I just started Peter to use the limiter about a month ago. Where it really works well is with my 4/3 50-200 lens. It really helps the old 4/3 lenses speed up their focusing. Makes them even more useful.
I use the Bird AF a lot on my EM1x with the 300mm F4 pro. I have found on single birds in flight it is great at locking on and staying locked onto the bird. With groups it is far less effective so then I turn it off to normal C-AF. One thing on the AF limiter in camera make sure the limiter on your lens is set at the full setting otherwise the AF Limiter in camera will be greyed out. If you set the lens limiter then you can't use the in cam setting. Great video as always very informative
Espen, rather than guess the distance to background/foreground for the focus limiter, you can use the PreMF function to measure the distance with camera's AF.
@@EspenHelland I'd be interested in hearing how you do with Pre MF. I've found that the measured distance depends on Focal Length. Using your 40-150, focus on an object at 40mm, then try it again at 150mm. On my 1mk3 the two distances are hugely different.
@@rafaelsegui4845 Dès que je suis à un endroit ou je vais me poser pour prendre des animaux, je vais mesurer la distance de mon arrière plan pour régler le limiteur AF, de façon à ce que mon autofocus n’aille pas se perdre dessus. Pour connaître cette distance, j’utilise Pre MF que j’ appel avec le Bouton |0| Puis OK pour rentrer dans le SPC Dans la case des autofocus il y aura PreMF Je sélectionne cette case et je valide par OK Dans l’écran suivant je suis invité à appuyer sur info Je vise mon arrière plan et j’appuie sur le bouton de déclenchement pour obtenir la distance en m de mon arrière plan (disons 20m) Dans le paramètre 1 du limiteur AF, je vais reporter en distance max 18 ou 19m.
great video thanks. my setting is 5 by 5 points, C AF sequential shooting L. iso 800 to let the shutter be as fast as possible here its always sunny and very bright. focus sensitivity +1 for terns and gulls. +2 for swifts and swallows.
I started experimenting with the auto focus limiter on a trip away this weekend and it was so valuable! Photographing birds in flight, I used it to stop my camera drifting past the birds and focusing on the background sea. I wasn't aware that using the H shooting mode didn't allow the focus to adjust between frames, which thinking back now explains why I have some sequences with good focus throughout and then others were hit and miss as I was using both H and L modes. Thanks for that useful bit of info!
I have just found this channel and I am a couple of weeks into an EM1X and struggling a bit with the menus so I think I shall learn a lot here. Many thanks.
That focus limiter tip is gold Espen. Thanks. I have the 300mm f4 Pro Olympus lens. With the OMD Mark2. I have to set the lens focus distance switch to the middle position before the focus limit goes live in the menu. That took a while for me to understand that. Terrific videos. Pace of delivery is perfect.
I still use the 7D2 camera settings you shared a couple of years ago. I use eye tracking and set the AE lock button to spot AF which helps whenever eye AF starts struggling.
Put my trail cam out last night here in Oban the gateway to many islands such as mull,Coll and so on, about a half mile away from my house and went back in the morning looked at the footage and there was a pine marten on it,so happy
Thank you so much for this amazing video! I have an Olympus E-M5iii and 95% of the menus are the same so I am hoping for some good results. I have been struggling a bit to understand some of the more detailed menu settings and you have explained where to find them and what they are used for really well. You have a very clear communication style and I will certainly be watching more of your videos.
I use the focus limiter all the time. Depending as you said on the background distance. I have also found that the bird tracker fails too often for me. I use it about 15% of the time. Great video this week.
Hi Espen. One setting I have found that reduces AF accuracy and frame rate is setting D3 frame rate to "Fast" especially in poor light, In very poor light it reduces the image quality in the EVF, set it to "Normal" it may need a faster readout from the sensor than is currently available to use fast.
Great as always Espen but might just be your most useful video to date. Can’t wait to see the results after making most of these changes. Have signed up for the emails now too.
Oups ... forgot to mention that it also works great to exclude FOREGROUND too .. (and at times, for both foreground AND background,) In this respect, I often use it when trying to frame dragonflies ... Measure / estimate distance at which it regularly comes back for some "static" flight, set limiter to less than 5-6m span, pre-focus mid of this guessed distance to get a chance to see something in the frame, and it suddently appears to be easy ... Enjoy your outings
Your videos are very professional and you make them in the field are much more valid, please share the link to get the best settings and hotkeys for this OM1EX gem of a camera, thanks thanks in advance
Awesome video. Many thanks. In this video, I think, there is a suggestion to set the back dial to ISO and the front dial to shutter speed in M. I have done this, and really like it. Many thanks for the tip. My issue now is how to set the aperture when I have the dials set that way. Can I assign aperture to any of the buttons? If not, how do I change aperture without going back in and re-customising the dials?
Thank your Mike! Sorry for the delay, I hope you’ve figured it out. If I remember correct you can set a button to exposure compensation and that will allow you to take control of the aperture when in manual.
Thanks for your videos, they have been very helpful. I have tried the focus limiter and found out that I could not get it to focus past a certain point, For exanple: From the riverbank, I could get it to focus on the water slightly before the middle of the river but no matter what number I put in it would not go past that point. Of course, the eagles were in the middle of the river so I had to disable it. EM1.2 w/300mm F4.
