I’m amazed at just how much useful and practical information you cram into your tutorials! Thank you for taking the time and effort to show us what to do. You have saved me hours of ploughing through turgid material in books! Despite criticisms from the photo community that Olympus cameras can’t handle fast moving objects, you managed to show us that by adjusting the extensive menu options it can be done. Carry on the brilliant work, Rob, and ... thank you!!
Thank you! It's really a combination of settings and technique. I was really struggling with the low contrast, cloudy day, combined with holding two cameras at the same time and using live view instead of the evf. That's why I posted the sunny day pictures, to show you can get great results. People are surprised that I used an entry-level camera and lens!
Hi Rob, yours settings works very well orso with helicopters, bees, cars. At the moment they are not birds in flight, so I try with these subjects !! Many, many thanks for your work. Greetings from Lugano.
I am so stoked to have found your channel. Such wonderful tutorials. Just started with photography and your channel is now my go to for any information I may need. Cheers 😊
Rob, great, another very useful video. I like how easy you can go through all the menus and explain everything . I always enjoy your videos. To be in control of the camera is the most important step one ! way before we can even think about any composition. Great job as always
Thanks again for the feedback. I actually need to followup this video with some additional notes. I didn't really explain why I shoot in "L" continuous or why I have two different settings for flying birds vs stationary. Just those planes were so distracting, I missed a few things.
Hi Rob, I accept the limitations of my Olympus gear compared to more pro versions, but your videos really help me to get the most out of my equipment. Spring has finally arrived and I'm ready to capture some bird images using your settings and directions. I'm certain my "keeper" rate will be much improved. Enjoy your videos and appreciate the way your instruction is so easy to follow. Well done.
The em10 had a lot of things working against it yesterday. Dull lighting with little contrast between the white birds and grey sky, shooting from f/5.6 to f/8, and I was using live view holding 2 cameras mounted on a flash bracket. I'm much better with holding 1 camera and using the evf for BIF. Still managed to get a few, but I had to post some pics from last year to show off what it can really do.
I have had quite a few cameras from FF to 1" P&S this is the first time I really understood how to work out the custom menu and the features on my camera. Thanks!
WOW. So much good information! Thank you for this. I'm seriously thinking of getting the Olympus om-d 10iii, so your videos are so informative cause you are the only Olympus tutorial channel. I had no idea this camera is so advanced. Thanks
It's a great camera! If you don't need 4k video, save some money and get the om-d 10ii. They have them time to time on getolympus.com refurbished for $300.
@@RobTrek True, but I've been reading that the menus have been simplified. Even though Panasonic cameras have more features, I think esthetics and ergonomics are a big part of why I'm choosing M43 system and Olympus.
AMAZING Rob, I got arguably the best shot I've ever taken using these settings this week with a camera and lens combination that cost less than £250!! ($340 USD)
Beautiful video!! Loved it thoroughly!! Great practical advice for us who own this camera!!Thank you for showing us what this little piece of camera can do i n real life!!
May not implement this today - I've got so much on my plate photographically - but it's definitely in my memory bank. And somebody behind you's rowing club has a smashing new boat house.
Well thank you Rob for this tutorial! Coming from a classic Canon reflex, I was really struggling with my E-M5 when shooting birds. In C-AF mode and S-IS2 vertical stabilizer, I almost had no sharp pictures, even with a standing bird! I was quite disappointed. But thanks to your video, I took some notes and will try this very soon! This looks really promising when looking at your very nice pictures!
Just discovered this video and thanks for sharing such detailed information. I've been doing quite a bit of nature photography for quite some time and I will be setting up my camera as you recommend and see what I can get. I'll also be sharing this link with some friends that are also shooting with Olympus cameras. Thanks!
@@RobTrek I've been using an M10 and M10 Mark II until I recently purchased a M5 Mark II. And, I also use the Oly 75-300 mm lens and also have the 40-150 lens which I don't use that often. One of my photography club friends just purchased the M10 Mark II after using a PL-5, and another friend now as my M 10, and another club member has a M10 Mark II.
@@stephenbrasure4331 Wow! Lots of Olympus users there. Okay, will give some thought to updating this video. Most of what is in here should still apply.
@@RobTrek Today, I followed the video to set up my M 5 Mark II for birding and I hope to get a chance to see how it works sometime in the next week. At a nearby park, there are still lots of Canadian geese, mallard ducks and a few birds. I had never thought about turning stabilization off and shooting in jpeg mode. So, I haven't had to much luck with birds in flight....a few lucky shots when the light was good. Some of my bird shots: www.flickr.com/photos/shutterbugsteve/albums/72157689616881715
@@RobTrek you're welcome. I've just picked up this camera - I used to have an OM 10 back in the dark ages, and am new to the world of digital manual stuff. I'll be bingeing your informative videos over the next week or so! The camera is so feature rich! Cheers from Barcelona👍🏻
Hi. I don't have bird video for the em1-ii, but will refer you to this excellent article for bif. mirrorlesscomparison.com/stories/olympus-omd-em1-ii-firmware-3-0-birds-in-flight/ Thanks.
Fantastic video as always, glad your back on the olympus photography tutorials again, don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the Vlogging vids but that’s something I will not be doing, still useful as I now use the built in art filters on dull days and have had some good results. Looking forward to ep70
Thanks! I was vlogging to stretch my Olympus video skills and to see if I could make a decent vlogging setup with a PL8. I'm using the art filters now more often myself! Plus I just needed to get out of the house and enjoy the camera.
Bonjour Rob, I have been using your settings on my EM5 Mk 2 and got pretty nice results, I recently acquired an OMD 1 Mk 3 camera and would like to continue enjoying your settings. In this video you are stating the EM1 models, I have got the Mk 3 one, have its own set of features which are more suited for BIF, have you made a video specific to the EM1 models concerning BIF ? So far I have not find it yet, If you can assist that would be much appreciated. Any suggestion would be much welcome. Thanks & regards from Normandy.
Good video,the way you zoomed in on those Ospreys was very impressive,and you still retained amazing detail.But WOW isnt the menue system on Olympus cameras complicated,over complicated IMO.
