Micro Four Thirds: Can It See in the Dark? 

Thanks!

Mid summer, so why not wear the Christmas pudding hat? All down hill daylight wise until the big ho ho ho! Great video by the way!😆

Keep on pushing M43, too many people decry it so good on you!

Wow, you managed to film it all, take photos and release a video on the same night!!! Love the photos and amazing colours. The sunset ones really nice.

These are of the very best framed and edited images I have seen after looking at hundreds of sites including Thomas H and the like. Check your algorithms, you deserve a lot better.

Rule of thumb for nighttime is (a bit counter intuitive this, cf Lance Keimig) - tripod, small aperture to improve sharpness, long shutter, lowish ISO. Now, Mike Lane FRPS gives a simple ISO test. He is possibly a little more fussy than me and dislikes taking his OM-1 over ISO 1600. Every MFT I have tested the same way I find to be clean at ISO 3200 with onset of noise at ISO 6400. The onset is so slight it can be better to leave it alone rather than de-noise. ISO 1600 should be clean as a whistle but there will be some small reduction in dynamic range, which can be fixed by playing with the gain curve. The exposure meter will be looking for 18% grey, which it will not get at night so it needs compensating. Likewise the WB, AWB cannot cope, it is metering too and does affect the exposure of a raw. Histogram time.

Love micro 4 thirds

What many people seem to miss is that micro 4/3 has a 2 stop ISO advantage over full frame. If one is taking the same photo - with the same depth of field and shutter speed - a micro 4/3 camera will be operating at two stops numerically smaller f-stop than the full frame camera and hence two stops lower ISO. High ISO performance is NOT the same as low light performance. In the kind of photography illustrated in this video - low light landscape - sensor size alone will make little difference to image quality.

I am always amazed how beautiful & artist your photos are!

Regularly shot gigs with my E-M1 Mkii and ventured into the region of 6400 (and above at one venue), all more than usable. Usable enough to have exhibited, published, and sold more than enough of them.

There are some really nice noctilucent clouds on the last picture! MFT might be not as good as full frame in low light, but it’s much better than most photographers think. Nothing to worry about, and I shoot a lot at night with my OM5 and the OM1.

Absolutely love your photos and channel! I've been playing around with photography for a few years as it has tied in nicely with my other hobbies , hiking camping and enduro motor biking. Started out with a canon s95 then a s100 after they both quit due to drops ect picked a used Olympus om d e m5 and loved it but it too gave up after taking 30,000+ shots. Then purchased a used Lumix g7 and just suffered a fall from the bike at speed. Now bought a used Olympus om d e mii with a low SC online witch should arrive next week. Your channel inspired me to seek out the camera and strive to capture quality images as you certainly are. Really like how you share the thought processes pre capture, awesome tutorials on the m1 ii Thank you..

One of the very first things I found, way back when with the E-PL1, was that MFT could focus and photograph the black cat in a coal hole at midnight on a foggy night during a power cut. It was the Olympus Rep that put me off getting the E-M1ii, but only because I already had the Panny GH4 (we got chatting and did some lens swapping). And so I got the E-M5ii, because it had IBIS, because it was smaller. Still got it, love that camera, but had to get a G7 as well to shoot movie as B-cam. If you shoot a long video clip with Olympus the image can turn magenta. This stated in the manuals. It is sensor heating; Lumix have a better heat sink because they are designed as hybrids, the entire chassis of the GH4 is a heat sink. Short video clips, no problem. With the latest models like my G9 the very high telephone-number ISO is improved over the GH4. Probably related to the insane Dual stabilisation, it takes the final fizz out and improves sharpness. We don't normally go anywhere near ISO 25600 but the lovely pre-dawn light in stupidly high ISO can now be cleaned up. There is a colour-shift, it is not the best method but doable; tripod small aperture, long shutter. If we look at the actual noise coming off a 4/3 sensor, the ISO/Noise is invariably better than a FF sensor. A small sensor does not produce as much heat, which is noise, and it is easier to control and eliminate noise from a small sensor.

Another smashing video! I'm definitely going to have to give some night photography a try.

Great music, Elena by Zack.

Great video mate!!! Well done, cheers...

If you assess pixel density only, a full-frame sensor with 80 megapixels would have similar pixel sizes and, consequently, similar noise performance at ISO 3200 (frankly any ISO) as a 20-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor. When viewing each image capture at 100%, the perceived noise level of the ff sensor would be less due to the scale of the sensor area. Crop in to 25% of the sensor area and you'll see the same noise level. Since the MFT sensor has a significant crop factor the noise is revealed to be greater when displayed at 100% of its surface area. The ff sensor has the image area advantage. But there are so many other things at play, such as optical design, focal length equivalency, image processing, sensor cooling, etc.

Thanks Chris! You keep giving me ideas for types of photography to try with my EM 1 Mk2. Love these videos!