Espen, could be more specific on where to find your overall camera settings? I am having trouble locating it. Thanks and really enjoyed this video. I am new to Olympus coming from Nikon which I still shoot but my e-m1 iii has become my go to camera.
I have used this function to great effect when I had my EM1X, I live on the coast and shoot birds In flight all the time, shooting out to sea the background is just Sky so if you miss the bird the auto focus would go to infinity which is very frustrating so this Focus Limiting method works very well.
Hi there, my easy way to "estimate" background distance is via "Preset MF (PreMF) Select [PreMF] to focus at a preset distance. g “Focusing at a Preset Distance (Preset MF)” (P. 357) This estimated distance can then be shortened at taste , et voila ... Beware to use this method with lens focus limiter off, if any, and with combo actually used, i.e. together with evtl. TC, as appears that system is not always delivering consistent distances, with our without tc's on. Thanks for your always inspiring videos and tips
Very interesting: In C1 Release Priority ON wouldn’t that mean - shoot anyway and ignore the autofocus? Release Priority OFF = AF priority ON - continue following AF until the camera catches a subject? Thanks
I use 3 different delimiter ranges one for near birds, one for high flying birds and one for relative low flying planes and put them on the three custom modes. The only problem with custom modes is that you cannot exclude relative volatile settings as f-stop, ISO and shutter speed. So I have to set those settings before shooting and to store them seperately. And to repeat that procedure every time when the ambiance changes. Yes I know to let the camera in stand by mode but firstly I like to shoot landscape in the meantime and secondly after a longer period of stand by the camera (E-M1 Mii) does no longer react and I have to switch off and on again.
Personally I like that the f-stop, iso and shutter stays with custom settings, but I can see sometimes that it would be useful to exclude them. Would be great to have the option for what you prefer. For the AF limiter ranges, why use the custom modes for it? I've started using the three different AF limiter ranges as well, but find it quite easy to keep it to one button and use the dial to switch between them.
How about the settings for BiT? Birds in trees. Should I used the shutter speed of my focal length in fullframe terms? Like 800mm = 1/800 shutter? Dull/gray weather. Because of the weather, I'm thinking about BiT photography, so the glass also stay dry and without raindrops on it.
Nah no need to for that old rule. You only need a shutter speed that’s high enough to freeze the bird. Some birds stand still for a fraction of a second and I easily go down to 1/25s sometimes just to get my iso down. Of course it depends on your subject, if you’re trying to photograph a goldcrest jumping about you’ll need a faster shutter.
Appreciate the video Espen, very helpful! Great as usual. Look forward to playing around with these settings when my Olympus arrives this week. I have a question regarding video- do you film in Olympus' LOG profile and grade it, or do you just keep it in a standard profile? Cheers! Will
Hi Espen, enjoyed the video a great deal. Have tried Manual setting on my M1-3 and when the light changes the exposure compensation changes. Is this normal our am I missing something in the jungle that is the Olympus menu?
Hi Vanessa, are you still in auto iso? If you are the exposure will change when the light changes. If everything is in manual the camera will still give you the suggested exposure, but you have to dial it in.
Sensitivity of -2 is stickier to the bird, if you increase. it to +2.it will attempt to re-aquire focus more , I can see +2 for birds coming towards you or away but other than that. it is -2
Hello Espen, I'm just starting out with wildlife photography. My setup is exactly the same ... Olympus E-M1X with the 300mm f4. With the 5 axis stabilization it is possible to keep the shutter speed a little lower, right? In your opinion, what are approximate standard values? For birds in flight, for example, I also usually start at 1/1600. What should I take to start with slower or sedentary animals? Sure, you can always adjust it if there is still room for improvement.
Hi Udo, it's a good question and for me it really depends on the light that day. I will always try to push it and shoot with slower shutter speed to get the ISO down as much as I can. For slower and sedentary animals I often start out with something like 1/400s, but if it's quite a dark day or I'm in a thick forest this value is often lower, like 1/200 or 1/100s. After I get a couple of shots sharp I often try lower, like 1/50s or 1/20s when it's especially dark.
@@EspenHelland Hello Espen, thank you for your answer. I'll try like you and then adjust the values accordingly. I also thank you for your great videos from which I can really learn a lot. In addition, you have a wonderfully calm manner that makes me very happy to listen to you. If you didn't live so far away, I would come to you right away to do a photo walk in nature with you. Keep it up, I'm looking forward to many new great videos from you. Greetings from Germany
Hi Espen, fantastic videos as always, thanks. Do you have recommendation on wuick switching between birds in flight and stationary ones? Because it's quite common to have both in one scene e.g.at a lake. I'm wondering if switching from CAF to SAF is better Thanks and enjoy nature :-)
I prefer to have back button focus, that way you can always keep it in C-AF ua-cam.com/video/_nJGmlB1IHk/v-deo.html I change to single point focus, and get my ISO down as low as I can get it without having too slow shutter speed. I’ve setup a custom mode for bif so it’s an easy change back and forth. If you want you can follow the link in the description and get the video for my em1x layout, I talk about it there and will come out with more tip videos for Olympus through my emails.
