Try This Focus Trick On Your OM-1

ProDude wrote:

JRobins wrote:

• ProDude wrote:

A friend of mine who also has a OM-1 and shoots hard to track sports made a discovery the other day. He'd been struggling with hits of focus that were accurate using 15fps in burst shooting of his son who is very active in sports. He had him, from about 50 feet away run towards him and while doing so gyrated twisted and turned and had his head both towards and away from him in the process. Previously and with prior firmware (prior to the new 1.3) he noted he'd miss more than a few shots. Out of desperation he turned both the Eye/Face Human detection on but ADDED the C-AF-TR mode which worked in tandem (I didn't know nor think about this before). The TR mode has been blasted prior for being useless. Well what happened was he now got over 90% of his attempted shots like this in this setting perfectly IN focus. He was astounded and repeated it and it was identical in both instances. I saw a Youtube by a British guy who reported he'd also noted the C-AF with TR mode in place also was MUCH better then it was ever before.

So I figured it was time I gave it a try. I played with the TR mode before and indeed found it near worthless as it lost the subject very easily when moved about. I place it in the C-AF AND TR mode adding the Human Eye/Face detection and tried it with my wife in a poorly lit which before when I tried to track and shoot, all the shots were out of focus/blurry. This was in Aperture Priority mode by the way and I didn't up the shutter speeds. Well wouldn't ya know it, I took 4 shots in a row with these conditions and noted that the TR portion allowed for my blinking little green boxes (I have my setting to show these) to remain tracking right on her upper body and mostly the back of her head when she turned away from me. As soon as she began turning back to face me barely on the side of her face it nailed her eye with a small white box completing the larger box on her face. This is near exactly as a test I did while trying out a Sony A7R5 with their new AI. (I sent the Sony back by the way). I tried this 4 times and each time it never lost her head and then nailed focus on her eyes and face. No accident to be sure. Without the TR in effect, it was NOT as effective by a considerable margin as NONE of the shots were in focus. WITH the TR in effect along with the C-AF and EYE-FACE detection it was nailing it 100% and this was in rather poor light. So I encourage you folks to give this a try and see if it doesn't turbocharge your focus abilities as well. I can't wait to try this on birds soon.

When you try it on birds, please let us know the results! Sounds hopeful!

I thought I was clear. It is exclusively a feature that works for HUMAN Eye/Face detection. Do NOT use CF-A-TR in Subject Recognition mode you will be very unhappy.

Eh? So why did you say that you couldn't wait to try it out on birds at the end of your post?

Tumulous wrote:

ProDude wrote:

EZGritz wrote:

My friends with Z9s think they did better with their Nikon DSLRs. They are not satisfied wiht the Z9

I have a friend who is a sports shooter and he tried a Z9 and A1 sending them back. He is thrilled with the ergo's and setup and performance of the OM-1. He said he get's very close to the 100% keeper rate which the others didn't come close to. I've noted several posts and Youtube's floating around of others that used an A1 or Z9 and found the OM-1 superior in ALL regards. But it's like some well kept (more like buried) secret that doesn't sit well with the fanatical FF crowd. Oh well. it's their money. I sent one back for a refund as it brought NOTHING to the table my OM-1 wasn't doing.

So how come you reordered a Sony A7RV only a couple of days after writing that and now have it in your possession?

Well, not like I have to apologize. I decided after careful examination of the images I took during the trial, that the A7R5 would make some sense for the landscape and portrait use. It's not like I NEED it. More of a want. I tend to shoot birds perched far away and such and the cropability of a 61mp FF setup does have it's merits. I just figured it might be a decent 2nd body to have around for some applications. One thing is for sure. If I travel on a vacation and such or attempt to shoot fast moving subjects, the OM-1 will be THE body and lens combo in my bag.

Tumulous wrote:

ProDude wrote:

JRobins wrote:

• ProDude wrote:

A friend of mine who also has a OM-1 and shoots hard to track sports made a discovery the other day. He'd been struggling with hits of focus that were accurate using 15fps in burst shooting of his son who is very active in sports. He had him, from about 50 feet away run towards him and while doing so gyrated twisted and turned and had his head both towards and away from him in the process. Previously and with prior firmware (prior to the new 1.3) he noted he'd miss more than a few shots. Out of desperation he turned both the Eye/Face Human detection on but ADDED the C-AF-TR mode which worked in tandem (I didn't know nor think about this before). The TR mode has been blasted prior for being useless. Well what happened was he now got over 90% of his attempted shots like this in this setting perfectly IN focus. He was astounded and repeated it and it was identical in both instances. I saw a Youtube by a British guy who reported he'd also noted the C-AF with TR mode in place also was MUCH better then it was ever before.

