Some months later and still happy….
While back an old friend of the Photography is Fun website wrote to me a short mail. I cannot recall when Hans bought his E5 but when he did he wrote a few short articles about this interesting camera. You can see those articles under the category, "Hans E5 Reports". Well, Hans wrote to tell me just how happy he still is using his E5. Must say I can fully appreciate this “well being”, reaction from an E5 user. Not long ago my son was kind enough to give me a 7D as a gift. Me being a strong Olympus supporter were already in the stage of selling my Olympus SLR gear and to only keep my Micro Four-Thirds gear. The 7D changed that a little and I then decided to keep the 7D plus a few good lenses which I can use for specific disciplines like landscapes and macro work. The Canon is a wonderful camera and I have no doubt that once I really master it that its pictures will be awesome. The point is getting to that point of mastering it, that does not seem that easy. Today I can basically take an E5 and within one or two hours I will get stunning results from it because I know Olympus really well. With Canon it is just not the case for me. That raises the question, should one just go about and change brands, does one really get the benefit from doing so?
To get back to Hans, below one of Hans images are the mail he wrote to me:-
Hi Siegfried.
Some time since I wrote to You about my E-5. I must admit, that when I read what the really experienced guys in the forums write about I can see, that I am only scratching the surface. Still I would like to tell just a little about how I am getting along with my E-5:
In a way it is so easy that it might nearly get boring! When I have some sensible customizations dialed into the camera I just press the bottom and get home with technically amazing photos! Often and again the results surprise me when I see them on the monitor - they surpass what I expected when I pressed the shutter.
But then it gets hard: There is no excuse: Now it is up to the photographer to take advantage and be creative! I have changed my custom settings:- To begin with I found the saturation too much, but then I learned that more experienced Oly-shooters set magenta -1 and green + 1. Then red is no more over saturated and results are very satisfactory. I set sharpness 0 and contrast -1. Noise filter weak.
On our summer cruise with our sailing-boat we were at the northern most point of the Danish Island Funen. It is called Fynshoved (head of Funen) and is a very special and very beautiful landscape. The weather was wonderful, the light perfect - a few hazy clouds to add texture and perspective to the sky - so I had the photo opportunity of the summer:
Click on the above image to see more pictures from Hans……
Hans E5 Report
Learning!
I have often wondered how people change camera ever so often. I cannot do that - I need time to get to know my camera. (well it’s possibly because I also need time for my full time work).
So what have I learned about my new E5? Those, who find this rather trivial pls. skip it. One of the new things when compared to the older E 510 is 'Auto-gradation'. This function is well described in the E5 review on dpreview: see the 3rd paragraph from the top)
What I have learned is: Use it with caution. It is supposed to get details out of shadows, and in my experience is it generally works well when you selective when to use it, and then to use it with care. Here is an example of where I think is useful:
Auto Graduation:- OFF
Auto Graduation: On
With normal gradation the shadows were dark, with Auto-Gradation the shadows opened up and details were rendered very nicely. So now I shoot with normal gradation, but always with a raw backup so I can use Olympus viewer to select to auto graduation if I should want it.
Here is an example (from Grant Can-aria) where I think it did not work well. With auto gradation selected there is an area on the cliffs in the foreground which were brighten up in a strange way:
Auto Graduation:- OFF
Auto Graduation:- ON
A few days ago I was out at a place in my neighborhood which often offers good photographic opportunities. The sun was going down and the lower sun offered nice light conditions, becoming warmer and warmer:
My Images
Of the many comments I made on my E5, one was that the colours have an unusual subtlety to them. It reminds me of when I some thirty years ago saw pictures from a Hasselblad. What struck me then was not only that the pictures were sharper than what we mortals produced with our 35-mm cameras but the very convincing rendering of colours (of course a result of the huge negatives compared to 24x36). I get somewhat the same feeling from the E5 images.
Kind regards
Hans
Additional comment:-
Hans thank-you for taking the time to write these reports, they are surely interesting. Thinking about what you said regarding the Auto Graduation function in the E5 and other Olympus E systems cameras, I know there are a lot of discussion on the forums on this function. Often this function is rated not good by forum contributors and often I cannot help to ask, how many contributors really own the product. I think one of the reasons people do not like Auto Graduation is because the camera use ISO plus other parameters to up the exposure in the shadow areas. It's the ISO portion that often makes the highlighted areas look poor. What I found work well is to just go ahead and take the image with the auto graduation not active. One of the most important aspects with Olympus cameras is to expose correctly. Often people under expose to reduce the chances for having highlight clipping. It is when people under expose that one often battle with unnecessary noise in the shadow areas. It is often easier to correct clipping and it can be very difficult to remove noise and to correct poor detail.