@@EspenHelland Thanks very much, Espen. Good idea. I'll try the back button focus again...I was not convinced, but maybe it's just training...Are you using small AF field to catch the eye?
Espen, Thanks very much for the details and explanation for optimizing the OMD system for action photography. I had tried the focus limiter with my 40-150mm F2.8 but had changed the short end to 1 or 2 meters but left the long end at infinity. Didn't think about reducing the far end to 250 meters. I liked your decision to modifying the button actions. Great idea. Have you done any comparable tests comparing the 300 mm F4 pro vs 100-400 zoom? I don't own either and trying to decide if it's worth the extra cost for the 300mm which is faster in low light and probably quicker focus too given its a prime. Keep up the great work. Thanks. Andrew.
Cheers Andrew glad you found it useful! I think the 300 f/4 is worth saving up for, especially if you have the 40-150 as well. They compliment each other well. The 100-400 is good, but the 300 is sharper, faster to focus and the f/4 makes a difference.
I am so struggling with this camera, I know when I get it figured out it’s going to be brilliant but I wish there were more tutorials on just the mark iii
Hi Espen, I've just received my Olympus EM-1 Mark iii. In Video Mode, I can't work out how to set the Autofocus Tracking while I press the Shutter Button or Back Button. Or is there a toggle I can set up to Start/Stop Constant Auto Fucus. I'm a Wildlife filmmaker so the Auto Focus Tracking is important, but I don't want the Constant Auto Focus going all the time, when I walking along or waiting for something to happen. Hope you can help.
I worry about using "electronic shutter" because of dark warnings of distortion and more from various sources, but your saying " no issue" with birds in flight so who is correct? must admit i want to use the "silent shutter" setting and have done but have conflicting opinions to balance? I have an EM-5 ii
Great stuff Espen, we are pretty much the same X to X, it would be cool to share your camera setup file to load into my X for comparison. I too have kinda gone away from the Bird AI as it was not all that good. My setup is with the CAF mostly. Bird AI does have it's uses now and then tho. Cheers!
Another great video - always enjoy your charming infotainment, Espen 😊👍 Regarding focus point selection I was wondering if the E-M1X and the E-M1 III behave differently. On my E-M1 III there is no need to keep the joystick pressed while dialing through the options.
Hello I have an EM1MkIII and am setting up Birds in Flight settings. I have back button focus on the AEL button. Focus CAF A1 AF scanner A3 A1 CAF sensitivity +2 A1 CAF Centre start tick square in middle & 4 on outside A2 Mode settings tick one square & 5 points & 5x5 grid Focus point on AF area on screen set to 5x5 I was shooting flying birds over the sea today. And only 1 focus square shows through the view finder. It does jump around the 5 squares as selected. I was expecting the 5x5 green squares as a block to show through the viewfinder and for them to show tracking of the bird. Thank you
A rough estimate and test it if I can focus. If the background is far away you don’t really need to be very accurate, a few 100m and the bird is so small anyways. I have a map on my phone that I can use to get a good indication as well.
@@EspenHelland Thank you, Espen! I realized that I could also use the distance scale on my 300mm lens to estimate the distance. 😄 Your videos are much appreciated!
@@EspenHelland Thank you, Espen! I realized that I could also use the distance scale on my 300mm lens to estimate the distance. 😄 Your videos are much appreciated!
@@EspenHelland Thank you, Espen! I realized that I could also use the distance scale on my 300mm lens to estimate the distance. 😄 Your videos are much appreciated!
Thanks for the setup video, it was very informative. I do have a bit of information that may not be an issue for the EM1-X but it is for the EM1 lll. Turning Release Priority "Off" while using back button focusing does not work. I have my camera Release Priority set to "Off" in both the AF Limiter menu and the C-AF Release Priority menu. If I do not use back button focus, it works as you would expect by not taking images extremely out of focus. With back button focusing engaged, you can release the shutter even if the whole subject is just a blob. If you know of an area in the menu where I can fix this issue while using back button focus, I would appreciate it greatly. If this isn't possible with the EM1 lll I hope OMD Digital Solutions fixes it in a firmware update.
My bad. The shutter will release when set to Half Way AF "Inoperative" under A1 AEL/AFL - Half Way AF and you press the shutter release button while not depressing your designated "back button" focus button. I must have pressed the shutter release button while forgetting to at the same time pressing the designated back button focus button. I guess I am used to using the focus release button exclusively. It will be a learning curve. If you have the shutter release button set to "Operative" then both buttons will acquire focus in case you forget to press the designated back button focus button. I apologize for my mistake.
The menu can definitely get a bit complex, and often when one thing is set it will block something else. Thanks for the input, I'll have to get my camera out and go through what you mentioned here to get my head around it 😅
You mention special video via the link, it just takes me to signup page for newsletter. No problem signing up, but then nothing I can see on site re. EM1X video or any video other than link to regular UA-cam channel. Not in Blog etc. What am I missing?
