Some (positive) thoughts about the E-PL7

Guy Parsons wrote:

…

Though in Japan in November I did see a huge number of Pens of all vintages, and a couple of OM-D, and of course a colossal number of smart-phones, many on those annoying selfie sticks.

Hey! Crotchety old guy! LOL!

I have to say I think they are hilarious. But what are short-armed people to do when they can't switch to wider angle lens?

Thanks, Murph

Spudmuncher wrote:

Guy Parsons wrote:

…

Though in Japan in November I did see a huge number of Pens of all vintages, and a couple of OM-D, and of course a colossal number of smart-phones, many on those annoying selfie sticks.

Hey! Crotchety old guy! LOL!

Guess what I got among the few Christmas presents that I get nowadays? Yes indeed, a selfie stick!

No smart-phones in my life. Need a camera that has a kick forward LCD and a way to trigger so luckily my Casio ZR1000 pocket camera does that, the LCD bends up over the top, and the trigger is by waving your hand in a particular part of the image. So I can join the stick wielding people and poke a few eyes out.

I have to say I think they are hilarious. But what are short-armed people to do when they can't switch to wider angle lens?

Actually they are good for different viewpoints, up high above a fence, around corners if bullets are flying and so on. After all it's just a small mono-pod with an optional cradle to suit phones. Bluetooth thing to trigger it so is a neat package.

Regards.... Guy

Hen3ry wrote:

Nice to see it now has a level -- I find the level a magic thing in my G6; without it, I almost always shoot 0.7 degrees off horizontal. I kid you not!

I

I also like the level a lot, especially for water bodies. But i would like to see level and histogram at the same times, which seems impossible.bv

h2k wrote:

Hen3ry wrote:

Nice to see it now has a level -- I find the level a magic thing in my G6; without it, I almost always shoot 0.7 degrees off horizontal. I kid you not!

I

I also like the level a lot, especially for water bodies. But i would like to see level and histogram at the same times, which seems impossible.bv

I first met the level on the E-P3 and it drove me nuts. But that's just me, slightly nutty now.

Far prefer to leave the grid in place and align things appropriately. Also can have the blinkies happening at the same time and all is good. On E-PL5 and E-P5.

For any residual wonkiness there's always a straighten function in any edit program.

Regards.... Guy

Guy Parsons wrote:

Far prefer to leave the grid in place and align things appropriately. Also can have the blinkies happening at the same time and all is good. On E-PL5 and E-P5.

For any residual wonkiness there's always a straighten function in any edit program.

Regards.... Guy

The grid lines appear to thin and "unremarkable" on my E-PL7 screen. The blinkies do distract me too much from composition and actual look of photo.

Guy Parsons wrote:

Guess what I got among the few Christmas presents that I get nowadays? Yes indeed, a selfie stick!

No smart-phones in my life. Need a camera that has a kick forward LCD and a way to trigger so luckily my Casio ZR1000 pocket camera does that, the LCD bends up over the top, and the trigger is by waving your hand in a particular part of the image. So I can join the stick wielding people and poke a few eyes out.

Hey, the Casio ZR1000 on the selfie stick works great.

Set the lens to 85mm or 100mm equivalent and extend and get darn good results. Not going to show any here as the thought of many readers being struck blind by my frightening visage is too much to bear.

To keep it forum relevant I also tried the E-PL5 plus 14-42mm on it with 12 second delay and face detect but had variable results. That combination too heavy for a reedy selfie stick plus the LCD does not tilt up far enough to see the framing. Maybe the E-PL7 with  tilt down LCD would work but be a little obscured by the stick. Not advised though as that weight of camera feels insecure. A heavier mono pod with simple swivel head would be a safer way to do it.

Or just get a friend or stranger to take your photo. Works perfectly well in camera crazy Japan, but keep a strong 20 foot leash on the camera if tried in some other places.

Regards..... Guy

h2k wrote:

Guy Parsons wrote:

Far prefer to leave the grid in place and align things appropriately. Also can have the blinkies happening at the same time and all is good. On E-PL5 and E-P5.

For any residual wonkiness there's always a straighten function in any edit program.

Regards.... Guy

The grid lines appear to thin and "unremarkable" on my E-PL7 screen.

Maybe as the LCD resolution increases, the grid lines do get ever thinner and harder to see, so I can understand the issue.

The blinkies do distract me too much from composition and actual look of photo.

The exposure compensation is backed off to remove most of the red blinkie action, if distracting then press Info to chase them away. I just find the blinkies provide way more informative than any histogram, but that's me.

Regards...... Guy

Marco Zima wrote:

- It has the 3-axis IBIS system of the E-M10, which I have found to be really good, whereas the 2-axis version in the E-PL and E-PM series has caused me intermittent problems. It also has the 0-second anti-shock feature introduced on the E-M10, which can make things even better.