High Res mode reduces noise by A LOT.... The E-M1 iii has the handheld high res mode, so it's particularly useful when you dont want to be bothered with setting up a tripod each time. Fantastic camera.

There is nothing wrong with shooting high iso these days. I shoot 6400 or above regular on my om-1 mkII. Even shots in pitch darkness. It's an amazing system I only see the benefits. Like you I love micro four thirds and I do nothing else then promote it on my channel. Love your content BTW amazing images! Grt guido

Nice vid and mood as usual so everytime i enjoy watching them. I have the mark 3 and yes it's easier with livecomp livemode to shoot at night then with my Sony A7 ! Dxo software if needed will take out in 5 secs any potential noise if needed. At dusk or dawn no issue. Well done 👍

Great to see someone advocating for M43! I've shot handheld at midnight using limited light sources with an E-M1ii and use M43 bodies for 95% of my shoots - definitely subscribing and following!

Great video Chris, so much respect for your night walks at Spurn, walking the 2.5 miles back in the dark is a major feat on its own, great pictures

Love the hat. Venturing out this evening for a bit of long exposure. Good tips 👏

Wow, really enjoyed this vid, great results!

Excellent vid as always Chris 👏

No need for high iso 😊 just activate night vision 😊 that's how I find milkyway and aurora with ease 💪

Good video Chris. Depending on the subject, I find that I can often get decent shots at 6400 ISO on my OG Lumix G9, especially after applying Topaz Photo AI or Denoise AI. For images that rely on a lot of detail and texture, such as macros, I rarely shoot at above 800 ISO.

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Very enjoyable video Chris, thanks for making this. Marvellous set of images too, look forward to the next one 👍

Correct exposure is the most important thing. Iso 6400 is not an issue when exposed well. Rarely will i need to be over 1600.

Cool video...I like M43 gear (having owned since the EP-1 and EPL-2 came out). ...but...but. The m43 gear does not really come close to my original Sony A7s for Low light. I think for the price used..the A7s (and a couple or three lenses) is a great Low light machine to keep around no matter what your main system is...Cheep...reliable... and FUN...Cheers

Good info. Enjoyed all your images👍👍

Muito legal... gostei demais do video... não tenho uma Micro Four Thirds mas tenho uma Canon G16... testei ela nas mesmas configurações que você passou, com ISO 1600 ficou granulado mas ficou até bonito 😁, depois abaixei o ISO em dois pontos e reduzi a velocidade na mesma proporção... então a imagem saiu muito mais nítida e bonita... obrigado por me ajudar a ver como posso melhorar minhas fotografias.

I took a bunch of Halloween trick or treat photos w my OG EM5. Was surprised at how well they turned out after post processing. I waited for still moments and moments when the kids were close to light. I didn’t expose to the right, auto ISO and shutter speeds around 125. Do a video about flashless photos of people at night? ❤

The easier way to lightpaint the rocks should be the livecomposite!

Nice video and great pics! With current AI denoising, if you're willing to put in a few extra minutes in post the high iso is irrelevant no matter what you're shooting with. I can't live without the livetime and livecomp settings. I've been playing around with light painting lately and bought a beginner kit through lightpainting brushes... gotta say I've had an absolute blast even though my pictures are kinda trash at the moment.

Any wide lens recommendations for mft? I have the EM1 mark ii. Great pics BTW.

Tell me that wasn't Saturday night?!?! We were there a bit further up and I was filming a similar video!

Nice video!

The Moon is the second brightest object in the sky after the Sun and it will drive you mad trying to get foreground exposed without the Moon blowing out. This is where a composite or the LiveComp works.

There might be a difference in the quality but when I look at the Olympus 12-40 2.8 pro then see how much the Sony 24-70 2.8 GM costs I realise that I'd probably get worse photos going full frame because £2000 is too rich for me 😂

May I ask, what is the 6mm lens that you were using, and what is your opinion of its performance?

Milkyway?

Sent you a answer to your 80 megapixel question from your last video.

why shouldn't it if any smartphone can do night shots?

Very nice of you to have this realistic approach to this subject Chris! Great photos too! I have used my E-M10 MKII extensively in the dark and I have always been happy to go up to ISO 3200 or even 6400 with it. As long as the subject is exposed properly you get pretty good results. Some photography friends then pointed at some grain in the background but I couldn't be bothered as it doesn't change the overall photograph. Meanwhile I have newer OM System cameras and the photos of these cameras (with newer sensors and processors) can be de-noised in OM System Workspace with AI Noise Reduction giving ridiculous good results even at ISO 25600. I am very happy with my Olympus and OM System cameras. Question: Do you use auto gradation? It often gives me very nice results.

Yeah. It. Is Ok for still subject, but very bad to low light fast moving subject.

Thanks!