Hi Ricardo, sorry if that wasn't clear, you get the video link when you sign up to the newsletter. Thanks for pointing it out, I'll make some changes to the text 👍
Yes, Thomas has a great blog. We’ve been chatting a bit and he seems to be getting on better with bird AF than me. Seems to be varied opinions on it out there.
I took 1100 pics of birds in flight yesterday - and even though in OM workspace the green square was on the birds eye - and shutter speed was at 1/3200 nothing worked - the pics looked like they were shot on a 20 year old Nokia flip phone [Yes: The light was behind me, and conditions were perfect]. I use a EM1 Mk II and 100-400 Pan Leica lens. I'm convinced this setup is not capable of taking BIF pics. I get better results using a old e410 and a 40-150 kit lens using mf or s-af. I think that the 3.60 firmware is the problem -Olympus / OM tell me nobody else has reported such issues. But for me even for perched birds I get far better results using MF with peaking and magnification than I do with C-AF. I've tried anything - great camera in manual mode - but the focus system leaves a lot to be desired.
Sorry to hear that, sounds so frustrating! I definitely find it more difficult to get sharp images of birds in flight with my em1ii than say my OM-1, but not impossible. Do you also struggle with em1ii and the 40-150? I was going to say maybe it’s the mixing of Leica lens and OM camera that does it?
This is a rather late reply -- so may not matter. Are you sure you were not using 'Pro Capture' for these shots? The PL - 100-400mm will not allow C-AF in Pro Capture Mode.
@@gregm6894 It's the 100-400 Pan Leica and Em1 Mk 2 having compatibility issues. I now have the 300mm Pro Lens on the EM1 Mk 2 and I can take birds in flight photos without any issues - even Swallows in flight - it's brilliant. Oddly enough, the 100-400 Panasonic lens works fine on an OM1 I borrowed - so it just might be the mk2 that the 100-400 Panasonic has issues with.
Hi Chris, there should be a link in the description of the video, but if not you can sign up here to receive the videos by email: www.espenhelland.com/olympus-for-wildlife-photography
I think just one more, but the video was twice as long as my last ones. Sorry for the ruined flow, but UA-cam doesn’t really pay much. There’s a subscription service on UA-cam where you can get rid of all the ads.
You must be a professional who does not need any new learning. This is geared to say ... someone new to birds in flight, or say ... someone new to the EM1X, or say ... anyone who has an open mind to maybe learning something new ... just an observation :)
Love this young man. So nice to see a presenter that speaks at a normal level, is subtle, and easy to listen to. Very nice job.
Thank you very much Daniel 🙂
Good stuff. I have used focus limiter but never thought about it as you did say about the background. Genius!
Thanks very much Peter!
I just started Peter to use the limiter about a month ago. Where it really works well is with my 4/3 50-200 lens. It really helps the old 4/3 lenses speed up their focusing. Makes them even more useful.
I use the Bird AF a lot on my EM1x with the 300mm F4 pro. I have found on single birds in flight it is great at locking on and staying locked onto the bird. With groups it is far less effective so then I turn it off to normal C-AF. One thing on the AF limiter in camera make sure the limiter on your lens is set at the full setting otherwise the AF Limiter in camera will be greyed out. If you set the lens limiter then you can't use the in cam setting. Great video as always very informative
Thanks, good tip John! It such an easy thing to change a setting and all of a sudden something else can’t be changed 😅
Dear Espen, thank you so much for your work and tipps! Really appreciate what you do for the Olympus Community! Cheers from Germany
Espen, rather than guess the distance to background/foreground for the focus limiter, you can use the PreMF function to measure the distance with camera's AF.
That’s a brilliant idea!! Thanks
@@EspenHelland I'd be interested in hearing how you do with Pre MF. I've found that the measured distance depends on Focal Length. Using your 40-150, focus on an object at 40mm, then try it again at 150mm. On my 1mk3 the two distances are hugely different.
Can anyone explain the preMf function? Have found it in the menus, but no clue how it works
@@rafaelsegui4845 Dès que je suis à un endroit ou je vais me poser pour prendre des animaux, je vais mesurer la distance de mon arrière plan pour régler le limiteur AF, de façon à ce que mon autofocus n’aille pas se perdre dessus.
Pour connaître cette distance, j’utilise Pre MF que j’ appel avec le Bouton |0|
Puis OK pour rentrer dans le SPC
Dans la case des autofocus il y aura PreMF
Je sélectionne cette case et je valide par OK
Dans l’écran suivant je suis invité à appuyer sur info
Je vise mon arrière plan et j’appuie sur le bouton de déclenchement pour obtenir la distance en m de mon arrière plan (disons 20m)
Dans le paramètre 1 du limiteur AF, je vais reporter en distance max 18 ou 19m.
great video thanks. my setting is 5 by 5 points, C AF sequential shooting L. iso 800 to let the shutter be as fast as possible here its always sunny and very bright. focus sensitivity +1 for terns and gulls. +2 for swifts and swallows.
I started experimenting with the auto focus limiter on a trip away this weekend and it was so valuable! Photographing birds in flight, I used it to stop my camera drifting past the birds and focusing on the background sea. I wasn't aware that using the H shooting mode didn't allow the focus to adjust between frames, which thinking back now explains why I have some sequences with good focus throughout and then others were hit and miss as I was using both H and L modes. Thanks for that useful bit of info!
