EM1X v2.0 firmware

[pault]

Tried out the EM1X v2 with 100-400mm with Birds AI. Quite impressed how the camera locked onto birds in flight.

[pdk42]

Very nice Paul - first one is a cracker!

[Gwyver]

I reckon #3 is a better demonstration of the BIF focus feature.
It's usually difficult to get accurate AF when the background is rippling water and the colour contrast between the water and bird plumage isn't great.

[Bengeo]

They look very good. I found it even tracks bread!

[BDennis]

Great photos! I wish they could put this in an E-M1 sized body, I really don’t need to be buying another camera and the EM1X is on the heavy side for me.

[timboo]

Thats exactly what is keeping me from upgrading, i feel it will make a significant improvement to the 100-400 plus the additional IS. I really do dislike the size of the 1X. As soon as I saw the bird eye AF I wanted it.

[Bengeo]

Re the EM1X, I felt the same when it came out as I had moved to m4/3 to save the weight of gear. But once I had handled it, I realised that it had a lot going for it. The body is still quite thin, although the grip is generous. It is the best Olympus camera to handle. I like having the 2 batteries so that I don't have to worry about picking a good time to swap batteries. The two will keep me going all day. I also make use of the extra buttons, and the bigger viewfinder is great. Now I have got used to this size I hope that any future camera is available in the same type of body. So, I would suggest that if you haven't handled it, then go and try it out - you may be surprised. It is very good value at the recent pricing.

[timboo]

Thanks, for the suggestion. I disliked my e-m1 mki with the grip attached. I’m hoping the mkiii gains the bird eye AF feature eventually. I couldn’t live with the 1X as my everyday camera. In fact I just don’t like it full stop. To put it into context even if the 1X was offered to me for way less than 1K I wouldn’t buy it. Sorry don’t mean to sound short I appreciate any suggestions people have on the forum. The 1X looks like a fantastic camera features and quality wise. I just love the size of my mkii.

[DerekC]

E-M1 MKIII will not get Bird AF tracking as it requires the two processor E-M1X has.

[timboo]

😞 I don’t want to hear that as it would mean for me personally that no upgrade will be taking place until the day a mkiii body sized camera benefits from all the more recent tracking features on both cameras.

[BDennis]

Thanks on the 1X advice - I tried the EM1Mx at the Photography Show when it came out. It felt a similar size and weight to my old E5 4/3 camera which I still have, maybe I should take another look. My specific problem is after a cycle accident a few years back that resulted in shoulder replacement surgery and some ongoing neck issues carrying heavy stuff around is more of a burden than it really should be for someone of my age so I found the extra weight a bit too much. Maybe what I should do is some upper body physio therapy during all these lockdowns to beef up my shoulders for carrying more stuff around!

[wanderer]

"after a cycle accident a few years back that resulted in shoulder replacement surgery and some ongoing neck issues".
Not you too. 2 of my friends have done the same in the last few years.
I never managed it in 25 years on the bike but I did do my elbow some mischief once.
One of my friends has been doing physio for about 4 years now and although she hasn't got a lot of strength in her shoulder she has seen a significant improvement.
Worth a try.

As for the EM1-X, the camera strap is very useful and if I carry the 300 F4 I usually support it with my shoulder bag.

[BDennis]

Yes don’t fall off bikes is a good plan. Sorry to hear about your friends, 4 years is a long recovery time. I used to fall off bikes and get back on no problems, it seems in later years the bones get brittle. I was lucky to get a good outcome with the shoulder and a good NHS surgeon and physiotherapist - 6 months off work and about a year of physio though. The neck thing remains as well, a pain in the neck - I don’t fancy the op for that!

I carry the Em1Mk3 + 300F4 on a cross shoulder Jobby sling strap attached to the tripod foot and it works well. Sometimes I use a Thinktank shoulder bag. I take the neck straps off my cameras now and just use the sling strap on the tripod socket or lens foot.

[Bikie John]

We're getting a bit off-topic, but hey.....

...I tried an E-M1X when they were touting them round the shops pre-release and didn't like it at all. For me one of the big benefits of the E-M1 Mk II over all its Oly predecessors is that it has a decent battery level indicator. Previously I had always used the accessory battery grip because I never knew when the battery was going to die. Shooting sports, I didn't want it to give up at an important point in the action. Not having to use the grip makes the E-M1 Mk II the smallest Oly digital I've ever used, and I want to stay with that size.

