Just came across this on Steve Huff's site (Oh no! Not the Leica guy!). Thought it was pretty cool, so here it is:

Hot Dog Photography with the Olympus OM-D by Bob Patefield | STEVE HUFF PHOTOS

Not sure which category this thread belongs to, so I'd appreciate if Amin or one of the Mods could put it in the right forum.

Cool. Hope the guy comes back and answers some of the questions raised in the comment section.

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EP-3, EM-5, 12/50, 12mm, 17mm, 14/42mm, 40/150, 75/300, Nikon 400mm f/3.5 AIS IF ED, HLD6, FL 600R

What those shots show is how one deals with the limitations of AF-C on mirrorless cameras. Those images could be captured by any camera with reasonable short shutter lag. In every single one, the subject is moving parallel to the plan of focus (or almost stationary. That's pretty easy for any AF camera.

The challenge, and where m43 still falls short, is with subjects moving towards or away from the camera, especially when shooting in burst mode or trying to precisely time the shutter release. Try shooting a track event, with half a dozen athletes running at top speed straight towards the camera. In burst mode, my EOD 50D captures more than twice as many shots because my GH2 is struggling to focus in-between shots. The 50D provides a larger percentage of in-focus shots, too. Same deal shooting auto racing. And no, the OM-D is not significantly better than the GH2 is this respect.

Yes, you can pan and shoot the runners and cars moving parallel to you, but a good DSLR simply provides more options when shooting action.

I love my m43 gear, and use it far more than my DSLR, but pretending it doesn't have problems with C-AF is denying reality.

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I'm not lazy. I'm energy efficient.

For me its not about denying reality but learning to work with current limitations. There is a compromise to be made with every camera; often times more than one compromise. My hope is that the guy who shot the pictures of his dogs will answer the comment questions about what his settings were so that the rest of us can learn and hopefully increase our keeper rate with the OMD in similar situations.

Not going to argue with you cause you are right BUT:

A Day at the Races

These pics of racing greyhounds we've all seen prove it CAN be done. So unless shooting these kind of shots is a LOT of what you do ... a bulky DSLR system is superfluous.

By the way, I completely agree with the sentiments in your sig but it may be a long time till the feeling takes hold. You are being completely logical. Unfortunately then I suspect decades if ever before our brains get over the incongruity hopefully to become an anachronism.

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EP-3, EM-5, 12/50, 12mm, 17mm, 14/42mm, 40/150, 75/300, Nikon 400mm f/3.5 AIS IF ED, HLD6, FL 600R

This is exactly what I took away from the article. It is not trying to make the m4/3 system out to be more than what it currently is, but to find a way to work effectively with the limitations.

Good one! I've learned a lot from DonParrot in that thread how to use C-AF on the E-M5 more effectively, too!

I was at a 4th of July party with some friends and their kids, and they'd set up a small waterslide in the front yard. I kept trying to get a sharp shot of the kids coming down the slide (towards me), but they all turned out blurred. I was using the Oly 45mm lens, and the slide itself was sharp, but the kid just wasn't sharp. I think my shutter speed was fast enough, 1/250 or so, but I just didn't get it right. I tried to pre-focus halfway down the slide, so I could just capture the kid as she moved past the middle, but I think the shallow DOF got me there and I focused behind the kid.

I'm sure it could be done, but I needed more time to sort out the right settings and get the timing down.

1/250s wasn't fast enough. With everything else being sharp, that tells you the shutter speed isn't fast enough. Call all the kids back, rent another water slide, and try it again. ;)

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Russ (in) Houston
Even bad photography can be fun.

I recently shot at my grandsons' school sports. The longest lens with me was the PL45 but I still managed to get some quite good shots of kids running and jumping, standing as close as I could to the action.
I set shutter priority to 1/500 and the only blurring was due to bad focusing. I'd have several runners in focus but often missed my target by a few feet.
I didn't prepare well enough and was mainly using the pre-focusing method which isn't very accurate with a shortish lens.
Probably I should've tried C-AF.
I most cases the movement was toward the camera with just a few across me.

It is definitely possible but clearly requires a bit of thought and practice.

M

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All a dream
E-M5(black&gripped), P14, PL25, PL45, Oly9-18, Oly12-50, P45-200, FL-14, MAL-1,
OM1, OM28/f2.8, OM50/f1.8, OM100/f2.8, Viv135/f2.8, OM35-70/f4, OM75-150/f4, T20