How to Setup Pro Capture Settings on Olympus OM-D

[@EspenHelland]

You can follow along with the blog post here: espenhelland.com/pro-capture-settings-for-birds-in-flight/ 1:16 What Pro Capture is 2:14 Low Speed 2:55 High Speed 4:01 Pro Capture Settings 6:25 My Default Settings High 8:15 My Default Settings Low 10:01 Other Settings for Preset 12:31 Memory Card 17:09 Pro Capture Photos

[@TrevorCotterill]

aMAZON OFFER A 'card' AND A 'memory card' - NOT SURE WHAT DIFFERENCE IS?

[@doncooper2344]

I've used ProCapture for years and this is the best tutorial on it I've seen or read. The explanation for deciding how many pre and post shots to record was exceptional. Very well done.

[@EspenHelland]

Thank you very much Don 🙂

[@GeoffCooper]

This Pro Capture feature seems like a real winner with these cameras! Also, this video was incredibly useful to me because I've just been sent a loaner EM1x & 300mm f/4 for a wee bit of a comparison my Nikon Z and 500mm PF, and this has helped me with some of the setup... It's a really impressive system and I can see why so many folks are switching!

[@EspenHelland]

Cheers Geoff, had a loaner over the winter holidays and got me hooked. Will be interesting to hear your thoughts.

[@inspirity668]

Wow Espen! Blown away by your knowledge and quality of your images. Well done! And welcome to Olympus!

[@skorathota]

Excellent presentation. The beauty is that it is available in printed form with photographic illustrations of the Super control panel.

[@davidcoote8395]

Very informative. New to my OMD1ii, so this is very helpful. Thanks.

[@brucemcgrath3627]

Thanks, that's a really straightforward and clear description of Pro Capture. now I need to go and practice using it!

[@EspenHelland]

Glad you found it useful! Thanks

[@jpsteiner2]

Thanks for the explanation. I have an OM-5 and wanted to try to capture some birds. Your explanation and tips are perfect!!

[@EspenHelland]

Glad to hear it :) cheers

[@catherinetremerryn]

Many thanks for that and for also for putting into a blog.

[@EspenHelland]

Glad it helped 👍🙂

[@Mark-ks9jj]

Great video on setting up pro capture thank you

[@TITAOSTEIN]

Thank you Espen! Very informative, well presented and useful !!

[@EspenHelland]

Glad you find it useful!

[@kimprovinciael4628]

Thanks for sharing this great video. I would like to know which lens you have here on your camera? I have just bought a second hand omd e-m1 mark ii with the 40-150mm f2.8 and the 2x converter but it's difficult to get sharp images. Still sorting out what I did wrong.

[@DracoPL]

This is killer feature. I would love to have it in my sony camera...

[@stevecolwill9761]

Amazing technology. Have you tried your set-up in low light yet, Espen? I would be interested to see how the image quality is at dusk for owls etc.

[@EspenHelland]

I often shoot in low light, but I go for lower shutter speeds rather than push the ISO. A drawback to the system is the ISO performance, but I can handhold at really low shutter speeds.

[@mirandavandenberk786]

Thank you so much,now I understand how its work

[@paulhegarty7625]

wonderful just what I needed just bought the 100-400 Olympus for my mark 2 Espen what's the strap ur wearing thanks Paul

[@EspenHelland]

Joby sling - it’s on my website gear page 👍

[@stephenhadden5573]

Excellent video again, i have alao just recently changed to Olympus and am still finding my feet. Do you use back button focus on your Olympus?

[@EspenHelland]

Thanks Stephen, yes I do 👌🏻

[@davepayne8500]

Greetings from Japan Espen! I'm an enthusiast photographer who is retired from corporate life and now pursuing Photography as my avocation. I'm shooting an EM1 MARK II and M.Zuiko 60mm f2.8 macro lens. I am trying to use ProCapture L to shoot bees flying around and into flowers. Your video is the best I've found on KZbin on ProCapture and after watching it I've bookmarked both blogs you offered. One question - how would you recommend I alter each of your Preset components so I can save it to C1 on my PASM dial for my Macro flowers/bees shots? All The Best!

