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The MFT user advice thread (1 Viewer)

Essex Tern

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England
By the number of threads in the Micro Four Thirds forum I would imagine the system is still very much in it's infancy on takeup (possibly dictated by choice of suitable available birding lenses), but to help new users such as myself, established users, and potential adopters, I thought it might be a nice idea if we could have a thread to share some images to show the capability of the system, and also detail the technique and settings used, pitfalls to avoid, and any tricks etc, to get the best out of the system for bird photography.

I myself am very much still learning, and come from a superzoom setup used fairly basically to collect record shots, where I am now hoping for a better grade of record shot, without the bulk of a DSLR, and am wanting to learn a bit more about proper photography techniques.

The thread idea could fall flat on it's face ;) but hopefully some useful stuff can be shared :t:

As my contribution I add the following:-


My setup:-

Panasonic G6 with Panasonic 100-300mm lens (2x crop factor giving 35mm equivalent of 200 – 600mm), and I use a Hoya HD protector filter. I also use a Roesch Feinmechanik lens collar for tripod mounting.

Settings:-

I use the camera in shutter priority mode, so far only using JPEGs, set to highest quality/largest size with noise reduction set to -5 to get the most untouched JPEG I can from the camera. I use burst mode M to maintain live view. Metering is set to spot metering, and I use colorspace AdobeRGB.

I use continous focus mode, and choose to use back button focus. For most shots I use 1-area centre focus, except for flight shots where I switch to multi-area focus.

I have found the electronic shutter to be brilliant for silent shooting in hides, but when in the open, buffeted by wind, I have experienced the effect of rolling shutter distortion, so now switch to mechanical shutter for everything other than hide based, and maybe tripod mounted shots.

The following settings I have turned off: iDynamic, iResolution, red eye removal and ISO limit set.

To set back button focus and switch between modes as described above I set the main customisable function buttons as follows:-

  • Fn1 AF mode
  • Fn2 AF/AE lock (back button focus button) (also set AF/AE lock to AF–ON, and Shutter AF is OFF)
  • Fn3 Electronic shutter on/off
  • Fn4 Quickmenu (moved down as it is more convenient for me to have the focus buttons high up near the shutter button area for quick use)
The function lever I set to exposure control, Focus/Release priority is set to release, and I like the histogram on, but moved to the bottom left of the viewfinder, out of the way.

Technique:-

Obviously you want to take the camera down from your eye as little as possible when taking the pictures, so the above settings seem to work quite well so far (once you commit to memory where things are), although this could be a work in progress as I have changed a few things as I have gone along already, but the way the above settings can work is as follows:-
  • Set your desired shutter speed using the scroll wheel (so far I stick to around 640 to match the lens length, although may go higher or lower based on conditions and technique over time, but this seems an ok starting point) The camera remembers the last speed used.
  • Hold Fn2 to focus, release if you want to lock the focus. Press down again to refocus as desired.
  • Alter exposure if required using the function lever
  • Press shutter button to take picture
  • To change quickly to flight shot mode dab Fn1 and use the scroll wheel one click to change focus mode to 23 point, the shutter button selects the mode
Below are a few test shots taken so far, very much learning on the job, but I am happy with results so far given the poor light conditions I have been out testing in. I hope to contribute further as time goes by.

Any further contributions, pointers, questions, images etc most welcome :t:
 

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I use a GH2 with the same lens. most of my settings are the same (or at least similar), so a few comments:

I always use the camera handheld. If I bring a tripod it will be for the scope, otherwise a tripod is just too much trouble.

I also prefer shutter priority, usually set at 1/400 to 1/500. I have auto-ISO with limitation set at 3200. I have exposure set 1/3 of a stop lighter than the default. To have most of these settings saved so that the camera automatically reverts to the same starting point when turning on, I use one of the customs settings (the exception is shutter speed, where the camera remembers last used).

I would take some test shots to check how much the filter degrades the image quality. I don't use any.

For focusing, standard is using the smallest possible focus area, single shot focus, and I never tried back bottom focusing, so usually I half-press, check the outcome, and fully press if I feel it is OK. I also use burst in mode M to have live view in between. Each burst of no more than 2-3 pics, refocus and try again. For more distant birds, after getting a couple of bursts in, I try to use Manual focus to perhaps get a better focus.