Thanks! Sorry, don't have any tips for the em1.2. It has pro-capture, phase detect focus, and huge buffers and who knows what else, so I really need to use it more before I can talk about "best" settings. Sometimes I overthink it. Maybe it's really easy. I need to take it out more.
Thanks for this video! I set up my camera as you said and at first I took pictures that I like. They’re not flawless yet, but they like it. I still have to practice a lot and buy a 75-300 lens. ;) Sorry, google translate...
Hi Rob. Happy New Year, and thanks for your great videos on using the EM10-II. New owner of the the EM10-II here so struggling somewhat with the multitude of settings available. Could you tell me about your aperture and shutter speed settings for the action shot pics of the birds and your beautiful dog at the end of the video please. You’ve mentioned that 2000 is a useful shutter speed for birds in flight - would it be simpler (for a newbie like me) to use Shutter priority and leave it at 2000? Then how would I select aperture, given I can’t focus on the subject? You were in M mode - on what basis did you select the differing apertures and shutter speeds for the birds and dog photos? Hope that makes sense, sorry for the convoluted questions but hopefully you understand. Cheers, JB.
If you're at 2000 shutter speed, the aperture will be forced wide open anyway. If you go to my flickr, most of the images have the exif data showing exposure settings. I believe all the ones in this video are there. Thank you and Happy New Year! www.flickr.com/photos/robtrek/40914174232/
Excellent video. My wife recently bought the EM10 mark III and I figured your presets, assigned to function buttons would make a great start for her. When I tried to replicate this on her camera, it turned out that the mark III no longer has the ‘myset’ options. I was utterly amazed and disappointed. Why on earth would Olympus do that? No fault of you, of course, but you might like to know that your valuable instructions are no longer possible on the new version of the EM10.
Thanks! That is shocking. I did a skim in the forums and it appears it's missing some other features as well. The myset is a big one though, at least for me.
Your opinion ... Olympus 70-300mm f/4-5.6 ED with adaptor for OMD mark 5 II is still a valid tele ( look that sales started in late 2007 and now not any more in production ) thx in advance alex
When I do that on e-m1 mii - I set burst rate high and do manual focus. The digital teleconverter helps a lot to get better results when you shooting in jpeg. The digital tele converter actually has better results than simply cropping raw. There is a whole study about that and the pixels from digital tele converter are smoother. I actually did similar shots today but I had no time to look at them.
Interesting. I'll have to compare myself. I like the idea of a digital tele, but didn't think it did anything other than crop the raw file. Now I'm curious if there is more to it than that. Lets compare notes.
You can read this article: www.thewanderinglensman.com/2015/03/is-digital-tele-converter-feature-in.html - I did not try it myself yet - but I did try photos with the teleconverter - the good point with a digital teleconverter is - it keeps your lens speed. When I would change from speedbooster to normal adapter to enhance my range I would lose speed. So it kind of makes a lot of sense for fast long range stuff.
I did a video with and without digital teleconverter - check out the first scene with the crow to compare: ruclips.net/video/qGpCq2C0-qU/видео.html What I found out is that in good light conditions you see almost no difference. But in bad .. there is a scene with a frog near the end of the video - you can see a drastic decrease in quality in low iso. In good light, it seems to me that it is enhanced in detail.
I've used the digital teleconverter (DT) in video and got similar results. I believe in video, the DT simply crops in pixel for pixel, so in higher iso the noise is more visible. When not using the DT the noise is compressed from 16 or 20 megapixels down to 4k or FHD. Can't say for sure, but that is my observation. I did a video using the DT way back when I was starting out. ruclips.net/video/yk3Z3Zl2fMU/видео.html The last part with the king fisher is where I now believe the ISO is actually at 6400, not 3200 as I stated in the video.
Thanks! Let me know if those settings work for you. I tried to show using those settings in this video, and as you can see, plenty of misses. But when it hits, it rocks!
Hi Rob! Man, that's a lot of airplanes there 😁 Thanks for the great video/tutorial, I found it really really helpful! And you got some great pictures also, awesome! It would be great if you could make a tutorial for macro photography, especially insects, cause I find it sometimes a bit hard to get everything in focus using a 60mm f2.8 macro from Oly. I would appreciate some tips 😁. Cheers!
It was so frustrating, planes constantly flying in one direction or the other! I have a macro video in mind, but don't own any Olympus macro lenses, just Nikon. Focus stacking is probably the way to go. I may have to do it in parts. Thanks for the suggestion!
Hi Rob, great channel! I have the E-M10 mark 2 and I changed the settings as instructed in your video but my foto's end up very dark.(hardly anything visible actually) Any idea why or what I did wrong?
Hi rob, does these setting apply to the original em1 as I'm looking on mpb and toying with the em1 or em10 iii they are about the same price, this is my gate way into mft. Your videos are supper helpful Thankyou
Hello Rob... I used 45mm portrait lens on pl8. 3 out of 5 turns out blurry. Though kids photos the movements were not so fast. Which of your series can help me learn
Hi Rob. Just wanted to check regarding image stabilisation settings. I have a LUMIX 100-300 mkII lens that has in-lens IS. I assume that as the in-body IS is turned off so should the lens IS be turned off. Or should it be on? Questions, questions.
I don't have any lenses with IS, so can't comment on what happens by default. There are settings in the menu to select camera or lens IS that you can try.
Can you explain what set up you are using towards the end of the video when you are shooting? It looks like you have two cameras in use and I'm really curious as to what you are doing in that configuration.
Hi Rob, in the last video settings for Birds in Nest you forgot to change from group focus 3 x 3 (9 points) to single central point. Now how to proced to resave all the settings + single central point ? Hop you understand me!!
Hi. There's no need for "Noise Reduction" in Sequential Shutter. It's for long exposure shutter speeds slower than 1 second (or thereabouts). So it's turned off in sequential shooting shutter mode.
Thanks. Usually unsharp bird images are due to the shutter speed being too slow. Make sure you're at 1/1000th for larger birds, 1/2000th for smaller birds. Also, you need to fill the frame as much as possible, so you need to be relatively close. The further away the bird, sharpness drops due to cropping and atmosphere.
I prefer mechanical shutter for less "rolling shutter" effect when panning. Also, faster fps could result in more missed focus due to the camera cpu and AF motors not being able to keep up.
