I have an OM 1 (first version) and I assumed it had touchscreen function where I could navigate menus and select things just by tapping on the screen....so far I can only get a few functions in the SCP to work this way. Eg I can tap twice on the ISO and get a set of arrows I can tap up or down for ISO but if I tap SCP on the icon for single image and I bring up all the other options (delay, multi images, silent shutter etc) I can't select those by tapping I have to use the 4 way arrow dial on the camera back...
I have the Touch Control set to ON in the Menu and the icons for touch control of focus / exposure on the screen doesn't seem to affect this...
Am I wrong in thinking the menu should be available with the touch screen function?
Thanks,
Alan.
Alan,
As you have discovered, the touchscreen capability on the OM1 does not function in accordance with reasonable expectations.
The menus are just NOT touch enabled, full stop. Many people wanted this but OMDS didn’t do it. This might almost be considered reasonable because the menus are quite small compared to a finger, but still. The lack of touch enable menus was noted in the review.
Touch capability on the SCP (Super Control Panel) is either defective or the result of brain-dead design.
The top three rows of the SCP, (the row containing ISO to the row containing White Balance) are fully touch enabled: you can select something to change and change the values by touch.
The bottom three rows (actually everything from the gear icon on) are only partly touch enabled, or in other words, broken. You can touch an item, like Aspect Ratio, to select it and bring up the list of values to change it, but at that point the screen goes dead: you cannot touch values to select them, nor can you get out of the selection with touch. You have to use wheels or buttons once you have touched the thing. It’s absurd.
So the following can be fully changed with touch:
- Shutter speed
- Aperture
- ISO
- AF Target Mode
- Exposure Compensation
- Bluetooth/Wifi
- Picture Mode
- White Balance
Everything else can be tapped to select to change, but not actually changed by touch.
Another touchscreen absurdity has to do with the AF Targeting Pad feature, whereby you can touch the screen to move the focus point while using the EVF. Very handy.
When using this feature, the entire left half of the screen is dead. Only the right half of the screen is touch sensitive. So when you drag a thumb from right to left across the screen, your cursor suddenly stops moving when your thumb reaches the middle of the screen.
The reason for this nonsense is that the geniuses at Oly/OMDS believe that everyone is right-eye dominant, and is also prone to touching the screen with their nose. So they deadened the left side of the screen to prevent accidental nasal activation.
Naturally, this “helpful feature” cannot be disabled, or even reversed. So just grin and bear it when your cursor stops moving at the center line. And if you’re left eye dominant and touch the right side of the screen with your nose, tough cheese. And if you like to use your left thumb to move the focus point, you will just have to stretch it to the right side of the screen, while trying to avoid your nose. The level of brilliance of this implementation should be obvious to everyone. Or you can turn the Targeting Pad off and just use the joystick.
Anyway, I hope this clarifies so you won’t think you’re crazy or missing something…
