Olympus OM1: The Good & The BAD for Wildlife 

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I’m a viewer of this channel. Mostly watching during early morning hours. I’ve got a red 8k CC t shirt. I’m looking to upgrade. Do I go with the Fuji Assassin t shirt model or the Panasonic Pony of Hope model. I’ll use it primarily to watch RU-vid videos, morning walks with the dog and occasional trips to the doctor. Thank you.

I love starting my day with these videos. They’re so nice and fun and funny and beautiful and etc. Great energy. Love the nature shots and overall feel.

The sound design at frog fight is godlike.

Incompetence heavily tinged with truth, what more do i want from a camera review. Bravo !!!

WOW - your footage goes to prove it does not matter too much which camera you choose - it is knowing the camera and then catching the moment. Learn your camera and lenses. That frog footage was mind blowing - thank you :)

Love the frogs, fun music too

I think it's been mentioned a couple of times already, but see if you can get hold of the 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro and a 1.4 or 2.0 TC. That 70-300 is good for it's price, but the EM1 and OM1 need something more powerfull to unlock their potential. The Pro lenses do that. The 100-400 sits below the Pro lenses, but still way better then the 70-300, even though it has no Sync-IS. The 40-150mm with TC has no IS either, so only IBIS, but it's so light and almost 1 stop more light (light, not toneh). In a way I expected what you experienced. Olympus will never get alongside Panasonic when it comes to video, although the gap is smaller. But at the same time, Panasonic will not get alongside Olympus when it comes to photography. But the gap has gotten smaller with the GH6. I shoot Photo's and the occasional video, that's why I'm on EM1-III and the OM1 is still on pre-order (delayed, new Covid lockdowns, shipping issues, chip shortage, other bullshit) since february. As for the software issues, since that what they are, they can be fixed in firmware. You're now at V1.0. The XT4 was lacking also with firmware 1.0. It's definitely possible to fix a lot in later firmware. I hope Digital-Olympus-OMDS-System-Solutions is listening.

Just awesome! I love the way you turn video into a fun and enjoyable experience. The frogs were epic! Where you come up with your ideas is beyond me. I think you may be an alien. Just my guess. I'm probably wrong. Anyway, as a long time Oly shooter I may have some thoughts that will help. Let's see... 1. check the gear/cog menu, page three, to see if refresh is on high. It's a known bug that will cause the camera to freeze up. I played with it some more after the recent 1.1 fw update and it still happens, but maybe a little less, not sure. 2. in the Movie menu, I think the second page? turn Noise reduction down low. I think it's defaulted to high. Weird. But that is possible a solution to the over sharpening artifacts if my guess is right. I don't see it but 1) my setting is on low or off and 2) I'm really not anywhere in your league with video experience.... but I'm getting there. (sure... like the guy in Holy Grail..."I'm gettin' better!... no you're not! you'll be stone dead...) Working around the stupidity the engineers do with video settings and custom settings... no I have no idea why they do what they do... you're right, they don't care about video; at least in the way you do. They likely think you're an alien, too. But anyway, you CAN store different configs to each Custom Set and 1) you can program a button to jump in and out of a different custom set, enabling you to, for example, be shooting C4K/60P with CAF in H265 assigned to C1, then press a function button the jumps you into C2 where the video is completely different, say 240fps/60P, which changes to SAF or SAF+M if you enabled that)... In addition to that ability, you can decide if you wish the Custom Set to always revert to what you initially saved it to be, or to hold new settings. So, for example, I might have C1 primary for action work, birds in flight, dog running, whatever, and when I hit record, it's C4K/60 with sound as I want, etc., H265 if I prefer to color grade, etc.,. I might have C2 primarily for stationary, walking animals, and use CAF as it's default whereas in C1 I have CAF+Tr for the Ai stuff... can work once you figure out the focus modes but it IS tricky. And you aren't crazy about the AF being...well... hmmm.. sometimes it's amazing and sometimes it's a butt scratcher. So; you set the camera to M or whatever mode you want, and you go to Camera 1 menu, first page, first item, to custom sets, and you 'recall' C1 to the PASM modes. Let's assume when you saved C1, you also assigned one of the buttons to recall C2. Now that button doesn't do anything in C1. You MUST be in PASM, recall C1 as your settings there, and THEN and only THEN, that button will act to jump you into C2 with a press and then when you press it again, it brings you right back where you were in C1. Aaaaand.. if you set the custom settings's Save method to 'Hold' for C2, then when you've pressed the button and jumped into C2, you can make some change if you want, maybe switch to 120fps 24p or whatever, and it will stick, so when you jump back into C1 and then later come back to C2 you have the settings you wanted to use still active. Maybe this helps. Not sure. I'm going to go and try and get some frogs jumping in slowomo now just because I thought your example was so funny. I can see that I'm going to have to really work at the audio track selection business however to ever come close to your level. lol.

