UPDATE: Custom mode dial

[Martin Ocando]

I you have access to a Brother PT-9600 label printer (or similar), you can use the PC software that comes with it, import a JPEG file, and print it out. I designed my new dial on Illustrator, exported as JPEG and printed the label. Now look at this, and let me know how do you like it :-D

The label adheres very tightly, and doesn't seem to damage the finish of the dial. And I can still reprint as many as I want.

What the settings mean?

WLF: Wildlife, brids in flight, AF-C, center weighted, 1600th setting in shutter priority mode. Auto ISO with no top.

LND: Landscape or Tripod (Studio) work, IBIS off, manual mode, manual focus with magnification and peaking, manual flash control for external strobes. Manual ISO set at 160.

STR: Street Photography, Shutter priority at 1/400th, Matrix metering mode, AF-S, auto ISO with 3200 top. AF Beep and illuminator off.

And I still have one myset left



UPDATE!!!

AI file is now available for download here

This is how the AI file looks now, first row is for E-M5 Mark II and E-M10, the second row is for E-M1, PEN E-P5 and E-PL7, and the third row is for the E-PL5 and all 8 dial positions.



And here are JPEG files, so you don't need to have Illustrator, if you simply want to use the numbers, as many have requested.


EM-5 Mark II and E-M10 Black


EM-5 Mark II and E-M10 Silver


EM-1 and PEN EP-5 and E-PL7 Black


EM-1 and PEN EP-5 and E-PL7 Silver


E-PL5 and all right dials with 8 positions Black body


E-PL5 and all right dials with 8 positions Silver body

--
Martin
"One of the biggest mistakes a photographer can make is to look at the real world and cling to the vain hope that next time his film will somehow bear a closer resemblance to it" - Galen Rowell

 

[Regor250]

[No message]

 

[arrr]

Very neat!

 

[Allan Brown]

Looks good.

Can you make the AI file available?

Allan

 

[Martin Ocando]

Looks good.

Can you make the AI file available?

Allan

Of course. Just PM me your Email.

 

[Tom899]

Looks great! I would like the file too please! I'll PM

 

[Guy Parsons]

A nice neat label there, Martin.

Lacking the needed wide label printer I did the print and snip and stick with Brother narrow labels to get a workable label for my E-P5 mode dial, here in close-up to show how rough it is, but in real life looks OK.



For me "1,2,3,4" is enough to remind me of MySets 1/2/3/4 which increasingly are set for lower light levels. Any less used special setups are temporary and I use the PASM spots as they are for those.

I did not use cleverer than "1,2,3,4" as I keep subtly changing my settings and my tiny brain can cope with remembering which light situation relates to which number.

As for wide label printers I'm sniffing around the Brother PT-P700 http://brother.com.au/brochures/PT-P700_Brochure.pdf for other reasons as I make labels for my camera club print display stands by another very laborious work intensive method (near to 2,000 labels made so far, 6 per stand), and it would be nicer to just churn out labels up to 24mm wide with custom design (despite the cost). And also to churn out a better dial label for my camera.

Regards.... Guy

 

[Martin Ocando]

A nice neat label there, Martin.

Lacking the needed wide label printer I did the print and snip and stick with Brother narrow labels to get a workable label for my E-P5 mode dial, here in close-up to show how rough it is, but in real life looks OK.



For me "1,2,3,4" is enough to remind me of MySets 1/2/3/4 which increasingly are set for lower light levels. Any less used special setups are temporary and I use the PASM spots as they are for those.

I did not use cleverer than "1,2,3,4" as I keep subtly changing my settings and my tiny brain can cope with remembering which light situation relates to which number.

As for wide label printers I'm sniffing around the Brother PT-P700 http://brother.com.au/brochures/PT-P700_Brochure.pdf for other reasons as I make labels for my camera club print display stands by another very laborious work intensive method (near to 2,000 labels made so far, 6 per stand), and it would be nicer to just churn out labels up to 24mm wide with custom design (despite the cost). And also to churn out a better dial label for my camera.

Regards.... Guy

Cool. I did that, and in fact, my Adobe Illustrator file contains the 3 designs, the one I'm using, the one like yours with numbers, and a white one for silver cameras. But since is so easy to simply reprint and reattach them, I just went for the current settings I'm using.

