Need tips for faster E-1 focus speed

[grandp]

Anyone E-1 users in the Pensacola FL area

i can meet with to text my E-1 with yours.??

 

[llpoolej]

If they are so much better, why did you even invest in the Oly system?
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[MilSuper]

At worst it is tenths of a second.
I have had the D30 and D60 and they are both WAY slower than Oly.

 

[grandp]

If they are so much better, why did you even invest in the Oly system?
--
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http://llpoolej.smugmug.com

Everyone here says the OLy is so much better and i like the lens and dust buster.

I have the E-1 , the grip and battery system the 14-54 and the FL-50.
quite a investment to start with.
I was going to buy the 50-200 next.

I would never of thought the focus speed of a pro camera would be so non pro more like a P&S camera in comparison to all the other brands.

 

[Carloskbco]

I shot several weddings when I was using my Minolta XD11 35 mm (film), and before I did it I hounded a Pro in the area where I live, and the advice he kept giving me is: anticipate your shots, a wedding ceremony is normally a slow event, not even the speed of a turtle race, so make sure you have a good set of batteries in your flash, etc.etc.
What kind of weddings are you shooting? hiperactive 5 yr olds or what?


For what I've seen the E1 would perform great in an event like that in the hands of somebody that hasn't had a couple of "bennies" beforehand, in other words is not "wired up", heck, even the pictures Adrianox took in his first wedding ever with the E1 are very nice...

Carlos

 

[Nacha]

from cameta camera, as i recall. perhaps the unit was never repaired. i also purchased a refurb e-1 wiht a refurb 14-54 mm lens. after only a couple dozen shots, the apeture of the lens stayed closed. wouldnt open. i sent it back to cameta and recievd another lens. my camera focuses very quickly compared to my p&s fz20, but not quite as fast as my friends dh2.

also, why all the hostility with grandp's posts? it seems to me that he is a pretty knowlegable fellow who just isnt having good experiences with his oly products. Really the only real issue i would have with his experience is

not buying a new e-1. the refurb unit, especially for someone who makes their living using this equipment, seems a bit dicey. realy dont know if this is a product line characteristic (slow focus compared to the canons), or a defective refurb'd unit.

BTw, i know that these units are supposed to be"mint, never owned by a consumer", BUT, cameta exchanged my lens no problem. i was given the impression that problems were not uncommon with these refurbs.

cameta , btw , is great to deal with.

 

[llpoolej]

I have a refurb unit from Cameta. I have put over 10k shots on it myself. I don't see the problem in the focus speed. I can shoot my husband's little nitro cars which are going 70mph and all over the place(no way to pre focus)

I can shoot dogs doing agility and horses running through fields, going over fences, whatever. I don't see the problem

I only use the center autofocus point as I find it makes things more accurate.

Grandp is encountering irritation as everything he has gotten so far is reportedly defective or crappy. Just makes you wonder if it is the man or the machine
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[Gregm61]

I recently sold a 10D I had been using for about 15 months. Yes, with USM lenses it is very fast, but it doesn't take too long on Canon threads to see complaints about focussing accuracy problems and the lack of a decent focus assist light unless a separate flash is attached. Canon is far from the perfect system, however, it is much more advanced and, to be honest, is probably what you need to stick with. Anything less obviously will not work for your intended purposes. As slow as it is, the AF system Olympus currently has is much more proficient than the days of manual focus photography. As much as some complain, it's amazing any good photography was done prior to the mid 1980's when the first 35mm AF camera was released

Every website I visited/researched that had posted reviews of the E-1 system (Photozone, THIS SITE, Photo.net to mention three) referred to how advanced both Canon and Nikon were to this point in AF technology. I'm amazed you didn't see any of this in making your mind up to invest as much as you have in the system.

 

[Nacha]

that, like my defective refurb lens, perhaps his camera is not functioning properly. Had he purchased a new e-1, this possiblity would have been dramatically reduced. my cameta refurb e-1 works well also.