@@RobTrek Yes I do...I dont live in NY city...but on long island...there is alot of noise but not like you have, people flying in helicopters to the Hamptons,..JFK, MacArthur, LaGuardia, and the trains, MTA...Oh how I remember working on the AAFB base, across from RRWNA, Oh forgot to tell ya..got a EM-5 last week...and tho it's not a II version it is a start.
Thanks... useful , just approaching to my new OMD Mark 5 and studying to buy tele 75-300 or 300 pro ( big doubts ..) but Grazie demo very interesting alex Italy (udine)
@@RobTrek Ok....I did some work at the CO club across the river from RN airport..at the base there...and of course I worked there when all the shi...........hit the fan at the pentagon...and had to go thru sometimes 2 hours at the gate, of the military checking my van out, with a dog, looking for bombs..The day that happened I was in DC..not far of route 28 by Dulles airport...and on a day that usually a plane landing..believe or not..every 15 seconds..there was not ONE plane in the sky that day..I seemed very eerie to me....And before that ..I went in and out of the home depot..where that woman was shot by the boy in the trunk, of his dads car(the snipers)..I believe their last names were malvoie or something like that..
I remember those days. Was a bit scary filling up at a gas station. Believe me when I tell you my next home will be far away from any airport or military base. The constant noise is wearing on me.
I usually just point at a tree that is roughly the same distance as potential birds and half press the shutter button or button I assigned for back button focus. Then I wait for the birds to come!
You will not see any difference in picture quality. You may want to consider the epl8 or epl7 for cheaper. I have the epl8 and it's great. The epl7 is the same camera as epl8. The epl9 loses the accessory port but gains 4k and a built in flash.
What about 3-axis vs 5-axis stabilization? Om-d has 5, pen just 3. Is it going to affect picture quality a lot? I like taking pictures/video hand held.
I don't think it matters much for photos. Correct shutter speed trumps image stabilization. For video where shutter speed is always slow, it helps more. I have a few vlogs with the pl8 you can watch to see for yourself on video. Also I did an image stabilization test. ruclips.net/user/edit?o=U&video_id=nIjA4k5RxsQ
Loved this. Thank you. Question: somehow when I was done setting this up, my grid went from the 9x 9 to 5 x 5. I even went back to the display grid in the menu but I can’t get it off the 5 x 5 (unless I pick the my set you helped me set up in your best settings for beginners). WhT am I doing wrong?
Hi Rob, question: after you've created a 'Myset', should you be able to switch to the Myset and apply additional, subsequent config changes to the Myset? Or is the software behavior, "configure-all-and-set-once"? On an OMD EM1 (fw 3.1), I set up a Myset as you indicate here. But (say I forgot one of the settings) if I shift the camera mode to that Myset and then go into the main config menu, the camera does not appear to retain scope. As per, any subsequent changes are not applied to Myset but to the default camera settings. Does this sound right and is this the expected behavior? Do you have any strategies for amending a Myset? Or, if you miss something, do you just bite the bullet and start from scratch? Thank you!
This happens to me all the time. If I forget to add a setting after I programmed the myset, I simply set the camera into the myset I want to change, change the particular setting (say the focus point), then resave the myset. If you want to make changes after you are in the myset, say you want to use spot metering for a few pictures, then you can go in and change that without saving while retaining all the other myset settings. It's easier demonstrated than explained. I may do a short video on this because I do this all the time myself so I imagine others will too.
I'm just used to half pressing the shutter. Plus I need my thumb to grip these little cameras. But I'll have to try it more. It seem to work pretty well last time I tried it. Thanks!
Yes, Rob, just wanted to ask you the same very question. It’d be nice to have your insights on the BIF+back button focusing settings. Thank you for the tutorial, I learned a lot.
It's simply an ergonomics thing for me. On smaller cameras, I need my thumb to get a better grip. It's too hard for me to grip the camera with my three fingers and palm. BBF is better for "Focus Trapping" scenarios where you pre-focus then expose. BIF is generally a continuous focus scenario, so holding the shutter button down is easier than holding the fn1 and shutter at the same time. Some have developed a muscle memory for BBF so I suppose for them it's better, I'm just not used to it.
BBF is a pretty versatile thing according to Tony Northrup (m.ruclips.net/video/8PN9R0D3pF0/видео.html). You concerns are perfectly understandable, but O-MDs are rather suitable for BBF, especially with those grip things they sell separately, I guess. At least I’ ll give it a try.
hi Rob, I wrote that in my settings for 'birds in flight' the frame rate menu item was greyed out, remember? I've figured out what was wrong. It turned out that when the focus peaking was on, this menu item was not avail. I've found the info on some dp review forum and have fixed the problem. Waiting for your next one. Thank you, Ilya
Great tutorials, thanks. Was at an airshow and tried using these settings on my E-M5 Mkii. Didn't get very good results; tried C-AF (not good focusing), C-AF with tracking (even worse), so went back to S-AF (with reasonable results). I had IS turned off, and shooting at approx 4fps. Any suggestions as to what I was doing wrong?
I don't think you were doing anything wrong. I get 50% or less in focus myself. It's just the nature of contrast focus. Maybe send me a couple that were good and bad rob@robtrek.com . What lens were you using? Did you have a lens hood on? What were the conditions? Grey and white planes in grey skies are more difficult because of the low contrast. You might have to use single point focus because of the distance. Sometimes the camera will focus on a point not on the plane. If you look in olympus viewer, I believe it will show you the focus point the camera tried to used. See how many were on the plane and if the focus point was on the plane, how many were in focus vs out of focus in a series.
Thanks Rob. Unfortunately I dumped the out of focus pics so won't be able to check these in Oly viewer. Generally it was a sunny day, with pretty much clear skies. I was using the kit 40-150mm lens with hood together with the digital converter. Focus was on the central 3x3 focus points (rather than a single point) From your comments perhaps the results I managed were what was expected (around 50% success). Next time I'll keep the duff pics and check them in the viewer. I have to say that on previous such shooting trips the results have been much worse as I've not used all your recommended settings and was only shooting single shot. Thanks again.
