First thoughts on moving from G7 to EM1.1

[DynaSport]

Recently I asked for advice about what camera to replace my G7 with, and several people offered helpful advice. During that process, a few people asked me if I'd give my impression of my experience going from the G7 to the EM1.1. So, here are my first thoughts.

Let me first state that this is in no way a scientific comparison of the two cameras. I don't do those types of tests. Second, these are just MY IMPRESSIONS. Yours could be different. And third, I freely admit that I have had a preference for the operating controls of the G series Panasonics. There is just something about their controls that is intuitive to me, so any other camera has a decided disadvantage to overcome in my prejudice in favor of G series ergos.

So, finally, my impressions. First, the EM1.1 feels like a higher quality piece of equipment, as well as it should seeing that new it is a much more expensive camera. As much as I have enjoyed my G5 and G7, I never thought they exuded craftsmanship or quality of materials. The EM1.1 is no Leica, but it feels nice, definitely nicer than the G7. The EM1.1's grip is also adequate to me. I like feeling like I have a secure grip on my camera, and for me that means a real grip. The G7 was superb in that area, and I find the EM1.1's grip feels very similar. Maybe slightly smaller, but still just fine. That is good, because the camera feels heavier. I have not weighed them, but the impression I get is that the EM1.1 is heavier than the G7.

Now we come to features. I find Olympus cameras almost overwhelming in the amount of settings you can change. Unfortunately, many of the settings are cryptic to me. Perhaps, over time, that will not be so. But right now, just diving through menus, I often scratch my head in confusion over what the settings actually do. Sometimes, even after looking them up in the manual, I am still not clear what turning this or that on or off or changing a setting to something different. And the menus seem endless. The Olympus will surely let you fine tune MANY features. I just don't know enough to understand what changing many of them will do. And at times I get frustrated because settings that were simple for me to change on the G7 actually take more steps on the EM1.1. For example, there was a dedicated button to press to bring up ISO. So, I could press a button (that said ISO on it) and it would bring up a menu that let me change the ISO setting. On the EM1.1, I press the Ok button, which brings up the SCP, use the directional controls to select ISO, press OK, then I can change the ISO setting. I imagine I can program one of the buttons to bring up ISO, but even then it won't say ISO on it. So, over time I will remember which button to press to bring up ISO (assuming I am correct that I can program a button to bring up ISO), but I still find the G7 easier for changing certain settings. Another example is the drive (or whatever it is called, the feature that lets you take a single shot, or take photos as long as the shutter button is pressed).

But anyway, enough of that. The EM1.1 was Olympus' pro level camera and so I expect a high level of customizability, and hopefully I will eventually learn to take advantage of many of those features.

One area I expected the EM1.1 to surpass the G7 was in its ability to take photos of moving objects and keep them in focus. In my limited experience with the EM1.1, I can't really tell it is any better than the G7. Neither is all that great.

Finally, I don't have much to say about the quality of the photos. Both cameras take fine photos. I can't tell that the EM1.1 is appreciably better. My G7 slightly underexposed practically all photos, so I got used to dialing in a little more exposure, or I had to bump up exposure in post. My EM1.1 seems to nail exposure much better. But it doesn't handle white balance as well. While I haven't needed to do much to the exposure of the EM1.1 files, I have had to adjust white balance on several of them. My G7 seemed to do a better job with white balance to me.

In conclusion, I have a lot of learning to do before I will feel comfortable with this camera. I took some photos of my granddaughter at dance practice tonight and struggled to quickly change settings. I also was disappointed that many of the photos of my granddaughter were out of focus because she was moving to fast for the camera to accurately track her. My G7 wasn't really better at this, but I had hoped for more improvement with the EM1.1. In fairness to the EM1.1, it is a complex camera and I haven't put that much time into learning to use it yet. I fully expect to become more comfortable with it. For the price I paid, I am still very happy with the EM1.1. I think it would have been easier for me to use the G80 right out of the box, but that doesn't mean I won't come to love all the customization and features of the EM1.1. I better.

 

[SVQuant]

Unfortunately, many of the settings are cryptic to me. Perhaps, over time, that will not be so. But right now, just diving through menus, I often scratch my head in confusion over what the settings actually do. Sometimes, even after looking them up in the manual, I am still not clear what turning this or that on or off or changing a setting to something different. And the menus seem endless.

Glad that you are liking your new E-M1. The menus are a little complex, but I (and others) will be happy to share our settings if that helps. I use the spreadsheet at biofos.com; How to setup, configure and customise your OM-D E-M1. to keep track of my settings. You may find it useful as well.