Hi Kasey, Try using all the focus point instead of only the center one(s), in C-AF+TR with animal AF on. If I'm not mistaken, in order for animal eye tracking to work, you must have full AF points enabled.

I hope OM listen to your kind advice. My OM-1 had to go in for repairs with AF and freezing issues - there's a firmware flaw in some of them, a few threads on DPR forum on those. They did pick the camera up from my house though which was nice. Came back all fixed. Also though, never use C-AF+Tr for anything, regular C-AF works better even with subject detect. Finally, I think you can reduce the sharpening for more natural looking video though your footage looked good on my laptop screen. I noticed the 8 bit video looked much better with sharpening reduced on my good monitor so uploaded a sample.

Just a reminder -- on all digital cameras "detect" is a different process from "autofocus" -- just because a camera can detect an animal, an eye, a rhino with a skin rash -- does not mean that the AF is going to work flawlessly with whatever is detected. Some cameras have the two processes linked extremely well -- and some definitely do not. My trusty old G85 actually does decent face and even eye detect (cross-hairs inside the face-detect box) -- but I think that the "detect" info is sent via telegram through Saskatchewan and New Mexico before it ever reaches the AF algorithms!!!!

You guys have some jet black squirrels up there in Canada. Here in Philadelphia, PA our squirrels are primarily grey lol. Keep up the vids bud, love them. I recently bought a 5 year old hobo Sony RX10 Mark IV and been playing around with shooting wildlife. Wanted an "all in one" as opposed to getting into the lens game. The range is good and quality is good enough for my use. Of course there are rumored of the V possibly coming at the end of this year (but I think that's been rumored every year lol). Hope to see more videos of you getting out more, been watching for years. Later bud

When OM brings up the OM-1 AF to higher levels you should borrow the magic Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm f/4.5 TC1.25X IS PRO Lens.

🙋🏻‍♂️ question: would you consider making a video on the Canon Camcoders: G60, XA50? They now have CLog 3 and for what my gigs requirements, TONEH is not a priority. Focus is the priority and a beautiful sharp image. I also need to trust the focus and that’s why I am thinking on Canon. I currently have a A7C Sony, with a 24-70mm 2.8. With that money I could afford two G60. I’ll appreciate your input! XD

Just received my OM-1 which has improved significantly for my wildlife photography. Leaving photos aside the C4K is somewhat better with the 60 fps allowing for an “optimum” faster shutter speed of 1/120 (125) which helps with the exposure in daylight. However, the C-AF does not seem any faster or improved than on my EM1 m3 cameras. Still a long way for OM Systems to go with the video to compete with other companies. And the ultimate video lens for me shooting wildlife would be a 25 - 250mm internal zoom f5.6. Interestingly one of the best lenses I have used for wildlife video is the 12 - 200mm hence my above recommendation for development of the above lens.

One other thing you camera maybe freezing because you didn’t update the lens firmware to work with the OM-1. The focus system is different. I have to update most of my lenses to work with it.

Man, switching to wildlife ... aces! Frogs, my favorite this episode! 👌

1:25 look at that sparrow rear jet :D good capture huh, very detailed toilet moment.

loving the crazy hair

Cool music on the frog fight.

You make some good points. I’d like to see some direct rebuttal from the 4:3 advocates.

Did you use the OM-LOG400 LUT for getting the log colors right or did you do it manually? (By the way I’m in the “I want a good camera for photos, but wouldn’t mind taking some videos” camp 😊)

None of the ambassadors tell us these things if I'm keeping it a stack

Hey, I'd go to Camera Canada tonight, but they don't have a store in Ottawa. Come on Camera Canada! It's the capital!

I understand the Canon R7 just started shipping. See if Camera Camera can loan you one with an RF 100-500. I already have the lens and I'm waiting on the pre-ordered body. I look forward to your review.

I have Been photographing birds with om-1 with 300mm f4 lens with and without teleconverters, subject detection and autofocus works the same in photography as you mentioned. Camera detects subject, draws a rectangle around it, but if there is a single branch or grass or leaf inside that rectangle there is high risk that om-1 will focus on that instead of the bird. Autofocus works almost perfectly if there is no tree branches or grass around the subject. I was slightly disappointed on om-1 autofocus, although it’s much better than on my previous em-1 mk II.

Photographers take shots we are cool. You took clips bro 🐿 💗

how are you converting the log footage. Are you using the supplied LUT from OMDS?

