defconfunk
n00b
A couple of people have posted some shots from the E-M1 here. I’ve seen some really nice walk around type shots, but I haven't noticed any portraiture yet. This seems like a good chance to write down my experience with the camera so far, and share a couple of pictures I'm pleased with.
My previous digital body was an E-510. So I'm moving from a five year old consumer body to the new cream of the crop. That’s my point of reference, not a current Nikon or Canon DSLR, nor an E-M5. I’ve never used a digital camera body this high up on the food chain for any length of time, so many of the features that impressed me are not unique to the E-M1.
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A few nights ago I had the pleasure to do a shoot with Jon Booth, a local artists and composer (plug: if you like creepy ambient music, check his stuff out here).
Lenses used were the 4/3rds Olympus 14mm-54mm f2.8-3.5 SWD II (my favourite digital lens) and the m4/3 Panasonic 25mm F1.4, which I've never used before.
Lighting was purely from a single 60w daylight balanced CFL (300w incandescent equivalent). I brought my lighting kit (cheap CFLs + umbrella kit), but his apartment was too small for the umbrellas, so I just stuck one of the bulbs in an industrial lamp from the 60s he had decorating the apartment. Because the add-on flash for the E-M1 is shoe mounted, I can't use my pop-up-flash diffuser, so I wanted to avoid using any fill flash. Needless to say, the lighting situation was not as bright as it could be.
The Photos
Apologies to people who don't like images bigger than 800x600.
Ergonomics
Still being new to the camera, I left it in Program mode, set the aperture (shallow depth of field was really important in the tiny apartment), and then left the technical details up to the camera. As we moved around and tried different things with the light, I adjusted my exposure easily with the control dials. One of the things I love about the OM film cameras is the ability to set everything, focus, aperture, and shutter speed, from the lens. Having two controls to balance shutter and aperture without having to hold down a button was really nice.
The face detection was good, but between the low light and the many poses that had Jon’s face at an angle, it didn’t kick in all the time (it worked much better with the prime than the zoom) so I spent pretty much the entire shoot with my thumb over the arrows directing the AF. This was awesome. I’m used to just leaving my camera on the centre AF point, focusing, and then framing the shot (which can put the eyes out of focus at shallow depths of field if they are no longer centre). My number of throw-away shots due to eyes out of focus was < 2% (four out of 200 shots), vs 30% from a similar shoot a month ago on my E-510. I really like being able to quickly and easily move the AF point around where ever I want.
AF speed was good, the m4/3 lens was near instant and the 4/3 lens was about as fast as I’m used to. I’m still reserving judgement on Contrast Detection focusing until I shoot something that moves quickly and unpredictably (like a puppy).
When I first picked up the camera I was disappointed that it wasn’t as comfortable in my hand as the E-510. Once I started using it that disappeared. It was not uncomfortable, an when using the 4/3 lens it never felt unbalanced. Because all the controls just fell to where I expected them to be, it “got out of the way”, if you know what I mean.
Low light
For me, there are two aspects to how well the camera works in low light. The first is how useable is the camera itself in low light, and the second is how to the images turn out at higher ISOs.
From a usability standpoint the E-M1 is amazing. Not knowing the camera well, I almost never had to take it away from my eye, so the fact it was too dark for me to see the buttons wasn’t a problem (I did have hard time finding the play button a few times when I wanted to show Jon a shot). The EVF was fantastic. The auto-brightness meant that my eyes didn’t have to readjust when I took my eye away from the camera. And because the EVF shows the scene as the sensor sees it, I didn’t have to take test shots for my exposure. No more taking a shot, chimping, and then adjusting exposure – I knew what my exposure actually looked like before I took the shot. That sounds like a minor thing, but it made a huge difference to how I shot.
From an ISO stand point, the program mode kept the ISO around 800 for the most part (going up to 1600 for some shots). On my E-510, ISO 800 is too noisy for good colour photos (although it works fine for B&W if shot as B&W in camera). On the E-M1, ISO 1600 was perfectly good for colour photos, even when pixel pepping at 100%. At one point I did accidentally manually move the ISO to 25k. The resulting images look like bad cell phone photos. It’s not a setting I’d use on purpose, but you could make a 4x6 print out of it for certain situations.