Finally, I don't have much to say about the quality of the photos. Both cameras take fine photos. I can't tell that the EM1.1 is appreciably better. My G7 slightly underexposed practically all photos, so I got used to dialing in a little more exposure, or I had to bump up exposure in post. My EM1.1 seems to nail exposure much better. But it doesn't handle white balance as well. While I haven't needed to do much to the exposure of the EM1.1 files, I have had to adjust white balance on several of them. My G7 seemed to do a better job with white balance to me.

White balance in dance studios can be very tricky as lighting is usually poor.

In conclusion, I have a lot of learning to do before I will feel comfortable with this camera. I took some photos of my granddaughter at dance practice tonight and struggled to quickly change settings. I also was disappointed that many of the photos of my granddaughter were out of focus because she was moving to fast for the camera to accurately track her. My G7 wasn't really better at this, but I had hoped for more improvement with the EM1.1. In fairness to the EM1.1, it is a complex camera and I haven't put that much time into learning to use it yet. I fully expect to become more comfortable with it. For the price I paid, I am still very happy with the EM1.1. I think it would have been easier for me to use the G80 right out of the box, but that doesn't mean I won't come to love all the customization and features of the EM1.1. I better.

I find that tracking with the E-M1.1 is not particularly effective. However, C-AF does a pretty good job if you can keep the subject in focus. I have shot both dance and sports with it with some success. If you would care to share a few shots and your EXIF data, I will be happy to offer suggestions.

 

[DynaSport]

@SVQuant thank you very much for your offer to share settings. I will happily take all the help I can get. I will check out that biofos.com link. As far as the white balance issue, I was being generous when I said my granddaughter was at dance practice. She is only three, so there really isn't much dancing going on. But I have taken many photos there with my G7 and it did a better job with white balance than the EM1.1. But then, it also underexposed everything if I didn't dial in some exposure compensation. I used to shoot a little high school basketball with my old Canon gear, and that is what got me started shooting RAW. The lighting in many high school gyms is terrible and the white balance was never correct. So, I am familiar with white balance challenges.

I would also happily take any advice on getting more action shots in focus as well. Unfortunately, I already deleted the worst out of focus ones. I may have some that are slightly out of focus. A complicating factor was that I also realized my shutter speed was a bit low, which didn't help. Still, the problem wasn't all motion blur generated by too slow a shutter speed, some of them were just out of focus, or at least what I wanted in focus was out of focus. I know that some of this is technique and I'll keep working on it. I'll save some of the oof ones next time and we can take a look at them.

Thanks again.

 

[wjiang]

This is an interesting thread to follow. I've both both a GM5 and E-M1, and can relate to everything you've said. I do prefer the WB from the Panasonic most of the time. Having started from Olympus first (E-M5), however, I've gotten used to the complexity already.

As for action shots... these days I take a lot of pictures of my erratically mobile 18 month old... both cameras are a bit hit and miss. The E-M1 tends to do better, but it's pretty hard to keep up. I've started keeping some frames which aren't acceptably sharp, but are otherwise gems.

 

[wolfie]

Make sure it has firmware 4.0 so you get the improved AF as well as the in camera focus stacking and some other goodies!

 

[skellington]

The Olympus uses the two-way lever on the back (by default) to toggle the function of the dials.

The function of the dials depends on the mode (and is configurable!), but usually it'll be some combination of shutter speed, aperture, ISO and EV.

So with your eye at the EVF, you can just toggle the switch, adjust a dial, then toggle it back to adjust shutter speed, etc. No ISO button required.

 

[DynaSport]

The Olympus uses the two-way lever on the back (by default) to toggle the function of the dials.

The function of the dials depends on the mode (and is configurable!), but usually it'll be some combination of shutter speed, aperture, ISO and EV.

So with your eye at the EVF, you can just toggle the switch, adjust a dial, then toggle it back to adjust shutter speed, etc. No ISO button required.

Thanks. I just changed the toggle and learned that in position two the dials change ISO and WB as currently configured. I'm not suprised there is an easier way to change ISO than going through the SCP. As I admitted, I have LOTS to learn about this camera.

 

[DynaSport]

Make sure it has firmware 4.0 so you get the improved AF as well as the in camera focus stacking and some other goodies!

Just checked and I have firmware version 4.3.

 

[drd1135]

Sadly, CAF and tracking were never very good with any Olympus camera before the EM1.2 and even that camera is still pretty limited. I note that this is based only on what I have read on this forum and reviews as i never really use CAF myself.

