First images with the OM-1 - Ducks!

I got an OM-1. I should not buy this camera, considering my low retirement income, but it was a used offer much reduced with 20000 shutter count and with 24 months warranty, I was unable to resist.

So I went out on a walk and photographed ducks. No bird recognition, no burst or procapture here.
I used C-AF and S-AF. In comparison to my E-M5III I noticed, the focus is fast, but in some situations it did not confirm focus where the E-M5III had confirmed focus.

The difference is this: With the E-M5III these critical pictures would probably be slightly out of focus, but with the OM-1 all images where in precise focus.

The light was not good, so some images had motion blur due to camera shake or due to subject movement.
I used Topaz sharpen AI to improve these, it does a great job with motion blur.
(I use it almost only to compensate motion blur)
All images are developed in DxO 6, using DeepPrime XD and are cropped.

I had problems taking the images, I got "card error" after each 5 or 10 pics.
At home, some images where corrupted and caused Faststone to hang up.
The reason was probably my SD cards, which are almost 5 years old or more.
I got a newer Sandisk card and so far I could see, this does not seem to have these problems.
Future will show it.

Number 2 seems so happy. Are you enjoying the camera?

He's reported some issues with the autofocus that turned out to be okay, and that his camera isn't playing well with old SD cards. He also is just showing us what photos look like in a surprisingly typical workflow for the forum.

I'm interested to hear long term more about what he thinks.

As close as these birds were you shouldn't need subject detection, burst or ProCapture.

I find those three are crutches - I find that Subject Detection often misses shots for whatever reason. So I don't use it often at all.

I don't understand why you needed to do any post on these either, unless there is a problem with the camera or lens.

I hope you didn't feed the birds.

Funkmon wrote:

Number 2 seems so happy. Are you enjoying the camera?

Yes. It feels like the camera, which I always wanted, but never got...

PhotoMac503 wrote:

As close as these birds were you shouldn't need subject detection, burst or ProCapture.

I find those three are crutches - I find that Subject Detection often misses shots for whatever reason. So I don't use it often at all.

I don't understand why you needed to do any post on these either, unless there is a problem with the camera or lens.

Just for fun. I enjoy it.

I hope you didn't feed the birds.

No, not necessary. Other people and kids do it.

PhotoMac503 wrote:

As close as these birds were you shouldn't need subject detection, burst or ProCapture.

I find those three are crutches - I find that Subject Detection often misses shots for whatever reason. So I don't use it often at all.

I don't understand why you needed to do any post on these either, unless there is a problem with the camera or lens.

I hope you didn't feed the birds.

I find subject detection works really well on the OM-1 (unlike the E-M1X) so why not use it?

And short bursts (not at 50fps) will guarantee a clean shot with best pose.

Mike

mikero wrote:

I find subject detection works really well on the OM-1 (unlike the E-M1X) so why not use it?

And short bursts (not at 50fps) will guarantee a clean shot with best pose.

I am new with the camera and wanted to do a quick test without much configuration.
When I went out I did not know what I will see and what I will shoot.
(Of course it was almost sure I will see ducks, but I did not go out to shoot ducks)

The main reason, why I got the camera was better and preciser and more reliable autofocus and so far it has fulfilled my requirements.

I have now to learn how to use bird recognition, and to learn about it, but my main requirement is pinpoint precise reliable and fast autofocus and I wanted to test this.

PhotoMac503 wrote:

As close as these birds were you shouldn't need subject detection, burst or ProCapture.

I find those three are crutches - I find that Subject Detection often misses shots for whatever reason. So I don't use it often at all.

This is outright funny. I can only assume that you haven't figured out yet how to use Subject Detection properly, let alone ProCap.  For birds, for example, both make a night-and-day difference. The truth couldn't be farther from what you state here.

I don't understand why you needed to do any post on these either, unless there is a problem with the camera or lens.

There are lots of posters on this forum who enjoy sharing their pics, and there are lots of viewers who enjoy seeing them.  If you belong to neither group, does that give you the right to criticize?

I enjoyed looking at your duck images Peter! I find Ducks make a great subject for a first outing with a camera. Enjoy your photography with your OM-1 - I really like this camera myself. I hope the card error issue is resolved with the new cards.

Best regards,

Bill

I am using an SD card I bought in, I shot you not, 2009. 4gb baby. Works fine for me!

Funkmon wrote:

I am using an SD card I bought in, I shot you not, 2009. 4gb baby. Works fine for me!

Yes, I have very old cards from Agfa Photo 8 GB and 16 GB, Speed class 4, these work well, but are rather  slow.
I got a new brandnew Sandisk UHS I card, speed class 10 and after some 100 shots these had no problem yet.
It seems the OM-1 is a little bit picky with cards, but I hope if I only buy Sandisk it will work, because this is a well known brand and the engineers at OM-System have probably tested the camera with these cards.

You might want to look at Transcend 64GB UHS II cards. Very affordable and have been very reliable in both my G9 and now OM1. Significantly faster than UHS 1 cards.

Peter Heckert2 wrote:

I got an OM-1. I should not buy this camera, considering my low retirement income, but it was a used offer much reduced with 20000 shutter count and with 24 months warranty, I was unable to resist.

So I went out on a walk and photographed ducks. No bird recognition, no burst or procapture here.
I used C-AF and S-AF. In comparison to my E-M5III I noticed, the focus is fast, but in some situations it did not confirm focus where the E-M5III had confirmed focus.

The difference is this: With the E-M5III these critical pictures would probably be slightly out of focus, but with the OM-1 all images where in precise focus.

The light was not good, so some images had motion blur due to camera shake or due to subject movement.
I used Topaz sharpen AI to improve these, it does a great job with motion blur.
(I use it almost only to compensate motion blur)
All images are developed in DxO 6, using DeepPrime XD and are cropped.

I had problems taking the images, I got "card error" after each 5 or 10 pics.
At home, some images where corrupted and caused Faststone to hang up.
The reason was probably my SD cards, which are almost 5 years old or more.
I got a newer Sandisk card and so far I could see, this does not seem to have these problems.
Future will show it.

As this is in a comment and criticism thread and I’m assuming you would like to shoot birds.

I would suggest you get down lower to bird eye level, either by lying down or using the fold out display and squatting.  Usually good to be at eye level of any creature you shoot.

Sorry to hear of your card problems though.

I can't do that here because the creek has a steep bank and because I have it in my back.

But I found the water circles interesting, otherwise I would not have posted the duck-images, but so I like the pictures.

It's also amazing how the sharpness unt technical image quality is despite ISO 3200, and the long exposure time, even at 1:1 scale.
It was a test, not an art project.
I have the impression the autofokus is more precise and also the stabilization, than on the E-M5III.