Of course, we all have different priorities.

John

[Eclairewilliams]

I bought the 1X because I wanted the bird tracking. I’m very happy with the tracking and am sure it’s going to improve my ability to take decent bird photos, particularly BIF. I was resistant to the 1X because of the size having borrowed it for a weekend last year. I still find it heavy and my original plan to sell the Mark II (I have the Mark III and love it) is now on hold as I can see that I’ll probably take out the 1X only for birds. I’m petite so it’s a bit large for me but it does handle very well.

[BDennis]

It sounds like this bird tracking is working well for people. I am interested in how quickly the bird tracking on the 1X locks on from first sighting of a bird. For example, if you were in a bird hide and a Bittern appeared flying out of the reeds in front of you would it be quick enough to get some shots compared to say the normal AF groups?

It is these opportunistic events with bird photography that I often find myself dealing with on our UK birding and holiday trips and the bird is most often gone or too far away before I can react to it. In the case where your have the leisure of watching a bird in clear sight for half an hour or more it is very different. I know it is more about the field craft and you really need to spend hours getting some good shots but I am often with my partner and although a keen bird watcher she isn’t into photography so spending many hours to acquire a subject with no guarantee of a sighting is not practical in these situations.

I would actually be pretty frustrated if I had got the 1X instead of the 1Mk3 because the 1X firmware update does not include the Starry Sky AF which is really good for astro photography. It does feel like Olympus wants us to buy both of these top of the range cameras!

[timboo]

Does this sort of practice apply to other brands or is there generally a flagship model that has all?

Hi Paul nice shots btw. Roughly what percentage of photos locked on?

[DerekC]

I bought an E-M1X and a E-M1 MKII. I found the E-M1X so much better to handle buttons etc fell into place. So I sold the MKII and bought anothe 1X. I thought I would still use the MK1 as a walk around camera, being more compact, but it has not been used this year.

[Bengeo]

It sounds like this bird tracking is working well for people. I am interested in how quickly the bird tracking on the 1X locks on from first sighting of a bird. For example, if you were in a bird hide and a Bittern appeared flying out of the reeds in front of you would it be quick enough to get some shots compared to say the normal AF groups?

I haven't tried it in this type of case yet, but I get the feeling it would grab the focus faster with the new tracking. If you know the bird is there, then that is a good case for using ProCapture, but then bitterns often appear from nowhere!

[pault]

Hi Timboo

Here is a sequence (unfortunately uploading puts them out of order) out of camera, no edit other than convert to jpg

[timboo]

Thanks my camera definitely wouldn’t track as well as that. Olympus has made significant gains in that department for sure with the bird AF Thanks for sharing the images.

[super_claret]

I bought an EM1 mk3 with 12-100mm f4 and then saw the EM1X in an Olympus Black Friday deal and couldn’t resist. The 1X was £1480, so cheaper than the Mk3. I now have the Oly 100-400mm and have been testing it with the 1X on my resident Pheasants. The 1X handles superbly. It’s well balanced with the 100-400mm and the bird tracking seems to work fine. With the weather being awful recently, I’ve shot all test images at 6400ISO. I’m pretty stunned by the quality after running through DxO 4 and deep prime noise reduction. Another step is to then run through Topaz Sharpen AI and the results are fantastic.

I can’t wait to get some decent weather and be able to drop the ISO and get some decent shutter speeds. One thing I have noticed re the 100-400mm is that I get consistently soft results if I leave the OIS
on. When I turn it off, images are sharp!!

[timboo]

So you are saying with the lens IS switched on you find your images are softer than just relying on the cameras IS. I have both switched on with my mkii, following research to date excluding yours. I have to say that its a challenge with my mkii. I’m actually contemplating selling my 100-400.

[super_claret]

Yes, if I leave the lens OIS switched on, I was getting soft images to the point that I was disappointed with the performance of the lens. I switched it off and now I am getting sharp images. I may try some with OIS on and IBIS off and see what the results are.

[timboo]

I have not tried a different combination IS wise but will actually try it now albeit my camera is different to yours so not really a comparable test with your setup.