Thank you, Mr. Rob for posting such a great and easy to follow video. I am new to Manual mode and I have a EM-1 Mark II camera. I followed most of your steps and I was able t get a grid while in C-AF for 3x3 etc. But now I don't get the grid anymore though it has C-AF turned on and has 5x5 or 3x3 grid selected. In live view I see a slightly grayed square box and a slightly grayed circle. How can I get rid of square and circle and have the grid back. I upgraded my camera firmware to 3.2. Earlier it was 1.0. Thanks
Rob Trek thank you for your note! I wish I can attach the screenshot - but face detect is turned off - I upgraded the firmware of my camera to 3.2. It’s in C-AF. I selected 5x5 grid but when I focus on the object I see a green square - not as big as 5x5 but slightly bigger than 1x1.
@@PoojaSingh-fd5ng The camera is probably auto selecting one of the points within the 5x5 grid. You may notice that the green box changes position when you refocus. There are settings in the AF menu to prioritize center first and something else. I'll have to do a video on the AF for the EM1-II. It's a bit more sophisticated than the em10ii I used in this video. In the meantime, check this excellent article: mirrorlesscomparison.com/stories/olympus-omd-em1-ii-firmware-3-0-birds-in-flight/
Rob Trek Thank you for narrowing down the problem. Yes, the behavior is exactly as how you have described it. I see C-AF Center Start and C-AF Center Priority options under A1settings. I have tried many combinations - check boxing all, plus, 3x3, 5x5 in both and then just one in each mode. I got the grid 3x3 in C-AF once two days back but now I just get a square box that keeps jumping around within the lightly grayed square box grid (of size 5x5 I think).
Thank you for the link. I stumbled on it yesterday during my research. I followed the setting in the end (esp 6 and 7) and than I lost my grid and now it’s just one square inside the smaller grid. My photos are coming out of focus sadly. But my camera vids are getting better focus now.i uploaded my video from yesterday on green heron on RUclips (under the same account) and for the first time I was happy with my hand held video of the Night Herons.
I’m amazed at just how much useful and practical information you cram into your tutorials! Thank you for taking the time and effort to show us what to do. You have saved me hours of ploughing through turgid material in books! Despite criticisms from the photo community that Olympus cameras can’t handle fast moving objects, you managed to show us that by adjusting the extensive menu options it can be done. Carry on the brilliant work, Rob, and ... thank you!!
Thank you! It's really a combination of settings and technique. I was really struggling with the low contrast, cloudy day, combined with holding two cameras at the same time and using live view instead of the evf. That's why I posted the sunny day pictures, to show you can get great results. People are surprised that I used an entry-level camera and lens!
Thanks. I've been searching for this kind of video for a long time. Now I finally have a much less frustrating time with birds and my E-M5II.
Thanks. Hope it helps!
Hi Rob, yours settings works very well orso with helicopters, bees, cars. At the moment they are not birds in flight, so I try with these subjects !! Many, many thanks for your work. Greetings from Lugano.
Good luck. It's not easy, so take lots of pictures and keep the best ones!
I am so stoked to have found your channel. Such wonderful tutorials. Just started with photography and your channel is now my go to for any information I may need. Cheers 😊
Welcome aboard!
Hats of to you for being so brave shooting BIF's with an EM-10 and a 75-300mm.
Thanks. All the more rewarding!
Rob, great,
another very useful video. I like how easy you can go through all the menus and explain everything .
I always enjoy your videos. To be in control of the camera is the most important step one ! way before we can even think about any composition.
Great job as always
Thanks again for the feedback. I actually need to followup this video with some additional notes. I didn't really explain why I shoot in "L" continuous or why I have two different settings for flying birds vs stationary. Just those planes were so distracting, I missed a few things.
Thank you for this very comprehensive help in covering all the settings. Got some very good photos after using those settings that you recommended.
Glad it was helpful!
Hi Rob, I accept the limitations of my Olympus gear compared to more pro versions, but your videos really help me to get the most out of my equipment. Spring has finally arrived and I'm ready to capture some bird images using your settings and directions. I'm certain my "keeper" rate will be much improved. Enjoy your videos and appreciate the way your instruction is so easy to follow. Well done.
I may do another bif video when the weather is nicer. See if I can do shots like the I cherry picked for this video in real time!
Hi Rob, Thanks for posting these tutorial for Olympus cameras. I have learned so much from you.
Glad to help. Thanks for watching!
Amazes me that the em10 can do BIF photography! Must try this. Thanks for this tutorial.
The em10 had a lot of things working against it yesterday. Dull lighting with little contrast between the white birds and grey sky, shooting from f/5.6 to f/8, and I was using live view holding 2 cameras mounted on a flash bracket. I'm much better with holding 1 camera and using the evf for BIF. Still managed to get a few, but I had to post some pics from last year to show off what it can really do.
Very helpful fine tuning and use ability information. Moving some mysets to the Fn 2&3 much quicker than the dial. Thanks.
Glad it helped!
Thank you Rob. Was struggling for a good 2 months before I saw your insightful video earlier today.
Glad to help. I would also add to try silent shutter as well. I've noticed some shutter shock in my long shots time to time.
I have had quite a few cameras from FF to 1" P&S this is the first time I really understood how to work out the custom menu and the features on my camera. Thanks!
Glad this video helped. I was so annoyed when making it because of all the airplanes. Thanks!
Great instructive stuff, as always, and not only for Olympus user. Thanks a lot.
Glad you liked it!
Great Rob.Like that you are not using fancy lenses
Hard to find a bad lens from Olympus! Thanks!
WOW. So much good information! Thank you for this.
I'm seriously thinking of getting the Olympus om-d 10iii, so your videos are so informative cause you are the only Olympus tutorial channel. I had no idea this camera is so advanced.
Thanks
It's a great camera! If you don't need 4k video, save some money and get the om-d 10ii. They have them time to time on getolympus.com refurbished for $300.
@@RobTrek
True, but I've been reading that the menus have been simplified.
Even though Panasonic cameras have more features, I think esthetics and ergonomics are a big part of why I'm choosing M43 system and Olympus.
AMAZING Rob, I got arguably the best shot I've ever taken using these settings this week with a camera and lens combination that cost less than £250!! ($340 USD)
Glad this helped!
Beautiful video!! Loved it thoroughly!! Great practical advice for us who own this camera!!Thank you for showing us what this little piece of camera can do i n real life!!
You are so welcome!