 

[SVQuant]

@SVQuant thank you very much for your offer to share settings. I will happily take all the help I can get. I will check out that biofos.com link. As far as the white balance issue, I was being generous when I said my granddaughter was at dance practice. She is only three, so there really isn't much dancing going on. But I have taken many photos there with my G7 and it did a better job with white balance than the EM1.1. But then, it also underexposed everything if I didn't dial in some exposure compensation. I used to shoot a little high school basketball with my old Canon gear, and that is what got me started shooting RAW. The lighting in many high school gyms is terrible and the white balance was never correct. So, I am familiar with white balance challenges.

I would also happily take any advice on getting more action shots in focus as well. Unfortunately, I already deleted the worst out of focus ones. I may have some that are slightly out of focus. A complicating factor was that I also realized my shutter speed was a bit low, which didn't help. Still, the problem wasn't all motion blur generated by too slow a shutter speed, some of them were just out of focus, or at least what I wanted in focus was out of focus. I know that some of this is technique and I'll keep working on it. I'll save some of the oof ones next time and we can take a look at them.

Thanks again.

With dance, even for the youngest ones, my settings are:

• S-mode with Auto-ISO (with a max value of 3200)
• a minimum shutter speed of 640
• C-AF (no tracking)
• Seq-Lo/Seq-Hi depending upon whether I am keeping focus in a single place or not as Seq-Hi does not autofocus between shots). Shoot short bursts so that you don't have a large number of identical shots to review.
• Face-detect off
• Single AF point (though the 3x3 works well if using Seq-Lo)

IIRC, you got a O14-150II which is a lens I haven't really used for action shots. I suspect that in most indoor situations, you will end up at your max ISO for this lens with these settings. I have good outcomes using a fast prime in indoor dance studio type settings.

I had posted a thread with a season's worth of boys' lacrosse shot with the E-M1 + 50-200SWD: Boys' Lacrosse with μ43 - Spring 2017 Images (Continuing Series). I would say that my keeper rate (shots in focus) was around 70% though there were occasionally entire bursts which were out of focus. With shorter lenses (O25, O45 and O12-60SWD), I have had even better success rates with martial arts and dance. Here is a sample image.
View attachment 525243

Hope this helps. Happy to answer any further questions.

Sadly, CAF and tracking were never very good with any Olympus camera before the EM1.2 and even that camera is still pretty limited. I note that this is based only on what I have read on this forum and reviews as i never really use CAF myself.

I find that the C-AF itself on the E-M1 is fine as long as I can keep the AF point on target. It is the tracking which is hopeless. For my E-M10, I just use S-AF and pump the shutter.

 

[DynaSport]

Thanks. I was using my O45 in A mode with auto ISO max 1600. I set A to 1.8 most of the time trying to keep SS as high as possible, even still getting SS too low at times. I switched back and forth from CAF to SAF trying to see what worked best. I used L and H drive, not really understanding the differences, but trying to see what worked. I also played with face recognition on and off, but ended up with it off mostly because it often locked on the wrong face.

 

[drd1135]

I find that the C-AF itself on the E-M1 is fine as long as I can keep the AF point on target. It the tracking which is hopeless. For my E-M10, I just use S-AF and pump the shutter.

My technique exactly.

 

[SVQuant]

Thanks. I was using my O45 in A mode with auto ISO max 1600. I set A to 1.8 most of the time trying to keep SS as high as possible, even still getting SS too low at times. I switched back and forth from CAF to SAF trying to see what worked best. I used L and H drive, not really understanding the differences, but trying to see what worked. I also played with face recognition on and off, but ended up with it off mostly because it often locked on the wrong face.

I wouldn't shoot action in A-mode. S- or M- is the way to go there. With a f/1.8 lens, you do have thinner depth of focus and a slower shutter speed can mean that even small movements between when the camera acquired focus and when you clicked can result in oof shots.

Also, I wouldn't hesitate to let ISO go up to 3200 or 6400. Better to get a noisy shot, imo, than an out of focus one.

 

[Drdave944]

We all find our way around in the menu. I keep it simple,possibly too simple. The guy who told you about the toggle to the right of the EVF is right. First of all I almost always use Mode A. I go for the fastest speed and the widest aperture possible. With the switch up you have F- stop and brightness comp on the front and back wheels. Flip the switch down and you have B.ISO an WB. I practically always use Auto WB. I have not been as adventurous about ISO as I should have been. I usually have used 200. With the superb image stabilization,I have gotten away with it. It is is really good,especially with small fast lenses. In reality you can push the ISO more than I have.
I have not been a CAF fan. Instead I use the touch screen,with SAF. It is like shooting birds.It auto-focuses and nails focus unbelievably fast.
I had the G-7 and bought the G-8. It would have been good for your purposes. Big grip. A wonderful camera,but I find the Panny menu foreign.

