Firmware updates are live.

[ac12]

For my cameras and what I shoot, I did not see anything in the descriptions to update for.
So I decided to pass on this FW.

 

[PhotoCal]

Tried out the bird AF this morning. It's far from perfect but it does work. I'd say it hit 80-90% of the shots. Occasionally it'll still focus on the background or a branch in front.

Definitely nowhere near as game changing as Pro Capture but is still good. I think for me I'll be shooting with a 3X3 AF area rather than a single, smaller AF point.

I'd give it a B+. I'm probably a harsh critic though, as I was already not terrible at getting birds in focus. I normally shoot Pro Cap H when birding which is incompatible with C-AF, so I have to fallback to S-AF. Will be trying again over the weekend with either continuous shooting or Pro Cap L and CAF.

Yea, I read that in another thread.

 

[Lcrunyon]

Tried out the bird AF this morning. It's far from perfect but it does work. I'd say it hit 80-90% of the shots. Occasionally it'll still focus on the background or a branch in front.

Definitely nowhere near as game changing as Pro Capture but is still good. I think for me I'll be shooting with a 3X3 AF area rather than a single, smaller AF point.

I'd give it a B+. I'm probably a harsh critic though, as I was already not terrible at getting birds in focus. I normally shoot Pro Cap H when birding which is incompatible with C-AF, so I have to fallback to S-AF. Will be trying again over the weekend with either continuous shooting or Pro Cap L and CAF.

Hmmm... A few question, if you don’t mind...

1. We’re you on one of the high burst modes (either C-AF or Pro Capture High) in your test?

2. Would you rate that 80-90% as critically sharp?

If both of those answers are yes, then that more or less coincides with what Peter Forsgard had said. He said the first shot would occasionally miss, but after that the rest of the burst was spot-on.

 

[Angus Gibbins]

Hmmm... A few question, if you don’t mind...

1. We’re you on one of the high burst modes (either C-AF or Pro Capture High) in your test?

2. Would you rate that 80-90% as critically sharp?

If both of those answers are yes, then that more or less coincides with what Peter Forsgard had said. He said the first shot would occasionally miss, but after that the rest of the burst was spot-on.

Posted in another thread but turns out I didn't have it enabled this morning. You have to set AF to C-AF + Tr which I didn't know. However it also won't work with Pro Capture H (because C-AF won't work with it) which is how I normally shoot.

However. I was out photographing corellas about half an hour ago and with Pro Capture L and it didn't miss beat. It's a game changer for me.

 

[Angus Gibbins]

https://www.mu-43.com/threads/share-birds.4838/post-1435357

 

[Angus Gibbins]

2. Would you rate that 80-90% as critically sharp?

Here's the thing. It's not increasing sharpness of photos, but what it will do is increase your keeper rate. I'm a bird photographer, I like to thing I could already take sharp photos of birds, but I've lost count the number of times I've missed focussed because the birds flown faster than I can recompose or I've focussed on a background or nearby branch.

Also, because I'm not focussed so much on moving an AF point around (deliberately avoiding a pun) I expect it will free up my attention and allow me to improve the composition of my shots too.

 

[Steph]

Updated both an e-m1 mkII and e-m1 mk III, using Olympus Workspace, from Win10. Both successful. Mostly.
Both forgot the language. The Mk II forgot the time of day. But the rest of the settings were restored.

Hi, can someone test the “Improved video Stabilization" on the EM1 mk 2 please. Can you guys spot a difference ? Thanks

 

[Ranger Rick]

Cross-posted re. E-M1X, BIF and new firmware:

https://smallsensorphotography.com/mallard-overtaken-in-mid-air

 

[Mike Wingate]

Is the em5 III doomed?

 

[Lcrunyon]

Here's the thing. It's not increasing sharpness of photos, but what it will do is increase your keeper rate. I'm a bird photographer, I like to thing I could already take sharp photos of birds, but I've lost count the number of times I've missed focussed because the birds flown faster than I can recompose or I've focussed on a background or nearby branch.

Also, because I'm not focussed so much on moving an AF point around (deliberately avoiding a pun) I expect it will free up my attention and allow me to improve the composition of my shots too.

Yeah, I didn’t think it would increase the sharpness per se. However, there has been a common complaint that Olympus autofocus doesn’t always nail focus exactly. The difference for maybe 10 to 15% of the shots was that while they seem to be in focus, they weren’t critically sharp. I’ve always thought that there were a number of factors that could account for that, but a common conception is that it’s the autofocus. So, I was hoping that AI Tracking might help out with that.

It really sounds like the AI tracking is very helpful for a number of reasons. That combined with pro capture has got to be a cumulatively powerful tool set. I can’t wait to try it, especially once I have the new 150-400mm lens.

 

[Dogbert62]

Is the em5 III doomed?

Maybe they will add “My Menus” and the ability to backup settings as a goodwill gesture...

I know...Pigs will fly first... But I can hope...

Dogbert62

 

[Cederic]

Failed ... utterly failed.. crashed.

Cannot turn it on. Changed batteries. Still no luck. ....... nearly in tears.

eek
*hugs*

Tried out the bird AF this morning.

If they'd added that to the EM1.2 I'd download and install the firmware right now. As it is.. no rush.

The video stabilisation will actually be helpful for me, but only once the country re-opens and events start happening again. Oh well.