 

[jlongo]

grandp's position, if you've ever used a Canon 10D or later with a Canon USM lens, you know why he is frustrated. The Canono is somfast that the first time, Ithought it had broken. The Oly E-1 is about like a Canon body with a non-USM lens, say a Tamron 28-75.

That said, I just like the handling and overall quality (which made my Canono feel like a tinker toy). I get along fine with it, maybe because I manually focus 90% of the time. I didn't like focus-by-wire either, but I'm getting used to it. It just doesn't jump into focus like my MF camera.
Would I go back to Canon? No way! . . . well maybe a 1Ds.
--
The right to free speech in no way implies any right to be taken seriously!
Joe

 

[grandp]

I recently sold a 10D I had been using for about 15 months. Yes,
with USM lenses it is very fast, but it doesn't take too long on
Canon threads to see complaints about focussing accuracy problems
and the lack of a decent focus assist light unless a separate flash
is attached. Canon is far from the perfect system, however, it is
much more advanced and, to be honest, is probably what you need to
stick with. Anything less obviously will not work for your intended
purposes. As slow as it is, the AF system Olympus currently has is
much more proficient than the days of manual focus photography. As
much as some complain, it's amazing any good photography was done
prior to the mid 1980's when the first 35mm AF camera was released

Every website I visited/researched that had posted reviews of the
E-1 system (Photozone, THIS SITE, Photo.net to mention three)
referred to how advanced both Canon and Nikon were to this point in
AF technology. I'm amazed you didn't see any of this in making your
mind up to invest as much as you have in the system.

I have read all that.

But none of the other systems offer the dust buster and the lower cost of good lens as Oly. thats is why i made the choice i did.
I was not expecting it to be this much slower.

I was going to shoot a beach session today but it got changed to next week so i will shoot some at a drag strip for fun Saturday.

I am thinking about if i should put it all up for sale i can still send back the FL-50 I think for a refund and i should get most of what i paid for the rest on e-bay.

It is a nice camera i like it except for the slow speed.

At weddings i shot very fast to be able to grab the fun looks on peoples faces and this happens very fast at a moments notice.

 

[marf]

I dont shoot so much with my E1 and until now the AF speed is ok,

but I read this forum since months and there are the following facts stated:

1. AF speed is improved with a second battery in a battery grip.
obviously the Oly AF needs power

2. AF speed is lens dependant

3. AF speed will be never as good as Canon AF speed, but according to
the forum and my experience until now its sufficient.
I made a big comparison table before I decided for the Oly E1
( In the run were S3, 20D, D70, Minolta-5D, SD10 )
and AF speed WAS a negative point for the E1 BUT the other
systems had more negative points in the end.
So you always have to accept compromises, Oly AF is not the
best but ok for me.

4. There was one post in this forum of a dirty AF sensor, maybe
that is the case, maybe not andyou expect too much even when
using a second battery

5. My experience is, sometimes its good to point the AF sensor
to a little contrasty region a few degrees left or right,
and move after AF achieved.

cheers

 

[Big Ga]

I dont shoot so much with my E1 and until now the AF speed is ok,

but I read this forum since months and there are the following
facts stated:

1. AF speed is improved with a second battery in a battery grip.
obviously the Oly AF needs power

2. AF speed is lens dependant
.....

I now have the battery grip. While I can imagine it might very well help AF tracking speed on something big like the 50-200 (although I've not really pushed it with this lens yet to try it out) I unfortunately notice no difference with the 14-54 which is what a wedding photographer would be interested in.

 

[grandp]

I shot several weddings when I was using my Minolta XD11 35 mm
(film), and before I did it I hounded a Pro in the area where I
live, and the advice he kept giving me is: anticipate your shots,
a wedding ceremony is normally a slow event, not even the speed of
a turtle race, so make sure you have a good set of batteries in
your flash, etc.etc.
What kind of weddings are you shooting? hiperactive 5 yr olds or what?

------------------------------------

I agree most weddings are slow but receptions are not slow they are fast atlest good ones with everyone dancing and having fun and yes i do anticipate my shots but they if the camera can not focus fast enoff to take it then the shot is missed.

I shoot action shots not just people standing around the action shots are what sells my service and style of wedding photography.
Its like being at a sporting event in many ways.