BTW, I noticed that the E-M1, and the PENs, having the dial on the right, the order of settings is inverted. So I can do those as well, upon request :-D

Very happy to help ;-)







--
Martin
"One of the biggest mistakes a photographer can make is to look at the real world and cling to the vain hope that next time his film will somehow bear a closer resemblance to it" - Galen Rowell

 

[Chumby]

Great work here, Martin!

Cheers

Chumby

 

[Martin Ocando]

Great work here, Martin!

Cheers

Chumby

Main post updated. Enjoy!!! ;-)

 

[chris98250]

I may be missing something, here, as I've never used the mysets on my EM-5, but the mode dial has only only 8 spots, rather than the 9 on your label. Is there still a way to incorporate all 4 myset options onto the mode dial?

Chris

 

[Martin Ocando]

I may be missing something, here, as I've never used the mysets on my EM-5, but the mode dial has only only 8 spots, rather than the 9 on your label. Is there still a way to incorporate all 4 myset options onto the mode dial?

Chris

You are right. It appears the photo story mode dial position was implemented after the E-M5.

I'll make a third row of dials for older PENs and the E-M5

--
Martin
"One of the biggest mistakes a photographer can make is to look at the real world and cling to the vain hope that next time his film will somehow bear a closer resemblance to it" - Galen Rowell

 

[Guy Parsons]

I may be missing something, here, as I've never used the mysets on my EM-5, but the mode dial has only only 8 spots, rather than the 9 on your label. Is there still a way to incorporate all 4 myset options onto the mode dial?

Chris

There's no way that the E-M5 can use MySets on the Mode dial, it's just too early a firmware level.

The feature came in at the E-PL5 some months later (see my Timeline at http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~parsog/olyepl1/80-Oly-timeline.html )

On my E-PL5 (also has 8 spot dial) I needed different MySets to what I use on the E-P5 and for ease of use assigned them to the PASM spots, with basically....

• My1 being a general purpose everyday A mode and assigned to A, no stabilisation.
• My2 same but with IBIS on and OIS enabled, on the S spot, so to me S means Stabilised.
• My3 a manual mode mainly reserved for flash use on the M spot.
• My4 a very low light desperation A mode assigned to the P spot, P meaning Pathetic light to me.

Thus no real need for a dial cover.

When the E-P5 came into my life I found that I could leave IBIS on all the time so that altered what I needed. I never use the iAuto/Art/Scene/PhotoStory spots so they became the My1/2/3/4 spots.

In my case (to Martin) the numbers are reversed to your sample, My1 being next to P and My4 being next to Video. Less dial twisting for me that way. The MySets are all A mode, all with IBIS on and 0 sec anti-shock, and all raw + LN jpeg....

• 1 being 200 ISO and f/5.6 in good daylight (mainly use 12-40mm lens so all designed for that).
• 2 auto ISO limit 1600 f/4.0 for when the light drops a bit.
• 3 auto ISO limit 6400 f/2.8 for when light drops more.
• 4 auto ISO limit 25,600 f/2.8 - that's now my desperation mode for black cats in coal holes at midnight.

That way the unused Mode dial spots have some use and the PASM spots are still there for temporary situations when the MySets don't quite do it.

The IBIS of course lets me shoot at silly slow speeds, but if the speeds get too slow or inappropriate then change from My1 to 2 and so on. If coming out of the coal hole and I had left the dial at 4 then the auto ISO and 1/8000 shutter makes sure that the exposure is OK.

During day and night all I need to do is twiddle the Mode dial between 1-2-3-4 and use the rear thumb dial to change aperture, and the front dial to change exposure compensation. I now rarely ever use the SCP and even more rarely do menu diving.

My E-PL5 MySets help page at http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~parsog/olyepl1/52-epl5-mymodes.html covers all models that can do it, but E-M5 and earlier cannot do it.

I have ordered (for other reasons) the Brother PT-P700, a similar smaller one to Martin's that can handle up to 24mm tapes whereas Martin's can handle up to 32mm I think, the dials seem about 16mm in diameter. So soon there's an Aussie dial production available, maybe. For tape used I cannot see more than about 20 cents cost in Australia to make one dial top.

