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The first dog-action shots with my brand-new E-30

DonParrot

New member
I always was frustatred as shooting running or playing dogs with my G1 proved to be extremely difficult due to the slow C-AF.
And as this is one of my main subjects, I decided to spend a lot of money and purchase an Olympus E-30 with the 12-60 and 50-200 SWD lenses.

And already now, following the very first shooting, I know that spending the money for this combination was the perfect decision. I'm so delighted with the results!















 

pellicle

New member
Don

great shots!

what was your method here? Predictive AF style with multiple frames

or

continuous focus with occasional shutter releases?

the results are as good as anything I ever got with USM lenses and my EOS cameras so I'm really impressed

and I love the dogs too ...

PS: forgot to say Congratulations on the new stuff too! seems to be working well
 
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Nice SharPei´s indeed - and good shots!

I agree the G1 AF isn´t up to dogs, unless they´re asleep... However, with any camera, from an ancient Hasselblad 1000 F to the latest wonder, pre-focussing on something and then waiting for the dogs to pass works well (at least when you can command the dogs or predict their "trajectory").

At present, I´m eagerly awaiting my M9, and I know that pre-focussing will be the only way to shoot dogs (horrible term...:confused:).
 

DonParrot

New member
Don

great shots!

what was your method here? Predictive AF style with multiple frames

or

continuous focus with occasional shutter releases?

the results are as good as anything I ever got with USM lenses and my EOS cameras so I'm really impressed

and I love the dogs too ...

PS: forgot to say Congratulations on the new stuff too! seems to be working well
Hi pellicle, thanks for the compliments.

Unfortunately I'm not quite sure what you mean with the difference between predictive and continous AF.

I used the continuous AF - which seems to be a kind of predictive - and multiple frames. As I said - it was my first test with the new cam and I wanted to test the C-AF ability and speed.
 

DonParrot

New member
Nice SharPei´s indeed - and good shots!

I agree the G1 AF isn´t up to dogs, unless they´re asleep... However, with any camera, from an ancient Hasselblad 1000 F to the latest wonder, pre-focussing on something and then waiting for the dogs to pass works well (at least when you can command the dogs or predict their "trajectory").

At present, I´m eagerly awaiting my M9, and I know that pre-focussing will be the only way to shoot dogs (horrible term...:confused:).
Thanks, Ofverbeck - I'll pass the compliments on the dogs.

I absolutely agree, but in this case you get just one sharp picture and often miss the moment with the special facial expression. And I was fed up with missing these moments.
 

pellicle

New member
Don

Unfortunately I'm not quite sure what you mean with the difference between predictive and continous AF.

I used the continuous AF - which seems to be a kind of predictive - and multiple frames.
its probably just a canon specific jargon term ... Canon has a method where it can "predict" or follow focus using samples of the image taken in the brief times when the mirror is down. Assuming a constant velocity of the target it works pretty well to follow focus at 5 or more frames per second.

I'm unfamiliar with the Oly technology but keen to see how you've done with this camera .. were there many "out of focus" frames in between?

I see you're using the SWD lenses too ... this and the weather sealing of the E-3 has me wondering about this as a camera system ... when I go back to Australia I'll be hopefully getting into sailing again ... so the weather sealing will be of use to me (noticed another post in this are recently somewhere too)

:)
 

DonParrot

New member
Hi pellicle,
now I semi-understand what you mean. *grins* I'm German, you know.
No, every single shot of the series was as sharp as the ones I've posted. But then, five frames per second is the maximum you get from the E-30. And as I was told that the AF might lose track if you shoot at high speed, I changed to the low speed maximum, meaning for frames per second. But I'll give it a try with high speed soon.

Other than the E-3, the E-30 isn't weather sealed so I haven't got own experience regarding this issue. But in the forums the E-3's weather sealing and robustness are praised everywhere and I've seen lots of E-3 pictures taken while rafting and under waterfalls - so it really seems to work fine. On the other hand, I don't know what salt water will do to the sealings of the camera.

The low of the E-3 is that it's two years old and the entire Olymus fraternity is waiting for its successor. And that's exactly why I opted for te E-30 with its 12MP sensor and other more sophisticated innovations instead of the E-3 with its 10MP sensor and two-year old technology. Otherwise, the E-3 would have been my choice, too.

---
Edit:

What I do - following the advice of a more experienced E-30 user: I semi-press the button, give the C-AF about a second time to calculate the speed and direction of the moving object - and then I start shooting. Seems to work fine, doesn't it?
 
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swandy

New member
The low of the E-3 is that it's two years old and the entire Olymus fraternity is waiting for its successor. And that's exactly why I opted for te E-30 with its 12MP sensor and other more sophisticated innovations instead of the E-3 with its 10MP sensor and two-year old technology. Otherwise, the E-3 would have been my choice, too.

