OM-1 Shutter priority ?

[oddbits]

Got my om-1 , birds in flight and perched using aperture priority or manual is fantastic , But tried some settings form the internet , they say do not use aperture to use shutter priority , around 2000 ss and auto iso etc , and what a mess , even when the camera goes to 200 iso the noise is unreal ?.

What do you use , is this user error , ?. plenty light today for the fast shutter speeds , i got around 6 pictures from 350 ?.. out of focus (and had beep enabled to confirm ) underexposed , histogram looked good ? and noise ? worst noise i have seen in any camera i have used ?.

Well going back to manual and aperture priority , until i find out if this is the camera or the plug behind the camera ?.

Will post a few photos shortly , once i find out how..

Thanks.

[antpitta]

I've shot well over 30k photos since getting my OM-1 back in April. 99.9% are birds: perched, BIF etc etc. In all but a very few situations I shoot wide open (300mm f4 PRO bare or - more often - with the 1.4x or 2x T/C) and unless there is an absurd amount of light set ISO to 3200. PP using DxO PL5 or ON-1 deals with noise to well below the level I need and more than makes up for the reduction in unsharp pics from using slower shutter speeds. I found Andy Rouse's videos on the OM-1 & shooting wildlife with high ISO/high shutter speed very informative.

Not sure why you're getting such different results if the ISO is around 200? Can't even think of any set of camera settings that would make things so much worse than when you initially used AP or manual. Strange ...

[oddbits]

Also using the 300 f4 , and tried the 1.4x today , I was blaming lightroom , and tried Olympus workspace , but they were the same , ?.

[Regor250]

I really don't see anything different in any modes wrt focus or noise. Perhaps the particular situation in which you took these images led to your observations, but it certainly isn't the use of shutter priority mode per se.

[oddbits]

No it should not be happening ?. in aperture and manual focus does seem to hit and miss , but not to the extent you would think something is badly wrong ?. There were 2 male pheasants in a stubble field , i took around 35 shots and not one in focus ?. Need to check where the auto s-is turns off ? i just wonder if this was part of the problem ?.

[Ian]

I virtually never use Shutter Priority mode - unless I have to (flash sync or for video, when a specific shutter speed is a must. Lots here use auto ISO, though I tend not to, myself. If using Auto ISO you need to ensure the upper limit is within a sensible boundary - ISO 1600, perhaps.

Ian

[oddbits]

I never used shutter priority before , it was just to try it out with the bird tracking , first day out was shutter and a fail ,second day out was aperture priority , and wow great camera , third day today , shutter and another fail ?.. i did get a few nice shots , but the focus and noise is all over the place , I never move from f4 on my 300 , as it is tack sharp . anyway hope to get out in the morning and give another try with my own settings .

[wanderer]

I'm with Ian.
I use wide open aperture priority (birds tend to be far enough away), ISO at 800 or 1600 and let the shutter speed take care of itself.

[oddbits]

yes i use my lens wide open , and my iso is set to auto 3200 , and no noise with aperture priority ? the only noise is when i make a mistake , but in shutter priority something is not working ?..

[oddbits]

Was checking my settings , and just noticed my shutter speed was stuck at 1/320th ? and it would not go lower but would go higher ? so checked lower and upper ss in menu and set it to 1/8th as the lower setting but it did not change in screen ? . so did a reset and all seem to be working again ?. but not tried shutter priority yet , anyone else had any lockups with the om-1 ?. like i say it may not be the camera but the plug that is using it ..

[BDennis]

Was checking my settings , and just noticed my shutter speed was stuck at 1/320th ? and it would not go lower but would go higher ? so checked lower and upper ss in menu and set it to 1/8th as the lower setting but it did not change in screen ? . so did a reset and all seem to be working again ?. but not tried shutter priority yet , anyone else had any lockups with the om-1 ?. like i say it may not be the camera but the plug that is using it ..

If you use the SH2 high speed shutter mode 1/320 is the lowest shutter speed at 25fps - maybe you had that set? I have to switch to sequential low to go slower. I think SH2 also limits the max ISO to 12800, or that’s what I have found. It may be I have some other setting that is limiting the ISO to 12800 - that is the thing, there are lots of nuances like this on the OM-1.

For my bird settings I use M (manual) mode with auto-ISO and exposure compensation set on a button. The ISO is ranging between 200 and 12800. I tend to start with the shutter on 1/1000s and aperture wide open and adjust from there according to the subject and conditions. If the camera chooses a high ISO, I put the RAW files through DxO PureRaw if it helps improve them. I previously used A mode and set the ISO manually but what I found was that for flight shots my shutter speed was often too low.

Another thing for bird flight shots is if you use the bird subject detection AF, use C-AF non-tracking mode. My biggest mistake early on was not realising I had it set to S-AF so the subject detect would lock on initially then lose it. So on a first outing I locked onto a Red Kite and the first shots were in focus and all the others blurred even though the subject AF tracked it the whole time.

It takes a while to learn the camera - I found the best thing is to go out and find somewhere where there are loads of gulls to practice on for flight shots. An abundance of Black-Headed gulls at one of my local haunts have done me a big favour in this regard.

It seems like everyone lands on a slightly different setup that works for them though!

I have had a few lockups with the OM-1 where I have to pull the battery and reset it. Sometimes on rare occasions it is because I accidentally pushed the lens release button and it did something that got it stuck. Other times mostly it is with a specific lens I have - the 8-25mm f4 Pro lens. That lens is one of those zoom lenses that has the “you need to extend the lens” message that locks the camera settings and often seems to totally lock up the camera for me, pretty sure it is a bug unless I have a bad lens or need to update the lens firmware.

