Poll - MySets and Custom Modes, Oly & Pana

I use them all the time, wish the EM1.2 had more of them.

It's something I've never explored because I can't see a use for them in my style of shooting.

About 90% of my images are made using Aperture Priority, about 9% using Manual mode, and the remaining 1% maybe with Shutter Priority.

Typically, I pick an ISO for a session or group of images, select an aperture for the subject at hand and use exposure compensation (which on an E-M1 changes the shutter speed when in Aperture Priority mode) to help me wring the most signal out of the situation without clipping important highlights.

I don't see how Mysets would improve my workflow. Perhaps I'll learn something by reading other responses in this thread.

Yes, since adopting MySets on the Mode dial I find that I hardly ever use the SCP or shooting menus, and only rarely need to dive into the custom menus. Life is so easy.

Denjw wrote:

Yes I use them all the time. On my E-M1MkII I have 3 shooting scenarios setup and assigned to Custom Modes on the dial.

My 4 are basically different upper limits for auto ISO along with aperture changes and metering and some other odd things. Using auto ISO lke that works for me if I come from a dim museum into the sunlight and take a shot - the auto ISO sorts it out, until I realise my mistake and change back to the good light MySet. Way less mistakes and delays before shots.

Then I have all the basics covered and can tweak the most variable settings on the fly as required using the SCP or EVF.

What I miss from the E-M1 Mysets are an extra Custom Mode and the ability to assign them to Function buttons. On the E-M1 it was so easy to switch from one Myset to another with a push of a button.

Yes, Mk2 went backwards in not being able to assign to buttons or to assign to anywhere on the Mode dial. Plus of course only 3 instead of 4.

The relentless progress to "simpler menus" to please all the complainers will mean that our cameras will get dumber and dumber.

Regards..... Guy

Barty L wrote:

I don't see how Mysets would improve my workflow. Perhaps I'll learn something by reading other responses in this thread.

With my E-PL1 in early days, it had an awkward to use custom reset, only two of them, and that worked like MySets. But so awkward that I never used them.

The problem for me was in early days of E-PL1 I was always trying to help someone else on the forum and often set up my E-PL1 in some peculiar fashion to answer a question.

Next time go to use the camera and it's all wrong, darn, I forgot to reset myself back from the odd setup the night before.

So when the E-PL5 emerged with the ability to assign 4 MySets to the Mode dial so the camera was always in a known startup state I was rather happy. I seem to be still smiling the same way with my E-P5.

The new home-made dial tops remind me of the upper ISO limits of the A mode MySets. So my Mode Dial is now a P-A-S-M-Video-A-A-A-A dial.

Regards......... Guy

The Panasonic GX8 has 5 Custom Modes and 13 Fn "buttons": 8 buttons on the camera, 5 on the touch screen.

Add any explanation if wanting to about how your MySets/Custom Modes are configured.

The Fn Buttons are configurable, which makes it nice for setting up a standard configuration for all Custom Modes. Eg: I have Fn1 for Aspect Ratio, Fn4 for E-shutter off (for flash), in all modes. That makes it easy to remember.

I use C1 for normal photographing: Aperture Priority, ISO 200, WB=Daylight, etc.

Since configurations are "sticky" to a Custom Mode, this means if I change ISO or WB for a particular scene, when I shut down/restart, the ISO/WB are back to my normal configuration.

C2 is for Tripod: LVF, Timer on, Dual IS Off, etc.

C3-1 is for indoors: Auto WB, Auto ISO, etc.

When I configured everything, I wrote the settings on a 3x5 card to help remember. Now I don't need it.

Custom Modes/Fn Buttons make life very enjoyable.

- Richard

richj20 wrote:

The Panasonic GX8 has 5 Custom Modes and 13 Fn "buttons": 8 buttons on the camera, 5 on the touch screen.

Add any explanation if wanting to about how your MySets/Custom Modes are configured.

The Fn Buttons are configurable, which makes it nice for setting up a standard configuration for all Custom Modes. Eg: I have Fn1 for Aspect Ratio, Fn4 for E-shutter off (for flash), in all modes. That makes it easy to remember.

I use C1 for normal photographing: Aperture Priority, ISO 200, WB=Daylight, etc.

Since configurations are "sticky" to a Custom Mode, this means if I change ISO or WB for a particular scene, when I shut down/restart, the ISO/WB are back to my normal configuration.

C2 is for Tripod: LVF, Timer on, Dual IS Off, etc.

C3-1 is for indoors: Auto WB, Auto ISO, etc.

When I configured everything, I wrote the settings on a 3x5 card to help remember. Now I don't need it.

Custom Modes/Fn Buttons make life very enjoyable.

- Richard

Thank you for the explanation. It may help some others decide if MySets/Custom Modes are worth getting involved with. I know that I now can't live without them.

Olympus started with 2, went to 4 available for a long time now dropped back to 3 on the flagship model and 0 (zero) on the beginners models.

My recent purchase of a Casio pocket camera has the record, up to 999 (yes, 999) custom modes can be stored as an extension to the scene modes. Take a shot with any settings you like then store that shot as a custom scene mode. Easy.

Regards........ Guy

Just use M mode and all problems fixed... You are welcome!

On my two G80s I almost always use one of the four custom settings. I have them set up for:

• General use using single shots or Exposure bracketing
• Single shot flash macro
• Post focus (to capture 4K video for focus stacking) or Aperture bracketing
• Focus bracketing

Here are the detailed settings. (Useful thread - reminded me to update these.)

Barty L wrote:

It's something I've never explored because I can't see a use for them in my style of shooting.

About 90% of my images are made using Aperture Priority, about 9% using Manual mode, and the remaining 1% maybe with Shutter Priority.

Typically, I pick an ISO for a session or group of images, select an aperture for the subject at hand and use exposure compensation (which on an E-M1 changes the shutter speed when in Aperture Priority mode) to help me wring the most signal out of the situation without clipping important highlights.

I don't see how Mysets would improve my workflow. Perhaps I'll learn something by reading other responses in this thread.

Well, here is an example of what I use one of the custom settings for...

I have a custom B&W mode that sets the camera to monochrome, sets the contrast, sharpness, WB, colour filter, tone curve, face detect and auto ISO. It also sets raw + jpeg for out of camera B&W jpegs. All of this is assigned to one position on the mode dial.

So, just by turning the dial, I have a custom B&W camera.

Allan

On my Pen F, I keep C1 as my everyday way I want the camera to work. When I try to keep four different sets, I tend to get lost as to what I've set with each and when to use it. I guess I'm not a very creative camera operator.

I said, "exactly two" sets. Well, while I always start off with C1, if I find myself in a situation where somewhat different settings will likely be useful for a while, I'll make my tweaks to the C1 setup and save them to C4. Then I switch to C4 for the remainder of the situation, whether it's a special event, weather conditions, or what have you. When I come back to the camera and C1 a few days later, I'll probably only have a vague recollection of all the C4 changes, it's that transient.

I've been contemplating a permanent C2 that I would set up specifically for people pictures; wide aperture, eye focus, 3 fps anti-shock frame rate, etc.  But then, I've been contemplating that for a couple of years. 

Jim Pilcher
Bonita Springs, Florida, USA
Life is a breeze by the sea