E1 Autofocus advice

Hi guys,

Last week I finally upgraded to digital and bought an e1 with 14-54mm lens after using my OM-4ti for over 10 years.

The camera and the results are fantastic but what I would like a bit of advice on is the autofocusing, which is new to me!

I mainly photograph steam trains (moving) and the technique I used at the weekend was to focus on the line at the point where I wanted the train and hold the shutter release half way, fully pressing the shutter when the train reached that point.
Is this the correct or best way to do it?
Would the camera focus fast enough if I just pointed and shot?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cliff

Hi Cliff,

do not have my cam near, so cannot give You correct / complete advice. Please be careful with this action. If your E-1 is half-pressed and You want it to still focus new before You press the shutter completely, these things are to be adjusted / configured in the menu.

I think it is quite unusual like this. You'd rather focus on something the same distance the train is going to have at the moment You would like to shoot, then make sure the menu is configured in NO new focus on pressing the shutter. You wait for the train and press further.

I am sure more qualified forum members will help You on the way here.

Ruud

--
E-1, 14-54mm, 50-200mm, 1.4xTC
FL50, EC-2, FS-2

I'll be trying both C-AF S-AF and MF at a Motorsport event this weekend.
I'll report back...

Cliff, how fast are the trains? Preserved stuff in the UK has a TOP speed of circa 25MPH, so the camera AF should keep up alright?

Tim

Tim the Grey said:

I'll be trying both C-AF S-AF and MF at a Motorsport event this
weekend.
I'll report back...

Cliff, how fast are the trains? Preserved stuff in the UK has a TOP
speed of circa 25MPH, so the camera AF should keep up alright?

Tim

Click to expand...

Hi Tim,

The ones I photograph are the mainline 'specials', doing approx 60-70mph.

I also photograph trains and focus in such a way:

1. With single AF focus on the track, then half press shutter.

2. Then change over to MF , without changing the focusing.

It works, and the release delay is shorter than with AF.

You can see results at http://www.railpix.de , the pics with numbers 20xxx are from the E-1, the others mostly from OM-4 or OM-2.

Good luck,

"railpixel" Werner

Hi Cliff

If they are far enough away, and coming at you on an angle, so the focus point is changing, then try panning with the train, and C-AF. If you are close to the line of travel, then just hold half-shutter, focussed at a pre-arranged spot, set on S-AF, and shot when it reaches your spot. A tripod and cable release might help with this, as it is hard to look through the camera and get the spot correct, especially if the trains are fast.

Here are a couple just holding focus on SA-F. Both trains are doing 60 odd mph, at my guess.
I used fast shutter speeds, and just held still.





Excuse the exposure on the second one. I really over-exposed it. I'll go back one day and try again. But the point is, experiment, and try all the focus methods.

Ray Kinnane
Saga-shi, Japan

Cliff Horner said:

Hi guys,
Last week I finally upgraded to digital and bought an e1 with
14-54mm lens after using my OM-4ti for over 10 years.

The camera and the results are fantastic but what I would like a
bit of advice on is the autofocusing, which is new to me!

I mainly photograph steam trains (moving) and the technique I used
at the weekend was to focus on the line at the point where I wanted
the train and hold the shutter release half way, fully pressing the
shutter when the train reached that point.
Is this the correct or best way to do it?
Would the camera focus fast enough if I just pointed and shot?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Cliff,

This should be easy and there are several options, I think.

First, you have reasonable lighting, even on a gray day, so the autofocus should be quite fast. I believe you could do it on the fly and not stop at the halfway point on the release button. There might be a very slight delay.

Depth of field should be enough to carry you if you miss the focus point by a bit.

I set up my AEL button to lock focus permanently, until I push it again. That is, the green dot remains on no matter what. Look in the manual for whatever combination of focus and exposure locks you want to apply. Using this system, you would use AEL to lock the focus and shoot your trains all day long! Note that once you disengage the AEL lock you can go back to focusing through the halfway shutter release technique any time you want.

Last night, I was practicing something I consider more difficult — photographing the maids coming down the aisle at a wedding. The church light level is low, so there is more delay than you would experience outdoors. The pews have low contrast, so prefocusing is difficult AND, you want to switch to close-up shots of the flower girl in the middle of the sequence. What I am doing in that situation is anticipating the shot and I begin focusing before the maid reaches the position. By the time the focus locks on, the maid is in the right position and I shoot. Also, I leave a little extra room around the maid so that I can crop just a bit later if needed.

Bill

railpixel said:

I also photograph trains and focus in such a way:

1. With single AF focus on the track, then half press shutter.

2. Then change over to MF , without changing the focusing.

It works, and the release delay is shorter than with AF.

You can see results at http://www.railpix.de , the pics with numbers
20xxx are from the E-1, the others mostly from OM-4 or OM-2.

Good luck,

"railpixel" Werner

Click to expand...

After the firmware upgrade continuous AF (C-AF) ist possible keeping the shutter release depressed halfway. This is particularly covenient with multiple image shooting. I do it with flying birds and it works fine.

