E-M1 II - C-AF Sensitivity. Is +2 almost always best?

[wildlifeShooter]

No, that is not right. If you manage to keep the focus area on the bird all the time it will make no difference, as you say. But if you lose the bird for a moment, then with +2 the focus will quickly decide to start changing, which will mean it takes a long tiime to acquire correct focus again. You will probably be better off setting it to 0 in this case, which is often the best compromise.
The Olympus C-AF setting is not to do with tracking. Perhaps the other cameras have additional settings to do with tracking.

yes i know...i never tried to use C-AF+Tracking. Only C-AF...ok...but when i nanage to keep the focus area in the bird..THEN it doesn't matter if i use +2 or -2
independently of the speed th bird will fly with and of the direction`This is excatly what i do not understand. One setting influences different behaviors...as you ca read here High-speed Performance | OM-D | E-M1 Mark II | Olympus chapter "5-level C-AF tracking sensitivity settings"...there is "Blocked shot AF response" AND "Subject motion" BUT i only have ONE Setting "C-AF Sensitivity" and not two settings one for "AF Response" and on for "Subject motion" THIS is why i m struggeling with this settings....hope you know, what i mean

 

[Growltiger]

yes i know...i never tried to use C-AF+Tracking. Only C-AF...ok...but when i nanage to keep the focus area in the bird..THEN it doesn't matter if i use +2 or -2
independently of the speed th bird will fly with and of the direction`This is excatly what i do not understand. One setting influences different behaviors...as you ca read here High-speed Performance | OM-D | E-M1 Mark II | Olympus chapter "5-level C-AF tracking sensitivity settings"...there is "Blocked shot AF response" AND "Subject motion" BUT i only have ONE Setting "C-AF Sensitivity" and not two settings one for "AF Response" and on for "Subject motion" THIS is why i m struggeling with this settings....hope you know, what i mean

You only need the one setting, as erratic motion requires fast uninterrupted AF response. A blocked view can use a slow response so it doesn't adjust during short interruptions.
If you have erratic motion and a blocked view you should go for the fast response.

 

[whumber]

You only need the one setting, as erratic motion requires fast uninterrupted AF response. A blocked view can use a slow response so it doesn't adjust during short interruptions.
If you have erratic motion and a blocked view you should go for the fast response.

I think the point though is that the only thing the sensitivity changes is how long the camera waits to refocus when the AF point encounters a new subject. It doesn't seem to have any effect on how the camera responds to an accelerating subject vs a subject moving at a constant speed. It could be that the camera is just smart enough to figure that out on its own but it doesn't seem like it based on the testing I've done.

 

[SIXPACK.BIZ]

I am struggling with C-AF+Tr in video mode.
I'm trying to keep track of the face, while the subject is performing slow sports like squats or pull ups, so the face is moving up and down, without changing the distance from the camera.
I've set CAF Sensitivity to -1, but it still keeps losing the green box on the face (Face priority+i is on), and jumps to some other bright subjects nearby, and tends to stay there, instead of realising it lost the face and should re-discover it.

It is quite frustrating, especially that I imagine it should be pretty simple and not challenging task. The motion is slow and steady (and predictable: up and down in one plane). The contrast is maybe a problem, because subject is a white man on white cloth background. The lights are 2 strong LEDs and histogram looks fine at low ISO (200-1000). f2.8 SS 1/60s.

OMD EM1.2 FW3.2

It's starting to drive me crazy to be honest.

Would it be better if I used CAF only, not CAF+Tr ?

Any other tips or suggestions? I'm still new to EM1.2 and I love it in general. But keeping the face in focus in video mode seems to be a problem. I hope someone tells me what am I doing wrong or what settings are best for such scenario.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pdk42]

I am struggling with C-AF+Tr in video mode.
I'm trying to keep track of the face, while the subject is performing slow sports like squats or pull ups, so the face is moving up and down, without changing the distance from the camera.
I've set CAF Sensitivity to -1, but it still keeps losing the green box on the face (Face priority+i is on), and jumps to some other bright subjects nearby, and tends to stay there, instead of realising it lost the face and should re-discover it.

