epl1 as a street cam - yay or nay?

[Federico Alberto]

>
> Federico: what settings do you leave your pen's noise filter as? i set mine to low vs. slight loss of detail from standard. and do you do set any + or - values for in-camera sharpening or contrast? about the S-AF mode 3 setting you recommended programming fn/rec for AF, isn't this a tad superfluous? since, if shooting MF wouldn't it be pretty much the same setting with the added benefit of manual focus and/or AF when needed?

Below ISO 800 I keep noise reduction off. Above that level, I set it in low.

I leave other parameters untouched except:

1. "Vivid" for landscapes
2. "Muted" for everything else
3. WB Cloudy for outdoor shots
4. Other corresponding WB settings for the prevailing lightning
4. S-AF
5. Metering: matrix
6. SFine JPG

Why mode 3 AFL? Because it frees your shutter button from having to focus every time. Almost like shooting in MF, except that if you need to refocus you just have to press the Fn button again and then shoot.

The reaction time of your E-PL1 will be limited only by the frame-per-second rate of your camera.

 

[Tom Diaz]

Because with Olympus µ4/3 bodies, all my lenses are stabilized, no matter their manufacturer or AF system.

Not to mention the outstanding IQ of their JPGs. Since I got my E-P1, I stopped shooting raw for good!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21122418@N07/4455750203/

That's a good point about image stabilization. In-body stabilization is nice, no question about it. However, I still did not find the autofocus was capable of street shooting. I was using the 17mm Zuiko. For my street shooting, fast focusing is a lot more important than stabilization even though it's nice to have both.

 

[emerica]

thanks Federico, i totally get it now. i appreciate all the patience and knowledge 🙂

 

[Federico Alberto]

My pleasure!

My pleasure!

thanks Federico, i totally get it now. i appreciate all the patience and knowledge 🙂

Everybody has a price. Mine: the pleasure of enjoying your shots. Looking forward to your postings, OK?

 

[emerica]

street and low light samples, E-PL1 with the 20mm panasonic lens

street and low light samples, E-PL1 with the 20mm panasonic lens

here's the payment federico. no postprocessing, still seeing what the e-pl1 can do straight out of camera with it's jpeg engine. for the in camera adjustments, i increased sharpness to +1 and noise filter set to low. besides, way too lazy to post process 😉

update: exif data of photos can be found at my flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/emericvelasco/

 

[zeezea]

WoW!

emerica, those shots show great results. I really love the
composition and feel of the third (pool table) photo. 🙂


Regards,
Al

 

[Federico Alberto]

here's the payment federico. no postprocessing, still seeing what the e-pl1 can do straight out of camera with it's jpeg engine. for the in camera adjustments, i increased sharpness to +1 and noise filter set to low. besides, way too lazy to post process 😉

update: exif data of photos can be found at my flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/emericvelasco/

Excellent job my friend. Keep it up!

 

[Harry Lime]

hi there rff folks:

anyone have the epl1 and use it successfully for street photography?
thoughts?

The key to street photography is the ability to scale or zone focus.
As far as I can tell, neither the Pana or Oly can be preset to focus at a predetermined distance (example 2.5m etc). AF is really not the right tool for this type of shooting.

You can use a 3rd party manual focus lens from Leica, Voigtlander etc via an adapter and do this, but I'm not sure if all metering modes are supported.

Ricoh and Sigma have useable zone focusing support. The Leica X1 is also in this club, but it focusing scale is fairly primitive. But it does work.

I'm curious to see what Nikon comes up with. Supposedly they are working on their own EVIL camera. Also G11 killer. Time will tell.

 

[Finder]

The key to street photography is the ability to scale or zone focus.

You can use a 3rd party manual focus lens from Leica, Voigtlander etc via an adapter and do this, but I'm not sure if all metering modes are supported.

On an E-P1, all metering modes work--multi-zone, Center Weighted, and Spot. Two exposure modes work--aperture priority and manual. I use Voigtlander lenses, but it holds true for all manual focus lenses.

I am not sure AF and "street" photography are incompatible. I have no problem using a Hexar AF for such work. I never zone focused my manual rangefinders either--I am not sure the E-P1 AF is actually slower than a manual rangefinder.

I can pre-focus the Olympus 17mm m4/3 lens also if I want as well.

Harry, what m4/3 camera are you actually using?

 

[cosmonaut]

I find the shutter lag to be no problem I have an m6. By the time I stop to focus my m6 I could already taken th shot with the ep1. I find it to be a fine street camera.

 

[andredossantos]

Harry Lime: I don't think there is any "key" to street photography but rather many techniques that can be used. And while scale focusing in the classic sense is not possible i find that using the focus lock on the general area where the action is happening works quite well. You get an increase in DOF with these smaller sensors and I've never had any issues even at lower f-stops. Further, any camera that you don't bring up to your eye is infinitely more discreet for street work (same goes got TLR's which are the ultimate IMHO). Now,I don't mean to imply that I wouldn't welcome a m4/3 lens with a distance scale or even a distance scale readout on the screen. That would be fabulous! Personally, I just don't find the limitation enough of a hindrance to give up on using my ep-1 which is honestly the only digital camera I've ever enjoyed using.

As for people complaining about the autofocus being slow: I've never had an issue. OK, it's not a DSLR but it's faster than me manually focusing with my film cameras so why would I complain!

 

[wray]

A few recent ones with the E-PL1

 

[Federico Alberto]

AF can be preset with the E-P1

AF can be preset with the E-P1

As far as I can tell, neither the Pana or Oly can be preset to focus at a predetermined distance (example 2.5m etc). AF is really not the right tool for this type of shooting.

