New OM-1 (5 Viewers)

[Steve Babbs]

It would have been nice with some more custom modes, not necessarily marked on the wheel, but accessed/programmed via meny system.

Yes that would be useful. I use one for birds perched, one for flight, one for mammals and one for macro. Another couple would have ideal.

 

[WildPhotographer]

On

I got me an OM-1, modified the metabonesadapter, and put on the Sigma C 150-600mm.
It works ok, similar when I used the combo with E-M1, Mk 2. It is nice that custom modes C1-C4 can be assigned to different buttons for quick access and change. C1 for bird in "bush", C2 for bird in a tree top, C3 for bird in flight againt tree background, C4 for bird in flight against sky.
It would have been nice with some more custom modes, not necessarily marked on the wheel, but accessed/programmed via meny system.
Bird body/eye focus seems to work but surely not as fast as with native lenses.

/Anders

Once your get used to the camera, custom modes become totally redundant. I never used them after a month or so.

 

[Wookie1965]

Hi, I’m new to the forum and great to see Olympus/OM have a group. I have both om1 and em1 mkiii )plus a really tired mki.
the OM1 is an amazing bit of kit, the mention of custom modes is a good one,
I like the fact that you can select to over save your most recent setting. i only use one custom mode for birds the rest are for other genres. So it suits me well, especially as I learn more bird photography.
in fairness, I rarely use the bird in flight tracking. I know I should and it’s amazing when I do, but my brain just wants to make things more old school- I do love the 50fps though 🤣

 

[katran]

I used E-M1 Mark II for 6 years.
A few months ago I upgraded to OM-1. I will post some impressions and pictures.

Here are my findings about OM-1:

• OM-1 is a huge step ahead compared to the previous generations of Olympus cameras : the focus is much better (faster , more precise).
• it is easy to shoot birds in flight even if there is a background. Photos which were very dificult to get with E-M1 Mark II, now are easy to get with OM-1.
• OM-1 handles very well MC-20 + 300mm F/4.0, even for birds in flight. This combo worked on E-M1 Mark II only in some conditions and with a low keeper rate. Now I can use it non-stop on OM-1 with a high keeper rate and it is much more easy to keep a bird in the frame with it.
• in combination with a good AI Noise Reduction (DXO Lab6), even ISO-25600 is usable. I don't care that much what ISO i have to use, I keep it on AUTO.
• bird detection is a game changer, it is making a big difference;
• the performant EVF with 100% focus-coverage makes a difference, I can feel it when I track birds in flight.
• OM-1 battery has longer life than battery from E-M1 Mark II, i estimate +60%.

What was dificult/impossible to do with E-M1 Mark II, now it is easy with OM-1.
I am very enthusiastic about OM-1, it has a significat impact on my output.

And finnally Some pictures made with OM-1 and 300mm F/4.0, most of them with MC 2.0 attached.

 

[DrewskiMT]

@katran These photographs are stunning! You sold me on the OM-1!

 

[katran]

@DrewskiMT

Thank you !
Yes, OM-1 is a nice camera. And the 300mm lens is very performant. I guess Olympus 100-400mm could also provide nice results.

 

[Jim M.]

@DrewskiMT

Thank you !
Yes, OM-1 is a nice camera. And the 300mm lens is very performant. I guess Olympus 100-400mm could also provide nice results.

Yes, nice shots. I have the mark II, but have been reluctant about upgrading. Do you have to switch the bird AI off if you want to shoot, e.g., a butterfly or dragonfly? Is the bird AI as helpful for birds moving in trees or bushes as in flight?

 

[katran]

Do you have to switch the bird AI off if you want to shoot, e.g., a butterfly or dragonfly?

I can leave the "bird AI" active if I shoot something else (by example a landscape). The camera will still focus on something.
But I programmed "subject detection" on a button, so I can activate/deactivate it quickly.
I did not had the chance to try this on dragonfly, because it was already october when I bought OM-1.

Bird detection will work very well for birds in flight. It works fine with all focus points activated. Just keep the bird in the frame and shoot. Camera will do the rest and will do it much better than E-M1 MK II. This is the reason no.1 to upgrade to OM-1.

When there are branches, it can work with all focus points or in some cases it is need it to reduce the number of focus points to help the camera.
By example bellow it that kind of moment where I had just 1 second to shoot. There is no time for settings or to place the focus point somewhere.
E-M1 MK II will probably mess-up, will focus in the best case on the bird's body or worst, on the branches.
With OM-1 the focus point went exactly where it was need it. I just shoot and the camera did the rest perfectly.

 

[DrewskiMT]

Wow, I am seriously impressed with the crips sharp clarity you are getting with that 20mpix sensor! Amazing. What lenses are you using fo birds?

 

[Steve Babbs]

Yes, nice shots. I have the mark II, but have been reluctant about upgrading. Do you have to switch the bird AI off if you want to shoot, e.g., a butterfly or dragonfly? Is the bird AI as helpful for birds moving in trees or bushes as in flight?

No. It will often detect the butterfly or insect. Although my custom modes are : stationary birds, bif, mammals, insects and switch between the four going off the custom modes when I take landscapes/people.