Post processing
Some people don’t like the 4/3 frame shape because it makes cropping a requirement for printing. Being used to 4/3, this doesn’t bother me in the slightest, cropping every shot is part of my workflow. The resolution of the E-M1 made cropping really easy. I trimmed all my shots and still had enough pixels, and the pixels are sufficiently distinct, that I could make a 20”x16” of every shot I kept. Coming from a 10mp sensor, this is pretty cool.
I found that the default saturation was slightly higher than I like. I know this is easily solved in either camera or post production. I bring it up because although the lighting I used was sold as CRI >90, I’m not certain the bulb was, and Jon ended up looking far more red in the face than he is (didn’t get purple lips though, so that’s a plus). In the end, I think most of my post process time was spent playing with saturation levels. What I find interesting in this is that I spent almost no time what-so-ever adjusting highlights or shadows (where I typically spend most my post process time). I’ve always liked Olympus’ in camera jpg rendering, and I think it has gotten better. It’s a little more stylized (more emphasis on contrast, darker shadows than the raw files), but it is the style I go for anyways, so that’s a win for me.
Summary
Coming from a camera where most setting changes required looking at the screen, the two dial controls are fantastic. The EVF has converted me, and I do not miss my OVF in the slightest (I still have my film cameras when I want that anyways). It has really changed how I shoot in dark rooms. The thumb controlled AF selection and speed of the AF is a huge bonus when framing off center.
My previous digital body was an E-510. So I'm moving from a five year old consumer body to the new cream of the crop. That’s my point of reference, not a current Nikon or Canon DSLR, nor an E-M5. I’ve never used a digital camera body this high up on the food chain for any length of time, so many of the features that impressed me are not unique to the E-M1.
---
A few nights ago I had the pleasure to do a shoot with Jon Booth, a local artists and composer (plug: if you like creepy ambient music, check his stuff out here).
Lenses used were the 4/3rds Olympus 14mm-54mm f2.8-3.5 SWD II (my favourite digital lens) and the m4/3 Panasonic 25mm F1.4, which I've never used before.
Lighting was purely from a single 60w daylight balanced CFL (300w incandescent equivalent). I brought my lighting kit (cheap CFLs + umbrella kit), but his apartment was too small for the umbrellas, so I just stuck one of the bulbs in an industrial lamp from the 60s he had decorating the apartment. Because the add-on flash for the E-M1 is shoe mounted, I can't use my pop-up-flash diffuser, so I wanted to avoid using any fill flash. Needless to say, the lighting situation was not as bright as it could be.
The Photos
Apologies to people who don't like images bigger than 800x600.
Ergonomics
Still being new to the camera, I left it in Program mode, set the aperture (shallow depth of field was really important in the tiny apartment), and then left the technical details up to the camera. As we moved around and tried different things with the light, I adjusted my exposure easily with the control dials. One of the things I love about the OM film cameras is the ability to set everything, focus, aperture, and shutter speed, from the lens. Having two controls to balance shutter and aperture without having to hold down a button was really nice.
The face detection was good, but between the low light and the many poses that had Jon’s face at an angle, it didn’t kick in all the time (it worked much better with the prime than the zoom) so I spent pretty much the entire shoot with my thumb over the arrows directing the AF. This was awesome. I’m used to just leaving my camera on the centre AF point, focusing, and then framing the shot (which can put the eyes out of focus at shallow depths of field if they are no longer centre). My number of throw-away shots due to eyes out of focus was < 2% (four out of 200 shots), vs 30% from a similar shoot a month ago on my E-510. I really like being able to quickly and easily move the AF point around where ever I want.
AF speed was good, the m4/3 lens was near instant and the 4/3 lens was about as fast as I’m used to. I’m still reserving judgement on Contrast Detection focusing until I shoot something that moves quickly and unpredictably (like a puppy).
When I first picked up the camera I was disappointed that it wasn’t as comfortable in my hand as the E-510. Once I started using it that disappeared. It was not uncomfortable, an when using the 4/3 lens it never felt unbalanced. Because all the controls just fell to where I expected them to be, it “got out of the way”, if you know what I mean.