So I figured it was time I gave it a try. I played with the TR mode before and indeed found it near worthless as it lost the subject very easily when moved about. I place it in the C-AF AND TR mode adding the Human Eye/Face detection and tried it with my wife in a poorly lit which before when I tried to track and shoot, all the shots were out of focus/blurry. This was in Aperture Priority mode by the way and I didn't up the shutter speeds. Well wouldn't ya know it, I took 4 shots in a row with these conditions and noted that the TR portion allowed for my blinking little green boxes (I have my setting to show these) to remain tracking right on her upper body and mostly the back of her head when she turned away from me. As soon as she began turning back to face me barely on the side of her face it nailed her eye with a small white box completing the larger box on her face. This is near exactly as a test I did while trying out a Sony A7R5 with their new AI. (I sent the Sony back by the way). I tried this 4 times and each time it never lost her head and then nailed focus on her eyes and face. No accident to be sure. Without the TR in effect, it was NOT as effective by a considerable margin as NONE of the shots were in focus. WITH the TR in effect along with the C-AF and EYE-FACE detection it was nailing it 100% and this was in rather poor light. So I encourage you folks to give this a try and see if it doesn't turbocharge your focus abilities as well. I can't wait to try this on birds soon.

When you try it on birds, please let us know the results! Sounds hopeful!

I thought I was clear. It is exclusively a feature that works for HUMAN Eye/Face detection. Do NOT use CF-A-TR in Subject Recognition mode you will be very unhappy.

Eh? So why did you say that you couldn't wait to try it out on birds at the end of your post?

Only that I wanted to see if the 1.3 firmware update made much improvement in that area as well. I hadn't tried it.

EZGritz wrote:

Did you see an improvement?

With human face/eye detection indeed I noted it was able to pick them up from a greater distance. Also was immediate in general to create that box around the face and then a small eye box. I did find using the TR mode added to tracking with humans it tends to stay right on the head better waiting for the person to turn their head to face you more. It even grabbed the eye on the side of the face which impressed me.

For animals it doesn't need the TR mode at all as it puts a box around their body immediately and nails the eye very well indeed. So I'd say the 1.3 certainly did make an improvement.

ahaslett wrote:

You are not alone in that!

Also, having MFT and FE mounts gives a very large set of lens and body options. The A7Rv is a significant step up from the A7Riv but I can’t justify it in my mind.

Andrew

I will be curious to see just how much faster and more accurate the A7R5 is at grabbing and holding onto a face/eye. Lower light seems to be very challenging in this regard with my OM-1. We shall see........

ahaslett wrote:

ProDude wrote:

ahaslett wrote:

You are not alone in that!

Also, having MFT and FE mounts gives a very large set of lens and body options. The A7Rv is a significant step up from the A7Riv but I can’t justify it in my mind.

Andrew

I will be curious to see just how much faster and more accurate the A7R5 is at grabbing and holding onto a face/eye. Lower light seems to be very challenging in this regard with my OM-1. We shall see........

The OM1 in SAF focusses on ordinary targets like stationary number plates in near darkness. It carries on when the A7Riv gives up. I doubt the Riv will beat the OM1 at that.

The A7Riv is already pretty good at EyeAF and head following in CAF-TR.

Interested to hear you get on.

Andrew

Oh believe me this isn't a fight between the two cameras. The OM-1 is my "Go To" in probably at least 75% or more of all cases. You're right, at -8ev with a fast lens the OM-1 will best a Sony A7R5 all day long at -4ev. But I don't usually shoot in even lower light, so it's not much of a challenge to me. But you can bet I'll be stressing it out to see what it CAN do. The OM already passed all the tests with flying colors. I simply wanted to see what it would be like to have a NATIVE higher rez camera on board for those portrait and landscape stuff I do. We'll see. I'm not 100% on board. It is a heck of a machine though. Just want to see how much of it's goodies actually work.