E-PM2 Settings for good out of camera JPEGs

2raj wrote:

I know RAW+JPEG is probably ideal, but I like shooting JPEG for everyday stuff so I don't have to process the RAW images, which can take a while.

I feel the same way!

Are there any recommended settings (color, sharpness, contrast etc.) to get good out of camera JPEGs with the E-PM2?

If the E-PM2 is as close to the E-M5 in terms of sensor and processing capabilities as people say it is, then the User Guide: Getting the most out of the Olympus E-M5 article may have some pertinent advice about JPEG settings.

People have found over the years that it pays to shoot jpegs with settings on the conservative side. You can easily adjust them to taste in basic programs like Picasa. So try setting sharpening to -1 or -2, noise reduction to off or low, and contrast to -1 or -2. The of course are exceptions, like if you see a nice silhouette you might want to increase contrast.

jkrumm wrote:

People have found over the years that it pays to shoot jpegs with settings on the conservative side. You can easily adjust them to taste in basic programs like Picasa. So try setting sharpening to -1 or -2, noise reduction to off or low, and contrast to -1 or -2.

Right, but those settings are most useful if you plan to do post-processing. For good jpegs out of camera, I leave sharpening and contrast at default levels. I do leave noise reduction at Low, for more sharpness.

When shooting people, I like the Portrait scene mode because it does a good job with skin (reducing contrast and warming colors) and switches automatically to autofocus on faces.

For general shooting, I use P mode with the Super Control Panel enabled for quick adjustments. In P mode, I have the white balance on auto but Keep Warm is turned off. I have face detection turned off in P mode, and the focus set to the center of the frame so I can choose my focal point and then reframe, instead of risking a wrong guess by the camera.

iAuto generally makes the colors unrealistically vivid, but it can be good for nature shots.

I always shoot jpeg+raw so I have the option to post-process. I like having a jpeg available right away, but I usually want to tweak a shot in post before I send it to anyone.

Basically, but few will admit it, the defaults are all you need. Art Filters are there to make you feel creative, but the best is still if you leave all to factory set, and learn to *see *reality* with what you have.

What I quickly found when just starting and shooting jpegs is that I liked to adjust a few things like contrast and sharpening and the crop before sharing them. If you like doing that, shooting especially with lower contrast will help you avoid blown highlights. Low sharpening is less important, more a pixel peeping thing, avoiding artifacts.

2raj wrote:
Can you have center focus setup just for P mode, or will that setting automatically apply to all modes (PASM)?

As far as I know, the settings are shared by P/A/S/M modes.

Some if the art filters are quite good actually. Dramatic tone works well under cloudy skies. One thing to make sure you do is to turn on the 1/8 second shutter delay to reduce shutter shock. That will ensure better clarity at low shutter speeds. I've used the soft focus art filter on portraits and the sunset filter on Autumn foliage. Indoors I often set white balance manually for mixed lighting. The jpegs have a lot of latitude when it comes to PP so I leave the settings to default. If you change your mind about using the filters shoot in raw plus jpeg and use the bracketing feature for Art Filters. You will have at least the RAW file if you don't like the filter effects. Its listed in the Art filter menu. I don't use them a lot but its fun to play with. Sometimes the results are surprising.
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Just a note the antishock setting is not available in I auto.
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2raj wrote:

amalric wrote:

Basically, but few will admit it, the defaults are all you need. Art Filters are there to make you feel creative, but the best is still if you leave all to factory set, and learn to *see *reality* with what you have.

I'm not much for using the "art filters" in any camera I've used. Mostly shoot in P or A and edit all my photos.

Most peopl screw their PP, so their loss, not mine.

'Photo & Poetry'
http://amalric2014.blogspot.it/
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Tony8232 wrote:

Some if the art filters are quite good actually. Dramatic tone works well under cloudy skies. One thing to make sure you do is to turn on the 1/8 second shutter delay to reduce shutter shock. That will ensure better clarity at low shutter speeds. I've used the soft focus art filter on portraits and the sunset filter on Autumn foliage. Indoors I often set white balance manually for mixed lighting. The jpegs have a lot of latitude when it comes to PP so I leave the settings to default. If you change your mind about using the filters shoot in raw plus jpeg and use the bracketing feature for Art Filters. You will have at least the RAW file if you don't like the filter effects. Its listed in the Art filter menu. I don't use them a lot but its fun to play with. Sometimes the results are surprising.
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Thanks for the tips on built-in filters.

Where do I turn on the 1/8 second shutter delay?

Go to the exposure ISO menu in settings. Antishock is near the bottom of the list. Set it to on. Then in the SCP select the drive settings with the diamond symbol. I assume you have turned on the menu displays and the SCP. I don't know how familiar you are with this camera. The two menus to turn on are found in the menu designated by the wrench. When you turn them on a gear icon will now appear in the setup menu. If you select it there is a control sub menu. That is where you turn on and off the the SCP and the other camera control software, live view and live guide. Hoped that helped.
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