For birds in fligth (not my strong side) I also use the multiple focus points setting.

I use raw+jpg, and always end up using the raw for actually finishing a photo off. As such, I am less concerned with those automatic sharpening etc settings. I use ACDSee Pro as Raw converter. My wife uses another GH2 for her photography, and she has chosen to use vivid film mode to make the image OOC pop a little more (again saved into a custom setting).

I have experimented a little with having AF off versus on. With the shutter speeds you use, the end result might become better with the off setting, but I do not give any guarantees.

I will likely purchase the olympus prime 300 mm when it comes out, as well as the 1.4x TC.

Niels (the last several hundred of my shots in the gallery here is with this combo).
 
By the number of threads in the Micro Four Thirds forum I would imagine the system is still very much in it's infancy on takeup
Mmm. Or it works so well that hardly anyone needs to ask questions?
I have found the electronic shutter to be brilliant for silent shooting in hides, but when in the open, buffeted by wind, I have experienced the effect of rolling shutter distortion, so now switch to mechanical shutter for everything other than hide based, and maybe tripod mounted shots.
Can you please explain "rolling shutter distortion"? I haven't tried one of these cameras, I'm still on 4/3.
 
Thanks for your thoughts Niels, good to get the thread up and running a bit more, and even more pleasing on a personal level to see that I seem to be on the right track generally :t:

I agree that it will be awesome should a longish MFT prime come out, and if, as currently most likely, an Olympus, with no inbuilt lens IS, I would possibly consider ditching Panasonic bodies for Olympus to take advantage of their inbuilt camera IS. Of course at present given my choice of the Panasonic lens a Panasonic body is the natural choice, mainly as I understand Olympus bodies exhibit more chromatic aberration with this lens, so in theory my G6 should require a little less post processing.

I have to admit that choosing whether or not to use a filter was a very hard decision to make, but in the end, although I concede no matter how good the filter, there is still likely to be some degradation of the image, it gives me peace of mind should I for example ever need to shoot into a head wind at a beach - I am much happier "scraping" sand off a (disposable) filter than the front element of my lens! I will probably do test shots in the future as you suggest, but it's a bit of a personal preference thing for me, where I have already accepted the small hit for the other benefits.

I have to say that I am with you on the preference of handheld ease of use, I will also likely use that method for most shooting, but as I always have a scope, obviously with tripod, for my birding, it is handy to have the option to tripod mount with willing subjects to get that extra level of steadiness (e.g. I have been amazed by the difference simply between electronic and mechanical shutter effects, a quick search on the internet threw up some test images, tripod mounted, where mechanical shutter shock is a very noticeable effect over electronic shutter, so my hand holding almost certainly degrades my images!). Also, I think should I need to do a very distant record shot, maybe using digital zoom, the option of tripod mounting will be a boon. But as I say, generally a faff I also will choose to avoid otherwise!

Regards setup specific settings it is useful to know that you are getting good results at 400 to 500 speeds, and I think I will see how my handholding technique copes with that range of speeds next time I am out. Being new to this all I possibly erred on the side of caution, likely at the expense of the camera adopting a higher ISO, so will definitely see how that pans out for me. Although I am happy at the "high" ISO performance to date, e.g. I was experimenting handheld at 1/800 on the Stonechat, so the camera went to ISO 1250, I am sure I could have easily bettered the shot with more experience, and a better balance of settings re speed etc. I think using RAW will be an inevitablility once I am happy I am using optimal settings all the time, I am interested to see how much I can better the camera's processing, but am taking things one step at a time currently.

Your gallery, shots and comments posted to date were a factor in my choice of going with MFT, I knew the system should be capable, and that you are a pretty established user of the system! so it has surprised me a little that you haven't tried back button focussing with your setup. I concede that the benefits are not always there, but for shots such as the Robin below, I think it enables me to lock on focus in tricky situations, where maybe the camera may have attempted refocus on a continuous autofocus setting to a different element of the subject, such as twigs as is usually the case for me! Taking the focus away from the shutter button meant I could take a number of shots without the camera taking the focus away, and although far be it from a brilliant picture with ideal settings (I was experimenting at 1/1000 which gave me ISO 1600 on this one), I am quite pleased that although there are lots of things in the picture at different distances, the eye is still relatively sharp.

