When I was making the video I forgot to mention the most popular method of capturing lightning - using Time Lapse, which can be very cool as well, allowing you the option to make a time lapse movie of the lightning. The drawback of using this method is, if you want to merge multiple lightning into a singular shot, you need to do that in post-processing/PhotoShop. Live Composite does everything in camera, it is almost like cheating.
Robin the other week I used time lapse to shoot the meteor shower, but as the sunrise was happening I tried to change both the aperture and the shutter speed but it wouldn't let me. Is this correct or do I have to do something different? Thanks, love your channel. I put the timelapse video on Peter's facebook page.
I have done this in the past but did not know the true limitations, I assumes those are for the newer cameras? I have the M1mkll... and I do not under stand the 60secs part. The most I have seen is 4?
Hi Robin. Just goy my new OMD EM10ii in the mail. Been following your channel for a couple of weeks and loving it. Is it possible to capture the lightning using burst mode? I know that perhaps you are leaving it to luck that the sensor takes a lightning strike with each burst, but if it is possible at all, how will you do that?
I swear to God this dude is the happiest looking dude I've ever seen, I don't even have an Olympus but just watching you lightens up the mood. (Pun intended).
Took me three freaking weeks of non stop trial and error to capture lightning on my canon sx60 HS 5 years back. Ended up capturing a proper shot on my birthday of all days and ever since then it has been smooth sailing. Live composite is a god send.
Robin, how do you have only 23k subs? Your tutorials and explainations are way better than some of the biggest photography channels out there. Detailed, compact and how you describe things is absolutely top notch :D I have a Lumix G81, so its a bit hard to find some settings in my camera (glad that Olympus and Lumix are naming most of the settings by the same or almost same name), but still your videos are very usefull and inspiring to me! Keep up the good work and always be safe in times like these :)
Thanks, you are being too kind. I am not too concerned about the numbers of subs to this channel, it will grow, no matter how slowly. I am more worried about reaching out to the right audience, and looking at the comments here, I am glad I have such wonderful people watching my videos. That to me is more important.
Thank's a lot Robin for your very instructive demonstration of what can be achieved with LIVE COMPOSITE! It helps me a lot to exploit the whole potential of my new E-M1 Mk III - the most practical and useful camera I ever owned!
@robin wong - Watched this tutorial end to end a couple of times yesterday. I'm a long time Nikon shooter, as you know, and just got my M1-Mk III on Tuesday. Took it for a spin last night shooting some fireworks in live comp mode. I'm thrilled with the results. Thanks for the excellent tutorial about this feature and the many others you've posted in here. I never would have tried this without your instruction.
Storms tonight in England. Lightning is way over the horizon at the moment! LIVECOMP mode is set. I'm even less of a storm chaser than you Robin!😅😂🤣🌩🌩🌩⚡
I just found LIVE COMP on the EM10 mark ii in Manual mode. I noticed two good things. If I go into another mode and come back to Manual, it is still in LIVE COMP mode. If I switch off the camera and switch it on again, Manual mode is still in LIVE COMP. Very useful. Maybe we have storms tonight. We did have a lit of rain earlier but the lightning didn't come. Then this video came up. Coincidence?
I’ve been wanting to buy a mirrorless camera and narrowed down the om5 mkIII high on that list for screen and weather sealed! When I saw that first example of the lighting my face dropped 😮 I was amazed with how good it looked!
WOW!!! As I type this you have 457 likes and ZERO thumbs down!! I don't think I have ever seen that on any youtube video Robin!! I told you before, you ROCK!!!!
I had such a good one going last night and then there was a really close lightning strike . It was a flash then boom. It completely blew out/over exposed my comp. It was so loud my heart skip a beat
I had such a good one going last night and then a there was a really close lightning strike . It was a flash then boom. It completely blew out/over exposed my comp. It was so loud my hair stand up and made my heart skip a beat
Hi Robin, enjoy your good videos. As a note for new M10-iii owners - DO NOT USE THE new dial "AP" option to operate Live Composite or Live Time as within that operation, you cannot then set ISO or Aperture. To shoot Live Time or Composite with Mkiii, one needs to still use the "M" (manual operation) and scroll to the Live Time or Live Composite...then it works perfectly. Seems Olympus made a stuff up here, I have contacted them and their comment was "AP is for beginners!!"
With Robin in the city, he has some nice background for the base exposure. If the background is really dark at the start, I wonder if this is a problem. Maybe not because the star trails photo looks great and it's a kind of manual type mode.
I just tried it. Yes it is a problem if it's dark. One problem is focusing. If you do it on manual clutch, the end stop is beyond infinity! Especially on the 12-40mm f/2.8. So it's really tricky in the dark! Usually there are no stars out. We in UK usually get 100% cloud cover if there are storms.
After watching a few of your RU-vid clips went and bought the EM 5 MKIII. From using Canon 6D to Sony RX10 MK4 in the past and now Olympus I would like to thank you for all the great ideas on using the EM 5 MK3. So decapitated to hear that Olympus have let you down. Olympus should thank you for the great work achieve for them. Thank you and looking forward to your next RU-vid clips.
Nice video, Robin. The Live Composite is a great feature, among other great features found on the Olympus. I've taken a few star trails using this method. Simple with great results. I need to wait for a lightning storm and give this a try!