[@colinsmale8146]

Hi Espen. Many thanks for this extremely clear vid, only just found it. I have understood everything except the memory card slots. I have allocated 'Save settings standard and saved to slot one'. I imagine it will automatically go to slot 2 when slot one card is full? But you seemed to be saying it will go to slot 2 anyway when high speed writing is not necessary. Have I understood that correctly? I am ridiculously old now and clinging on to new tech (poorly!)

[@EspenHelland]

You have to specify that it will start saving to card 2 when card 1 is empty. Otherwise you won’t be able to shoot once card 1 is full. If you’re going to have one fast and one slow card it’s best to setup a custom mode to use for fast shooting and save to the fast card in that custom mode.

[@mark1hancock]

Great tutorial Espen, thanks. Question - I assume that how you write to your cards will affect the speed the camera spends writing? What I mean, if you have a fast SD card in slot 1 (EM1 Mark3) and you write RAW to slot 1 but Jpeg to slot 2 then this will slow down the time the camera spend writing to the cards and you then cannot take another shot until it finishes writing? Is this correct, meaning you should only be writing to slot 1 to get the fastest writing time?

[@EspenHelland]

Cheers Mark, the speed of your card definitely affects the camera working time. I’m not sure if it slows it down when saving additional JPEG’s to slot 2 though. I tend to only save photos to one card, I use slot 1 for photos with a fast card and slot 2 for videos with a slower card. If I didn’t shoot so much video I’d probably use slot 1 only for pro capture.

[@pscron]

A very clear, easy to follow explanation. Thank you! Is it possible to use back button focus in combination with pro capture?

[@EspenHelland]

Thanks Polly, you can use BBF to focus while using pro capture yes, but you still need to activate pro capture by half pressing the shutter.

[@Colin-ut4qf]

Excellent video Espen. I find the auto focus tracking a bit unreliable also. Adjusted the sensitivity so will see what happens. 👍

[@EspenHelland]

Thanks Colin!

[@adrianfuhrer5832]

That helped a lot. Thanks

[@shireenlim6058]

HI Espen, thank you for this! With regards to card slot saving - What file type do u save? Raw + LN? And may i know which program do u use for post processing? Thanks

[@EspenHelland]

Just RAW - I use Lr, Ps and Topaz Denoise and Sharpen :)

[@shireenlim6058]

@@EspenHelland Thanks!

[@nsbhagwat]

Espen, wanted your thoughts on the quality of Olympus lenses you are using versus the 100-400L from canon. Also how do 7Dm2 and the current omd compare in terms of image quality (OMD E1 being flagship from Olympus).

[@brianlaunchbury4491]

Have a look at Andy Rouse, he moved to Olympus last year. He mostly does bigger animals.

[@EspenHelland]

I think the quality of the 300mm lens is higher than the 100-400 that I had from Canon. As for the Body, the em1 ii that I bought (spent more money on lens instead) has a lot of better features than the 7Dii, but maybe not the image quality. I'd say the em1x that I borrowed over winter and probably the em1iii is of much higher quality.

[@kimduggan7631]

Thanks so much for your clear explanation of the ProCapture settings.

[@capebreton.vacations]

Hi Espen, I thank you very much for sharing your settings. I followed all your instruction und stacked now with the Low Capture Pro. For some reasons I can not go higher than F 8 . In Pro Capture Hight I can go higher. Both on M(anual) and Auto Iso. Do you have any idea where I could set that? Thanks so much

[@EspenHelland]

Hi Rob, I hadn’t even noticed, but I can’t go higher than f/8 either. I don’t see why you would ever want to though, you’re going to want a high shutter speed and the iso would go through the roof with a high f-stop. Maybe it’s to do with the continuous auto focus?

[@capebreton.vacations]

@@EspenHelland I thought if there is light enough for a fast Pro Lens it might be smart to have a bit more depth of field to be safe with sharpness, but yes F8 should be enough, giving 42 cm with 400mm and 1.4 TC. in 20m distance. Anyway, the C-AF did not effect the limitation to F8.0, only the Pro Capture Low setting limits it. Any other high or low sequenze etc etc allows higher then F 8.0. I found this bug confirmed in other forums and Olympus changed that with MX1 update (as they did with Auto Iso for Manuel video settings)

[@jpsteiner2]

Thanks! Super helpful!!!

