toggling MF assist w/manual lenses on EP1

[nostatic]

I got the Voight 40/1.4 today and am playing with it. Right now it is a bit of a pita and I wanted to see if there is an easier way to do this.

First, I changed to aperture priority. Seems to meter ok - I change aperture on the lens and the shutter/iso compensate.

I set to MF. And I can do so, but I don't automatically shift into magnification when I turn the focus ring (a nice feature of the Oly 17mm). So what I have to do it hit the info button a few times until the green outline comes up then hit the OK button then I'm into magnification. I can then focus, but if I want to then see the frame I have to hit OK again to get out of magnification.

Is there an easier way?

 

[simonclivehughes]

Sounds like whatever you were shooting would be long gone by that time!

Cheers,

 

[Brian Mosley]

Hi nostatic,

there's no way the camera knows when you're turning the focus ring - so as with the G1, you have to select MF assist zoom.

Once you're in the green box info screen, you can stay there... if you move the dial to change EV compensation, the status info flashes up. You can also trigger the status info by touching the +/- EV button next to the shutter release button.

I find that, if I frame up roughly and then move the focus patch (the green box) to the point I want in critical focus... I can hit the OK button to zoom in to 10x live view - and the image is 'anchored' by the point I'm focused on, so there's no need to worry about overall framing.

This is harder to describe than to practice - give it a go for a while, and you may find you like it.

Cheers

Brian

 

[Brian Mosley]

Sounds like whatever you were shooting would be long gone by that time!

Cheers,

Quite - if you're shooting a moving subject, learn to focus at full view.

A hint - look for high contrast fine details in the scene and then focus until you see a shimmering happening around that detail.

Kind Regards

Brian

 

[nostatic]

Thanks for the hints. I was mostly doing that and it is a little awkward (I haven't really been zooming back out to reframe) but manageable. I'm lazy though, and I find the AF on the EP1 to be fine so not sure this is my "thing."

The behavior I'd like to see is that when I'm on the live view screen with the green square that rolling the second dial zooms me in and out. That should be possible via a firmware upgrade.

 

[Brian Mosley]

Yes - it's a good start, but Olympus could improve the manual focus assist display... we've asked - I hope they're listening!

Cheers

Brian

 

[tashley]

Get to the green box screen, hit OK to zoom view and focus manually then use your right thumb to hit the play button, then immediately half press the shutter with your right index finger. This is the way to get back from MF magnified view to framing view with minimum hassle and movement of the camera.

Best

T

 

[sc_john]

tashley,

Good one! That sequence has right hand in a much more natural position to hold the body.

John

 

[daggerlee]

Has anyone figured out a way to change the ISO in MF zoom mode yet? Unfortunately the Fn function cannot be set to ISO.

 

[Vivek]

A hint - look for high contrast fine details in the scene and then focus until you see a shimmering happening around that detail.

That is a good hint. In addition, set the contrast in your cam to the highest (it will only affect the jpg and won't do anything to the RAW file) so that this "shimmering" is more pronounced and easily recognizable on the LCD from the liveview.

 

[Rawfa]

How about setting the magnification to FN? Is it possible? This way you could switch back and forth really fast. Let me know how that goes.

 

[OzRay]

Yes - it's a good start, but Olympus could improve the manual focus assist display... we've asked - I hope they're listening!

Cheers

Brian

What Olympus needs to do is allow the setting of the Fn/AEL/AFL button as a one touch focus assist on, and then half press of shutter to turn off focus assist and restore full screen view. That would speed up the process of manual focus immeasurably.

Cheers

Ray

 

[Rawfa]

How about setting the magnification to FN? Is it possible? This way you could switch back and forth really fast. Let me know how that goes.

I have checked the manual the camera doesn't allow you to assign magnification to the FN button. What a silly silly move from Oly. This one goes to the firmware wish list.

 

[daggerlee]

My personal wish is for Oly to include a "picture in picture" set up where the focus mag screen is inset over the whole scene itself.

 

[Brian Mosley]

What Olympus needs to do is allow the setting of the Fn/AEL/AFL button as a one touch focus assist on, and then half press of shutter to turn off focus assist and restore full screen view. That would speed up the process of manual focus immeasurably.

Cheers

Ray

Exactly what we requested Ray, fingers crossed

Kind Regards

Brian

 

[Brian Mosley]

That is a good hint. In addition, set the contrast in your cam to the highest (it will only affect the jpg and won't do anything to the RAW file) so that this "shimmering" is more pronounced and easily recognizable on the LCD from the liveview.

Excellent suggestion Vivek, but the contrast doesn't help the overall image composition (blows out highlights etc) - what does work better, is setting sharpness to +2 if shooting raw.

Cheers

Brian

 

[Vivek]

Contrast, sharpness and such do not affect the composition but jacking up the sharpness also would help (infact in digital processing contrast and "sharpness" are related) with getting the focus right. The "shimmering" is more pronounced with higher contrast.