Thank You Rob! Its fantastiks resultat with m10 and the economic lenses.
Glad to help!
May not implement this today - I've got so much on my plate photographically - but it's definitely in my memory bank. And somebody behind you's rowing club has a smashing new boat house.
Thanks. Yes, nice boat house!
Well thank you Rob for this tutorial! Coming from a classic Canon reflex, I was really struggling with my E-M5 when shooting birds. In C-AF mode and S-IS2 vertical stabilizer, I almost had no sharp pictures, even with a standing bird! I was quite disappointed. But thanks to your video, I took some notes and will try this very soon! This looks really promising when looking at your very nice pictures!
Let me know how it works out!
I am currently learning olympus with you Thanks a lot Mr Trek
Glad to help. Thanks.
Thank you Rob for such comprehensive tutorials and thorough explanation your the best.
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for your useful video, finally I understood how to shoot birds in flight in the correct way.
Thank you!
Great tutorial Rob, just have to get the 70 to 300 lense and get out there.
Thanks! Olympus has a great deal on the 75-300 for $359. www.getolympus.com/us/en/outlet/m-zuiko-digital-ed-75-300mm-f4-8-6-7-ii-reconditioned.html
This is great. I have improved so much with my omd 10 thanks to your videos.
Glad to help!
Thank you so much ,I learn a lot of this camera because of you. Great
Glad to help. Thanks.
Just discovered this video and thanks for sharing such detailed information. I've been doing quite a bit of nature photography for quite some time and I will be setting up my camera as you recommend and see what I can get. I'll also be sharing this link with some friends that are also shooting with Olympus cameras. Thanks!
Thanks. I may update this video. What camera do you have?
@@RobTrek I've been using an M10 and M10 Mark II until I recently purchased a M5 Mark II. And, I also use the Oly 75-300 mm lens and also have the 40-150 lens which I don't use that often. One of my photography club friends just purchased the M10 Mark II after using a PL-5, and another friend now as my M 10, and another club member has a M10 Mark II.
@@stephenbrasure4331 Wow! Lots of Olympus users there. Okay, will give some thought to updating this video. Most of what is in here should still apply.
@@RobTrek Today, I followed the video to set up my M 5 Mark II for birding and I hope to get a chance to see how it works sometime in the next week. At a nearby park, there are still lots of Canadian geese, mallard ducks and a few birds. I had never thought about turning stabilization off and shooting in jpeg mode. So, I haven't had to much luck with birds in flight....a few lucky shots when the light was good.
Some of my bird shots: www.flickr.com/photos/shutterbugsteve/albums/72157689616881715
@@stephenbrasure4331 Those are fantastic pictures! Much better than I ever get.
Thank you Rob! Super helpful.
Thanks!
I have never shot birds in Flight, great tips and excellent pictures!
Thank you!
Lovely shots there Rob!
Thanks!
@@RobTrek you're welcome. I've just picked up this camera - I used to have an OM 10 back in the dark ages, and am new to the world of digital manual stuff. I'll be bingeing your informative videos over the next week or so! The camera is so feature rich! Cheers from Barcelona👍🏻
gotta be reagan national airport..across the river from the bolling AF base...I did some work there at the base a while back...
Exactly!
Great tips rob, Keep up the good work.
Thanks! -Rob
I would love a little more detail about your mention that the EM1 Mark 2 is built for birding. Do you have a video on that?
Hi. I don't have bird video for the em1-ii, but will refer you to this excellent article for bif. mirrorlesscomparison.com/stories/olympus-omd-em1-ii-firmware-3-0-birds-in-flight/ Thanks.
Fantastic video as always, glad your back on the olympus photography tutorials again, don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the Vlogging vids but that’s something I will not be doing, still useful as I now use the built in art filters on dull days and have had some good results. Looking forward to ep70
Thanks! I was vlogging to stretch my Olympus video skills and to see if I could make a decent vlogging setup with a PL8. I'm using the art filters now more often myself! Plus I just needed to get out of the house and enjoy the camera.
Cant argue with any excuse to get out of the house with a camera.
Rob, you're awesome. Thanks for the pratical Olympsu tips.
Thank you.
Bonjour Rob, I have been using your settings on my EM5 Mk 2 and got pretty nice results, I recently acquired an OMD 1 Mk 3 camera and would like to continue enjoying your settings. In this video you are stating the EM1 models, I have got the Mk 3 one, have its own set of features which are more suited for BIF, have you made a video specific to the EM1 models concerning BIF ? So far I have not find it yet, If you can assist that would be much appreciated. Any suggestion would be much welcome. Thanks & regards from Normandy.
Hi, Roland. I haven't made a bif video for the em1, but look at this article: ruclips.net/video/LG0qExLTHP4/видео.html
@@RobTrek Hi Rob, thanks for your feedback, take care / Roland
Good video,the way you zoomed in on those Ospreys was very impressive,and you still retained amazing detail.But WOW isnt the menue system on Olympus cameras complicated,over complicated IMO.
Thanks. Yes, the menus are deep!
Your a great help Rob. Keep up the fantastic work 😀
Thanks! Will do.
Great tips Rob. What are your BIF-settings with an Olympus E-M1 ii?
Thanks! Sorry, don't have any tips for the em1.2. It has pro-capture, phase detect focus, and huge buffers and who knows what else, so I really need to use it more before I can talk about "best" settings. Sometimes I overthink it. Maybe it's really easy. I need to take it out more.
Excellent !!!!! los aviones me encantan, te cambia el rostro es una pelea constante Ja ja ja ja. Abrazo desde Argentina.
Thanks, Roberto!
Thanks for this video! I set up my camera as you said and at first I took pictures that I like. They’re not flawless yet, but they like it. I still have to practice a lot and buy a 75-300 lens. ;)
Sorry, google translate...
I understand. Thank you.
Hi Rob. Happy New Year, and thanks for your great videos on using the EM10-II. New owner of the the EM10-II here so struggling somewhat with the multitude of settings available.
Could you tell me about your aperture and shutter speed settings for the action shot pics of the birds and your beautiful dog at the end of the video please. You’ve mentioned that 2000 is a useful shutter speed for birds in flight - would it be simpler (for a newbie like me) to use Shutter priority and leave it at 2000? Then how would I select aperture, given I can’t focus on the subject? You were in M mode - on what basis did you select the differing apertures and shutter speeds for the birds and dog photos?
