EM1 4.0 Firmware Upgrade

[Godfrey]

Mouse over the words "Imaging Resource video" in my first post, and the word "animation" in the second. They are quite nice videos. The BBCode embedding doesn't light up unless you put your cursor on the link title.

scott

Nice videos, but I don't see anything there that would imply the amount of Z axis sensor movement needed to to anything but the most superficial amount of focus stacking with a 60mm Macro lens.

G

 

[mazor]

Wow, yet another firmware update for the E-M1. It seems just when I thought all the updates for the E-M1 had finally come to a close, Olympus amazes us with yet another major update.

Is it just me, but with every major update Olympus has released for the E-M1, the camera seems like it has just been upgraded and feels like a new camera in terms of new features.

I am looking forward to testing the focus stacking with my Oly 60mm macro, and 12-40 Pro! One of the best new features is the silent shoot feature! No need for a second body like an E-M5ii for silent shooting.

What is interesting though, with all these feature upgrades, one can only wonder why all these were implemented when they first released the E-M1. It is like teasing us by slowly unlocking unknown hidden features inside the camera.

 

[k-hawinkler]

Wow, yet another firmware update for the E-M1. It seems just when I thought all the updates for the E-M1 had finally come to a close, Olympus amazes us with yet another major update.

Is it just me, but with every major update Olympus has released for the E-M1, the camera seems like it has just been upgraded and feels like a new camera in terms of new features.

I am looking forward to testing the focus stacking with my Oly 60mm macro, and 12-40 Pro! One of the best new features is the silent shoot feature! No need for a second body like an E-M5ii for silent shooting.

What is interesting though, with all these feature upgrades, one can only wonder why all these were implemented when they first released the E-M1. It is like teasing us by slowly unlocking unknown hidden features inside the camera.

Thanks for your insights.

I don't think there are unknown hidden features in the E-M1.
IMHO frankly I takes a lot of effort to develop the firmware for these new features.
That takes time. The timing for the firmware release - a few weeks before Christmas - seems interesting.
Olympus needs to sell cameras, E-M1, E-M5II, ... .

What to do if their new camera should even be ready but they are waiting for access to the next generation of sensor chips?
BTW, Olympus doesn't seem to be the only one in that situation.

Sony has a definitive advantage in this regard, being a major supplier of sensor chips, it seems to me.

Of course, this is all wild speculation on my part. :loco: :ROTFL: :facesmack:

 

[Godfrey]

...
What is interesting though, with all these feature upgrades, one can only wonder why all these were implemented when they first released the E-M1. It is like teasing us by slowly unlocking unknown hidden features inside the camera.

Unless you like to live in a world of conspiracy theory, it's probably not worth consuming your mind with this train of thought.

I think of it like the Voyager 2 space craft. When the trip to the outer solar system was envisioned, the notion of a grand tour all the way to Neptune was brought up but the funding wasn't approved. That didn't matter to the engineers designing the space craft: they built it with all the attention to detail and depth that they could muster for the day. When it launched in 1977 and set out for Jupiter and Saturn, it wasn't going beyond that.

But when Voyager 1 was so successful, and then Voyager 2 was likewise, the funding for the other two planets came through. Voyager 2 had taken quite a beating already: the swivel platform wasn't operating properly, the transceiver was way down on power, etc. To make photographs out beyond Saturn would require long exposure panning to capture good images and the swivel platform couldn't operate smoothly or reliably enough.

So the engineering team, knowing all the bits that went into the space craft, re-qualified all the bits in the lab so that they could reliably pan the cameras by rotating the whole space craft with bursts from the attitude jets that were 1/4 the original minimum burst duration. They just looked at what they had build and found enough overhead to do the job a different way, for Uranus and then for Neptune.

That's how engineers think. Olympus engineers designed the E-M1 as a professional grade camera with a lot of hardware overhead, and a sophisticated enough reprogrammable computer on-board to extend the camera where they might want to go for a period of years. When it launched in late September 2013 (barely two years ago, if you want to believe it!), they envisioned the hardware design lasting a while and being a platform for a nice, long, and somewhat hard to predict, future.

It's a wonderful achievement.

