Micro Four-Thirds - Field of View
I saw an interesting image on DPR that showed the field of view for different lenses made for the Four-Thirds camera. I contacted the lady who posted the information and she agreed that I can place it on the site. Thank you to rrr-hhh for doing the effort taking a picture with each lens from the exact same set-up and to then place all these images into one.
She (rrr-hhh) wrote in her post:- "Recently I've read and even participated to different threads dealing with the choice of primes' focal length. There are often hesitations between the 12mm and the 14mm, or between the 20m and the 25mm. Since I've bought many primes this summer (the result of an unexpected but welcome tax return), I thought that it may be worth to explore their respective field of view more in depth. I shot different sets because it wasn't easy to frame something that was suited for long focal’s, as well as for short focal’s : when the subject was good for tele lenses, the short focal’s encompassed a large and uninteresting chunk of the window sill. But when the frame was large enough for the short focal’s, there was nothing particularly interesting to see for long focal’s. So the result is a compromise. Below you'll find the pictures summarizing the results."
How to decrease focus lag on the E-PL2
The PEN series camera started on the wrong foot one can say. First the E-P1 was launched with its unique kit lens and it did not take long for the photo community to realize the PEN was not the fastest focusing camera. The GF1 from Panasonic was launched at the same time and it had a great focussing “engine” build in giving it great speed and accuracy. That was good because the slow PEN focussing speed could easily have created the wrong impression of the then young mirror-less camera family.
Shortly after the E-P1, Olympus launched the E-P2 and it had a number of improvements, they were additions to the E-P1 function list plus the E-P2 had improved focussing speed. I owned both the E-P1 and the E-P2 and to me their was not much of a difference in focussing speeds. I realize that this have been an in-depth discussion ever since these cameras were first launched. That said I was always of the opinion that the actual focussing speed was not that slow. I confirmed that to myself when I later bought a GF1 from Panasonic. What did happen was that the E-P1 or E-P2 would lock onto the subject and when one press the shutter all the way to take the image then it would not immediately react. There was thus a definite lag from the moment one give the command to take the image to the moment the camera released the shutter. This lag made it impossible to use these cameras with things like portrait photography.
When the E-PL2 was launched I bought one, thinking I will write about it on this site and then later sell it again. I quickly realized that the E-PL2 is different and that its image quality was what I were looking for. It had a few more aspects making it unique, its performance was closer to that of the real SLR, its added ART filters plus a few more things. In a next article I will talk more about the E-PL2 being closer to the real SLR performance.
How can one reduce the Shutter Lag on the E-PL2?
Recently I did a few pictures at a wedding with the E-PL2 and I was really irritated with the above described shutter lag. Getting home I had a large percentage throw away images and only a few keepers. One would log onto a subject, wait that split second for the right moment and when the shutter is pressed the camera just will not respond immediately. By the time the shutter is released one missed the moment. I then started experimenting at home with different lenses plus with the three different cameras I have in my bag, the E-PL2, the GF1 and the E620.
No matter what I did the lag was their. It only varied in length which made it worse. Then one day I decided to take a bunch of images in RAW only. To my surprise the lag was nearly inexistent. I investigated more and today I only shoot in RAW and in addition to that, I cancel almost every possible function that will place a load on the camera CPU. These are typically things like noise reduction, Image Stabilization, ART filters, adjustments to sharpening, image color or any other function that will require the camera CPU to work harder. Later I learned that the histogram on the E-P2 for example also created lag, I therefor cancel the histogram on the E-PL2 too, when speed is important.
The E-PL2 gives the user the opportunity to save several user configurations in the camera. It has then various ways if activating these user configurations, one of these options are the Fn button. For example I like to use the iEnhance function on the E-PL2 because I think it creates lovely colors plus it has a great way of working with dark shadows in the image. The problem is this function takes a lot of processing power. I therefor have my preferred configuration using iEnhance always activated and when I am doing people shots I quickly switch over to a unique “basic” camera configuration. In this basic configuration I use no noise reduction, I use only camera RAW plus I use only basic parameters like natural colors and image styles with no additional sharpening or any other functions. I link this configuration to the Fn button.
How does the improved focus speed compare?
Generally on the large forums people agree that the 14 - 45 mm Lumix is an excellent performer. It is really fast focussing plus its silent when focussing. Unfortunately I sold the E-P2 and can therefor not test it. What I did do was to try the E-PL2 using different lenses plus the GF1 using the same lenses. I then also tried the E620 to give me a type of reference to measure by. Using something like the original kit lens does appear to be slow, but using the 14 - 42 Lumix is a different story. To complete the test, I then keep on focusing and taking the pictures one after each other without stopping. One picture close and the next further away, then close again and then far away. The E-PL2 with a minimum RAW configuration reacted similar to the fast focussing GF1 to me. In many cases it appeared to be even quicker, especially with the 14 - 42 Lumix lens fitted to the E-PL2. The E620 is quicker and really gives an instantaneous experience. Much slower that the E620 was the E-PL2 also not!!