 

[DynaSport]

We all find our way around in the menu. I keep it simple,possibly too simple. The guy who told you about the toggle to the right of the EVF is right. First of all I almost always use Mode A. I go for the fastest speed and the widest aperture possible. With the switch up you have F- stop and brightness comp on the front and back wheels. Flip the switch down and you have B.ISO an WB. I practically always use Auto WB. I have not been as adventurous about ISO as I should have been. I usually have used 200. With the superb image stabilization,I have gotten away with it. It is is really good,especially with small fast lenses. In reality you can push the ISO more than I have.
I have not been a CAF fan. Instead I use the touch screen,with SAF. It is like shooting birds.It auto-focuses and nails focus unbelievably fast.
I had the G-7 and bought the G-8. It would have been good for your purposes. Big grip. A wonderful camera,but I find the Panny menu foreign.

Funny, I find the Olympus menu foreign. I think it is what you get used to. And as much as I hate to say it, the older I get, the less time I want to spend learning a new way to do things. I just want to do it the way I am comfortable. I am forcing myself out of that mindset with this camera though.

 

[wolfie]

Sadly, CAF and tracking were never very good with any Olympus camera before the EM1.2 and even that camera is still pretty limited. I note that this is based only on what I have read on this forum and reviews as i never really use CAF myself.

That's a widespread mis conception: have a look at Don Parrot's site with E-M1 action shots- he rates the Olympus as good as an EOS 70D (3 years back) for action shooting.

www.flickr.com/photos/63427925@N00/albums/

It's the old story for action- the user has to know what they're doing, the camera doesn't do it all for you ...

 

[drd1135]

You can also shoot sports with manual focus. Aside from your link, I've read mostly negative reviews about tracking with Olympus cameras.

Edit: here's a thread about the presumeably better EM1 II. As I said, i don't shoot action but this is mostly what I read. E-M1.2 Sports Shooting - Focus Issues

 

[DynaSport]

I don't disagree that technique can improve results, but some cameras make it easier. I recall when the G7 first came out, reviews praised its AF for moving objects in comparison to other mirrorless cameras. No one said it was up to Canon and Nikon sports oriented cameras, but it was supposed to be very good for mirrorless cameras. So, the EM1.1 may not be any better than the G7 in that respect. And I was able to get some decent action shots with G7, but I wouldn't have wanted to depend on it if I was making a living shooting sports. I also recall a test someone did 2 or 3 years ago and the GH4 came out on top of the mirrorless cameras, but none of them were as good as the pro level Nikon at the time. Since I don't make a living at this, I still prefer the M43 system for the size and other attributes. I still want to be able to get action shots when the opportunity arises though, so I'll keep working at it.

 

[PakkyT]

Flip the switch down and you have B.ISO an WB. I practically always use Auto WB. I have not been as adventurous about ISO as I should have been.

Ya for the same reasons, I have reprogrammed that switch so that the down position puts the camera into manual focus mode and then use the super control panel if I want to mess with ISO or WB. Usually when changing those I am often not in any sort of rush. However the ability to quickly change into MF mode and then back to AF mode with a flip of a switch is much more useful to me. The SCP is excellent, I think, for being able to quickly see and change a wide range of more common settings I don't use a ton but use more than just occasionally (such is drive mode, WB, ISO, & changing image stabilization modes in particular) without having to dive through menus and remembering where settings are hidden there.

 

[Drdave944]

Ya for the same reasons, I have reprogrammed that switch so that the down position puts the camera into manual focus mode and then use the super control panel if I want to mess with ISO or WB. Usually when changing those I am often not in any sort of rush. However the ability to quickly change into MF mode and then back to AF mode with a flip of a switch is much more useful to me. The SCP is excellent, I think, for being able to quickly see and change a wide range of more common settings I don't use a ton but use more than just occasionally (such is drive mode, WB, ISO, & changing image stabilization modes in particular) without having to dive through menus and remembering where settings are hidden there.

I love to be able to go to MF quickly. Many Oly lenses such as f2.8 12-40,40-150 .f1.8 17,12-100,F 1.4 have a clutch in the front which goes to MF. But you can program other buttons for this,if you can remember which one.