E-M5III quick question

Hello,

I recently got back into Olympus with the E-M5III as a long term Panasonic user (Gm1, Gx7, Gx80, G80, G9 and Gx9). I used to own the first E-M5 and then the E-M1.1, but I replaced those with Panasonic cameras as I usually prefer their ergonomics, and now I'd say their jpegs.

Anyway, I have a question regarding the AF target pad. Is it just me or is it extremely slow to react, laggy and not accurate, so much so that it is basically unusable? 
On the Panasonic cameras, the function is just about perfect (more so on older bodies like the GX80 and G80 weirdly). And even on the Sony A7III, it's usable. Not so on the Olympus. I almost wonder if there isn't an issue with the function, but that doesn't seem very plausible as the touch screen works normally and is quick and smooth to select the focus point when shooting through the screen.

Any help would be appreciated

Don't have the 5.3, so just as another data point, the AF pad on the 10.2 was pretty much like you describe, jumpy, laggy, difficult, while on the 1.2 it's pretty smooth and easy to work.

Are you talking about the touch screen or the directional pad?

Anyway, both are fast and smooth on my em5.3.  I have played around with some AF settings (SF, CAF-TR) and I do not see any difference.

Issue must be somewhere in the settings, but its not clear what it could be...

Good luck

I had this problem too.
A matte protection foil solved it.
This does not only repel fingerprints and dirt, improve visibility in bright light.
It also reduces the friction between finger and screen, so the finger glides more smoothly.

photofan1986 wrote:

Hello,

I recently got back into Olympus with the E-M5III as a long term Panasonic user (Gm1, Gx7, Gx80, G80, G9 and Gx9). I used to own the first E-M5 and then the E-M1.1, but I replaced those with Panasonic cameras as I usually prefer their ergonomics, and now I'd say their jpegs.

Anyway, I have a question regarding the AF target pad. Is it just me or is it extremely slow to react, laggy and not accurate, so much so that it is basically unusable?
On the Panasonic cameras, the function is just about perfect (more so on older bodies like the GX80 and G80 weirdly). And even on the Sony A7III, it's usable. Not so on the Olympus. I almost wonder if there isn't an issue with the function, but that doesn't seem very plausible as the touch screen works normally and is quick and smooth to select the focus point when shooting through the screen.

Any help would be appreciated

I do not understand what you are describing. What is it you referring to as the AF target pad? You say not accurate, how so? You say quick and smooth to select the focus point, so what's the difference?

When you use the viewfinder to compose and the touch screen as a AF target pad, the screen doesn't react as it should: it's slow and laggy, and not very accurate. But when you compose with the screen and use the touch screen to select a different focus point, it's plenty quick and accurate. I really don't know why.

photofan1986 wrote:

When you use the viewfinder to compose and the touch screen as a AF target pad, the screen doesn't react as it should: it's slow and laggy, and not very accurate.

Lets see if I got this right. You are looking through the EVF, meanwhile selecting with a finger, not the arrow keys, the AF location on the Touch LCD panel. While you drag your finger around the LCD panel, the movement of the AF area box seen through the EVF is jerky. By inaccurate, you mean the focus isn't accurate, the selected focus point isn't what you selected, or the movement jumps in varying increments, hence making it difficult to select the desired AF point accurately?

But when you compose with the screen and use the touch screen to select a different focus point, it's plenty quick and accurate. I really don't know why.

photofan1986 wrote:

When you use the viewfinder to compose and the touch screen as a AF target pad, the screen doesn't react as it should: it's slow and laggy, and not very accurate. But when you compose with the screen and use the touch screen to select a different focus point, it's plenty quick and accurate. I really don't know why.

I've had an E-M5 III since December. I tried the trackpad focus as you described a couple times and gave up on it for the reasons you mentioned.

Bassam Guy wrote:

photofan1986 wrote:

When you use the viewfinder to compose and the touch screen as a AF target pad, the screen doesn't react as it should: it's slow and laggy, and not very accurate. But when you compose with the screen and use the touch screen to select a different focus point, it's plenty quick and accurate. I really don't know why.

I've had an E-M5 III since December. I tried the trackpad focus as you described a couple times and gave up on it for the reasons you mentioned.

You got me curious so I tried it again and it seems pretty responsive. Perhaps it was improved via firmware update.