 

[katran]

What lenses are you using fo birds?

I wrote already : Olympus 300mm F/4.0. Most of the pictures posted here are done with the 2x teleconverter mounted on this lens (so 300mm+MC-20).

 

[Steve Babbs]

@DrewskiMT

Thank you !
Yes, OM-1 is a nice camera. And the 300mm lens is very performant. I guess Olympus 100-400mm could also provide nice results.

I use the 100 - 400mm. It's a lot cheaper and great for general wildlife photography as well as birds. I suspect head to head the 300mm + a convertor would be better for those who concentrate on birds and have deep pockets but I doubt there is much in it.

 

[katran]

but I doubt there is much in it.

100-400mm is a lot more versatile and usable also for other types of photography (ex. landscapes). It's a good lens.

But for those which are very deep into wildlife photography, 300mm F/4.0 would be the next level : sharper, faster, better IS. And when is need it, you can mount a 2x teleconverter on it a get 600mm focal length (1200mm echiv).

Teleconverter is not a must. 300mm is so sharp that I can crop and the image looks very good at 100%, or I can even enlarge it to 150%...200% with an upscaling software. The main advantage of a TC 2x it's the pleasure to have the birds close in the viewfinder.

I could use MC-20 on E-M1 MK II just in good light situations, but now on OM-1 I can use it most of the time.

 

[katran]

In the last week I had the chance to organize a shooting session to bee-eaters.
OM-1 did very well. I got the best results with bee-eaters in flight.
I tried the AF Limiter from the camera and I felt an improvment. I had the IS activated. I forgot to test with IS OFF. Maybe next time.
Some pictures from this session:

 

[njlarsen]

Those are definitely some great photos of bee-eaters!
Niels

 

[njlarsen]

From the rumors site:

OM-1 review by Ken Rockwell: “I’m impressed” – 43 Rumors

www.43rumors.com

If you click through to the actual review it is very long but contains for example these statements:

There's nothing else like the OM-1 for hand-held computational photography. It leaves the rest of the market standing around in the dust with a tripod and having to haul files back home to process into the same images that come right out of a hand-held OM-1.


For fast sports, I'm impressed at how well it silently shoots away at 50 FPS, and its 2× crop factor and base ISO of 200 make it easy as well as fast.


For birds, you can't beat its 2× crop factor, base ISO of 200 and OM SYSTEM's large collection of ultra-tele zooms at reasonable prices like the M.Zuiko 75-300mm (150-600mm eq.), M.Zuiko 100-400mm (200-800mm eq.), M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 (600mm f/4 eq.) and the birder's dream, the M.Zuiko 150-400mm f/4.5 TC which is a 300-800mm equivalent with an internally switchable 1.25× converter to make it a 375-1,000mm f/5.6 equivalent!

Niels

 

[katran]

Agree with you, Niels.
OM-1 is a great camera, it's a joy to use. I am always excited to make a BIF session since I have OM-1.
The output of this camera it's a dream. Sometimes I did not even expect that the camera could make a good picture in a specific situation (ex : BIF) and then suprise ! I get perfect pictures.

 

[HasseBF]

Congratulations to you! It is a brilliant camera and extremely capable. After a few days with mine, I took the decision to divest all my Canon gear as the AF was superior on the OM-1. It takes a bit of setting up and after long chats with OM-System, I am now running 1 or 2 day training sessions on the camera with their support. In terms of processing, OM Workspace is like most camera-included software - it works well, but very slow and not intuitive. Camera designers are unfortunately not post-production software engineers. Nikon's NX is the best of a rather mixed group. Othes have suggested DxO which is good software. By my detailed testing it is excellent great for sharpness and noise, quite poor though for colour. The cloud version of Lightroom is relatively simple to use, works beautifully with OM-1 files, stores everything securely and allows you to access and edit on Phone, tablet, computer or on a web page. It also gives you RAW shooting from your smart phone, if your phone dates from the last 5 years or so. I find most of my training clients find it easy to use. It is a subscription £9.98/ month or an annual payment, but virtually everything is and the functionality is excellent. In the interests of trasnparency, I work with Adobe in a very technical capacity, developing Lightroom (both versions) and Photoshop. I get no benefits from recommendations. I include Lightroom training with my OM-1 workshops.
Nick.

Hi Nick, I’ve read through most of this thread and it seems to me that you really know what your talking about when it comes to the OM-1. What especially caught my interest is your findings that it takes some time to find out how to set this camera up. That is surely my opinion as well but unlike you I have not cracked this Columbus egg. My use case is predominantly birds and more often birds in flight than perched. If you would like to share how you set up the camera for BIF that would be of great use for me and probably many others as I can see on the internet and YouTube many that struggle with this as I do.
With big thanks in advance / Hans

 

[njlarsen]

This appeared on the rumor site today

Birds in Flight With OM 1 And Culling Workflow by Daniel J. Cox – 43 Rumors

www.43rumors.com

 

[Searun]

This appeared on the rumor site today

Birds in Flight With OM 1 And Culling Workflow by Daniel J. Cox – 43 Rumors

www.43rumors.com

Nice find. Shooting birds with the OM1 is an amazing upgrade from the EM1-II.