Terrific teaching video again Robin. Despite its innovation in camera maker Olympus is absolutely failed in terms of making user know how to use all its potential. Until ... of course you are Olympus visionary. I think Olympus should bundle your video as part of the package with each camera sale. You are great teacher that make complicated stuff easy. Olympus should pay you for life.....
Another great video Robin. I've watched it several times and have managed to get some good lightning shots using this technique. I am heading out to a local rainforest this week and am going to try live composite to capture fireflies. Here's hoping fireflies make enough light to trigger the live comp.
You said to focus after the base shot. One, since the screen is very dark, it may be difficult to find the focus point you want. Would it be better to focus before you begin? Two, if you wait until you shot the ambient first, and waited until after, you may not have been in focus for any foreground you wanted. Three, I thought the first shot was to include any foreground. Wouldn't you want to make the exposure at 1 sec, but adjust the aperture and ISO to make that base shot proper? Question, after the base shot lit to what you want for the foreground, can you (carefully) change the ISO and aperture for the lightening, then fire the second shot?
Procap H or L is also a solution to avoid looooooong series of pics on the memory card. I used it the other day, pushing the button at mid step, camera starting to make a loop and then when I saw lighting, push the button furthers. It helps a lot even if I had some over exposition even with 200 iso set up.
Pro-Capture works very well. You complete the shutter pressure when you see the lightening and your are late, but pro-capture gets it. I went from 0% capture to 95%. Battery drains while holding the shutter button, but it works. I used pro-capture to catch a falling leaf in the fall.
No, not for lightning, You need quite a slow shutter speed for lightning. Say about 1 second to capture the full strike, sometimes it takes longer. Pro capture needs about 1/100 sec shutter speed or faster to function, you would have missed the lightning completely, or only capture a small part of it.
OM-D 10 Mark II user here. Live Composite won't work if the camera can't focus and create the first base shot which is typical in dark settings when attempting to capture lightning. This requires the user to set focus to manual to avoid the camera attempting and failing to focus. I don't recall seeing this mentioned. It was very frustrating.
Wonderful video and explanation...thank you so much...Question so when you are setting your focus point you do not focus on the sky but a solid subject, correct?....thank you
Robin, I wish I'd discovered you while I was in Malaysia! I spent nearly 2 months in Melaka and it would have been awesome to have put your tips and tricks to use while I was there or even do a workshop with you in KL. For now, I'm in lockdown in Thailand!
It is worth mentioning that having something pointy and metal in an electric storm is not a good idea :) I tried Live Composite a few years ago and it worked brilliantly but we haven't had a good storm since then :(
Great tip Robin. Was really wanting to get a simple but powerful explanation on live composite mode, and here comes your "Hai I am Robin Wong" style explanation, which is one of the best I come across in RU-vid world. Not just flattering, but a fact which many of your subscribers will certainly agree with me. By the way, for my EM1 2, I should use M mode and then turn down the shutter below BULB and then to LIVE COMPOSITE mode. Later, fixing the shutter spend is through MENU, where as the APERTURE is through the "dial". Any tips of that SHUTTER timings, from your experience.... What should be those values, based on the type of shoots....? Know that am asking too much ...if time permits, can please ....
Thanks for the kind words, appreciate them a lot. The adjustment of shutter speed, aperture and ISO are for the exposure of a single image. As long as you can achieve the right exposure you should be fine. I set the ISO to 200 (depending on what you shoot, in this case, the lightning), aperture near widest (somewhere around F2.8) and shutter speed at that time, to get the correct exposure was about 1 second. You may adjust it to get the best exposure you intended for your image.
@@robinwong , I got you now. Seems , I will first click a normal frame and see what the metered settings and then can move to Live Composite mode and deal with those settings. Now have to practice all these tips.... practice.... practice... practice...
I was wondering, using the m.zuiko ed 75-300mm f4.8-6.7 ii, OM-D E-M1. I am trying to take volcano eruptions at Mt Etna in Sicily, and the light is not available long enough to get a good shot. What is your suggestions, I never use the manual mode as I wear progressive eyeglasses and don't trust what I am seeing in the viewfinder. I would like to try and set the camera up to use this live composite method and maybe a manual focus from my tripod..
Hi Robin I enjoyed this video about the lighting but I would like to know what lens to use as I live facing the ocean and get to see plenty of strikes maybe a wide angle I am shooting with a 14-150 lens. Please advise on my lens choice.
SO when shooting lightening, which focus point setting do you use? In the demo you were pointing at a building and changed it to single point, but when shooting lighting, and the focus point is the sky how do you get the camera to focus on the darkness? I liked the info on live composite - the ISO/ shutter speed being short as well as the explanation as to what Live Composite means! Other camera settings? DO you use auto white balance? Shadow? Single point or all point focus? Thanks in advance :)
I just commented on the focusing issue. Please refer to my solution if you haven't already figured it out as it appears the author isn't replying any more.
Yes they would. I'm guessing that Robin's clouds are lit up instantaneously by the lightning mainl so they appear sharp. Mostly. In that case, you're likely to get some multiple images of the cloud boundaries - and I think there are some on the photos 4:58 and it looks cool anyway.
I tried tonight. All I got was clouds! The clouds got in the way. I'm low down, not high up like Robin. I'm in a valley and in a 2 storey house, so you don't see much of the storm until it's nearly on top of you! Still, it was fun trying - kind of!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. When shooting lightning do you use AF or MF. I used AF and my images were not sharp. I think using MF with focus set to infinity should give better results