G

 

[Knorp]

Just a thought ...
What could be the reason for only the three designated lenses (60/2.8, 12-40/2.8, 40-150/2.8) supporting this Focus Stacking feature ?
Is it their drive mechanism ? Or their close focus distance ?
F.i. why not the 75/1.8 ?
Or is it a matter of time we'll see more lenses from the current line-up ?

What's your take ?

 

[raist3d]

Guys, follow my link and look at the video that was done, not by Olympus, but by the fellow at M43 Rumors. The Olympus marketing video is an animation, but it also shows that the sensor can move out of plane when compensating for pitch and yaw. So z-axis motion is possible. Whether it is a good way to get focus shifts is another question.

scott

Your link was not the Olympus marketing video I thought, but I am not seeing movevemtn along the z-axis in the imaging resource video link. I do see what seems to be some rotation along X & Y plus obvious Z axis, and movement along X &Y but not Z.

Ironically this Olympus marketing video shows it rather well:

https://youtu.be/P0dq9sMcppc

I will try to find the other video I was talking about, about the sensor in the case at one of the camera trade shows, and you can see there's no room for Z translation. Again, consider what that would do to the projection of the image from the lens on the sensor.

BTW, guess why it's called 5-axis and not 6-axis... guess which axis of motion is missing ;-)


- Ricardo

 

[raist3d]

Wow, yet another firmware update for the E-M1.....

What is interesting though, with all these feature upgrades, one can only wonder why all these were implemented when they first released the E-M1. It is like teasing us by slowly unlocking unknown hidden features inside the camera.

I am with Godfrey on this one, and it's exactly like handful have accused Fuji of doing. I am sorry but this train of thought doesn't make any sense. Consider that software development/engineering takes time and development of new algorithms is not a trivial endeavor- takes time and money.

At the same time you have the pressure of time to market.

Olympus traditionally never did this. My money is that Fuji forced their hand competition wise because Fuji developed a track record of doing these firmware upgrades. And you bet the AF system of X-T1 Version 4.0 / X-T10 was not developed by the time the X-T1 first came out.

Neither company is "holding back" anything.

- Ricardo

- - - Updated - - -

Just a thought ...
What could be the reason for only the three designated lenses (60/2.8, 12-40/2.8, 40-150/2.8) supporting this Focus Stacking feature ?
Is it their drive mechanism ? Or their close focus distance ?
F.i. why not the 75/1.8 ?
Or is it a matter of time we'll see more lenses from the current line-up ?

What's your take ?

If I had to guess- their image quality, precision. The 60/F2.8 because it's *the* macro lens from Olympus and this feature would be kinda meaningless without it.

Maybe other lenses will follow up but Olympus had to make a choice on priorities.

- Ricardo

 

[raist3d]

From Olympus website:

"“Turning on the OM-D camera energizes a coil and magnet arrangement that causes the image sensor to float in magnetic suspension. This allows the image sensor to move freely, so it can be rotated or moved vertically or horizontally depending on the movement of the camera. It can also be used to compensate for the gentle vibration that occurs when the user is walking, such as when recording video.”
Read more at http://www.thephoblographer.com/2014/12/17/comparison-olympus-sonys-5-axis-stabilization-work/#AvfBoUFYBf1jtf7j.99"

Note that there's no mention of front<-> back movement.

- Ricardo

 

[scott kirkpatrick]

For image stabilization there is no need for overall z-axis movement, since the lens is rigidly attached and AF is supposed to have gotten the lens-to-chip distnace right. But the two videos I linked show rotations of the chip that take it out of the original image plane, and correcting for pitch and yaw would require that.

But I think Godfrey caught the most important fact. Manually doing focus stacking could involve changing the lens to chip distance by as much as a centimeter, and there is no room for the chip to do that much movement.

I'll read the article that Ricardo points to. Magnetic suspension, huh?

scott

 

[raist3d]

For image stabilization there is no need for overall z-axis movement, since the lens is rigidly attached and AF is supposed to have gotten the lens-to-chip distnace right. But the two videos I linked show rotations of the chip that take it out of the original image plane, and correcting for pitch and yaw would require that.