Another bonus of back button focus would be if say someone walked in front of me, this could throw focus completely, but if I was already locked onto my subject I should in theory be able to carry on shooting with my original focus setting. Possibly teaching grandmother to suck eggs, but could be an interesting technique to consider for newcomers such as myself.

Thanks again for your input, and I look forward to further input from yourself and others (camera/lens manufacturer irrelevant, just MFT is important!), and especially interested should a prime come out as to the results achievable with that.
 

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Can you please explain "rolling shutter distortion"? I haven't tried one of these cameras, I'm still on 4/3.

Sure thing, the below images say a thousand words!

Basically the electronic shutter dispenses with the traditional blades of the shutter (including sound of), and instead keeps them open, and the camera then scans from one side to the other, to take a picture. If you move/are moved when that is happening the distortion occurs.

Perfect for hides, and maybe tripod mounted - but rubbish in the open handheld being blown about by the wind!!
 

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Yup - I secretly hope Olympus bring out a 300 non-IS prime, only for Panasonic to respond with an IS option!!!

And lets hope they make it F5.6 rather than the F4 of the Olympus which is going to push the size/weight benefits of the m4/3rds system to the limits!

The E-M1 is approximately 5.5inches wide over the strap lugs, so you judge how big the 300mm lens will be from the image below.
 

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And lets hope they make it F5.6 rather than the F4 of the Olympus which is going to push the size/weight benefits of the m4/3rds system to the limits!

The E-M1 is approximately 5.5inches wide over the strap lugs, so you judge how big the 300mm lens will be from the image below.

Yes I would not want too big/heavy a lens either, as I wouldn't want to defeat the purpose of the system, so F5.6 would be ideal if Panasonic could bring out a high quality 300 prime with IS for MFT. Hopefully that could help save a bit on purchase cost too!!

If already available I almost certainly would have forgone my current zoom for a more expensive prime.

That would in my mind then enable me to have a reasonably similar setup to a classic Canon e.g. 7d setup with their 400 F5.6 but saving weight, size and cost. Panasonic can definitely mark me down for a high quality 300mm IS F5.6, so let's hope it happens one day!
 
Can I also add another 'thumbs up' for back-button focussing. Although the button placements aren't ideal on the Olympus E-M5, the E-M1 has the 'Fn1' button perfectly placed for this.
 
Just a short comment: using single focus AF means that once I have half-pressed the focus is locked for that burst. With my camera, re-focusing before the next burst is usually a good thing, I have noticed some shots being more successful than others. This process of half-press is what I have used since my first AF camera and it is completely automatic by now - I have not wanted to change and thereby force myself to think about things.

Niels
 
Ron,
I believe that I might have to increase the shutter speed a little more to compensate for a non-IS lens. Or maybe Olympus comes out with a camera I cannot resist before then. Newest cameras from both producers have considerably better high iso than my camera from the test shots I looked at.

Niels
 
Just a short comment: using single focus AF means that once I have half-pressed the focus is locked for that burst. With my camera, re-focusing before the next burst is usually a good thing, I have noticed some shots being more successful than others. This process of half-press is what I have used since my first AF camera and it is completely automatic by now - I have not wanted to change and thereby force myself to think about things.

Niels

It doesn't take long for back-button focus to become 'automatic' providing you've got a comfortably-placed function button (or dedicated AF button with cameras such as Canon, etc.).
 
Sure thing, the below images say a thousand words!

Basically the electronic shutter dispenses with the traditional blades of the shutter (including sound of), and instead keeps them open, and the camera then scans from one side to the other, to take a picture. If you move/are moved when that is happening the distortion occurs.

Perfect for hides, and maybe tripod mounted - but rubbish in the open handheld being blown about by the wind!!
Thanks, that makes good sense. I assume the effect is smaller at higher shutter speeds. What speed were those ones taken at?
 
Thanks, that makes good sense. I assume the effect is smaller at higher shutter speeds. What speed were those ones taken at?

