Macro and MFT cameras

On 3/23/2020 at 4:30 AM, troporobo said:

I am puzzled by this comment.  Do you mean the entire viewfinder is dim, or the peaking highlights?  If highlights, try red vs. yellow, and the settings I described.  If entire viewfinder, make sure S-OVF is turned off and Live View Boost is turned on.

Sorry for the slow reply, had some life+Covid related stuff that kept me busy.    I meant that the peaking highlights are very faint sometimes (I was testing in macro mode on land, and i was really struggling to see the peaks at times).

On 3/23/2020 at 5:13 PM, ChrisRoss said:

The AF I find varies among cameras, I now have the EM-1 MkII upgraded from the EM-5 MkII a couple of years back now.  The EM-1 has noticeably better AF and the C-AF plus tracking actually works quite well in macro.

I purchased the MF gear for the 60mm macro and gave up on it - you have to spin like crazy on the focus ring to get a noticable change in focus and the this is made worse with a gear - the gearing means your need even more turns on the housing focus knob. 

You will want to assign peaking to a button and turn it up to max in the menu settings - pick a colour that stands out - I use red underwater the settings are in D3 menu on my camera - called peaking settings.  They are most noticeable when the subject has good texture/contrast

Yeah, i did notice that the focus takes ages to move - I was hoping to use AF to get it close, MF to tweak and then do the whole rock-it-back-and-forth to get it right.    I dont seem to have an option to boost the peaking color on my EM10Mk3, however.

Thanks for the tip on using C-AF.    Did you mean automatic focus tracking?     That would be a very interesting option but doesnt it require the touchscreen?

Edit - C-AF + Tracking apparently does NOT require a touchscreen.     Doh.  I was convinced it was.    That's also something worth trying, I reckon.   I just wonder if it will be precise enough to focus on, say, the eyes of an eel as opposed to its mouth.

4 hours ago, vkalia said:

Edit - C-AF + Tracking apparently does NOT require a touchscreen.     Doh.  I was convinced it was.    That's also something worth trying, I reckon.   I just wonder if it will be precise enough to focus on, say, the eyes of an eel as opposed to its mouth.

It is easily precise enough in that scenario, as long as you enable the single small focus point

I shoot EM5ii with the 60mm all the time. I too find that it focuses like a slug, esp if you don't have a video light on.

A suggestion for you to try: Try autofocusing on your hand at a distance you think you'll use, ie really close to the port if you want 1:1, then throw your camera in manual focus, and do the rocking technique at the subject. The em5ii doesn't have great c-af tracking so I don't bother. Another tip is to try the magnify setting. For underwater macro I usually don't have to go more than 5x to get good results. I have not yet adapted back button focus but I might. 

I prefer to use fn1 for MF/AF toggle. fn2 for magnify.

These settings can get me nudi rhinophores.

On 3/26/2020 at 4:56 AM, vkalia said:

Sorry for the slow reply, had some life+Covid related stuff that kept me busy.    I meant that the peaking highlights are very faint sometimes (I was testing in macro mode on land, and i was really struggling to see the peaks at times).

 

Yeah, i did notice that the focus takes ages to move - I was hoping to use AF to get it close, MF to tweak and then do the whole rock-it-back-and-forth to get it right.    I dont seem to have an option to boost the peaking color on my EM10Mk3, however.

Thanks for the tip on using C-AF.    Did you mean automatic focus tracking?     That would be a very interesting option but doesnt it require the touchscreen?

 

The peaking setting in the 1 MkII is under menu D3 called Peaking settings.  It looks like the 10 MkIII you can choose peaking colour but not intensity in menu C1.  If peaking doesn't work you can choose magnify and assign that to a button. 

Yes the option is called C-AF plus tracking it attempts to stay on your focus target even if you move the camera.  It is good on the EM-1 MkII, don't know how good it would be on the 10 MkIII, but worth trying.

You could use back button focus to get in the ballpark switch to peaking or magnify and then rock back and forth for critical focus.