What's the ani-shock feature doing exactly?

I didn't see anyone else respond to your question, Marco.

The Anti-Shock 0-second setting was introduced with the E-M10 and, via firmware update, the E-M1. It does two things:

• First, it imposes a very tiny delay (about three-thousandths of a second, .003 s) into the activation of the shutter/capture cycle. This tiny delay is enough to allow residual shutter vibrations from the shutter cycle (which on a mirrorless camera has more steps than on an SLR) to naturally die out before the capture begins.

• Second, for exposure times up to 1/320 second, it implements an electronic-first-curtain-shutter (EFCS) mode to completely eliminate first curtain vibration. What this means is that even though the mechanical shutter curtains cycle, the actual exposure is being made with the first curtain being implemented by the sensor itself, decoupled from the vibration associated with the shutter curtains. (The Sony A7 uses EFCS as its default mode as well, to very good effect.) The reason they cap this operation at 1/320 second is because of sensor readout speed limitations: at shorter exposure times, the sensor readout (a serial process) cannot keep up properly and causes gradation or barring in the exposure. (I see this with the Sony A7 at 1/2000 second and above, particularly when using longer lenses; turn off EFCS and it disappears.)

The Anti-Shock 0-second setting is a very clever way of reducing shutter vibration with very little impact on the rest of the camera's operation. Some sequence modes are affected: It's hard to have fast sequence capture when you're imposing delays in the shutter cycle. But usually those kinds of picture taking situations are not much affected by shutter vibration anyway.

G

Marco Zima wrote:

Godfrey wrote:

Marco Zima wrote:

What's the ani-shock feature doing exactly?

I didn't see anyone else respond to your question, Marco.

[...]

The Anti-Shock 0-second setting is a very clever way of reducing shutter vibration with very little impact on the rest of the camera's operation. Some sequence modes are affected: It's hard to have fast sequence capture when you're imposing delays in the shutter cycle. But usually those kinds of picture taking situations are not much affected by shutter vibration anyway.

Thanks a lot for the clear explanation! But is it ah optional I have to activate or is it there by default?

I don't have an E-PL7 to play with at present so I can't say for sure. On the E-M1 (and E-M10, I believe), it is not enabled by default; you have to enable it. I'm pretty sure that on the E-PL7 you'll need to enable custom menus and then enable it in the Anti-Shock settings section.

Others with an E-PL7 can check this ...

G

Godfrey wrote:

Marco Zima wrote:

Godfrey wrote:

Marco Zima wrote:

What's the ani-shock feature doing exactly?

I didn't see anyone else respond to your question, Marco.

[...]

The Anti-Shock 0-second setting is a very clever way of reducing shutter vibration with very little impact on the rest of the camera's operation. Some sequence modes are affected: It's hard to have fast sequence capture when you're imposing delays in the shutter cycle. But usually those kinds of picture taking situations are not much affected by shutter vibration anyway.

Thanks a lot for the clear explanation! But is it ah optional I have to activate or is it there by default?

I don't have an E-PL7 to play with at present so I can't say for sure. On the E-M1 (and E-M10, I believe), it is not enabled by default; you have to enable it. I'm pretty sure that on the E-PL7 you'll need to enable custom menus and then enable it in the Anti-Shock settings section.

Others with an E-PL7 can check this ...

G

Yes, on the E-PL7 as well as any other model that offers this feature, you go into Custom Menu E (Exp/Metering pattern icon/ISO is its heading) and to the last item on page 2 (the precise position on the list varies a little between models) - Anti-Shock[diamond icon].  As a default, this is set to "Off".  Go to the other setting beneath the Off, and select 0sec (which has an on-screen explanation of electronic first curtain operation) from the many timed choices, and set OK.  When this has been done once, the drive settings gain an extra set of options where the relevant icon is prefaced by a diamond, and these are the ones which will use the 0 second operation.  Easy to access - for example, in the Super Control Panel, the anti shock single frame advance is just one click to the "left" of the version without it, so it's easy to switch to and fro for comparison if you want to.  If you instead choose another timed setting of anti-shock, that timing will operate on the diamond-prefaced drive modes (and if you left the other setting to "off", you don't get these diamond-prefaced drive modes. at all)

As a failsafe, the data display for single frame advance without antishock doesn't stay on screen during shooting after the first few seconds of menu or SCP operation, whereas the one with the diamond preface stays permanently visible.

Marco Zima wrote:

Godfrey wrote:

Marco Zima wrote:

What's the ani-shock feature doing exactly?

I didn't see anyone else respond to your question, Marco.

[...]

The Anti-Shock 0-second setting ...

Thanks a lot for the clear explanation! But is it ah optional I have to activate or is it there by default?

thanks

Marco

You will need to activate it if you find you need it.

Default does not use antishock delay.

Depending on which body + lens you are using you might not find any shuttershock affected photos ...