The video shows the sensor rotating a little bit in those axes but not moving along Z. But once again, why do you think it's called 5 axis I is and not 6 axis I is? Look at the Olympus video I linked to you. Look at what Olympus says describing their system.

But I think Godfrey caught the most important fact. Manually doing focus stacking could involve changing the lens to chip distance by as much as a centimeter, and there is no room for the chip to do that much movement.

I'll read the article that Ricardo points to. Magnetic suspension, huh?

scott

What Godfrey mentions is also true. Again- 5 axis IBIS for a reason. No Z. Olympus doesn't show Z translation and honestly to me neither does the video you linked to. Rotation is not the same as translation.

 

[dhsimmonds]

For those interested in focus stacking, you may wish to read this: http://cameras.olympus.com/stack/en/

 

[k-hawinkler]

For those interested in focus stacking, you may wish to read this: http://cameras.olympus.com/stack/en/

Many thanks Dave. Very interesting and timely!

 

[Vivek]

Nice link! Thanks, Dave!

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Fantastic upgrades, and very tempting to buy a used E-M1 to use with legacy glass, a focal length shortener (like the Speed Booster) and not least my favourite zoom lens, the PanaLeica 14-50mm (which focuses very nicely on the E-M1). Very tempting indeed

 

[raist3d]

For those interested in focus stacking, you may wish to read this: http://cameras.olympus.com/stack/en/

Great link! :clap:

And great explanation by Olympus. It makes me wonder why bother using focus bracketing vs focus stacking- I guess because of the lenses that support it and also for more control in a 3rd party app.

I also like what seems to be the sophistication of the feature by specifying number of shots and steps. I don't do macro photography but for macro photographers the OMD's have gotten much more interesting with this.

- Ricardo

 

[Brian Mosley]

Yes, excellent article... and useful for more than macros too!

Thanks for sharing

Brian

 

[Knorp]

If I had to guess- their image quality, precision. The 60/F2.8 because it's *the* macro lens from Olympus and this feature would be kinda meaningless without it.

Maybe other lenses will follow up but Olympus had to make a choice on priorities.

- Ricardo

Thank you, Ricardo.
Well obviously the 60/2.8, though no PRO grade, and I can understand to choice for the 40-150/2.8, but the 12-40/2.8 ?
Anyway, I think I'll be more interested in that Focus Bracketing feature, although I wonder how close to each other you can choose your focus points.

FOCUS BRACKETING
Automatically shoot from 3-999 exposures at different focus points between the min. focusing distance and ∞.
Composite later using the software of your choice for one image with incredible depth-of-field.

Kind regards.

 

[Vivek]

Focus stacking is the feature I am most interested in (although focus bracketing is very useful too).

The stacked final version, would that be RAW or JPEG?

I am absolutely thrilled that Olympus started this feature.

Years ago, I built a rig to do focus stacking (on film). It involved projection of a thin ring of light on the subject which was moved slowly while it was getting exposed (on film!!). It took a lot of time, cash and frustration to make anything useful.

If I look back at that and this pretty much a P&S possibility....:bugeyes:

 

[Knorp]

Focus stacking is the feature I am most interested in (although focus bracketing is very useful too).

The stacked final version, would that be RAW or JPEG?

I am absolutely thrilled that Olympus started this feature.

Years ago, I built a rig to do focus stacking (on film). It involved projection of a thin ring of light on the subject which was moved slowly while it was getting exposed (on film!!). It took a lot of time, cash and frustration to make anything useful.

If I look back at that and this pretty much a P&S possibility....:bugeyes:

From Huff's site:

Focus Stacking Mode, exclusive to Version 4.0 for OM-D E-M1, expands the expressive power of macro photography and brings out the true performance of M.ZUIKO PRO lenses.
In Focus Stacking Mode, a single press of the shutter captures eight RAW or JPEG shots with varying focal positions and automatically composites them into a single JPEG file for a macro shot with incredible depth of field.

So, apparently as could be expected a JPEG.

Kind regards.

 

[Vivek]

Thanks, Bart.

So, it would seem the focus bracketing feature would be more useful for a RAW shooter. Stack the images outside the camera using an app of one's choice.