Anti-Shock for E-PL1

razi, although I don't know the answer to your question I'm hoping someone else here will - thus I'm bumping this up for more knowledgeable eyes to see.

 

With the PEN cameras, it is best to think of this as a variable self-timer. As you would be aware, you can have 2 self-timer periods of 2-sec and 10-sec. Most people use the 2-sec to overcome camera shake on a tripod for long exposures and 10-sec for self-portraits to give you enough time to get into the picture.

With anti-shock, you can add in an amount via the menu and it comes up as an additional sequence/timer options for the 2 self-timer modes plus normal and sequential shooting. So for example, with the 2-sec self-timer, a 2-sec anti-shock dela and single shot you essentially get a 4 second delay after pressing the shutter.

When used with sequential shooting, you get similar functionality to an intervalometer (neat trick or more of Olympus's obscure methods of hiding things in the menu).

Note that with a dSLR, the mirror will lock up after pressing the shutter button and using anti-shock. No mirror in the PENs.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

PeterB666

 

Thanks for the clarification, I was curious about the anti-shock as well.

 

There's more to anti-shock than an extension of the timer selection seconds. It appears, and I'm not an expert, that just like SLR's mirror lockup, the PL1 locks out live view immediately. Than after the anti-shock delay the shutter operates. This eliminates the first click. There must be a separate shutter that locks out live view before the shutter opens.

You can see this as follows. In a dark room, set the aperture at a small opening so the shutter has to stay open for a few seonds. In anti-shock mode set for two seconds, the live view shutter first closes locking out the view when the shutter button is pressed. Then after the 2sec anti shock delay, the shutter opens and then a final third click when the shutter closes.

In time delay mode, when you first press the timer, you still have live view. After the time delay you get a double click. Live view closes, shutter opens, and then the third click when the shutter closes.

So anit-shock eliminates that first shake just like SLR locks the mirror up before shutter opearation. What the difference is in "shake" to a final picture, I haven't actually experimented with. But it would be interesting if someone spent the time experimenting and reported back here with their findings.

One interesting thing that happens though when the flash is on. You get two flashes. The first immediately when you start the anti-shock, and the second when the shutter opens. It appears that the camera is testing the shot and setting the aperture so that the aperture doesn't have to set when the shutter opens eliminating one more movement. This may be happening without the flash in my original scenario. But you can't tell what the aperutre is doing because you cannot hear it. Any thoughts on that?

 

E-PL1 Anti Shake

Wanted to throw this out to the group...I believe the 'anti shake' function is to 'correct' the LENS vibration issue at 1/100 to 1/200. See this article Olympus E-P1 Digital Camera Blur - Full Review - The Imaging Resource! or Google 'e-pl1 lens vibration imaging resource'.

Can someone confirm if this option was with firmware 1.0? If not, was def a fix introduced in firmware 1.1 to remedy the vibration. BTW, seems to me the anti-shake would in fact introduce blur if hand held. Has anyone used and tested this feature?

After a little more research, I found this feature on another Olympus DSLR...maybe this is for tripod use 'only'. Would be nice if the e-pl1's manual stated such...

Anti-Shock Function: For those users who enjoy shooting in extremely low light, this selectable menu option will lock the mirror into a stationary position to eliminate vibration caused by the mirror movement before the exposure. This is a very useful addition for those who would like to use their EVOLT for long exposures on a tripod, for Astro-photography, or for Microscope photography when long exposures are used and camera shake must be eliminated.

Thoughts?