Low light
For me, there are two aspects to how well the camera works in low light. The first is how useable is the camera itself in low light, and the second is how to the images turn out at higher ISOs.
From a usability standpoint the E-M1 is amazing. Not knowing the camera well, I almost never had to take it away from my eye, so the fact it was too dark for me to see the buttons wasn’t a problem (I did have hard time finding the play button a few times when I wanted to show Jon a shot). The EVF was fantastic. The auto-brightness meant that my eyes didn’t have to readjust when I took my eye away from the camera. And because the EVF shows the scene as the sensor sees it, I didn’t have to take test shots for my exposure. No more taking a shot, chimping, and then adjusting exposure – I knew what my exposure actually looked like before I took the shot. That sounds like a minor thing, but it made a huge difference to how I shot.
From an ISO stand point, the program mode kept the ISO around 800 for the most part (going up to 1600 for some shots). On my E-510, ISO 800 is too noisy for good colour photos (although it works fine for B&W if shot as B&W in camera). On the E-M1, ISO 1600 was perfectly good for colour photos, even when pixel pepping at 100%. At one point I did accidentally manually move the ISO to 25k. The resulting images look like bad cell phone photos. It’s not a setting I’d use on purpose, but you could make a 4x6 print out of it for certain situations.
Post processing
Some people don’t like the 4/3 frame shape because it makes cropping a requirement for printing. Being used to 4/3, this doesn’t bother me in the slightest, cropping every shot is part of my workflow. The resolution of the E-M1 made cropping really easy. I trimmed all my shots and still had enough pixels, and the pixels are sufficiently distinct, that I could make a 20”x16” of every shot I kept. Coming from a 10mp sensor, this is pretty cool.
I found that the default saturation was slightly higher than I like. I know this is easily solved in either camera or post production. I bring it up because although the lighting I used was sold as CRI >90, I’m not certain the bulb was, and Jon ended up looking far more red in the face than he is (didn’t get purple lips though, so that’s a plus). In the end, I think most of my post process time was spent playing with saturation levels. What I find interesting in this is that I spent almost no time what-so-ever adjusting highlights or shadows (where I typically spend most my post process time). I’ve always liked Olympus’ in camera jpg rendering, and I think it has gotten better. It’s a little more stylized (more emphasis on contrast, darker shadows than the raw files), but it is the style I go for anyways, so that’s a win for me.
Summary
Coming from a camera where most setting changes required looking at the screen, the two dial controls are fantastic. The EVF has converted me, and I do not miss my OVF in the slightest (I still have my film cameras when I want that anyways). It has really changed how I shoot in dark rooms. The thumb controlled AF selection and speed of the AF is a huge bonus when framing off center.
stompyq
Well-known
I really like the first shot. Is that with the 25mm?
Samouraï
Well-known
The first shot is really professional. It's a great portrait. Nice command of your light.
I really don't like the other shots, though. Little command of frame or light in comparison.
I really don't like the other shots, though. Little command of frame or light in comparison.
defconfunk
n00b
Yup, first shot is with the 25mm. It really is an impressive little lens. If it were weather sealed I expect it would almost never leave the camera.
Thank you for the critiques. I agree the first shot is by far the best.
I would love to know, what is it about the framing that is lacking in the other three. I agree they aren't as strong. My problem is that I don't know why I don't find them as strong, so I don't know how I'd do them better next time.
Thank you for the critiques. I agree the first shot is by far the best.
I would love to know, what is it about the framing that is lacking in the other three. I agree they aren't as strong. My problem is that I don't know why I don't find them as strong, so I don't know how I'd do them better next time.
v_roma
Well-known
That first portrait really is great. A couple of things that immediately jump out at me that I am not seeing as much in the other portraits:
- the fact that the subject fills the frame more in the first portrait than in the others;
- the nice diagonals provided by the angle of his face and the jacket lapel; and
- the lighting on this face going from lighter to darker but without important parts of his face ever getting too dark; and
- his facial expression