[@EspenHelland]

Thank you 🙂

[@casagracia]

Hi Espen, could you tell me what is the lense that you are using here and if it is good for wildlife photography

[@EspenHelland]

The m.zuiko 300 f4 it is excellent for wildlife photography 👍

[@Xl8tor241]

Excellent Presentation, I've always shied away from Pro Capture believing it to be something difficult and complex to master, I'm surprised how simple it appears and am kicking myself for taking so long to embrace it. A Question I have is using it in conjunction with flash technology when in very low light conditions, think think tropical rainforest...

[@EspenHelland]

Thanks Ian, I’ve never tried to use flash for wildlife photography myself, but I think there might be a limit for for how fast the flash will go with high frames per second like this.

[@bellasvistas3463]

Did you have any success with CAF-T and Procapture on the MK2? I just dod some once in a lifetime shots with that setting, they are OK but... From what I can tell on the camera screen the focus didn't track at all. I was sad. Mike.

[@EspenHelland]

I don’t really use tracking much, I prefer caf with a small focus point for most situations.

[@bellasvistas3463]

@@EspenHelland Thanks very much I will try that today on the Owls on Amherst Island. I was using tracking and 5 by 5. Maybe this will work better today

[@EspenHelland]

@@bellasvistas3463 I use 5x5 for birds in flight a lot of the time. Also try out the af limiter if you haven’t already it’s such a useful tool. I have a video on it if you’ve not tried it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6XJkoxpiLWMhtU

[@bobdickson188]

Excellent tutorial - thank you. Just one question - which metering mode do you use with ProCapture Low?

[@EspenHelland]

I don’t really tend to care what metering mode it’s in. I set up highlight alerts and just make sure I don’t blow out the bright parts.

[@rde1308]

Thanks for this, very good. I'm new to Olympus MFT so these are easy to follow explanations. One "off the wall" question! What camera sling are you using in the video please?

[@EspenHelland]

Goby, but I think there are better ones out there. People rave about peak design.

[@KayGill]

Thanks for this video. I’ve just bought an OMD mk3 and am busy setting it up. One point though, when I’m in ProCapture High, Continuous auto focus isn’t available on my menu. Any ideas? I don;t have a fast card yet. It does appear in ProCapture Low. Thanks again

[@gregm6894]

Continuous AF is not available in Pro Capture High - the User Manual explains this (see 3:16 in this video). In that setting, focus is locked on the first frame and does not change during the sequence. Use Pro Capture Low for continuous AF -- you will still get 18 FPS. Pro Capture High works well if the action is in line with the focal plane. Just remember that if your subject is moving toward you or away from you, Pro Capture High will result in a couple in focus images and a lot of out of focus images. P.S. Get a UHS 2 card ASAP if you plan to use Pro Capture much -- it makes a big difference in processing speed. You can get a Lexar Professional 1667X 64GB UHS 2 SDXC twin pack for a mere $50 from B&H. I use them in my E-M1X and they have been great. Be patient, the E-M1 Mklll is and outstanding camera, and will only need occasional menu tweaks once you have it set up to your liking.

[@Devopsmasood]

Hi Espen, great informative video as always. I recently purchased Olympus EM1 2 inspired by your answer where you said the noise performance is more or less similar to Canon 7D 2 :-). One more question on using pro capture since I am new to the system - do you use back button focus or front shutter button? If it is back button that means you need to focus with back button , then trigger the pro capture with half press and the shutter button to actually trigger the shutter? Seems a complex task in a fraction of a second! :-(

[@EspenHelland]

Thanks Asif. I use back button to focus, and yes the shutter halfway to start pro capture. Just habit I guess. When in pro capture high you only squire focus once anyways.

[@Devopsmasood]

@@EspenHelland Thanks for your reply Espen. I have started going out with the new system. I am in a learning curve for birds in flight but oh man how tough it is to find them in the view finder. I look through the view finder but the bird is actually somewhere else. My success rate is around 10%. I need to practice more and if that doesn’t work planning to buy a Red Dot Sight, heard that it helps a bit (specifically for the people who are pretty bad at aiming at a flying bird!)😂

[@maggiebullock3220]

Thanks that's a great explanation. For general C-AF I normally have back button focus set and I'm wondering whether to take this off specifically for Pro Capture Low as it seems to complicate it. I wonder whether you use BBF for Pro Capture Low & what you recommend?