Have fun with your OM-1, it is a great camera!
Bill

[antpitta]

An excellent response & you make some interesting points! It also highlights just how many different options - and even approaches - to using this camera even for similar "targets". I played around quite a bit during my first few weeks but once I settled on settings that worked for me I've pretty much just stayed with them as the results seems pretty good and consistent and the more "time" I get to think about the subject matter and less about the camera settings the better. Just my opinion, of course.

[oddbits]

Many thanks , this may have been the problem with shutter speed , turned sh2 on and tried it and yes it was the lowest it would go, back to the manual ..

[DerekC]

For some years I have only used the cameras in Manual. Preferring to have control over aperture and shutter. Using auto ISO, most of the time.
Recently I have been trying Shutter priority. My reason Is the rapidly changing exposure when photographing aircraft. In manual mode you can find yourself constantly changing a setting as the sky changes.

I use low sequential, set shutter speed for aircraft type, lower shutter speed for prop plane. Subject detections used with some success; I can't say it is perfect. I have had as good results with C-AF with detection.

The focus has to be good as if it is slightly out the files appear very noisy. The more you have to crop the more noise there is.

[oddbits]

Ok went out today set camera with same settings as my mk3 , Aperture priority and a setting of +1 exposure compensation, all my cameras were set to + 1 i find it works great with centre weighted metering .

So just checking pics now and i can see that i still have a focus problem ?, when it hits it is great but a lot of misses ?. as for the noise , lightroom has a default setting of 40 in sharpness i turned this down to 0 and it makes all the difference and with the +1 exposure compensation my noise is almost gone .

One problem out of the way , but now the focus ?.. why does it miss so often , or refuse to focus ?. missed a few shots today , camera went to sleep mode / standby ?. i press the shutter it wakes up and waits to focus ? shot missed ?. A lot slower than the mk3 ?.

Got a few nice shots today , but missed a lot more , it was overcast but good light no strong shadows and the OM-1 does not seem to like this ?.

Anyway what is the file sizes for posting pictures ? and the best way of posting , will post a few . many thanks for the help..

[tmp]

Nowadays I can trust the camera to do a lot more of the heavy lifting.
I've strictly used Av for birds/wildlife since EM1X and with OM-1.
Normal A mode settings are perched birds and a C1 mode, on a button, for BIF.
For both perched and BIF I use Auto ISO and Auto min shutter speed settings.
with my set up i only need adjust one dial assigned to exposure compensation.
I have Auto min shutter speed settings in the custom(quick) menu so I can quickly make a change if necessary depending on light and such

[tmp]

Ok went out today set camera with same settings as my mk3 , Aperture priority and a setting of +1 exposure compensation, all my cameras were set to + 1 i find it works great with centre weighted metering .

So just checking pics now and i can see that i still have a focus problem ?, when it hits it is great but a lot of misses ?. as for the noise , lightroom has a default setting of 40 in sharpness i turned this down to 0 and it makes all the difference and with the +1 exposure compensation my noise is almost gone .

One problem out of the way , but now the focus ?.. why does it miss so often , or refuse to focus ?. missed a few shots today , camera went to sleep mode / standby ?. i press the shutter it wakes up and waits to focus ? shot missed ?. A lot slower than the mk3 ?.

Got a few nice shots today , but missed a lot more , it was overcast but good light no strong shadows and the OM-1 does not seem to like this ?.

Anyway what is the file sizes for posting pictures ? and the best way of posting , will post a few . many thanks for the help..

are you using Bird Ai?
Michael Guthmann explains how best to use AF and Bird Ai in this e-group you-tube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wstjcEKEvf8

it cleared up a significant error I was making...
I wrongly assumed that when Bird Ai was activated that it was 'the all time boss' of AF.
I assumed that when Bird Ai 'recognized and boxed' a subject which was outside of my currently selected AF Target group, the camera AF would lock up the target anyways. Nope. An assumption I chalk up to coming from the EM1X and it's Bird Ai mode.
Also...give yourself time to adjust to the new and different gear.
I nearly stroked out after getting the 150-400 and immediately receiving a very low keeper rate vs the 4/300 (with either tele).
Coming from the 4/300 and always using the 1.4X or 2.0X I thought I was good for handling the new lens' focal length. I assumed there wasn't go to be any adjustment period. I was wrong.

[oddbits]

Thanks for the link already seen it . i only wanted bird ai for birds in flight and pro capture for birds taking flight . other than that it is turned off , i noticed the first day out that it was not good for general photos , so set my ae button for fast on off ..

The problem i have is focus missing even when locked and focus in low contrast light , it is slow or my back button focus is sticky ?. even on a tripod and single point focus it will hit and miss , just enough to annoy and usually when you need it..

Reading through the forum and internet i see others have the same style problem with focus and that they said it was fixed in 1.2 ? that is what my camera has , so may be we will get another update ?. time will tell , but like i say when it hit it hits and is a fantastic camera ,

Still testing other settings etc , so will see how it turns out .

The 150-400 looks like a great lens plenty of great reports for it , hope you enjoy it, ,I came to Olympus for the light weight , sold all my nikon gear and big lens and never regret it , love my Olympus mk3 and hope to love the om-1 as well , love the 300 f4 and tc 1.4 , next may get the 2x and give it a try when i get this problem sorted..