Hi Don
#1 - GREAT SHOTS and I agree that the expression on the last shot was great.
I also "by-passed" the E3. It was just too bulky for my liking. I have the E30 and even though it has sit on the shelf (crying quietly) since I got the EP1, I have not sold it yet. (Waiting for a m4/3 camera with better AF - yeah I know the Pana's are better at AF, but I prefer Olympus - and then I might consider selling it.) But I can certainly see why if pets are a large percentage of your photography interests, the m4/3 cameras are just not there yet.
Steve
 

DonParrot

New member
Believe me, Swandy, as soon as there's a mFT camera with an C-AF as quick as the one of the E-30 (and maybe some faster lenses on the level of the 12-60 and 50-200 SWD as well as a Olympic-level JPG engine) it will be mine - I just love the G1's EVF and compactness. But till then, the E-30 is exactly what I need.
 

Peter Leyenaar

New member
Hello Everyone

Here are some grabshots of (fast) moving dogs with the G1+14-140, we have 5 Labradors , they usually move at top speed.

This is just to show that the G1 can capture them.

The upper left is (drastically) cropped.

Best Regards

Peter
 
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DonParrot

New member
Hey Peter,
I know that it is possible, I shot some sharp pictures of my running dogs myself. But it needs a lot of attempts to succeed in getting a sharp shot at a limited depth of field.

And your first three were shot at 48mm with the entire picture being sharp - so it goes without saying that the dogs are sharp too.

Nonetheless, you will agree that the G1's C-AF is too slow for fast sports or dog action, don't you?
 

Peter Leyenaar

New member
Hello Don,

It all depends on what one wants to get out of photography, for me that is just what I showed with a few grabshots, I like to see my dogs in their environment , so I want the whole image sharp.

I'll try some images with the 20 1.7 open, to throw the background out and see what that looks like.

We have shot many hundreds of dog shots, inside and out and have been very pleased with the G1 and the GF1.

Of course there is much more suitable equipment, to shoot fast moving objects, for us, the panasonics fits the bill.

Not everything is great, I really dislike the EVF and probably will get some Voigtlander optical finders, however, every systems has its trade offs.

I started in photography with everything manual and one 50 mm lens and a light meter , having such a simple system taught us photography, whatever improvements came after, was magic ( sort of ) I have used medium format, Rollei, Mamiya, Fuji, in 35mm Leica M and R , Canon, Nikon, Zeiss etc, shot both professional and as a hobby, now only hobby photography.

I am very happy to leave all of the above mentioned equipment behind and shoot with my little GF1 the 14-15 and the 20 1.7 , (my wife took possession of the G1+140, smart woman), maybe ,maybe I'll get that nice 45 2.8
I wished it was faster, but than it would have to be bigger.

I occasionally think about equipment that I owned in the past, my favorite lenses were the Leicas M and R, the Zeiss lenses and the voigtlanders, what would I do with that equipment today? get the adaptors and strap them on my GF1 ? no way, I now really like auto-focus and I find the Panasonic lenses perfect for my purpose.

Anyway , I think I am a little off topic here, so Don, you are correct, the equipment you have now is perfectly suitable for your purpose and you did get some very nice shots of your dogs.

Best Regards

Peter
 

DonParrot

New member
Hi Peter,
no, I don't think you're off topic. It's interesting to discuss this point. And with all the experiencre you have got under your belt you probably know much better what to do in a respective situation than I do.

But being a rather unexperienced amateur, my dog-action shooting efforts often proved to be a rather frustrating experience. So I think, for me a faster C-AF and faster lenses are the clearly better solution to avoid too much frustration. Nonetheless, I still think that the G1 is a fantastic camera - but with some disadvantages when it comes to action shooting.
 

pellicle

New member
Peter

We have shot many hundreds of dog shots, inside and out and have been very pleased with the G1 and the GF1.

Of course there is much more suitable equipment, to shoot fast moving objects, for us, the panasonics fits the bill.
since you have the 14-140 lens I would be interested to know how well the tracking works on the AF on that.

I tried it with my 14-40 on a puppy but the DoF wasn't really enough to be sure I had it right or what. The tracking however was great, locked onto the dog and as long as I kept her in the finder it followed her. I thought the black dog on the white background would make the task easier for a fast moving animal

for instance:


and zooming in ...
 
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M

mco_970

Guest
Hi Don,

I've been lurking and watching this post with interest. Your dog photos are impressive, all the more since you posted that you are a DSLR newbie.

I was trying out a used G1 as a possible segue from 4/3 to m4/3 and my experience is much like yours. I could certainly get clear shots of my animals with the G1, but I was having a hard time catching the precise moment/expression that I wanted to. The 'twitchy' animals were hardest - like the ducks playing in water or goats pronking about.

There is a lot to love about the G1, but partially for the same reason as you I decided go with an E-30.

Hey Peter,
I know that it is possible, I shot some sharp pictures of my running dogs myself. But it needs a lot of attempts to succeed in getting a sharp shot at a limited depth of field.

And your first three were shot at 48mm with the entire picture being sharp - so it goes without saying that the dogs are sharp too.

Nonetheless, you will agree that the G1's C-AF is too slow for fast sports or dog action, don't you?
 
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