 

[doady]

Updated my E-M1 mk2 from v3.1 to 3.4. Figured this could be the last update so might as well. Plus, 12-100mm is v1.4, so I should have a v3.4 body to match. I never recorded video yet but it was one of the reasons I had to buy a new camera in the first place, so any improvement is welcome to prepare for the future. As for 150-400mm compatibility, you never know...

They warned v3.1 to v3.4 update would reset the camera settings but I didn't notice any difference. I have only updated camera firmware maybe 2 or 3 times in my life so maybe I just don't know what "reset camera settings" actually means. So yeah, basically no problems.

 

[Mack]

Hmmm... A few question, if you don’t mind...

1. We’re you on one of the high burst modes (either C-AF or Pro Capture High) in your test?

2. Would you rate that 80-90% as critically sharp?

If both of those answers are yes, then that more or less coincides with what Peter Forsgard had said. He said the first shot would occasionally miss, but after that the rest of the burst was spot-on.

I've used the FoCal AF Tuning software on my Nikons and Canons. I've found it's true that the first shot is often the worst for focus, and the subsequent ones were often better. Seems same in real life too.

When I took a Nikon lens in for service I asked the guy about this. He said, "In their factory lens tuning software, they can speed up or slow down the speed the lens achieves a focus lock. However, there is a trade-off. If they speed it up, it may miss-focus more than if they slow it way down so it hunts and acquires a better focus. People and reviewers would slam them about the lens being "Too slow to focus" so they have a fine line to walk." In other words, the first shot often spins the lens further to find the best focus lock (Slow hunting time.), and the second one is closer to correct focus so it doesn't have to hunt as much (A faster lock-on time too.).

I've been playing with this E-M1X Version 2 Bird AI mode and could be the lens might operate faster with the switch on it set to 4 Meters to Infinity for BIF rather than the Full Range on the 300mm f/4 Pro. Maybe using the Distance Limiter in the menu too, but I haven't tried that.

I'm waiting to see what the experts come up with as to all the settings that should be used with the Bird AI. I missed up by not being in C-AF+TR mode my first outing. Later when I had the Info active, when I set it to Birds the little info window popped up saying to set it to C-AF + TR. No doubt there are a lot of others things buried in the menu that need to be addressed.

Aside, I went and re-checked my Fine Focus Tuning settings and nothing has changed so any misses are likely first shot Lock-On failures. To bad Olympus will not say whether using this feature requires that ALL 25 AF Tuning spots to be tuned since both the White and Green focus areas move over the entire screen during operation. I will assume they do, but don't know if the locked-on AF tuned spot stays put once planted on a bird and its moving eye.

 

[ac12]

I have a similar experience to Mack.
When I shot volleyball, when I quickly switched from player A to player B, the first shot on B was almost always out of focus. I figured out that the lens is still focusing on B when the shutter fired. By the 2nd shot, the lens has reached focus on B.
In AF-C the camera will fire the shutter, even with the lens out of focus.

 

[comment23]

As a follow-up, yeah I left the EM5.3 without a battery overnight, put a fresh one in today and still couldn't connect. Remote control and lazy image sharing (the pet pics must flow) is more important to me than some improvement to video stab, so I downgraded to 1.2 and was able to connect again first try. Now to get all my settings in place again...

Thanks for linking to the LightSnowDev page. I’m back on 1.2 again now while Oly/JIP clear the mess up.

[RANT] Honestly, these FW updates have been telegraphed for so long it’s pretty poor that they got it so wrong. [/RANT]

 

[doxa750]

Wow, I have no need for any of these minor improvement from EM1 III new FW. Reading through this thread, I will wait.

Sorry to hear about some bad experiences from some. I really do appreciate you all feedbacks...I plan to head out again this weekend and don't want to mess anything up unnecessarily right now.

 

[Ghostbuggy]

Wow, I have no need for any of these minor improvement from EM1 III new FW. Reading through this thread, I will wait.

Sorry to hear about some bad experiences from some. I really do appreciate you all feedbacks...I plan to head out again this weekend and don't want to mess anything up unnecessarily right now.

Usually it's fairly save to skip any firmware updates if you aren't interested in any of the new improvements featured in the new version. Sometimes it is better anyways to wait a bit, just in order to see if any bugs are present. If my memory serves me well, the Pen-F got two firmware updates which originally had a possibility to lock up the camera, it was at least one update for sure. They suspended distribution and released a smaller update a bit later which, while never officially stated, fixed those lock-ups. So people who actually waited a bit haven't had these issues in the first place.

 

[JohnJeffrey]

Please Check your MAC OS version. Olympus Workspace and updater is not working with OS Big Sur Version: 11.0.1 at this moment. See the attachment for Mac OS comparability . Be sure to have all your datas backed up before moving between Mac OS versions. Don't wanna end up loosing any datas for the sake of updating camera firmware. Have camera battery fully charged and computer have enough power to go through this process.

Now you may restore back to older version of compatible Mac OS and get the firmware updated. After that revert back to your current Mac OS. OR use a compatible windows machine.

For EM1 iii and EM5 iii , O.I Share app can be used for firmware updates.
Hope that helps.

Your observation and help are golden, imo! Good call! I’ll wait to ”upgrade.”

 

[fStop16]

I have Big Sur 11.0.1 on my Mac and upgraded my EM5 MK III to Firmware ver 1.3 when it was available. The only problem I had was to redo all my settings on my camera. Just checked my Firmware on my camera after reading this article and it is Ver. 1.3.