I hope this short article is of value to you. If you have any more questions please do not hesitate to contact me in the forum.
Best
Siegfried
Elements Plus
This blog section was a little slow to take of and the reason is I just did not find a way of presenting the short articles. One does not want to write to much because then people does not read it, on the other hand its important to write because that is the best way of telling the story on a media like the web. I recently discovered a great example while working on different techniques and that is what I like to start showing with this short technique. Please give me feedback and let me know if this technique helped you.
How to use the Curves Function to make images Pop....
First important thing to do after purchasing Photoshop Elements is to get the “Elements Plus” add-on for Photoshop Elements. What it does it un-locks many more advanced functions in Elements, functions only available in the much more expensive versions like CS4 and CS5. It is not expensive and worth every penny you pay.
Well, that is it, your first important Photoshop Elements technique. I do most of my work in RAW and yes I agree working in RAW is extremely powerful. But often with my PEN I use the excellent JPEG files I get from the PEN and in most cases the above technique is all I need to give it that extra little pop.
From here onwards you can sharpen if you need to or you can leave it as is. In my next technique I will give you some interesting sharpening advice.
Siegfried
Olympus E-PL2 focus frame Options
In this short article I like to show you a great option or focussing technique available with the E-PL2. I know the E-P1&2 well and I have not seen the same function in them. To my knowledge this function is only available in the E-PL2 and later models.
The E-PL2 has the option to adjust the size of the auto focus frame plus one can enlarge the focus frame to fill the LCD monitor. This should not be confused with the MF focus option which is found on all the PEN cameras.
The E-PL2 has the AF frame size sensitivity build-in, similar to that of some E-Series SLR cameras from Olympus. AF sensitivity refers to the size of the AF sampling area. Typically Olympus SLR's offer a small or normal AF sensitivity (frame) area. On the E-PL2 you can produce a similar effect when composing pictures on the Live View LCD monitor by adjusting the magnification ratio of the Zoom AF Frame. When you enable the AF enlarged zoom frame function, then the square AF frame that would normally be displayed on the LCD to assist with focusing will be replaced by a new zoom frame. The new zoom frame is smaller than the normal AF frame plus it has the aspect ratio of the LCD screen and not that of the normal AF frame. As the magnification factor increases, the zoom frame decreases in size. Only the data inside the zoom frame is used by the camera to do autofocus. Therefore, a smaller amount of image data will be evaluated by the camera when it tries to acquire autofocus.
The E-PL2 obtains autofocus by sampling a portion of the image data in the scene and searching within that area for the subject with the greatest contrast. This AF sampling area is indicated on the LCD screen by the AF frame (standard operation) or the zoom frame (when shooting using zoom frame AF).
The AF frame has fixed dimensions; however, the size of the zoom frame can be reduced by adjusting the magnification factor of the zoom frame AF function. As the magnification is increased, the size of the zoom frame decreases. Because the camera only considers the information inside the zoom frame the result is the camera can work on a smaller area of the complete scene to determine acurate focus. This configuration makes the camera achieve autofocus with greater precision than when sampling using the standard or multi AF frame.
To change the size of the AF sampling area, please do the following:
Press the Zoom button once. The zoom frame is displayed on the LCD screen. Notice that the zoom frame has the aspect ratio of the LCD screen, not that of the normal square AF frame. The first time this function is used, the zoom frame is configured to use a magnification factor of 7x.
Press the INFO button once. The magnification factor will be displayed in the bottom left corner of the LCD screen.
Press the Up button on the circular keypad once to select a 10x magnification factor, or press it twice to select 14x. As the magnification factor increases, the zoom frame is smaller in size. Once the zoom frame reaches the desired size, press the [OK] button to register the setting. The area within the zoom frame becomes the new AF sampling area. Only the image data within the zoom frame will be considered when the camera sets autofocus.
To return to the default autofocus operation, press [OK] while the zoom frame is displayed.
When the camera is powered down, the size of the zoom frame magnification factor remain registered. Therefore, if you prefer to shoot with a minimal AF sampling area, you may register a smaller zoom frame and invoke it at any time by pressing the zoom button. Press [OK] to toggle back to standard autofocus.
Zoom AF settings are remembered even when the camera is switched off, but they are not default settings. Each time the camera is switched on, the camera will initially use the standard autofocus operation and the AF frame. To switch back to your registered zoom frame AF settings, simply press the zoom button.
Information source: Olympus
The next image shows what one of the above Zoom Frames would look like on the camera monitor when one press the Zoom Button. This is a really handy tool to help the user to accurately focus in the right place.
Where would one use this function. Focussing is one of thee most important aspects of photography. The complete look of the image is determined by where the focussing point was selected. With the Olympus PEN one can determine how the shutter button should operate. I set mine so that it only focus when pressed halfway and that it reads the exposure when the shutter is pressed all the way. I also like to use manual exposure. The first application is when accurate focussing are required. For example with portrait photography one like to focus on the eye of the model. The next application could be critical depth of field like in landscape photography and the last application could be macro work.
I hope you find this short article helpful.