It is quite frustrating, especially that I imagine it should be pretty simple and not challenging task. The motion is slow and steady (and predictable: up and down in one plane). The contrast is maybe a problem, because subject is a white man on white cloth background. The lights are 2 strong LEDs and histogram looks fine at low ISO (200-1000). f2.8 SS 1/60s.

OMD EM1.2 FW3.2

It's starting to drive me crazy to be honest.

Would it be better if I used CAF only, not CAF+Tr ?

Any other tips or suggestions? I'm still new to EM1.2 and I love it in general. But keeping the face in focus in video mode seems to be a problem. I hope someone tells me what am I doing wrong or what settings are best for such scenario.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

I'd love to help, but I can't what I can say is this:

- The EM1.3 has much improved face/eye detect. I suspect it would work well for the use-case you're describing.

- C-AF + Tr is pretty lame IMHO. I'd suggest turning off the tracking and using an AF area large enough to cover the movement.

 

[SIXPACK.BIZ]

I'd love to help, but I can't what I can say is this:

- The EM1.3 has much improved face/eye detect. I suspect it would work well for the use-case you're describing.

- C-AF + Tr is pretty lame IMHO. I'd suggest turning off the tracking and using an AF area large enough to cover the movement.

thank you!

I've just tried again CAF+Tr with me pretending to do squats at slow pace, and CAF+Tr finally worked as expected. What a relief!

AF Scanner: mode3 (keeps trying to bring the subject back into focus, even in unfavorable and changing conditions due to subject movement)
AF Sensitivity: +1 (for slow paced sports movement).

When I tried +2, it was too sensitive, and was jumping off to some other subject with high contrast + light.
On -1, -2, the tracking green target box was too slow, and seemed like it's dragging feet behind my face movement.
On +0 it was was OK 90% of the time, and it was losing my face sometimes. Now that I can confirm +1 works for this scenario 99% of the time (it did lose me once but thanks to AF Scanner mode3, it quickly found me again)

EM1.2 with FW3.2 should have identical AF as EM1.3

 

[pdk42]

thank you!

yes, I've tried CAF with largest rectangle, and it worked quite well. however with CAF+Tr, you can clearly see the face being very sharp, which is what I want. With CAF only, the scene looks almost perfect, let's say acceptable.

I've just tried again CAF+Tr with my daughter moving around randomly, and her face stayed nicely in focus at all times, and the video result is great. Then I tried the same with me pretending to do squats at slow pace, and CAF+Tr lost my face again. I guess OMD doesn't like my face maybe hehe.

So let's say I go for CAF only for consistent results, which CAF Sensitivity do you recommend for slow pace sports (squats, pull ups, some other calisthenics exercises). Would you go for -1 like my recent choice, or +2 for instance (and why). There will be no crossing unexpected objects. Movements are slow and steady, and in one plane only, distance to camera is constant.

The Tracking feature has been in Olympus m43 cameras since I first encountered them back in 2012. It was useless in 2012 and as far as I can see there's been little or no evolution of it since. Personally, I think it's a feature that Olympus don't really put much confidence in. The new subject tracking in the EM1x is a different thing of course and I think is their admission that tracking needs something different. Given all that, my suspicion is that the sensitivity setting probably doesn't work with Tracking - but who knows since Olympus provides practically no information at all on how the AF system works - and it's probably the most complex part of the camera. I commented on this earlier in this thread and it's lamentable.

However, the Face/Eye AF on the EM1.3 is next level and I'm sure will do what you want - at a price.

 

[emorgan451]

However, the Face/Eye AF on the EM1.3 is next level and I'm sure will do what you want - at a price.

Do you know of any videos on youtube showing this? I've found maybe 1 or two short ones. Most every other review video only tries face with CAF +TR, which fails a lot. If the CAF with Face and eye detect on is anywhere near as effective as the sony (or even nikon z6 with latest firmware) seems to be for faces that would put EM1.3 back at the top of my upgrade list.

 

[lucanus81]

Do you know of any videos on youtube showing this? I've found maybe 1 or two short ones. Most every other review video only tries face with CAF +TR, which fails a lot. If the CAF with Face and eye detect on is anywhere near as effective as the sony (or even nikon z6 with latest firmware) seems to be for faces that would put EM1.3 back at the top of my upgrade list.

Try this:

 

[emorgan451]

Try this:

That was actually one of the few that I could find. It looks great there! That background music is INTENSE!! lol