Hope that makes sense, sorry for the convoluted questions but hopefully you understand. Cheers, JB.
If you're at 2000 shutter speed, the aperture will be forced wide open anyway. If you go to my flickr, most of the images have the exif data showing exposure settings. I believe all the ones in this video are there. Thank you and Happy New Year! www.flickr.com/photos/robtrek/40914174232/
Excellent video. My wife recently bought the EM10 mark III and I figured your presets, assigned to function buttons would make a great start for her. When I tried to replicate this on her camera, it turned out that the mark III no longer has the ‘myset’ options. I was utterly amazed and disappointed. Why on earth would Olympus do that? No fault of you, of course, but you might like to know that your valuable instructions are no longer possible on the new version of the EM10.
Thanks! That is shocking. I did a skim in the forums and it appears it's missing some other features as well. The myset is a big one though, at least for me.
@@RobTrek I'm just finding out this as well! Rob, do you know if its possible to do 'my sets' with the mark iii? Great tutorials by the way.
Your opinion ...
Olympus 70-300mm f/4-5.6 ED with adaptor for OMD mark 5 II is still a valid tele ( look that sales started in late 2007 and now not any more in production ) thx in advance alex
Sorry, Alex. I can't comment on any 4/3 lenses since I've never shot with any.
That setting- does it work for planes?
😁 cheers, enjoyable and informative!
Thanks!
Thank you Rob, that's very useful tutorial.
Thanks for watching! -Rob
When I do that on e-m1 mii - I set burst rate high and do manual focus. The digital teleconverter helps a lot to get better results when you shooting in jpeg. The digital tele converter actually has better results than simply cropping raw. There is a whole study about that and the pixels from digital tele converter are smoother. I actually did similar shots today but I had no time to look at them.
Interesting. I'll have to compare myself. I like the idea of a digital tele, but didn't think it did anything other than crop the raw file. Now I'm curious if there is more to it than that. Lets compare notes.
You can read this article: www.thewanderinglensman.com/2015/03/is-digital-tele-converter-feature-in.html - I did not try it myself yet - but I did try photos with the teleconverter - the good point with a digital teleconverter is - it keeps your lens speed. When I would change from speedbooster to normal adapter to enhance my range I would lose speed. So it kind of makes a lot of sense for fast long range stuff.
I did a video with and without digital teleconverter - check out the first scene with the crow to compare: ruclips.net/video/qGpCq2C0-qU/видео.html
What I found out is that in good light conditions you see almost no difference. But in bad .. there is a scene with a frog near the end of the video - you can see a drastic decrease in quality in low iso. In good light, it seems to me that it is enhanced in detail.
I've used the digital teleconverter (DT) in video and got similar results. I believe in video, the DT simply crops in pixel for pixel, so in higher iso the noise is more visible. When not using the DT the noise is compressed from 16 or 20 megapixels down to 4k or FHD. Can't say for sure, but that is my observation. I did a video using the DT way back when I was starting out. ruclips.net/video/yk3Z3Zl2fMU/видео.html The last part with the king fisher is where I now believe the ISO is actually at 6400, not 3200 as I stated in the video.
Rob Trek how did you enabled digital tele converter for video?
Great tips as per usual. I'm struggling to get any decent results off my 75-300 on my Pen F,so I'll give this a go.
Thanks! Let me know if those settings work for you. I tried to show using those settings in this video, and as you can see, plenty of misses. But when it hits, it rocks!
Hi Rob! Man, that's a lot of airplanes there 😁
Thanks for the great video/tutorial, I found it really really helpful! And you got some great pictures also, awesome!
It would be great if you could make a tutorial for macro photography, especially insects, cause I find it sometimes a bit hard to get everything in focus using a 60mm f2.8 macro from Oly. I would appreciate some tips 😁.
Cheers!
It was so frustrating, planes constantly flying in one direction or the other! I have a macro video in mind, but don't own any Olympus macro lenses, just Nikon. Focus stacking is probably the way to go. I may have to do it in parts. Thanks for the suggestion!
Thanks Rob, i really appreciate your tips, cause your tutorials are great and your photos are amazing (like your birds photos).
Cheers!
Hi Rob, great channel!
I have the E-M10 mark 2 and I changed the settings as instructed in your video but my foto's end up very dark.(hardly anything visible actually) Any idea why or what I did wrong?
It's hard to say. You can email me the jpgs to rob@rotrek.com and I can take a look.
Hi rob, does these setting apply to the original em1 as I'm looking on mpb and toying with the em1 or em10 iii they are about the same price, this is my gate way into mft.
Your videos are supper helpful
Thankyou
I'd recommend the E-M1 Mark II as your first MFT. Skip the original E-M1. Also, I'd recommend the E-M10 Mark II over the Mark III.
Hello Rob... I used 45mm portrait lens on pl8. 3 out of 5 turns out blurry. Though kids photos the movements were not so fast.
Which of your series can help me learn
Hi. Try this video: ruclips.net/video/oEdDOYwTlo8/видео.html
Generally for children your shutter speed should be 1/200th or faster.
Hi Rob. Just wanted to check regarding image stabilisation settings. I have a LUMIX 100-300 mkII lens that has in-lens IS. I assume that as the in-body IS is turned off so should the lens IS be turned off. Or should it be on? Questions, questions.
I don't have any lenses with IS, so can't comment on what happens by default. There are settings in the menu to select camera or lens IS that you can try.
Can you explain what set up you are using towards the end of the video when you are shooting? It looks like you have two cameras in use and I'm really curious as to what you are doing in that configuration.
I was recording the back of the screen with a TG-5.
Ahhh....that makes sense!
I use to work near Dulles..and it was 1 plane every 30 seconds ALL DAY LONG.....i think about the fuel that is being used all day.
Not too many planes these days.
Thank you very much Rob.
Thanks for watching!
Hi Rob, in the last video settings for Birds in Nest you forgot to change from group focus 3 x 3 (9 points) to single central point. Now how to proced to resave all the settings + single central point ? Hop you understand me!!
Yes, I understand. Thanks! I had to retake this video like 3 times. Not surprised I missed something.