Nice homepage, Werner, congratulations. For those interested, the second picture of the Swiss electric locos shows about 17,000 hp combined in only two engines preparing to haul a freight train across the Alps.

Thought I might mention it...

Cheers!
--
Hans H. Siegrist

If you shoot C-AF, remember to use Mode 7 (not 6) to get the right exposure. Mode 6 will set the exposure where you start the AF, while Mode 7 will set the exposure where you shoot. See http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1022&message=9492810

Cliff Horner said:

Hi guys,
Last week I finally upgraded to digital and bought an e1 with
14-54mm lens after using my OM-4ti for over 10 years.

The camera and the results are fantastic but what I would like a
bit of advice on is the autofocusing, which is new to me!

I mainly photograph steam trains (moving) and the technique I used
at the weekend was to focus on the line at the point where I wanted
the train and hold the shutter release half way, fully pressing the
shutter when the train reached that point.
Is this the correct or best way to do it?
Would the camera focus fast enough if I just pointed and shot?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cliff

Click to expand...

--
Raymond
http://home.online.no/~rwardena
http://www.volleyball.no/t3.asp?p=47233

This picture was taken in Devon on Sunday. The light was not too great. It was travelling at approx. 60mph. It was taken at 1/400 F4 50mm.

I used the technique of focusing on the point where I wanted the train and holding the shutter halfway.

Due to the levels of darkness around the wheels etc. the sky looks overexposed although it was a grey sky.

This was my first attempt with the camera, I only got it the day before so I am relatively pleased with the picture.

Cliff Horner said:

I mainly photograph steam trains (moving) and the technique I used
at the weekend was to focus on the line at the point where I wanted
the train and hold the shutter release half way, fully pressing the
shutter when the train reached that point.
Is this the correct or best way to do it?
Would the camera focus fast enough if I just pointed and shot?

Click to expand...

Hello Cliff,

My approach to gettilng the shot is a bit old-fashioned I'm afraid. I put the camera on a tripod, set MF mode, pre-focus on the spot where I want the subject to be, get out my trusty Sekonic light meter and take an incident reading, put the camera in M exposure mode with that reading, get my remote release ready, watch the point of focus (not through the lens), wait for the subject...click. You will get a sharp and properly exposed image every time using this approach. I admit that this approach is not for everyone. It depends upon what you are trying to accomplish I guess.

I suggest the incident reading here because that black train is probably why your sky is somewhat blown out: the camera thought it was photographing a dark scene and applied more exposure than it should have. The E-1 works best if you expose for the highlights and bring out the shadows later if necessary. It's like shooting transparency film.

As far as continuous AF goes, as long as you want the subject exactly in the middle of the frame then the E-1 should work quite well outdoors. If the sequence is more important than that one great shot, you will need to experiment with the C-AF features to adjust to your style and the speed of the subject. That's easy and inexpensive to do with digital.

--
Regards,

Jim

'The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.' -- Dorothea Lange

Hello again Cliff,

What is that third rail under the train? Does a second guage share the track at that location?

--
Regards,

Jim

'The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.' -- Dorothea Lange

James Pilcher said:

Hello again Cliff,

What is that third rail under the train? Does a second guage share
the track at that location?

--
Regards,

Jim

'The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without
a camera.' -- Dorothea Lange

Click to expand...

Hi Jim,

The third rail as it appears is in fact just a piece of rail left lying in the tracks. Possibly a piece ready to replace one of the others or a piece that has already been removed and not taken away.

Cliff Horner said:

Cliff Horner said:

James Pilcher wrote:
What is that third rail under the train? Does a second guage share
the track at that location?

Click to expand...

Hi Jim,

The third rail as it appears is in fact just a piece of rail left
lying in the tracks. Possibly a piece ready to replace one of the
others or a piece that has already been removed and not taken away.

Click to expand...

Ahhh, yes. I missed the fact that the 'third rail" is not affixed to the roadbed. And here I was thinking there was some sort of interesting European narrow guage operating there. Thanks, Cliff.

--
It's sunny and warm in Colorado today,

Jim Pilcher

'The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.' -- Dorothea Lange

Well, it seemed to handle 170MPH+ OK!

LMES series, plus various others, and it only got fooled by the damn debris chain link fencing in the way! I shot some on MF, and some on S-AF, and some on C-AF.
There's a couple of shots on myfourthirds.com for proof...
Totally untweaked, just straight out of the camera.

Tim

rayk said:

Hi Cliff

If they are far enough away, and coming at you on an angle, so the
focus point is changing, then try panning with the train, and C-AF.
If you are close to the line of travel, then just hold
half-shutter, focussed at a pre-arranged spot, set on S-AF, and
shot when it reaches your spot. A tripod and cable release might
help with this, as it is hard to look through the camera and get
the spot correct, especially if the trains are fast.

Here are a couple just holding focus on SA-F. Both trains are doing
60 odd mph, at my guess.
I used fast shutter speeds, and just held still.





Excuse the exposure on the second one. I really over-exposed it.
I'll go back one day and try again. But the point is, experiment,
and try all the focus methods.

Ray Kinnane
Saga-shi, Japan

Click to expand...