Glad you found use for it! I use the focus limiter probably every time I'm out 🙂
I have just found this channel and I am a couple of weeks into an EM1X and struggling a bit with the menus so I think I shall learn a lot here. Many thanks.
Good to hear it 👍
That focus limiter tip is gold Espen. Thanks. I have the 300mm f4 Pro Olympus lens. With the OMD Mark2. I have to set the lens focus distance switch to the middle position before the focus limit goes live in the menu. That took a while for me to understand that. Terrific videos. Pace of delivery is perfect.
Glad you found use of it! Yes, I think the focus limiter on the lens dominates, so unless it's off then you can't use the camera focus limiter.
Really good tip about the limiter - set it up, now off to try it!
I still use the 7D2 camera settings you shared a couple of years ago. I use eye tracking and set the AE lock button to spot AF which helps whenever eye AF starts struggling.
Nice one Danny 👍
Put my trail cam out last night here in Oban the gateway to many islands such as mull,Coll and so on, about a half mile away from my house and went back in the morning looked at the footage and there was a pine marten on it,so happy
Amazing!!
Thank you so much for this amazing video! I have an Olympus E-M5iii and 95% of the menus are the same so I am hoping for some good results. I have been struggling a bit to understand some of the more detailed menu settings and you have explained where to find them and what they are used for really well. You have a very clear communication style and I will certainly be watching more of your videos.
Thanks Susan, glad you found it useful 🙂
I use the focus limiter all the time. Depending as you said on the background distance. I have also found that the bird tracker fails too often for me. I use it about 15% of the time. Great video this week.
Cheers! Yeah I keep trying it. It’s great when it actually finds the head/eye of the bird
I just realized that I must use this more, I thought of it last week and thank you for the reminder 🙏🏼
Hi Espen. One setting I have found that reduces AF accuracy and frame rate is setting D3 frame rate to "Fast" especially in poor light, In very poor light it reduces the image quality in the EVF, set it to "Normal" it may need a faster readout from the sensor than is currently available to use fast.
Good tip Michael, I'll have to try that!
Another great video. I use the limiter on my EM1X for rugby, where the length of the field is well known.
Good tip!
Great as always Espen but might just be your most useful video to date. Can’t wait to see the results after making most of these changes. Have signed up for the emails now too.
Cheers! Hope it works out for you 👍
I wish the next firmware update of the EM1ii would include some of the capabilities of the EM1X.... but I'm not holding my breath..... sigh.
Great Idea with the Limiter!
Oups ... forgot to mention that it also works great to exclude FOREGROUND too .. (and at times, for both foreground AND background,)
In this respect, I often use it when trying to frame dragonflies ...
Measure / estimate distance at which it regularly comes back for some "static" flight, set limiter to less than 5-6m span, pre-focus mid of this guessed distance to get a chance to see something in the frame, and it suddently appears to be easy ...
Enjoy your outings
Very interesting. I will try out the focus limiter on my EM1iii. Newly subscribed 😊
Awesome! Thank you!
Your videos are very professional and you make them in the field are much more valid, please share the link to get the best settings and hotkeys for this OM1EX gem of a camera, thanks thanks in advance
Thanks Luis, here’s the link to my course, but it’s all in English: espen-helland-photography.teachable.com/p/om-system-for-wildlife-photography
Awesome video. Many thanks. In this video, I think, there is a suggestion to set the back dial to ISO and the front dial to shutter speed in M. I have done this, and really like it. Many thanks for the tip. My issue now is how to set the aperture when I have the dials set that way. Can I assign aperture to any of the buttons? If not, how do I change aperture without going back in and re-customising the dials?
Thank your Mike! Sorry for the delay, I hope you’ve figured it out. If I remember correct you can set a button to exposure compensation and that will allow you to take control of the aperture when in manual.
Would you now put these settings into one of the custom menus? Great video help😀
Absolutely! Though I keep iso in auto on my custom mode so I’m ready to photograph a bird in flight immediately, but change it if I have time.
Good content and very good presentation - thanks!
Thanks for your videos, they have been very helpful. I have tried the focus limiter and found out that I could not get it to focus past a certain point, For exanple: From the riverbank, I could get it to focus on the water slightly before the middle of the river but no matter what number I put in it would not go past that point. Of course, the eagles were in the middle of the river so I had to disable it. EM1.2 w/300mm F4.
I find that it can go fairly far, but the higher ranges seems a bit unreliable. Cheers Daniel
Espen, could be more specific on where to find your overall camera settings? I am having trouble locating it. Thanks and really enjoyed this video. I am new to Olympus coming from Nikon which I still shoot but my e-m1 iii has become my go to camera.
Hi John, have you followed the link and signed up for the newsletter? You’ll get links sent to your email, but maybe check spam folder just in case 🙂
www.espenhelland.com/olympus-for-wildlife-photography
I have used this function to great effect when I had my EM1X, I live on the coast and shoot birds In flight all the time, shooting out to sea the background is just Sky so if you miss the bird the auto focus would go to infinity which is very frustrating so this Focus Limiting method works very well.