Hi Rob, How can I resave with central single point ?
Hi Rob: Why in Costum Menu Birds in Flyght I don't see E) NOISE REDUCTION is grey and OFF. Have you a suggestion ? Tank you.
Hi. There's no need for "Noise Reduction" in Sequential Shutter. It's for long exposure shutter speeds slower than 1 second (or thereabouts). So it's turned off in sequential shooting shutter mode.
Tank you and kind regards.
Great video Rob... but I'm having trouble getting sharp images with the still settings??
Thanks. Usually unsharp bird images are due to the shutter speed being too slow. Make sure you're at 1/1000th for larger birds, 1/2000th for smaller birds. Also, you need to fill the frame as much as possible, so you need to be relatively close. The further away the bird, sharpness drops due to cropping and atmosphere.
@@RobTrek thanks Rob! I'll get out there and try again today.
just curious why not using electric shuttle? just wondering? will it be better to have more faster fps instead?
I prefer mechanical shutter for less "rolling shutter" effect when panning. Also, faster fps could result in more missed focus due to the camera cpu and AF motors not being able to keep up.
Thank you Rob
Thanks for watching!
The Joy's of living next to Dulles Airport.
Don't forget Metro trains, DCA and AAFB. I'm surrounded by planes, trains, and automobiles. You'd think I Olympus should just give me an EM1x.
@@RobTrek Yes I do...I dont live in NY city...but on long island...there is alot of noise but not like you have, people flying in helicopters to the Hamptons,..JFK, MacArthur, LaGuardia, and the trains, MTA...Oh how I remember working on the AAFB base, across from RRWNA, Oh forgot to tell ya..got a EM-5 last week...and tho it's not a II version it is a start.
Thanks... useful , just approaching to my new OMD Mark 5 and studying to buy tele 75-300 or 300 pro ( big doubts ..) but Grazie demo very interesting alex Italy (udine)
Thanks, Alex.
Hi rob can you please tell what kinda setting you use for M.Zuiko ED 40-150mm f2.8 PRO
I don't have that lens, so really can't say specifically but it shouldn't be any different than any other lens.
Thank you! Very useful! And nice photos!
Thank you for the feedback! -Rob
You either live near JFK airport in NY or on long Island like me, or Dulles airport in DC, or maybe Atlanta international.
Close! Reagan National is closest airport, then Dulles, then BWI, not to mention AAFB.
@@RobTrek Ok....I did some work at the CO club across the river from RN airport..at the base there...and of course I worked there when all the shi...........hit the fan at the pentagon...and had to go thru sometimes 2 hours at the gate, of the military checking my van out, with a dog, looking for bombs..The day that happened I was in DC..not far of route 28 by Dulles airport...and on a day that usually a plane landing..believe or not..every 15 seconds..there was not ONE plane in the sky that day..I seemed very eerie to me....And before that ..I went in and out of the home depot..where that woman was shot by the boy in the trunk, of his dads car(the snipers)..I believe their last names were malvoie or something like that..
I remember those days. Was a bit scary filling up at a gas station. Believe me when I tell you my next home will be far away from any airport or military base. The constant noise is wearing on me.
Excellent (as usual!)
Thank you!
You are simply the best :D
Thank you! Happy new year!
How would you make these settings for birds in flight on the EM10 Mark IV?
Sorry, I don't have a Mark IV, so can't make specific recommendations.
Hi Rob possible to disable shutter when not in focus?
Yes. In custom menu "C", turn the RLS Priority C to "Off".
Hi Rob when you use Fn 1 for magnify, after press if not in focus what should I do?
I usually just point at a tree that is roughly the same distance as potential birds and half press the shutter button or button I assigned for back button focus. Then I wait for the birds to come!
Thank you Rob
Thanks rob
Thanks for watching! -Rob
I really like look and feel of e-pl 9. Will it be loosing in picture quality in comparison to om-d 10 III?
You will not see any difference in picture quality. You may want to consider the epl8 or epl7 for cheaper. I have the epl8 and it's great. The epl7 is the same camera as epl8. The epl9 loses the accessory port but gains 4k and a built in flash.
What about 3-axis vs 5-axis stabilization? Om-d has 5, pen just 3. Is it going to affect picture quality a lot? I like taking pictures/video hand held.
I don't think it matters much for photos. Correct shutter speed trumps image stabilization. For video where shutter speed is always slow, it helps more. I have a few vlogs with the pl8 you can watch to see for yourself on video. Also I did an image stabilization test. ruclips.net/user/edit?o=U&video_id=nIjA4k5RxsQ
Thank you very much for quick reply!
Is there any video like that for em1 ii?
I'll make some em1.2 specific videos in the future. The settings will be somewhat different for bif. Thanks for watching!
nice
Thanks
Very good information but why are you on a location with so much disturbing noise !!
Thanks. It's like 15 minutes from my house. Half the vlogging I do is not planned but I'm always ready. This was one of those occasions.
I think it would be helpful if you took the gloves off so we can see what you press.
Thanks, Prue. Will be conscious of that in the future.
how can you set auto ISO on manual mode? i cant on my mark 2 unless im on S
Go in to custom menu "E" -> "ISO-Auto Set" -> "All". Default setting is "P/A/S", so you need to change it to "All".
Rob Trek thank you! I am using M thats why... inreslly like your video.. straight forward..
Loved this. Thank you. Question: somehow when I was done setting this up, my grid went from the 9x 9 to 5 x 5. I even went back to the display grid in the menu but I can’t get it off the 5 x 5 (unless I pick the my set you helped me set up in your best settings for beginners). WhT am I doing wrong?
Hi. Check your digital teleconverter. If it's on, a 9x9 grid will switch to 5x5.
Thanks! Found it. Not sure how that got turned on. Now I needs to redo the mysets 😳 but I can’t wait to try these suggested settings.
Hi Rob, question: after you've created a 'Myset', should you be able to switch to the Myset and apply additional, subsequent config changes to the Myset? Or is the software behavior, "configure-all-and-set-once"? On an OMD EM1 (fw 3.1), I set up a Myset as you indicate here. But (say I forgot one of the settings) if I shift the camera mode to that Myset and then go into the main config menu, the camera does not appear to retain scope. As per, any subsequent changes are not applied to Myset but to the default camera settings. Does this sound right and is this the expected behavior? Do you have any strategies for amending a Myset? Or, if you miss something, do you just bite the bullet and start from scratch? Thank you!
