Most efficient manual focusing on E-P1?

T

Tom Diaz

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Here's what I think I will do on my brand-new E-P1 when I use Leica lenses and others that don't have an electronic connection to the focusing system.

1. Assign "manual focus" to the Fn button, so I can put the camera in manual focus mode with one button press. (This is done with a top-mounted physical switch on the Panasonic G1.)

2. Use the Info button to select the viewfinder-zoom feature, so that manual focus will be assisted by a magnified image. (Press OK to actually zoom in.) (Done with left-arrow/OK buttons on the G1.)

3. When done focusing use the "OK" button again to cancel the zoom, since pressing the shutter does not do so. (The G1 does cancel zoom when you shoot.)

I think that's as efficient as it can be till Olympus implements better features in firmware. Right? Does anyone have a more efficient way?

Tom
 
I leave the camera in MF mode all the time, and assign the AEL/AFL button to auto-focus. (When I'm using an AF lens I just push that button to AF. In this case the shutter button does not activate focus... but I have all of my AF cameras set up this way, so I'm used to it.)

The display is set to the zoom screen. So basically I'm ready to manual focus anytime.

Oh, plus I disable almost all of the other screens that info usually cycles through so if I do need to hit info to get to the zoom screen it's only one or two presses.

j
 
I do exactly what Jonas does. AF is on the AEL/AFL button, so no need to switch to MF mode (I keep the camera in S-AF+MF mode exclusively). I leave the "green-square" (zoom) mode on most of the time so I can activate focus assist quickly. And, I too disabled most of the info screens so the only two I have to toggle between are the main one for switching settings and the green-square (zoom) mode one.

What I hope for with a firmware update? That the +/- button or the Fn button will be able to be set to go directly into focus assist (zoomed in). No need for green square first. No toggling between other screens. Just press the Fn button or the +/- button and you're immediately magnified.
 
The thing is, you don't need to turn on MF at all, MF just happens, because it is a manual lens you are using. Turning MF on and off is for electronically coupled lenses. So what I do if I want an enlarged view for critical focus is to click through the information display to 'Zoom Display', otherwise just put the Leica lens on the camera in whatever mode its last in and focus manually.

Steve
 
DRabbit said:
What I hope for with a firmware update? That the +/- button or the Fn button will be able to be set to go directly into focus assist (zoomed in). No need for green square first. No toggling between other screens. Just press the Fn button or the +/- button and you're immediately magnified.
Click to expand...

And, in my opinion, a half-press on the shutter button should cancel the zoom, as it does on the G1. That would make things nice and fast.
 
Tom Diaz said:
Here's what I think I will do on my brand-new E-P1 when I use Leica lenses and others that don't have an electronic connection to the focusing system.
... I think that's as efficient as it can be till Olympus implements better features in firmware. Right? Does anyone have a more efficient way?

Tom
Click to expand...

That's exactly the way I have set up my E-P1 and have been using it that way with MF lenses for 3 weeks now.

I have also reduced the number of options that are cycled through on the Info button so that is is just Image Only, Overall and Zoom. This seems to be a fair compromise.
 
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