E-M1 Settings Help for Olympus Newbie

I am a long time m4/3 devotee, having used virtually every Panasonic Lumix camera from the venerable GF1 to my current GH3.

I have just acquired my very first Olympus camera - the E-M1, and while I'm impressed with many of the features etc, some of the settings (or lack thereof) are confusing.

First:  One of the prime reasons for getting the E-M1 is the "0" delay setting to counteract the evil "shutter shock" demons lurking in my beloved Panasonic 14-140II when paired with any of my Panny bodies.  So here's where the confusion comes in - with "0" delay set to "on" in the menu, which single frame shooting mode do I use - the "normal" one or the one that shows the "diamond" icon indicating the "0" delay.  I think I know the answer,but confirmation would be helpful.  The section dealing with these settings in the manual (pg55) is silent on this issue and doesn't even show this as an option!

Second:  With every digital camera I have ever owned, I have been able to half press, focus and recompose with the little green box (aka focus confirmation) staying solid until the shot is made.  No matter what I do with the E-M1, as soon as focus is achieved, the green box disappears.  Do I have something set wrong - or is that the way the camera works?  If the latter is the case, how do I set up my options to be able to focus and recompose, which is something I instinctively do in virtually every hand held shooting situation.

Thanks in advance to all you E-M1 experts out there

dickg1

Just tested focus on my EM1 (SAF mode).

Focused, green box appeared and went away, continued holding shutter release button half way down, recomposed and focus seemed to be maintained.

Tried without recomposing and green box also went away right after focus locked.

Appears to be just the way it works.

If you haven't yet pulled the complete manual for the EM1 you can download a copy from here:

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_support_product.asp?id=1648

It has more detailed information than the abbreviated instructions packaged with the camera.

OK - so if I understand correctly -  half press, focus and recompose works just like any other camera except that the green focus box doesn't reappear when the camera is moved to recompose with the shutter still in "half press" mode.  I can deal with that.

What about the two different single shot shooting modes - any ideas on that?  I have been going over the full online manual for a couple of days and still can't figure it out, because the manual completely ignores the shooting mode with the "diamond".  In case you haven't noticed it - activate the shooting mode and scroll all the way to the right (9 positions) and you'll see what I'm talking about.

dickg1

Yes to your first question.  Use the diamond marked drive modes to correspond with 0-second anti-shock setting.

Thanks guys for the quick responses:

That's about what I figured vis-a-vis the shooting mode, both as regards the "anti-shock" setting as well as the burst mode, but I really just needed confirmation.

TO GUY:  I'm not particularly enthusiastic about Olympus's Touch Screen, especially when compared to Panasonic.  Panasonic allows me to activate touch screen functions individually, so if I only want touch screen focusing but not touch shutter, I can turn the shutter off.  It appears that the Olympus touch screen use is "all or nothing", including touch shutter.  Am I correct here or have I missed something?

dickg1

Yes, you can select touch focus area, one-touch shot (focus+shutter), or disable touch screen, as described above (touch the little rectangular touch icon on the bottom left of the LCD to cycle through options.)

Thanks to all for the help!

Here's another one for you - in Custom Menu "D" there is a setting called "Lock" with the picture of a diaphragm.  There is no mention of this that I can find in the manual and while I suspect that it has something to do with locking in an aperture setting, I'm not sure exactly what it's supposed to do when set either to "On" or "Off"

dickg1

Some of your comments about the manual suggest to me that you may not have downloaded the new version of the manual which followed upon some of the significant changes made in version 2 of the firmware.

The little text description that comes up in the camera's menu says it sets whether the depth of field preview will be locked when the button is released or not.

If you try it, it changes the depth of field preview button from a momentary contact (only on while pressed) or toggle (on until you press it again).

Ahhh! got it - thanks.

When I downloaded the manual from the Olympus website, I didn't see any option to access anything other than what was offered in the way of manuals for the EM1.  How can I tell which version of the manual I have?

dickg1

If you go to page 97 of the new version you will see 0 second anti-shock described. If not, you do not have the current version.

Now that you have the manual, you might want something more readable that explains more of how to use your E-M1, gives examples and some reasonably good advice as well as explaining more about the functions.

Gary Friedman's E-M1 Book is inexpensive, in multiple electronic formats, and quite good.

More discussion about his book can be found in this thread E-M1 Book Recommendation

Thank you Guy. For the anti-shock setting, I just realized after reading your post that I only did the first part, but never noticed (and used) the 2nd part where I should select the single shot drive mode with the diamond! Thanks for the great tip!

Again - thanks to all

dickg1