Hi there, my easy way to "estimate" background distance is via
"Preset MF (PreMF)
Select [PreMF] to focus at a preset distance. g “Focusing at a Preset Distance
(Preset MF)” (P. 357) This estimated distance can then be shortened at taste , et voila ...
Beware to use this method with lens focus limiter off, if any, and with combo actually used, i.e. together with evtl. TC, as appears that system is not always delivering consistent distances, with our without tc's on.
Thanks for your always inspiring videos and tips
Great tip! Will definitely try that 👍
Great vlog Espen I only have the em1 mk11 but I do have the 300mm f4 pro and the af limiter tip should help thank you 🙏
Cool! Hope it works out for you
Very interesting: In C1 Release Priority ON wouldn’t that mean - shoot anyway and ignore the autofocus?
Release Priority OFF = AF priority ON - continue following AF until the camera catches a subject? Thanks
I use 3 different delimiter ranges one for near birds, one for high flying birds and one for relative low flying planes and put them on the three custom modes. The only problem with custom modes is that you cannot exclude relative volatile settings as f-stop, ISO and shutter speed. So I have to set those settings before shooting and to store them seperately. And to repeat that procedure every time when the ambiance changes.
Yes I know to let the camera in stand by mode but firstly I like to shoot landscape in the meantime and secondly after a longer period of stand by the camera (E-M1 Mii) does no longer react and I have to switch off and on again.
Personally I like that the f-stop, iso and shutter stays with custom settings, but I can see sometimes that it would be useful to exclude them. Would be great to have the option for what you prefer. For the AF limiter ranges, why use the custom modes for it? I've started using the three different AF limiter ranges as well, but find it quite easy to keep it to one button and use the dial to switch between them.
@@EspenHelland Good idea, and I will look which button I will sacrifice for that...
Thank you
Hi Petter, when will you come up with a video about the best setup for OM-1
Will do a group setup call, but have waited a bit as so many people haven’t got their camera yet.
How about the settings for BiT? Birds in trees. Should I used the shutter speed of my focal length in fullframe terms? Like 800mm = 1/800 shutter? Dull/gray weather.
Because of the weather, I'm thinking about BiT photography, so the glass also stay dry and without raindrops on it.
Nah no need to for that old rule. You only need a shutter speed that’s high enough to freeze the bird. Some birds stand still for a fraction of a second and I easily go down to 1/25s sometimes just to get my iso down. Of course it depends on your subject, if you’re trying to photograph a goldcrest jumping about you’ll need a faster shutter.
Appreciate the video Espen, very helpful! Great as usual. Look forward to playing around with these settings when my Olympus arrives this week. I have a question regarding video- do you film in Olympus' LOG profile and grade it, or do you just keep it in a standard profile? Cheers!
Will
Starting to use the Log profile and colour correct in fcp, but I got a bit to learn 😅
@@EspenHelland Thanks for getting back to me! Colour correcting moving images does seem a little more complex than a still!
Hi Espen, enjoyed the video a great deal. Have tried Manual setting on my M1-3 and when the light changes the exposure compensation changes. Is this normal our am I missing something in the jungle that is the Olympus menu?
Hi Vanessa, are you still in auto iso? If you are the exposure will change when the light changes. If everything is in manual the camera will still give you the suggested exposure, but you have to dial it in.
Sensitivity of -2 is stickier to the bird, if you increase. it to +2.it will attempt to re-aquire focus more , I can see +2 for birds coming towards you or away but other than that. it is -2
true, using the AF limiter though I don't find it to re-aquire focus that often
Hello Espen, I'm just starting out with wildlife photography. My setup is exactly the same ... Olympus E-M1X with the 300mm f4. With the 5 axis stabilization it is possible to keep the shutter speed a little lower, right? In your opinion, what are approximate standard values? For birds in flight, for example, I also usually start at 1/1600. What should I take to start with slower or sedentary animals? Sure, you can always adjust it if there is still room for improvement.
Hi Udo, it's a good question and for me it really depends on the light that day. I will always try to push it and shoot with slower shutter speed to get the ISO down as much as I can. For slower and sedentary animals I often start out with something like 1/400s, but if it's quite a dark day or I'm in a thick forest this value is often lower, like 1/200 or 1/100s. After I get a couple of shots sharp I often try lower, like 1/50s or 1/20s when it's especially dark.
@@EspenHelland Hello Espen, thank you for your answer. I'll try like you and then adjust the values accordingly.
I also thank you for your great videos from which I can really learn a lot. In addition, you have a wonderfully calm manner that makes me very happy to listen to you. If you didn't live so far away, I would come to you right away to do a photo walk in nature with you.
Keep it up, I'm looking forward to many new great videos from you.
Greetings from Germany
Hi Espen, fantastic videos as always, thanks.
Do you have recommendation on wuick switching between birds in flight and stationary ones? Because it's quite common to have both in one scene e.g.at a lake.