[@EspenHelland]

If it complicates it for you then it's best to change it, but I don't find it a bother as I've used back button focus so long now that I would find it weird to go back. I would try it for a while, but if it still seems complicated change it. Thanks :)

[@maggiebullock3220]

@@EspenHelland Thanks, in general I'm used to BBF. Could I just check use with Pro-Capture: press back button to focus, half press shutter button to start capture, keeping back button pressed, fully press shutter button to write to card?

[@IanSmithFotografi]

Brilliant explanation !

[@EspenHelland]

Thanks Ian 🙂

[@Treo80]

Interesting feature. Is it possible to use this with any sort of remote trigger?

[@EspenHelland]

I would think so as it’s activated by half pressing shutter. I’ve considered getting that as well, when you wait for a long time it would be much easier.

[@Treo80]

Maybe it's as simple as using the olympus android app. I've been googling but haven't found any relevant answers.

[@markhoffman9655]

Is there any info on the photo EXIF data to identify if was from buffer before the shutter button pressed down?

[@EspenHelland]

Not that I'm aware, I've just done it the old fashion way and counted 😅

[@AkaiMiso]

Are you using back button focus in conjunction with Procapture?

[@EspenHelland]

👍yes

[@RWROW]

Hi. Thanks for excellent tutorial. I've used pro-capture sparingly in past because it seems to me it will go through the expected maximum number of frames that my Mk II can take too quickly. Would you care to comment on this concern? Thanks again.

[@EspenHelland]

I would imagine this is the speed of your memory card that's slowing things down. I use SD cards that have 260 and 299 write speed and my em1ii works fine then. Be careful with the difference of read and write speed, usually the cards only show read speed on the front, but you need one that writes fast.

[@garybrown9719]

Thanks for the blog If i could only figure out how to turn on procapture low its greyed out

[@earlteigrob9211]

Pro Capture Low only works with certain Olympus lenses. Non supported lenses will not give you this option.

[@bloodswan]

Thanks for the video. I was wondering how to get the 60 fps and about pro in general. I haven't be out much over the past two years due to Australia's lockdown but I'm finally heading to Alaska in a few months and I'm hoping to try out the 60fps with bears in Katmai and ducks in Utqiavik.

[@EspenHelland]

Cool! Well you an get 60fps in high burst mode, but you’ll be limited to focus locking after the first frame. I like to use this for pro capture, but for bears and ducks which are moving I would go with 18 fps continuous focus.

[@bloodswan]

@@EspenHelland yeh I'm likely going to do that mostly but I do want to try the 60 fps at Brooks Falls if there is a bear I can focus on.

[@geoffreypain5960]

Are you using back button focusing in pro capture mode ?

[@derekjones2657]

I'd like to know that too. I've done a bit of online research and I'm none the wiser.

[@EspenHelland]

Sorry for delayed reply. Yes I use back button for focus, but still half press shutter button to activate Pro Cap

[@PancakeRaven1623]

Good video help a lot

[@EspenHelland]

Good to hear it 🙂

[@dreamworker3789]

Hi Espen, exelent video very well done, what is your iso speed 6400 or lower ?

[@EspenHelland]

With the em1ii much lower, I tried it at 3200 and it’s not great at it. I just upgraded to the em1x though so I’ll comfortably push it to 3200 and try a few at 6400 as well 👍

[@dreamworker3789]

Thanks a lot Espen i use the EM 1 mark II and the EM 1 X best regards, have a nice weekend and stay healthy!!

[@ryantang8146]

What camera strap that you are using attaching to the tripod collar? It looks quite good.

[@EspenHelland]

It's a Joby sling, should be a link on my gear page if you need: www.espenhelland.com/gear

[@ryantang8146]

What size would you recommend ? I am 175 cm tall and 65 kg. What size is your sling ?

