Some questions about my new OM-5

Muster Mark · Nov 12, 2024

Hey all,

I've been eyeing a mirrorless camera ever since u4/3 launched and finally pulled the trigger

Anyway, I was confused about some specifics of my new camera and was hoping someone could help me as the manual is pretty light on detail. Also most reviews don't get into the nitty gritty of operation.

What do I have to do to get "live ND" option activated? It is greyed out in the menu.
Similarly, when trying to use multiple exposures, the option to have an overlay is also greyed out and unavailable unless I shoot raw it seems? Just curious if this was actually what the restriction is.
Is there a functional difference between exposure bracketing and the HDR modes other than HDR1 and HDR2? It seems these other modes just do exposure bracketing.
What is preset MF do? It seems the same as MF
What do the AF Scanner options change? I can't seem to notice a difference between the different modes.
Lastly, I got the 9mm 1.7 panasonic lens. Are there any compatibility issues (e.g. distortion profile?) I need to be aware of here?

Thanks for taking the time to read this! Anyway, not related to the questions, it's been a very long time since I participated regularly on this site or in digital photography. I think I was about 12 years old and was trying to pretend to be an adult on the internet and learn about the e-500 I had gotten as a gift. Since then, I had gotten an e-3 with the 12-60. That had some backfocus issues and I managed to break the focusing entirely trying to fix it manually. Also, I had gotten it used long after it was a new camera and the weather sealing wasn't quite working anymore which I found out the hard way :/ Anyway, I finally decided to treat myself (being out of school and having a steady job makes a huge difference in ones capacity to buy camera gear...) and got the om5 + 12-45 combo since they are on sale at the moment. I also splurged and got the 9mm panasonic, the 20 1.4 and a used oly 75 1.8. I haven't really had a chance to use the primes yet (they just arrived in the mail a few hours ago), but I am actually blown away by the camera and kit lens so far. Here are some images of my first walk with the camera:

12-45 has nice macro capabilities. I think I will miss the 2.8 on the short end and the 60mm on the long of the classic oly lens but this thing is so dang small!

I swear I did *not* boost the saturation/vibrance here! Also I feel like the bokeh is pretty smooth all things considered. Maybe I should do an A/B comparison sometime with the 12-60 for posterity's sake.

In camera hdr compositing is maybe not the most hard-core photographic feature but I feel like I will actually use it a lot for more casual shooting (like documenting family/friends/travel etc.). I was just curious how it would handle a scene like this and was frankly rather impressed.

--
Cheers,
-Ian

Photongraphy · Nov 13, 2024

I can't answer all of your questions, but Live ND only works in S or M mode. if you are in P or A mode, it is greyed out.

Muster Mark · Nov 13, 2024

[No message]

Bassam Guy · Nov 13, 2024

...that Photongraphy doesn't

...

Muster Mark said:
Hey all,

I've been eyeing a mirrorless camera ever since u4/3 launched and finally pulled the trigger
Anyway, I was confused about some specifics of my new camera and was hoping someone could help me as the manual is pretty light on detail. Also most reviews don't get into the nitty gritty of operation.

What do I have to do to get "live ND" option activated? It is greyed out in the menu.

Similarly, when trying to use multiple exposures, the option to have an overlay is also greyed out and unavailable unless I shoot raw it seems? Just curious if this was actually what the restriction is.

IDK this either. What does it mean to "have an overlay"?

Muster Mark said:
Is there a functional difference between exposure bracketing and the HDR modes other than HDR1 and HDR2? It seems these other modes just do exposure bracketing.

The only real differences that I know of are

HDR1/2 creates an HDR JPEG, exposure bracketing just creates the bracketed images
O. Workspace software combines the brackets to create an HDR in the advanced section but not with HDR1/2 (because you already have the JPEG (?) )

Muster Mark said:
What is preset MF do? It seems the same as MF

Moves the focus to a specific user chosen distance

Muster Mark said:
What do the AF Scanner options change? I can't seem to notice a difference between the different modes.

It determines how the AF retries when it cannot achieve AF (usually in dim light).

See p 370 of https://learnandsupport.getolympus.com/sites/default/files/media/files/2022/10/OM-5_ENU_00.pdf

Muster Mark said:
Lastly, I got the 9mm 1.7 panasonic lens. Are there any compatibility issues (e.g. distortion profile?) I need to be aware of here?

I have this lens. No compatibility problems except for occasional purple blobs in high contrast scenes. Alleviated almost completely with a 2A filter.