I'm wondering if switching from CAF to SAF is better
Thanks and enjoy nature :-)
I prefer to have back button focus, that way you can always keep it in C-AF ua-cam.com/video/_nJGmlB1IHk/v-deo.html
I change to single point focus, and get my ISO down as low as I can get it without having too slow shutter speed. I’ve setup a custom mode for bif so it’s an easy change back and forth. If you want you can follow the link in the description and get the video for my em1x layout, I talk about it there and will come out with more tip videos for Olympus through my emails.
@@EspenHelland Thanks very much, Espen. Good idea. I'll try the back button focus again...I was not convinced, but maybe it's just training...Are you using small AF field to catch the eye?
yes 👍
I use the Lens function button to switch to C1 to allow me to quickly change between two settings like this. (I also use BBF)
Espen,
Thanks very much for the details and explanation for optimizing the OMD system for action photography.
I had tried the focus limiter with my 40-150mm F2.8 but had changed the short end to 1 or 2 meters but left the long end at infinity. Didn't think about reducing the far end to 250 meters. I liked your decision to modifying the button actions. Great idea.
Have you done any comparable tests comparing the 300 mm F4 pro vs 100-400 zoom? I don't own either and trying to decide if it's worth the extra cost for the 300mm which is faster in low light and probably quicker focus too given its a prime.
Keep up the great work. Thanks. Andrew.
Cheers Andrew glad you found it useful! I think the 300 f/4 is worth saving up for, especially if you have the 40-150 as well. They compliment each other well. The 100-400 is good, but the 300 is sharper, faster to focus and the f/4 makes a difference.
@@EspenHelland Thanks for your advice and assessment of the two lenses Espen. Most appreciated!
Just got the M1 Mark iii it's a bit of a learning curve I thought my Sony's menu was complex 😆
😂 I’m a year in and still learning!
Use the quick menu its easy
I am so struggling with this camera, I know when I get it figured out it’s going to be brilliant but I wish there were more tutorials on just the mark iii
Espen, are you planning to test the 150-400mm F4.5? Looks like a dream lens.
I really hope so! Can you put in a good word with Olympus for me 😁
@@EspenHelland will do!
Hi Espen, I've just received my Olympus EM-1 Mark iii. In Video Mode, I can't work out how to set the Autofocus Tracking while I press the Shutter Button or Back Button. Or is there a toggle I can set up to Start/Stop Constant Auto Fucus. I'm a Wildlife filmmaker so the Auto Focus Tracking is important, but I don't want the Constant Auto Focus going all the time, when I walking along or waiting for something to happen. Hope you can help.
I worry about using "electronic shutter" because of dark warnings of distortion and more from various sources, but your saying " no issue" with birds in flight so who is correct? must admit i want to use the "silent shutter" setting and have done but have conflicting opinions to balance?
I have an EM-5 ii
Great stuff Espen, we are pretty much the same X to X, it would be cool to share your camera setup file to load into my X for comparison. I too have kinda gone away from the Bird AI as it was not all that good. My setup is with the CAF mostly. Bird AI does have it's uses now and then tho. Cheers!
I have the mark III and it doesn’t seem to have the focus on birds in A3...What would you use instead?
I often use a 5x5 grid and c-af for bif 🙂
Great video!🎉
Thank you 🙂
Another great video - always enjoy your charming infotainment, Espen 😊👍 Regarding focus point selection I was wondering if the E-M1X and the E-M1 III behave differently. On my E-M1 III there is no need to keep the joystick pressed while dialing through the options.
Thank you Karsten! I think I did a slight difference in the settings, I go over it in my second video that I've sent out in my emails.
Very interesting, trank you very much
Hello I have an EM1MkIII and am setting up Birds in Flight settings. I have back button focus on the AEL button. Focus CAF
A1 AF scanner A3
A1 CAF sensitivity +2
A1 CAF Centre start tick square in middle & 4 on outside
A2 Mode settings tick one square & 5 points & 5x5 grid
Focus point on AF area on screen set to 5x5
I was shooting flying birds over the sea today. And only 1 focus square shows through the view finder. It does jump around the 5 squares as selected. I was expecting the 5x5 green squares as a block to show through the viewfinder and for them to show tracking of the bird.
Thank you
Nice one, I have very similar :)
For the M.300 F4 PRO you are left with the on-lens AF Limiter, you can't customize distances on the menu.
Check out John Whiteaway's comment, may be a solution :)
@@EspenHelland Thanks! Indeed you have to set the switch on the M.300 PRO to the middle position (1.4m - ∞)
Great video
Espen, how do you estimate what values to enter in the focus limiter?
A rough estimate and test it if I can focus. If the background is far away you don’t really need to be very accurate, a few 100m and the bird is so small anyways. I have a map on my phone that I can use to get a good indication as well.
Paul had a great suggestion to this in his comment. Use the the cameras pre focus function to estimate the distance.
@@EspenHelland Thank you, Espen! I realized that I could also use the distance scale on my 300mm lens to estimate the distance. 😄 Your videos are much appreciated!
@@EspenHelland Thank you, Espen! I realized that I could also use the distance scale on my 300mm lens to estimate the distance. 😄 Your videos are much appreciated!