Its a damn shame the eye detect performed so poorly. I thought the overall image quality was very good. I was shocked how clean the slow motion looked, even compared to the fuji. I could hardly notice any aliasing. Looking forward to the head to head battle with the Fuji.

I know I am getting boring but I suggest you to try GH6 with 100-300 II. If you have a chance.

Is Lumix G9 is better in AF than OM-1?

I have both the 75-300 and the 300 f/4. The 75-300 has been a sock drawer queen since I got the 300 f/4 and the OM-1. I have never been able to get birds in flight until I started using this combination. As far as video goes, I haven’t actually tried it yet. Probably won’t.

I’ll take a glance at the OM1 in 2023. Hopefully some of the issues will be sorted by then. Very useful video again … thanks.

I guess omds is still more focus on being photocentric. Hope they'll take your insights seriously and fix the issues.

unrelated question: some cameras have digital zoom that's actually worth using as it's better quality than simply cropping after (some wizardry i don't know, but it's better). when i "zoom" in on my little 20mm equiv t/8 equiv lens to 40mm, does the toneh still count as t/8?

Hey man. LOVE these videos! But remember the number 1 rule of comedy. Never punch down. Never punch down.

Have you doen the update

Wasn't it Gordon Laing or someone else that said you have to use animal detect in conjunction with tracking?

Meanwhile im using a very old APS-C DSLR with a even older 75-300mm Telezoom lens in manual focus with focus peaking (thank you, magiclantern!) I cant even use autofocus, my EOS 550D isnt capable of proper autofocus anymore. At least not hitting the focus as intended (always slightly before the object it focussed on!)

How I understand it: The animal detect lays the box around the animal, but focuses on the nearest thing in the box, what most of the time is leaf or gras. This is only not the case when the AI detects an eye. In bushes it doesn't work for me. Maybe they should add an option where the camera focuses to the center of the box.

My bird eye focus on A1 only works some of the time, it works good at about 50-70 feet it can also get fooled. Most bird photogs I know just use tracking mode and turn off eye when shooting BIF

seriously, get the 50-200, which goes to F4 at the far end. You will have fun and it has a great look to it

Make a comparisson with amazing OM1 vs GH6 cameras )

So, animal eye detect does work but you just have to set the auto focus (hit back button AF) before you hit record? Remarkable footage like always! 🙏🏻

… roll out the red carpet for the GH6 😀

this is okay but as long as you're in manual focus anyway, i still think a chronos high speed camera with a large external viewfinder would be better and you have a buffer, you throw away what you don't need in camera and only keep the best stuff on the ssd. it's a better workflow. i'm not sending it to you

The frogs😍

Having owned the 75-300mm f4.8-6.7 II in the past, I can tell you it's a surprisingly good lens considering the price. However, it's no match for even my 40-150mm f2.8 PRO with the MC-20 teleconverter...let alone the 300mm f4 PRO.

Having to choose different subjects in a menu (Human? Animal? Car? Motorcycle? Unicycle? Unicorn? Small Human Child?) is the worst thing that’s ever happened to cameras.

Tell Camera Canada to send you a GH6 to review.

I know Kas does these stress tests to review the hardware well but it scares me there's people out there who claim to be pros and do not have or use the single-point AF or manual abilities

We can only hope the OM-3 Ti will be better.

That lens always hunts on me with my OM-1. I think too many Toneys blocking the PDAF. 40-150 with 2x tele focuses better and in my tests was equal sharpness. Seems like PDAF only works to Toney 5.6 or so. OM USA wasn't able to confirm because they don't have that spec from Japan yet. Also, I turned off eye detect. For most stuff micro looser doesn't have shallow enough dof to matter then it can use more pixels, or PDAF sensors. On the animal. Did you try the different video stab modes? For slow mo I like -1.

I have seen your video but I'm m43 photographer looser with an om-1

OMDS Guys, please watch this Video!!!!

The problem is that it needs animal ass detect too for some of those shots.

The big problem is that the lens you are using is actually pretty crap.. i had one and when i upgraded to 100-400 i sold the 75-300 next day. The 75-300 tends to misfocus a lot.

Nice haircut

Is this as unreliable as a GoPro 9?

I can't wait until they release the small OM-5 piece of sh*t. That's one I'd love to have.

Can you please do a video about the Nikon Z5 in 1080p? People really liked the video from the D750 when it came out, so maybe pretend you're in 2014? I'm genuinely considering this camera because it might be "good enough."

🐸

The Frog 🐸 fight was better than top gun.

It’s a great camera , I love mine…read the instructions, you’ll be fine…🤣😂😘📸

What the hell kinda bird is that?

OMG what happened to your hair?

Is it just me or does anyone else find that RU-vid makes everything in this video look horribly underexposed??

