on the em12 now. as i used small quite a bit. give the larger single boxes a try !

Ds
Click to expand...
 
Adrian Harris said:
I have shot m43 for about 14yrs and until 4 or 5 years ago only Panasonic. Except for fast action indoor sports, plus insects and birds in flight against busy backgrounds the focus was always perfect.

My first foray with my Olympus em1-mk2 was a disaster. I couldn't even rely on it to guarantee focus on large in the frame anything (depressingly missed a very special steam train ). Anyway I retained my Panasonic gx8 for work purposes for many many months (maybe longer).

Why am I mentioning this, well only last week it realised that I rarely have that happen now. They did improve the firmware a little but Possibly I have just found optimum settings for this camera?

Mind you, I still always shoot a burst of 3 just in case as a guarantee when using c-af.

It's not just Olympus though. Last week out with a Nikon D4 (apparently it's one of the best focusing sports cameras made) shooting friend, I mentioned that unusually that day my Em1-mk2 was struggling to focus (on birds), to which he surprised me by saying, yes strangely so is my D4!

I know it's a pain but hopefully you will find settings that will work.

Just a final thought, have you got the camera set to focus priority before shooting?

--
Adrian
http://www.artfotografia.co.uk/
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing your experience. I personally found em1-2 af improved over original em5 I used from the first day of using the camera. Yes firmware did help too.

yes it still wasnt perfect and not sure how you have adapted to using the camera but I just accepted it limitations. I often just used touch screen to touch the target from the screen and it somewhat worked, but it sure was not the best handling situation.

Maybe over time I could somehow learn (or accept) new tricks like you said. But so far I am a bit of a moaner as I spent good money to buy one.
 
Meh. It happens. Every new camera requires some adjustment.

My new gh6 needs me to agitate the way I shoot. My photographers r5 and assistants a73 all have out of focus shots, even in a studio setting!
 
Thank you. That's very disappointing.
Ahgre said:
For single shot, either you have a very small af point or next step is 3x3 pointts and you are making a guess from 9 af points to hope the camera will focus what you want (and they often dont for single shot)
Click to expand...
So if I use a single point the focusing works OK? It's just when I use several it misses?

It looks like the camera won't be available here this side of summer anyway. :-(
 
Last edited:
Ahgre said:
Adrian Harris said:
I have shot m43 for about 14yrs and until 4 or 5 years ago only Panasonic. Except for fast action indoor sports, plus insects and birds in flight against busy backgrounds the focus was always perfect.

My first foray with my Olympus em1-mk2 was a disaster. I couldn't even rely on it to guarantee focus on large in the frame anything (depressingly missed a very special steam train ). Anyway I retained my Panasonic gx8 for work purposes for many many months (maybe longer).

Why am I mentioning this, well only last week it realised that I rarely have that happen now. They did improve the firmware a little but Possibly I have just found optimum settings for this camera?

Mind you, I still always shoot a burst of 3 just in case as a guarantee when using c-af.

It's not just Olympus though. Last week out with a Nikon D4 (apparently it's one of the best focusing sports cameras made) shooting friend, I mentioned that unusually that day my Em1-mk2 was struggling to focus (on birds), to which he surprised me by saying, yes strangely so is my D4!

I know it's a pain but hopefully you will find settings that will work.

Just a final thought, have you got the camera set to focus priority before shooting?
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing your experience. I personally found em1-2 af improved over original em5 I used from the first day of using the camera. Yes firmware did help too.

yes it still wasnt perfect and not sure how you have adapted to using the camera but I just accepted it limitations. I often just used touch screen to touch the target from the screen and it somewhat worked, but it sure was not the best handling situation.

Maybe over time I could somehow learn (or accept) new tricks like you said. But so far I am a bit of a moaner as I spent good money to buy one.
Click to expand...
I still use the original E-M1 and I don't see a problem with S-AF for normal scenes. Mostly I put the focus point on what I want to focus on, half press the shutter to lock focus and recompose.

I would be very disappointed if OM-1 misses focus in situations like that.
 
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