Bassam Guy wrote:

Bassam Guy wrote:

photofan1986 wrote:

When you use the viewfinder to compose and the touch screen as a AF target pad, the screen doesn't react as it should: it's slow and laggy, and not very accurate. But when you compose with the screen and use the touch screen to select a different focus point, it's plenty quick and accurate. I really don't know why.

I've had an E-M5 III since December. I tried the trackpad focus as you described a couple times and gave up on it for the reasons you mentioned.

You got me curious so I tried it again and it seems pretty responsive. Perhaps it was improved via firmware update.

I think it's kind of random. I've had situations where it was completely unresponsive and other times it works well.

I assigned AF target movement to the dials when AF selection is triggers so that I can use the dials when the pad is unresponsive.

photofan1986 wrote:

Hello,

I recently got back into Olympus with the E-M5III as a long term Panasonic user (Gm1, Gx7, Gx80, G80, G9 and Gx9). I used to own the first E-M5 and then the E-M1.1, but I replaced those with Panasonic cameras as I usually prefer their ergonomics, and now I'd say their jpegs.

Anyway, I have a question regarding the AF target pad. Is it just me or is it extremely slow to react, laggy and not accurate, so much so that it is basically unusable?
On the Panasonic cameras, the function is just about perfect (more so on older bodies like the GX80 and G80 weirdly). And even on the Sony A7III, it's usable. Not so on the Olympus. I almost wonder if there isn't an issue with the function, but that doesn't seem very plausible as the touch screen works normally and is quick and smooth to select the focus point when shooting through the screen.

Any help would be appreciated

I've got a lot of experience with using the trackpad with the E-M1ii for wildlife photography since I'm very left-eye dominant and I hate using the 4-way buttons (I always manage to hit the wrong one), and I find moving the focus point with the dials is also clunky.

So, I'd say it was reasonably reliable and responsive on that body, with 2 issues - occasionally it would 'invert' so for example you suddenly needed to move top left to move the point bottom right (!!!!: this continued through several firmware updates), and it was a right pain with the 300 f4 since you had to hold the camera just with the right hand while moving the focus point with the left thumb. As a result I upgraded one of my 1ii bodies to a 1iii, and the joystick is the perfect solution.

Now, I've just sold my second 1ii body for a 5iii (for low-impact street photography, since I'm not going to be doing any safari game drive shooting for a while...) and I've just tried the trackpad on the 5iii. It seems fine, although during a few minutes use it did once get stuck at the bottom of the screen for a few moments.

Odd.

photofan1986 wrote:

Anyway, I have a question regarding the AF target pad. Is it just me or is it extremely slow to react, laggy and not accurate, so much so that it is basically unusable?

Any help would be appreciated

I own the M5.III but I have 0% experience on panasonic - can't compare.

I do not use the targeting pad. Perhaps you are right - I just can't compare it to Panasonic.

I have set three (3) programmable buttons to deal with this.

First I have an AF-home.  If you override the AF and press this, it resets the AF to a preset setting. However, press it again and it returns to your last manual override. Effect = 2 different settings at a single button press.

Second. The FN-lever can switch between AF mode+settings.  It also remembers the manual override in each lever position. Together with the Home-AF, this gives me 3 AF settings at the press of a button.

Last. I have set one button to direct AF access so i can override quickly.

AlmostDoctor wrote:

Bassam Guy wrote:

Bassam Guy wrote:

photofan1986 wrote:

When you use the viewfinder to compose and the touch screen as a AF target pad, the screen doesn't react as it should: it's slow and laggy, and not very accurate. But when you compose with the screen and use the touch screen to select a different focus point, it's plenty quick and accurate. I really don't know why.

I've had an E-M5 III since December. I tried the trackpad focus as you described a couple times and gave up on it for the reasons you mentioned.

You got me curious so I tried it again and it seems pretty responsive. Perhaps it was improved via firmware update.

I think it's kind of random. I've had situations where it was completely unresponsive and other times it works well.

I assigned AF target movement to the dials when AF selection is triggers so that I can use the dials when the pad is unresponsive.

Not quite random. Like most things it doesn't mess up when tested but always does when needed.

Thanks for your inputs. So it seems it is more or less "normal". For those who don't know Panasonic, their touch interface is MUCH better than Olympus' and this af pad function works much smoother and with greater accuracy.  (certainly on the G9,G80, GX85 etc).

I've assigned the dials to the function, making it slightly less annoying in use. It's no joystick or good touch pad (à la Panasonic) though...