Here's plenty of evidence to the contrary:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21122418@N07/3699644487/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21122418@N07/4146017652/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21122418@N07/3690647679/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21122418@N07/4186296688/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21122418@N07/4063037170/

 

[Harry Lime]

I can pre-focus the Olympus 17mm m4/3 lens also if I want as well.

Harry, what m4/3 camera are you actually using?

Where can you preset the focus to let's say 2.5 meters?
I tried both the GF-1 and Oly and passed on both, because this feature was not supported.

Then I looked at the GRD3, which has great support for scale focusinf, but I'm more of a 35mm guy than 28mm. I also prefer a larger sensor for better IQ.

The Sigma DP-2 also supports scale focusing, but it has it's own set of quirks...

The Leica X1 supports basic scale focusing, but at almost $2000 it's a little to close to a used M8 for my taste...

Now I'm thinking about getting one of the M4/3 afterall. I figure I'll just get an adapter and stick a Nikon, VC, etc 20mm on it. It won't be faster than f2.8 or f4, but better than nothing.

 

[Harry Lime]

Harry Lime: I don't think there is any "key" to street photography but rather many techniques that can be used. And while scale focusing in the classic sense is not possible i find that using the focus lock on the general area where the action is happening works quite well. You get an increase in DOF with these smaller sensors and I've never had any issues even at lower f-stops.

I think there is a key to streetphotography. At least on the technical side and that is scale focusing. You can't react in a split second with an AF system, like you can with scale focusing. Take a look at some of the Youtube videos of Winogrand shooting. I've shot plenty of AF cameras and none of them are capable of working that fast. It's simply the wrong technique, if you really want to get serious about this.

Further, any camera that you don't bring up to your eye is infinitely more discreet for street work (same goes got TLR's which are the ultimate IMHO).

No one ever said that streetphotography was for the shy or meek...

Now,I don't mean to imply that I wouldn't welcome a m4/3 lens with a distance scale or even a distance scale readout on the screen. That would be fabulous! Personally, I just don't find the limitation enough of a hindrance to give up on using my ep-1 which is honestly the only digital camera I've ever enjoyed using.

Ricoh does a very good job of implementing this feature with their cameras. Everyone from Pana, Oly and Leica could learn something from them.

As for people complaining about the autofocus being slow: I've never had an issue. OK, it's not a DSLR but it's faster than me manually focusing with my film cameras so why would I complain!

 

[Harry Lime]

Here's plenty of evidence to the contrary:

Unless I missed it there is no mention of scale focusing in the Oly or Pana manual.

Focusing and reframing with the shutter halfway pressed down, really isn't all that practical....

 

[Paul T.]

I think there is a key to streetphotography. At least on the technical side and that is scale focusing. You can't react in a split second with an AF system, like you can with scale focusing. Take a look at some of the Youtube videos of Winogrand shooting. I've shot plenty of AF cameras and none of them are capable of that. It's simply the wrong technique, if you really want to get serious about this.

It is certainly true that the camera would be better if there were, say, a distance scale on the screen for manual focusing.

But it's easy to get an equivalent to hyperfocal or zone focusing. Even before you bring your camera up to your eye, you can focus on the pavement, or a tree in the same area. It has the same effect as scale focusing; you're merely keeping your finger on the shutter button rather than moving the lens. It is slightly trickier, but it has the same effect.

And focusing at chest level isuseful, too... at least you have an extra option. Although I do personally find I have far more problems with camera shake, used thus.

 

[andredossantos]

I think there is a key to streetphotography. At least on the technical side and that is scale focusing. You can't react in a split second with an AF system, like you can with scale focusing. Take a look at some of the Youtube videos of Winogrand shooting. I've shot plenty of AF cameras and none of them are capable of working that fast. It's simply the wrong technique, if you really want to get serious about this.

Very well. I use the scale focus technique all the time with my leica. I guess we can agree to disagree but I use both tools to my satisfaction. I do exactly as Paul T. describes in the post above and can get split second results.

No one ever said that streetphotography was for the shy or meek...

Using a TLR isnt necessarily about being too meek to get into someones face, its about people not knowing you are there so that they do not react. At least, thats what I like about it.

 

[Federico Alberto]

Any practical experience with µ4/3, Harry?

Any practical experience with µ4/3, Harry?

Unless I missed it there is no mention of scale focusing in the Oly or Pana manual.

Focusing and reframing with the shutter halfway pressed down, really isn't all that practical....

All the shots I posted, plus almost all the rest in my flickr gallery taken with an E-P1 and µ4/3 or 4/3 glass, were prefocused using the AEL/AFL button for AFL exclusively.

Thus configured, I haven't needed a focusing scale when using µ4/3 glass.

Besides reading the manuals, have you used a µ4/3 camera yourself outside of a store? In the street? For more than a day?

Apparently the old ways of doing things can't accept the validity of any alternatives. Maybe that's why GM and Chrysler went belly up...

 

[Finder]

Where can you preset the focus to let's say 2.5 meters?
I tried both the GF-1 and Oly and passed on both, because this feature was not supported.

Then I looked at the GRD3, which has great support for scale focusinf, but I'm more of a 35mm guy than 28mm. I also prefer a larger sensor for better IQ.

The Sigma DP-2 also supports scale focusing, but it has it's own set of quirks...

The Leica X1 supports basic scale focusing, but at almost $2000 it's a little to close to a used M8 for my taste...

Now I'm thinking about getting one of the M4/3 afterall. I figure I'll just get an adapter and stick a Nikon, VC, etc 20mm on it. It won't be faster than f2.8 or f4, but better than nothing.

How about manually focusing on an object 2.5 meters away?