Also many weddings on the beach have othe activities that go on like poring the sand and having all of the wedding party throw a rock in the ocean and we talke many movement shots on the beach for the group walking at us.
-----------------------------------------

For what I've seen the E1 would perform great in an event like that
in the hands of somebody that hasn't had a couple of "bennies"
beforehand, in other words is not "wired up", heck, even the
pictures Adrianox took in his first wedding ever with the E1 are
very nice...

----------------------------------------------

Looking at and the top end of wedding photographers who make the big bucks 5000 to 8000 a wedding thay all rely on camera speed to take the candid shots.

 

[Melbourne Park]

grandp wrote:
...

I have read all that.

But none of the other systems offer the dust buster and the lower
cost of good lens as Oly. thats is why i made the choice i did.
I was not expecting it to be this much slower.

You sure have a focus problem.

You rely way too much on the anonymous Net.

As a Pro, you should be depreciating your gear - the issue of the cost of gear is not what it is to amateurs. And since you earn income from photography, the cost of gear is a small element of your business.

You should have a retailier where you pay a retail price, and you get help. For instance, trial a camera before you buy it. And trial the lens. Speak to the dealer in his sto0re, and on the phone. A good camera dealer would know not only what his different gear's strengths and weaknesses are, but what his Pro customers tell him about issues.

Ask some other Pros who is a good dealer.

Instead of testing gear, then buying it and picking it up after the dealer has prep'd it for you, with all the firmware installed and the dealer testing that it is all sweet, and you trialling it before walking out of the shop, you go and buy first a very low cost amateur camera, and then a re-conditioned E-1 that might be two and ahalf years old, and you buy it from the Web.

Its quite silly really.

And if there is not a good Olympus dealer in your area, then simply don't buy the Olympus.

You've said that the lenses are good value from the Olympus. But how important is the cost at the end of the day, if the whole system doesn't meet your needs? Like, maybe the lenses are themselves slow compared to other brands?

In Australia, Pro clients pay higher prices than consumers. Pro clients pay higher prices because they often want the latest feature for a specific reason. And they buy that gear when it comes out, so they pay a premium, they pay retail. And the retailer loves the Pro clients, so the retailer takes special car of them.

You need to forget about the web, get a relationship, and focus on your business.

 

[Phil Rose]

Phil

 

[new8080]

Because he's a clown.
--
One of the B&H 6

 

[grandp]

I have a refurb unit from Cameta. I have put over 10k shots on it
myself. I don't see the problem in the focus speed. I can shoot
my husband's little nitro cars which are going 70mph and all over
the place(no way to pre focus)

I can shoot dogs doing agility and horses running through fields,
going over fences, whatever. I don't see the problem

I only use the center autofocus point as I find it makes things
more accurate.

Grandp is encountering irritation as everything he has gotten so
far is reportedly defective or crappy. Just makes you wonder if it
is the man or the machine
--

I have never incounter any of the same problem as i have from any other Digital cameras i have had.

Who would expect to get a OLY refurb camera that yas two year plus old firmware in it and not the current software to upgrade.

The E-500 the way Oly has it advertised one would thing its a camera on the same level as the 10D or 20D but at a great lower price but the fact is the E-500 is less of a camera then all the canon DSLRs for event work.

People ask why not buy the best cameras the high priced ones like the Mark II and the newer Nikons.

Well i was under the inpression the Olu E-1 was a high end pro camera it seems its just a very well built consumer camera that lacks good funcatinality.

 

[new8080]

Popphoto, or one of those mags, had a comparion last year where the focus speeds for cameras were listed. The E-1 was very competitive with other cameras unless the light was very low. In stronger light, the oly was actually faster.
--
One of the B&H 6

 

[Big Ga]

Popphoto, or one of those mags, had a comparion last year where the
focus speeds for cameras were listed. The E-1 was very competitive
with other cameras unless the light was very low. In stronger
light, the oly was actually faster.

I can believe this. The 14-54 in good light puts in a sterling performance.

Its such a pity it falls off so badly in lower light.