[@ryantang8146]

The Joby sling unfortunately is discontinued

[@awssjs54]

I am experimenting with bird in flight pro capture for the first time. I am using a tripod with a remote control from a hide. I have set up a very clean background with just a feeder in the view finder. Initially I used single spot focus and all results were very blurred on both high and low capture. Do you think cluster focus would be any better or do you have any other thoughts please? Many thanks

[@EspenHelland]

I prefer pro capture high for these types of shots. It’s more important that you setup the hide so that you are at a 45’ degree angle to the likely flight path and increase your chances of getting a shot in focus. Then use a single focus on the bird and get ready with pro capture.

[@JohnGilbert49]

Espen, I own the E-Ma Mark III. In Procapture mode it will not let me select continuous. That option is greyed out. Is that not available on this camera or have I got something set wrong.

[@EspenHelland]

Hi John, it will most likely be another setting that’s in use and will not let you use it. Unless you’re in pro capture high? It’s only available in pro capture low.

[@JohnGilbert49]

@@EspenHelland Your right, Continuous mode is only available in Pro-Capture Low. So in Pro-Capture High how does it stay focused on the subject if the subject starts to move?

[@knutSchevik]

I have a question, when i try to set pro capture low option and set to 30 fps before and 10frames after, the camera just corrects this itself again to 10 fps and 10fps... is there some configuration that im missing to set this option? Its a bit anoying actually.

[@EspenHelland]

Is the frame count limiter configured?

[@knutSchevik]

@@EspenHelland hello, yes it is configured but as soon as I change it later it goes back again to factory settings. Seems like for some reason it remains 10/10 or 30/40. But I cant select for 30 frames before and for 10 after. I haven't updated my firmware yet, but im not sure that helps. Some of the settings I save won't appear back again when I turn on the camera. I wonder if I'm doing something wrong or its just a camera defect?

[@EspenHelland]

@@knutSchevik best to ask Olympus to find out for sure. Think you can ask for a one to one on their website.

[@knutSchevik]

@@EspenHelland thanks! I forgot about that option 😅 Ill contact them and see whats going on. Thanks again 😁

[@comelachapelle8337]

I Wonder why it doesn't work with Lumix lens.

[@rajenderpinglereddy2931]

What is the minimum aperture that can be set on this camera in Pro Capture LOW mode...

[@EspenHelland]

seems to stop at f/8

[@robertro1640]

Kindly asking for support because I have problem with my pro capture H in OM-D M1 MK2. Pro capture H recording photos only when I push button to the end , in half way button not recording photos 😢 earlier was correctly please help.

[@EspenHelland]

Not sure I understand what you’re saying, but pro capture isn’t supposed to record images when you just half press the button. When you finally press the button it will record as many as you’ve set it to in the setup.

[@xkirby26x]

Does pro capture affect shutter count for the life of the shutter?

[@EspenHelland]

I don't think so, but best to ask Olympus to be sure

[@simonworger]

So you don't use BBF with Pro Capture ?

[@EspenHelland]

I use it for focus still during pro capture, but the shutter activates the pro capture and takes the images when fully pressed.

[@richerich8007]

I shoot in Pro Capture low 18 fps 12 before 20 after seems to work pretty well for me, big birds are pretty easy to figure out they usually squat and then leap before they fly, small birds don't to that, they just go, I missed a lot of small birds in flight before, but not with Pro Capture!

[@EspenHelland]

👍🏻

[@MDMiller60]

Espen, you said that a good test setting could be 15 pre-shutterframes in the past and none after that. But, then you never record anything.

[@EspenHelland]

Not sure what you mean? You would record 15 frames

[@bellasvistas3463]

I keep trying to follow everything. I had some good success with 3 by 3 and 5 by 5. In this video I wound up using single point focus 1/50 s on a heavy tripod. Thanks for your videos I'm on the Blog Post right now looking into the Pro Capyture in reverse as well. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qpaum6KZfpyems0

[@jerryturner8866]

😢

[@davidcoote8395]

Very informative. New to my OMD1ii, so this is very helpful. Thanks.

[@EspenHelland]

Good to hear it 👍

[@davidcoote8395]

ProCap L is greyed out! D1 has everything ticked and all work except ProCap L. Any ideas or reset time and start again? Resolved, don’t know what I did, but used it today.

[@TITAOSTEIN]

Do you use back button AF when using Pro capture?

[@EspenHelland]

Yes, bbf is always on for me