@@EspenHelland Thank you, Espen! I realized that I could also use the distance scale on my 300mm lens to estimate the distance. 😄 Your videos are much appreciated!
Is that work with om-d Em 10 mark 1 or compact olympus stylus 1 ?
Sorry, not sure. Best to try or check the manual if you have it
Thanks for the setup video, it was very informative. I do have a bit of information that may not be an issue for the EM1-X but it is for the EM1 lll. Turning Release Priority "Off" while using back button focusing does not work. I have my camera Release Priority set to "Off" in both the AF Limiter menu and the C-AF Release Priority menu. If I do not use back button focus, it works as you would expect by not taking images extremely out of focus. With back button focusing engaged, you can release the shutter even if the whole subject is just a blob. If you know of an area in the menu where I can fix this issue while using back button focus, I would appreciate it greatly. If this isn't possible with the EM1 lll I hope OMD Digital Solutions fixes it in a firmware update.
My bad. The shutter will release when set to Half Way AF "Inoperative" under A1 AEL/AFL - Half Way AF and you press the shutter release button while not depressing your designated "back button" focus button. I must have pressed the shutter release button while forgetting to at the same time pressing the designated back button focus button. I guess I am used to using the focus release button exclusively. It will be a learning curve. If you have the shutter release button set to "Operative" then both buttons will acquire focus in case you forget to press the designated back button focus button. I apologize for my mistake.
The menu can definitely get a bit complex, and often when one thing is set it will block something else. Thanks for the input, I'll have to get my camera out and go through what you mentioned here to get my head around it 😅
You mention special video via the link, it just takes me to signup page for newsletter. No problem signing up, but then nothing I can see on site re. EM1X video or any video other than link to regular UA-cam channel. Not in Blog etc. What am I missing?
Hi Ricardo, sorry if that wasn't clear, you get the video link when you sign up to the newsletter. Thanks for pointing it out, I'll make some changes to the text 👍
Is there an example of a 60 fps burst?
Did some last year with Pro Cap photographing a woodpecker ua-cam.com/video/-gYJRurw65U/v-deo.html
good video
About Bird AF, Check out Thomas Stirr, he is awsome. Interesting video, though.
Yes, Thomas has a great blog. We’ve been chatting a bit and he seems to be getting on better with bird AF than me. Seems to be varied opinions on it out there.
Awesome
I took 1100 pics of birds in flight yesterday - and even though in OM workspace the green square was on the birds eye - and shutter speed was at 1/3200 nothing worked - the pics looked like they were shot on a 20 year old Nokia flip phone [Yes: The light was behind me, and conditions were perfect]. I use a EM1 Mk II and 100-400 Pan Leica lens. I'm convinced this setup is not capable of taking BIF pics. I get better results using a old e410 and a 40-150 kit lens using mf or s-af. I think that the 3.60 firmware is the problem -Olympus / OM tell me nobody else has reported such issues. But for me even for perched birds I get far better results using MF with peaking and magnification than I do with C-AF. I've tried anything - great camera in manual mode - but the focus system leaves a lot to be desired.
Sorry to hear that, sounds so frustrating! I definitely find it more difficult to get sharp images of birds in flight with my em1ii than say my OM-1, but not impossible. Do you also struggle with em1ii and the 40-150? I was going to say maybe it’s the mixing of Leica lens and OM camera that does it?
This is a rather late reply -- so may not matter. Are you sure you were not using 'Pro Capture' for these shots? The PL - 100-400mm will not allow C-AF in Pro Capture Mode.
@@gregm6894 It's the 100-400 Pan Leica and Em1 Mk 2 having compatibility issues. I now have the 300mm Pro Lens on the EM1 Mk 2 and I can take birds in flight photos without any issues - even Swallows in flight - it's brilliant. Oddly enough, the 100-400 Panasonic lens works fine on an OM1 I borrowed - so it just might be the mk2 that the 100-400 Panasonic has issues with.
9 frames is perfect for me I tried 11 10 always get 2 shots
How do you get access to the "How I setup my em1x & more Olympus for Wildlife Photography Tips 📷 👇" thank you
Hi Chris, there should be a link in the description of the video, but if not you can sign up here to receive the videos by email: www.espenhelland.com/olympus-for-wildlife-photography
@@EspenHelland Hi Espen, I have signed up but still cannot find the information on how to set up my EM1. Thank you
whar gloves r u wearing
It’s a while ago, but it looks like my vallerret or my north face ones.
@@EspenHelland thank u very much appreciate support means a lot and okedoke will check them out thanks
Merci !
Is it my imagination, or are there more adverts than normal in this video, it seemed like every few minutes, it really ruins the flow 😢
I think just one more, but the video was twice as long as my last ones. Sorry for the ruined flow, but UA-cam doesn’t really pay much. There’s a subscription service on UA-cam where you can get rid of all the ads.
There might be more bird activity if the guy on the shore would be quiet.
Nothing New, others covered the subject already.
You must be a professional who does not need any new learning. This is geared to say ... someone new to birds in flight, or say ... someone new to the EM1X, or say ... anyone who has an open mind to maybe learning something new ... just an observation :)
BUT NOT AS WELL!