This happens to me all the time. If I forget to add a setting after I programmed the myset, I simply set the camera into the myset I want to change, change the particular setting (say the focus point), then resave the myset. If you want to make changes after you are in the myset, say you want to use spot metering for a few pictures, then you can go in and change that without saving while retaining all the other myset settings. It's easier demonstrated than explained. I may do a short video on this because I do this all the time myself so I imagine others will too.
Understood. Thank you for the feedback. Very helpful. Excellent instructional videos too. Great work. Thank you so much, Rob!
how you post-process your bird shots???
Nothing special. I add a little sharpness and contrast.
@@RobTrek is there any tutorial for that? Anyway I do not have LR I'm using olympus workspace and GIMP only.
@@yan870126 Hi. I have a workspace tutorial on sharpness here ruclips.net/video/sb6rFiTxx3k/видео.html
Can I ask why you don’t use back button focus?
I'm just used to half pressing the shutter. Plus I need my thumb to grip these little cameras. But I'll have to try it more. It seem to work pretty well last time I tried it. Thanks!
Yes, Rob, just wanted to ask you the same very question. It’d be nice to have your insights on the BIF+back button focusing settings.
Thank you for the tutorial, I learned a lot.
It's simply an ergonomics thing for me. On smaller cameras, I need my thumb to get a better grip. It's too hard for me to grip the camera with my three fingers and palm. BBF is better for "Focus Trapping" scenarios where you pre-focus then expose. BIF is generally a continuous focus scenario, so holding the shutter button down is easier than holding the fn1 and shutter at the same time. Some have developed a muscle memory for BBF so I suppose for them it's better, I'm just not used to it.
BBF is a pretty versatile thing according to Tony Northrup (m.ruclips.net/video/8PN9R0D3pF0/видео.html). You concerns are perfectly understandable, but O-MDs are rather suitable for BBF, especially with those grip things they sell separately, I guess. At least I’ ll give it a try.
hi Rob,
I wrote that in my settings for 'birds in flight' the frame rate menu item was greyed out, remember? I've figured out what was wrong. It turned out that when the focus peaking was on, this menu item was not avail. I've found the info on some dp review forum and have fixed the problem.
Waiting for your next one.
Thank you,
Ilya
Great tutorials, thanks.
Was at an airshow and tried using these settings on my E-M5 Mkii. Didn't get very good results; tried C-AF (not good focusing), C-AF with tracking (even worse), so went back to S-AF (with reasonable results). I had IS turned off, and shooting at approx 4fps. Any suggestions as to what I was doing wrong?
I don't think you were doing anything wrong. I get 50% or less in focus myself. It's just the nature of contrast focus. Maybe send me a couple that were good and bad rob@robtrek.com . What lens were you using? Did you have a lens hood on? What were the conditions? Grey and white planes in grey skies are more difficult because of the low contrast. You might have to use single point focus because of the distance. Sometimes the camera will focus on a point not on the plane. If you look in olympus viewer, I believe it will show you the focus point the camera tried to used. See how many were on the plane and if the focus point was on the plane, how many were in focus vs out of focus in a series.
Thanks Rob. Unfortunately I dumped the out of focus pics so won't be able to check these in Oly viewer.
Generally it was a sunny day, with pretty much clear skies. I was using the kit 40-150mm lens with hood together with the digital converter. Focus was on the central 3x3 focus points (rather than a single point)
From your comments perhaps the results I managed were what was expected (around 50% success). Next time I'll keep the duff pics and check them in the viewer.
I have to say that on previous such shooting trips the results have been much worse as I've not used all your recommended settings and was only shooting single shot.
Thanks again.
Thank you, Mr. Rob for posting such a great and easy to follow video. I am new to Manual mode and I have a EM-1 Mark II camera. I followed most of your steps and I was able t get a grid while in C-AF for 3x3 etc. But now I don't get the grid anymore though it has C-AF turned on and has 5x5 or 3x3 grid selected. In live view I see a slightly grayed square box and a slightly grayed circle. How can I get rid of square and circle and have the grid back. I upgraded my camera firmware to 3.2. Earlier it was 1.0. Thanks
Hi. Check and make sure face detect is turned off. Also check you are using C-AF and C-AF+TR. Let me know. Thanks. -Rob
Rob Trek thank you for your note! I wish I can attach the screenshot - but face detect is turned off - I upgraded the firmware of my camera to 3.2. It’s in C-AF. I selected 5x5 grid but when I focus on the object I see a green square - not as big as 5x5 but slightly bigger than 1x1.
@@PoojaSingh-fd5ng The camera is probably auto selecting one of the points within the 5x5 grid. You may notice that the green box changes position when you refocus. There are settings in the AF menu to prioritize center first and something else. I'll have to do a video on the AF for the EM1-II. It's a bit more sophisticated than the em10ii I used in this video. In the meantime, check this excellent article: mirrorlesscomparison.com/stories/olympus-omd-em1-ii-firmware-3-0-birds-in-flight/
Rob Trek Thank you for narrowing down the problem. Yes, the behavior is exactly as how you have described it. I see C-AF Center Start and C-AF Center Priority options under A1settings. I have tried many combinations - check boxing all, plus, 3x3, 5x5 in both and then just one in each mode. I got the grid 3x3 in C-AF once two days back but now I just get a square box that keeps jumping around within the lightly grayed square box grid (of size 5x5 I think).
Thank you for the link. I stumbled on it yesterday during my research. I followed the setting in the end (esp 6 and 7) and than I lost my grid and now it’s just one square inside the smaller grid. My photos are coming out of focus sadly. But my camera vids are getting better focus now.i uploaded my video from yesterday on green heron on RUclips (under the same account) and for the first time I was happy with my hand held video of the Night Herons.
OMG. Those menus are never ending. Seems so tedious.
I'm so used to them now, it's just part of the fun!
Not shooting raw? 🤔
I usually do. It must have skipped my mind in this video.
Haw can you live at such a noisy place... :(
It really sucks sometimes, but this is where the jobs are.