Muster Mark said:
Thanks for taking the time to read this! Anyway, not related to the questions, it's been a very long time since I participated regularly on this site or in digital photography. I think I was about 12 years old and was trying to pretend to be an adult on the internet and learn about the e-500 I had gotten as a gift. Since then, I had gotten an e-3 with the 12-60. That had some backfocus issues and I managed to break the focusing entirely trying to fix it manually. Also, I had gotten it used long after it was a new camera and the weather sealing wasn't quite working anymore which I found out the hard way :/ Anyway, I finally decided to treat myself (being out of school and having a steady job makes a huge difference in ones capacity to buy camera gear...) and got the om5 + 12-45 combo since they are on sale at the moment. I also splurged and got the 9mm panasonic, the 20 1.4 and a used oly 75 1.8. I haven't really had a chance to use the primes yet (they just arrived in the mail a few hours ago), but I am actually blown away by the camera and kit lens so far. Here are some images of my first walk with the camera:

Daft Punk · Nov 13, 2024

I find HDR One produces excellent and very natural looking images. It makes things really very easy for travel and casual photography.

Muster Mark · Nov 13, 2024

Thanks for the info! So just to check about the hdr stuff, would the correct understanding be that if I use the HDR setting set to say 5 frames, 2 stops, then the pm studio software will be able to merge them into an hdr image on computer but if I do the same 5frames 2stop delta using the bracketing settings instead of the hdr settings, I won’t be able to? I hope my question is clear. It just seems like there are two ways to get the exposure bracketing done. I will play with this more when I get home for sure and maybe answer my own question. Anyway, thanks again.

Skeeterbytes · Nov 13, 2024

Muster Mark said:
Hey all,

I've been eyeing a mirrorless camera ever since u4/3 launched and finally pulled the trigger
Anyway, I was confused about some specifics of my new camera and was hoping someone could help me as the manual is pretty light on detail. Also most reviews don't get into the nitty gritty of operation.

What is preset MF do? It seems the same as MF

Using PreMF focus mode, focus will jump to the distance you have set previously. Can set the distance visually in the finder or via a numerical distance in the menu. Default is 999m.

Similarly, with lenses having the MF clutch option, you can preset a distance using the focus clutch then return to AF. When you engage the clutch again, focus will jump to that point. An example might be prefocusing on first base while shooting a baseball game. You can shoot ongoing action in AF then jump instantly to 1st when a play is developing there.

Muster Mark said:
What do the AF Scanner options change? I can't seem to notice a difference between the different modes.

IIRC the settings control how persistent the scanner is. One time only or continual. Maybe disable too, they've altered the feature from camera to camera.

Muster Mark said:
Lastly, I got the 9mm 1.7 panasonic lens. Are there any compatibility issues (e.g. distortion profile?) I need to be aware of here?

All corrections have been portable from Panny lenses to Oly bodies since something like TruePic VII. PL lenses with aperture rings have that feature disabled. Sync-IS is a discussion for another time.

Powerful camera with loads of features. Give yourself time to explore them, nobody masters these things in a couple goes. As you find yourself revisiting certain menu items, consider collecting those in the My Menu set. Big timesaver.

Cheers,

Rick

Muster Mark · Nov 13, 2024

Thanks great info!

Muster Mark · Nov 13, 2024

Yep that’s been my experience too. The example I posted was with hdr1

Dick Barbour · Nov 13, 2024

Looks like you've pretty much gotten your questions answered. For a good guide to setup and use of the camera, I like Phil Norton's ebook:

https://www.philnortonphotographyblog.co.uk/product/oms-om5-olympus-em5-mk3-guide

There's also a lot of general photography info on depth-of-field, etc. He explains the concepts well and I learned some things.

****

Photongraphy · Nov 13, 2024

Bassam Guy said:
...that Photongraphy doesn't ...

Bassam Guy said:
Muster Mark said:

Hey all,

I've been eyeing a mirrorless camera ever since u4/3 launched and finally pulled the trigger
Anyway, I was confused about some specifics of my new camera and was hoping someone could help me as the manual is pretty light on detail. Also most reviews don't get into the nitty gritty of operation.

What do I have to do to get "live ND" option activated? It is greyed out in the menu.

Similarly, when trying to use multiple exposures, the option to have an overlay is also greyed out and unavailable unless I shoot raw it seems? Just curious if this was actually what the restriction is.

Click to expand...

IDK this either. What does it mean to "have an overlay"?

So this means I have to come up with the answer, to prove you right

Luckily I can, the answer is 'yes, the restriction is you have to use RAW.'.

The overlay means the first image is shown as a transparant layer over the live view, so you can predict how the final multiexposed picture will come out.

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Some questions about my new OM-5

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