The secret is to use "Auto Graduation" at home in Viewer or Studio. There are two options to up the exposure in darker areas in Studio or Viewer. The first is in the RAW editor and the second in the standard JPEG editor. In the RAW editor part of Viewer select Auto Graduation as if it was in the camera and select Auto. You will see the image will be updated with increased exposure in the shadow areas. In the JPEG editor the function right at the top, "Auto Tone" will do exactly the same thing. The difference is its compatible with all Olympus cameras plus its written not by Olympus. It's really powerful and worth a closer look.
Best
Siegfried
Hans E5 Report Part2
I have now been out a few times shooting with the E-5. The most significant difference I notice to start with compared to my E-510 is far prettier images at high ISO, especially colors. As to difference outdoors in bright light I can't really say yet. I believe I have noticed that details are not as crisp when ISO is a bit higher than base ISO. I have a feeling, that maybe some artifacts from noise-filtering may play a role? So I have to make test-shots to find the settings that suit my taste. For that I have found a short-cut:
Instead of making shots with a lot of different settings at different ISO-settings I make one RAW-shot at each ISO. The TreuPic V+ engine of the E-5 is sitting in my computer! So I load the RAW-files of some of my favorite subjects in the computer and then I can test an infinite numbers of settings without all the hassle of making at ton of test-shots that I might get lost in. I guess many others have found that trick too.
Then what have I found out so far?
I would like to use the ISO-auto-setting for ISO 200-1600 for the general shooting.
For ISO 200 (and 100) up until 1600 I find noise filter off, sharpening-2 and contrast -2 to be the best.
It turns out to be the same setting I used for my E-510 for ISO 100-400.
Above ISO400 I used the noise filter. It is in line with what Wrotniak and DPReview recommended.
There IS noise with that setting at higher ISO, but up to 1600 I find it quite acceptable. When the image is sharp one doesn't notice the noise when there are details in the image. It is exactly like in the old days: Images may be grainy, but when they are SHARP, sharpness is what you notice.
At ISO 3200 I use noise filtering standard and the images can be beautiful. I especially notice that THE COLOURS are pleasant. You CAN try ISO 6400, but saturation drops (red gets dull). For a brightly colored subject however it may be all right.
Last minute Update:
Link to images
- The rather dark image, No. 3 was taken just after sunset, I have deliberately exposed it to be darker.
- Image No. 4 is ISO 6400, the orange colors look really nice, they are easy to target, most subjects are not so forgiving at ISO 6400!
- Note: The remaining 2 images were taken by my wife with her Pen E-P1, fitted with the 14-150 mm.
- We think the 14 - 150mm is a great lens, with it one needs very little more (although my wife said she wish she had the Panasonic 20 mm.f1,7 for her birthday).
- The Pens are wonderful cameras. I think Olympus is leading and the rest is following.
- There is a new PEN kit including the E-PL2 and the 14.150 mm, on its way to a Danish Oly online store ;-)
- My favorite kit includes the E-5 with 12-60 mm. That is nearly enough for me, I am happy as is :-)
- After my last walk I have turned down the saturation to -1.
Kind regards
Hans
Hans E5 Report Part1
Hans received his new E5 a week or two ago and has been testing, trying and enjoying the new camera. Hans has been a long time Photography is fun supporter and he is known for his interesting story telling. I asked Hans to give us a regular update on what he sees and experience with his new E5...... Here are the first comments....
“BIG! I knew that of course, but my E 510 is featherweight in comparison. But the flash can be used with my 12-60 without casting shadows as the E510 does. Nice ergonomics, sits well in the hand. VERY elegant user interface, the direct buttons are a joy to use with the 2 setting wheels. Choosing focus point is a breeze! The mode dial is not there - who needs it! But you gain 4 more modes: the 'My Modes' right at your fingertip. May prove to be very addictive! And then: The prize for the weight and size: Finally a viewfinder! I have sometimes looked in my Nikon from the film days and dreamt of something like that. Now I have a bright, large viewfinder that I can use wearing glasses. I can now focus my old Nikkor 35 mm. 2.0 straight form the viewfinder. As to IQ I am now going to load the pictures I have just come home with.”