All three of those were taken at 1/1000 sec (and it was pretty blustery!)

As I was already at quite a high speed, with light conditions in the UK not always the best, I think I will consign electronic shutter to totally calm conditions, and hides of course.
 
Update....

Been messing around with the G6, reading up and learning more, and my approach has evolved a little.

The main differences in settings are that I now shoot in raw only, use high speed burst, and multi-metering rather than spot.

I obviously don't need to explain the reason for raw, but it's advantages are still to be fully obtained by myself; the processing is still a bit of a learning curve for me!

The high speed burst I actually find better on two counts: obviously more shots over a set time period to capture a perfect position of the subject, and I also quite like the mini review the camera gives between shots where I can keep an eye on the output levels and adjust exposure compensation without actually having to open the image review on the LCD.

The metering I have settled on as it makes more sense to me now to have multi rather than spot for the occasion I might be attempting a flight shot where the bird might not still be centre screen!

Anyway here are a few more progress shots, mostly under non-perfect conditions unfortunately!
 

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I really like the little egret. It seems to be the gull probably had AF on the wing, which resulted in the head being slightly out of focus?

Regarding RAW, I probably cannot give you much help: I use ACDSee Pro7, and in that program find it easy to get a better result out of RAW than the OOC jpg. Unless you use the same program, there is probably not much use for me to say what I do with the raw.

Niels
 
I really like the little egret. It seems to be the gull probably had AF on the wing, which resulted in the head being slightly out of focus?

Regarding RAW, I probably cannot give you much help: I use ACDSee Pro7, and in that program find it easy to get a better result out of RAW than the OOC jpg. Unless you use the same program, there is probably not much use for me to say what I do with the raw.

Niels

Thanks, the sun actually came out towards the end of my shooting session, certainly helped with the obliging Little Egret.

I am currently using the raw plugin for Elements 12, but will bear ACDSee in mind should I feel the desire to try out others, cheers. Have to say the little I have seen of Lightroom makes that a tempting proposition too.

The gull I processed as it was one that stood out in a series I took, I liked it as it was sticking it's tongue out, and possibly I dismissed better focussed shots just for an element of something different. Might go back over the series and see if I can find a better focussed shot for further processing practice, if any good, may post again, or may wait til a brighter day to show what MFT is capable of in my amateur hands!

Have to say that so far I am impressed with the results the camera is producing for me, certainly a step up from my old SX1 :t:
 
A couple of pro and cons:
I think the biggest advantage for me relative to lightroom is that in ACDSee I do not have to think in terms of import/export of images.

That makes for some differences in how to think (nothing, absolutely nothing is done to images outside ACDSee even if it would be possible to move them using windows explorer - but that would screw up the ACDSee database). If using ACDSee: embed all database info into the actual image: should the database become screwed up, it is possible to read all the info from the images themselves.

Niels
 
A couple of pro and cons:
I think the biggest advantage for me relative to lightroom is that in ACDSee I do not have to think in terms of import/export of images.

That makes for some differences in how to think (nothing, absolutely nothing is done to images outside ACDSee even if it would be possible to move them using windows explorer - but that would screw up the ACDSee database). If using ACDSee: embed all database info into the actual image: should the database become screwed up, it is possible to read all the info from the images themselves.

Niels

Thanks for above, have looked into software a little more and some of the pros and cons, and come up with a little plan for my workflow.

I am currently viewing my images before processing via the Panasonic bundled software, Photofunstudio, in whch there is an SD card browser wizard - this beats the pants off windows photo viewer speed wise, and is a handy bit of software actually - so pleased when I stumbled across this :t:

I note the file number of the files I want to process, and then copy them to my system only - no massive importing of 1000+ images to clog up my computer, afterall shoot many and delete most is my philosophy.

I think Elements can be non destructive too, although think the sharpening is always applied to your image on opening, but you can always go back to default as shot settings - I am assuming Lightroom would fit into a similar workflow, and need to read further on ACDSee.

I think going forward I may copy the file I want, make a further copy and name it xxxxxxoriginal and then work on a single copy to leave a backup original copy untouched - shall see how I go with this all, but main thing is I shall only be bringing in files I want to my computer, and not thousands of dodgy ones.
 
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