My em5 image stabilization wants a focal length...for m43 lenses: Why?

The manual says that for m43 lenses my e-m5 shouldn't need me to input a focal length in the image stabilization settings, and so I don't think the menu should be letting me do that while an m43 lens is on the camera. But it's letting me today, I noticed, both with my Olympus 12-50 kit lens and with my 75-300, which is likewise Olympus m43. I wonder if my camera is not properly reading lenses, of if there's some other setting somewhere that I don't know or don't remember, which makes the camera think I want to do this manually every time I adjust the zoom.  Does anybody recognize this issue or have a theory they think might help? I'd be grateful!

OliverHasanOlympus wrote:

The manual says that for m43 lenses my e-m5 shouldn't need me to input a focal length in the image stabilization settings, and so I don't think the menu should be letting me do that while an m43 lens is on the camera. But it's letting me today, I noticed, both with my Olympus 12-50 kit lens and with my 75-300, which is likewise Olympus m43. I wonder if my camera is not properly reading lenses, of if there's some other setting somewhere that I don't know or don't remember, which makes the camera think I want to do this manually every time I adjust the zoom. Does anybody recognize this issue or have a theory they think might help? I'd be grateful!

Are your lens working okay and what brought this to you attention? Does the camera actually request this?

Have you used a non-m43 lens on the camera recently and used the Lens Info Settings?

On the E-M1MkII the IBIS menu still allows you to input a focal length manually even if a m43 lens is attached.

Hi,

my pana Gx8 has Focal Length Set in the menu for the stabilizer. If it is set to on, the camera always ask for the lens FL.

if it is off, then it must be automatic; if not, may be one dirty electrical contact between lens and body.

I checked on my E-M10ii and it also lets me set the focal length when a M43 lens is attached

There is no problem here. It's just letting you set the value and will use it when you next attach a manual lens. It doesn't mean it's using it when you have the M43 lens attached.

Thanks to all of you with the info that it's the same situation with the menus for you. I guess that's enough to allay my concern. I'm just getting to used to shooting with a long heavy lens, and it's seemed to me over the last few week that I haven't been able to get as sharp an image of the moon as when I first got the lens. Tonight I tried a slightly less flimsy tripod than I had a few days ago, and I saw clear no improvement. I didn't feel like I'd learned anything from trying different apertures and ISOs and shutter speeds either. Then I selected the IS (on the Super Control Panel) and maybe for the first time--or first in a long while--I saw the gray message "Focal Length INFO", pressed the INFO button and found that I could actually change the number in the box...FWIW. It seemed like a sudden change in my IS would explain why my moon photos seemed to have become suddenly less sharp. But being forced to reject this explanation is a lot better than finding my camera is defective. Thanks again.

Soulhand wrote:

I checked on my E-M10ii and it also lets me set the focal length when a M43 lens is attached

There is no problem here. It's just letting you set the value and will use it when you next attach a manual lens. It doesn't mean it's using it when you have the M43 lens attached.

what if I put, say, oly A-200 1.5x converter on the Oly lens, say, 45mm 1.8? Any chance to get the stabilization adjusted accordingly or no luck?

OliverHasanOlympus wrote:

I'm just getting to used to shooting with a long heavy lens, and it's seemed to me over the last few week that I haven't been able to get as sharp an image of the moon as when I first got the lens. Tonight I tried a slightly less flimsy tripod than I had a few days ago, and I saw clear no improvement.

Moon images are much more a function of atmospheric distortion than the camera/lens/stabilization.  I have images with my old not very sharp FTs 70-300+EC14 on a clear night that are sharper than many of my MC14+300mm f4 images taken on typical nights.

Guy Parsons wrote:

hy my moon photos seemed to have become suddenly less sharp. But being forced to reject this explanation is a lot better than finding my camera is defective. Thanks again.

The "Focal length INFO" thing is there as a reminder that is the way to set the focal length for any dumb lens that may be attached at some later stage. The regular M4/3 lenses of course do this automatically for you.

can one override the automatic setting?

Are you using spot metering on the moon?  Is it blown out or just hazy?

Andrew

If your camera's properly reading the focal length of the m4/3 lens, the focal length should appear in the upper right corner of the screen/EVF - at least it does that on my bodies (E-PM2, E-M1i, E-M5ii). If it's showing up properly, I don't see a reason why the camera would need manual input.

Guy Parsons wrote:

Why would you need to change the setting away from the correct value?

Regards...... Guy

I got Oly A-200 1.5x converter to put it on Oly 45mm F1.8 lens.

Take some pictures with each of your m43 lenses at several focal lengths. Look at the EXIF data and see if the lens data is recorded correctly. If it is no problem.

A. C..

Allan Brown wrote:

Guy Parsons wrote:

buratino wrote:

Guy Parsons wrote:

Why would you need to change the setting away from the correct value?

I got Oly A-200 1.5x converter to put it on Oly 45mm F1.8 lens.

OK, the setting will be wrong, but that will only really start to possibly cause problems when slower than (guess) about 1/100 sec. Test all shutter speeds to find out where it starts to over-correct and remember that all stabilisation results depend on the individual and how they handle the camera. If in doubt, stay with faster shutter speeds than about 1/100 and keep stabilisation off.

Regards....... Guy

I ran into the problem with my 45-200 + tubes + close-up lens.

The problem is not taking the photo, it is holding the lens stable to frame and focus on the object.

If it were possible to change the setting for the IBIS to some value other than "normal" for the lens, things would be better.

I can do this with the same tube + close-up lens but with an adapted mechanical lens - my Nikkor 105mm f2.5.

So, the method works but not with native lenses.

Allan

Well, I guess then, if you were willing to shoot all manual and give up focusing to infinity for no other reason than to customize your IBIS, you could just insert a cheap dumb tube/ spacer between your m43 lens and your camera.