Regards..... Guy

 

[Chumby]

Hi Guy,

I'm down in Tassie... would be great if you could print out a dial for my Em-1 when your new machine arrives.... if that is what you are offering? I like the rationale behind your MySets.

Cheers

Chumby

 

[Rudi]

Hi Martin,

here is another suggestion for a mode dial layout, which was published a few years ago :







... have fun

Cheers,

Rudi.

 

[Martin Ocando]

Thanks for the info, Guy. I'm updating the main post with the latest, and adding the E-PL5 8 position dial.

 

[Guy Parsons]

Hi Guy,

I'm down in Tassie... would be great if you could print out a dial for my Em-1 when your new machine arrives.... if that is what you are offering? I like the rationale behind your MySets.

Cheers

Chumby

Nothing will happen for a while, I have a major photo book project with a deadline that is using most of my waking time, plus a looming 6 week holiday, so my uneducated guess is that I won't be making dial tops until some time in July or so. When in "production" I can imagine a cost like Oz$2 for a dial top posted within Australia.

Luckily Martin is super enthusiastic and helpful, so there's no problems in creating a custom design dial, and when my printer surfaces, no problems in printing it. Maybe cutting a neat circle will be the major problem.

Regards.... Guy

 

[Guy Parsons]

Thanks for the info, Guy. I'm updating the main post with the latest, and adding the E-PL5 8 position dial.

Still not for me! My E-P5 dial has "1" next to "P" and runs to "4" next to "Video". So there's another one to make I made one using PaintShop Pro that probably will work with my Brother printer when it arrives.

As for my E-PL5 I used the PASM spots as the 4 MySets and just learned what they did. PAS all converted to A mode and M mode stayed M mode in my case. No need for a dial top for me for the E-PL5. To me "P" meant Pathetic light conditions, "A" was the usual spot for most shots, and "S" for me meant Stabilised. "M", well it stayed as M but mostly set for flash use.

The always big advantage with MySets on the Mode dial being that any temporary or mistaken settings are swept away when turned off/on or when the dial is twisted away and back.

The camera is always in a predictable state when you grab it out of the bag, and for me that is important as I often do silly settings to the camera to try and sort out questions from forum members.

Regards.... Guy

 

[Martin Ocando]

Thanks for the info, Guy. I'm updating the main post with the latest, and adding the E-PL5 8 position dial.

Still not for me! My E-P5 dial has "1" next to "P" and runs to "4" next to "Video". So there's another one to make I made one using PaintShop Pro that probably will work with my Brother printer when it arrives.

Ok. I'll take a look at it, and will update the main post as necessary.

As for my E-PL5 I used the PASM spots as the 4 MySets and just learned what they did. PAS all converted to A mode and M mode stayed M mode in my case. No need for a dial top for me for the E-PL5. To me "P" meant Pathetic light conditions, "A" was the usual spot for most shots, and "S" for me meant Stabilised. "M", well it stayed as M but mostly set for flash use.

The always big advantage with MySets on the Mode dial being that any temporary or mistaken settings are swept away when turned off/on or when the dial is twisted away and back.

The camera is always in a predictable state when you grab it out of the bag, and for me that is important as I often do silly settings to the camera to try and sort out questions from forum members.

That is exactly why I love MySets. So many shots were lost when I forgot to reset settings the night before, and something appears in front of me, and AGHHHHH!!! 2 sec time. :-x

Regards.... Guy

 

[il_alexk]

Hi Guy,

I'm down in Tassie... would be great if you could print out a dial for my Em-1 when your new machine arrives.... if that is what you are offering? I like the rationale behind your MySets.

Cheers

Chumby

Nothing will happen for a while, I have a major photo book project with a deadline that is using most of my waking time, plus a looming 6 week holiday, so my uneducated guess is that I won't be making dial tops until some time in July or so. When in "production" I can imagine a cost like Oz$2 for a dial top posted within Australia.

Great idea! Can't wait to order one. I hope you'll be able to ship to Europe.

Luckily Martin is super enthusiastic and helpful, so there's no problems in creating a custom design dial, and when my printer surfaces, no problems in printing it. Maybe cutting a neat circle will be the major problem.

Regards.... Guy