If you have circular leef in front of an eye every camera is Gonny mis

Hehe I think the "frog fight" is a female saying "Nope!" while Pepe Le Pew chases her.

Any one will tell you the tracking is for photography. You need to always back button focus. Actually the only way to focus in back button. No one uses tracking for video. Most real videographers manual focus

The image is good,but it's like Olympus got the Panny af disease .

Damn amateur! First set focus distance limits!

I'll never understand why you continue to test Olympus camera's for video. They have NEVER been that good and sticking that crap lens on it does not help. Using Olympus for video is like using a Panny for photo's. lol

Bro, you're getting increasingly frustrating. Autofocus performance depends on how much light the sensor sees. You're short-changing every m43 camera you test with this 75-300 because it's a ridiculously slow f/6.7 on the long end. With that little light, AF is going to struggle. It's simple physics. This is the slowest aperture lens in the entire m43 system. Anything else will see significantly better AF performance. Ditch the 75-300 already. 🙄🙄🙄🖕🖕🖕

Wow camera eh? I'm calling baloney. Not even keeping up with the competition.

Just awesome! I love the way you turn video into a fun and enjoyable experience. The frogs were epic! Where you come up with your ideas is beyond me. I think you may be an alien. Just my guess. I'm probably wrong. Anyway, as a long time Oly shooter I may have some thoughts that will help. Let's see... 1. check the gear/cog menu, page three, to see if refresh is on high. It's a known bug that will cause the camera to freeze up. I played with it some more after the recent 1.1 fw update and it still happens, but maybe a little less, not sure. 2. in the Movie menu, I think the second page? turn Noise reduction down low. I think it's defaulted to high. Weird. But that is possible a solution to the over sharpening artifacts if my guess is right. I don't see it but 1) my setting is on low or off and 2) I'm really not anywhere in your league with video experience.... but I'm getting there. (sure... like the guy in Holy Grail..."I'm gettin' better!... no you're not! you'll be stone dead...) Working around the stupidity the engineers do with video settings and custom settings... no I have no idea why they do what they do... you're right, they don't care about video; at least in the way you do. They likely think you're an alien, too. But anyway, you CAN store different configs to each Custom Set and 1) you can program a button to jump in and out of a different custom set, enabling you to, for example, be shooting C4K/60P with CAF in H265 assigned to C1, then press a function button the jumps you into C2 where the video is completely different, say 240fps/60P, which changes to SAF or SAF+M if you enabled that)... In addition to that ability, you can decide if you wish the Custom Set to always revert to what you initially saved it to be, or to hold new settings. So, for example, I might have C1 primary for action work, birds in flight, dog running, whatever, and when I hit record, it's C4K/60 with sound as I want, etc., H265 if I prefer to color grade, etc.,. I might have C2 primarily for playing in place, walking/running animals, and use CAF as it's default whereas in C1 I have CAF+Tr for the Ai stuff... Maybe store a 120fps or 240fps mode here for when you want it. For this we assign in the C1 custom set a button that will jump the camera into C2 setting. And when we press it again, it jumps right back to C1. The trick to this is as follows: So; you set the camera to M or whatever mode you want, and you go to Camera 1 menu, first page, first item, to custom sets, and you 'recall' C1 to the PASM modes. Let's assume when you saved C1, you also assigned one of the buttons to recall C2. Now that button doesn't do anything in C1. You MUST be in PASM, recall C1 as your settings there, and THEN and only THEN, that button will act to jump you into C2 with a press and then when you press it again, it brings you right back where you were in C1. Savvy? You could have another button set to jump into C3 or C4. Imagine. Aaaaand.. if you set the custom settings's Save method to 'Hold' for C2, then when you've pressed the button and jumped into C2, you can make some change if you want, maybe switch to 120fps 24p or whatever, and it will stick, so when you jump back into C1 and then later come back to C2 you have the settings you wanted to use still active. Technically, you can have each of the four custom sets store a complete different set of movie recording settings. The real tragedy is we can't really easily change AF methods on the fly with movies. And of course we're stuck with SAF for the really good slowmotion. Like you said, if you think of it as 2012, it's really pretty darn good! I didn't really explain setting the AF modes, but that's all in the AF menu; a page dedicated to movie AF. Just make the setting you want there to be stored in a particular C custom set. Each set can have something different so that when you press the record button with that C set active, it just goes into that settings. So the way to jump quickly to different settings is to have a way to quickly switch Custom sets. Far from perfect but, it's a beginning. Maybe this helps. Not sure. I'm going to go and try and get some frogs jumping in slowomo now just because I thought your example was so funny. I can see that I'm going to have to really work at the audio track selection business however to ever come close to your level. lol.