Olympus OMD video walkthrough - setup, AF and handling tips on shooting video with your OMD camera

In this video I go over basic setup tips, better AF/MF for video and ideas for improving the handling of the cameras when used for video.
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[@Marco_Chiappetta]

YAY! Joe is back with Oly content!

[@iqueque]

Welcome back Joe, I have always enjoyed your no nonsense Olympus videos.

[@AustralianInSiberia]

Enormously functional advice, Joe. I frequently warn my friends that I am shooting video. The reaction is hilarious! However, for some time I have wanted to get the hang of the video settings. Your preference for flat focus is very interesting. And of course you can see it in this KZbin. South African trailmaster his name I forget does get advice on the Boqua shot for 4 shooting himself and individuals.

[@steve-marsh]

Thank you SO much Joe!

[@AdamFavre]

Best info - video setup is separate from stills. Aha moment for me! Very nice

[@MysteriousBeingOfLight]

Thank you so much for these precious informations Joseph !

[@szegedgabor]

I thought you disappeared big time. Glad you are back. Interested what you think what will follow in m43 world. Keep up the good work.

[@barrydillon8801]

Would love to see a short video on how you process your flat profile as I have zero video editing experience

[@timclark6994]

Thanks for this. Along with 2 other videos here it has given me the understanding of video despite having had the camera for about 4 years. All the best

[@rosyaugust7095]

Great explanation. I will apply those setting in my next video. Thanks 😊

[@RonaldBrown59]

Great tips for how to manage your settings for video. Thanks for sharing.

[@AdamFavre]

Thank you. Have been using my OM-D for tons of video and appreciate the tips.

[@derekbarkham2314]

I am so glad that your back Joe, thanks for the GeForce and insights these are very helpful.

[@andreasthegreat8509]

Thank god, i thought you had ditched Olympus!

[@davidwebb091370]

thank you very much, Joe, about that tip concerning histogram! I learned something today! I appreciate everything you teach about photography, especially for us Olympus users! Keep up the outstanding work!

[@mobbaddictchannel]

Most complete list of tips for the EM1! Never thought about using touch focus for video, brilliant.

[@mikeruzicka5669]

Thanks for the great tips, Joe!

[@JoeMustang99]

This is a big help to me, especially the work arounds for exposure using the green bars in the histogram, etc. Great job, Joe, much appreciated.

[@drshawnie]

very helpful Joe as I am new to video. Thank you so much

[@hauke3644]

Video auto-iso is possible by setting the camera to photo mode and then start video with the dedicated (red) button. I once had some color banding on a face while using the log profile. This was probably due to 8 bit color depth and never happened again since I now use the flat profile.

[@hemantpatil7558]

Thank you Joe for your time and guidance.

[@larrymoss2745]

Helpful video Joe. Can you please double check your statement about the best stabilization for video being M-IS 2? Other videos and pop-up text within the camera itself, indicate that M-IS 1 is sensor + digital stabilization. M-IS 2 is sensor only. At least in my Mark III. Thanks.

[@MysteriousBeingOfLight]

I think it depends

[@matthewcollingwood571]

Thanks Joe this was a huge help!!!

[@iak706]

Appreciate the info about setting custom white balance in photo mode and it carrying over to video.

[@anettejohansson1994]

Glad to see you back 👍

[@serenadenphoto]

That was a very useful session. Thank You very much. I had no idea about all the settings available for video on an Olympus camera:

[@spanksen]

Great Video Joseph, thanks for these Video Tips!

[@nikinsolanki1230]

Thank you sir, I have a em 1 m ii using in video c af it's lost focus at time camera moving to the subject ,my firmware is 3.0

[@joetag5429]

Glad to see you back with your useful and informative content. That was excellent. Thank you.

[@janrolsenfoto]

Hi! Have not found out how to customize the 1-2 switch.

[@kamilrakowski23]

Welcome back Joe! Great video, very informative..

[@GOULTRAPL]

Excellent content !!!

[@JoeMustang99]

Joe, another attaboy from me. And since you first published this, I have added an Atomos NinjaV to my 1X and 1iii setups for continuous record, which I need for my solo pistol shooting videos. Even in Normal compression, 1080p 30 fps and using Pro Res LT on the NinjaV's, the video looks great. But I'm always in good light and these are static setups. I shoot some 4k recorded internally in short clips where the Atomos NinjaV isn't necessary, but I love the bright screen and the focus and exposure controls available when using the external recorders, or even a Shinobi.

[@pierrew2780]

Great info , thank You so much

[@theodoreivanov6257]

Thank you so much, I learned a lot here. Regarding the histogram, is it so that optimal exposure is reached when the green marker is at its central position ?

[@JosephEllisPhotographer]

You're welcome, glad it helps! Regarding the histogram that green marker is just telling you the reading for what is under the central spot of the image, it does not have anything to do not an optimal exposure. If you have a dark scene and you expose it like it looks in real life it will be biased left, reverse for a bright scene so the only help the histogram gives really is to look and see if any of your tones are falling outside the graph... any pixels outside the graph will likely be clipped to pure black and pure white.

[@theodoreivanov6257]

I get it.@@JosephEllisPhotographer

[@narinthip3058]

These are fantastic tips. Thanks a bunch Joe!!

[@joanantonim.p.2400]

Thank you very much... 👍👍👍🙏🙏 "SALUDOS... GRACIAS... 👋👋😃 " P.D. I 💖💖 OLYMPUS OM-D E-M1X ... 👌👌👌👍👍💪💪 Amazing camera... 😲😲🙌🙌 "Es una cámara impresionante e increíble... 👍👌🙌 "

[@DaisysWorld192]

Great video! I'm having trouble setting the ISO to Auto when in video mode but you answered that question. So your saying there's no Auto ISO in video mode is this correct I thought there was something wrong with my camera!

[@Literature.culture.review]

thank you.

[@barrydillon8801]

Thank you very useful. Wish I had seen it about 2vears ago when I got my 1.2

[@erosario64]

Love you Joe.

[@JohnGilbert49]

Another question. I know to turn off the IS when using a tripod, but should I also turn it off when using a monopod?

[@JohnGilbert49]

I enjoyed this video it was helpful. You mentioned that you have the FN lever set to switch from single focus to continuous focus. Can you explain how to do that?

[@JosephEllisPhotographer]

Hi John - here’s the video that explains it kzbin.info/www/bejne/nn-qi3ucfcmWgKs Note: If you look in the video description you’ll see every customization listed with notes on setup too.

[@crittercamproductions]

Thank you for this fine video, Joe! It really helped me get my bearings with my Olympus OMD EM-1 mii for video, and also helped me straighten out my settings. I look forward to seeing more of your content!

[@PatDeJongeSoundwise]

thanks! on my E-M1 mkIII the Super Control Panel is not present when I'm in movie mode...When I press the 'ok' button it comes up with a vertical strip on the right hand side, a sort of slimmed-down version of the SPC. Any help...did I miss something? Cheers!

[@TheNaught1]

Found your video while hunting for solutions for the lack of auto iso in manual movie mode (and no, the photo to movie mode trick does not work). You helped me realize that there is no zebra display at all on these cameras. That is such a bummer. The green pointer from a spot meter in the histogram display is just not going to cut it for me. And the Hi/low, red/green display only operates before or after recording. It's so weird for a video camera to leave off these 2 common features! Anyway thank you for explaining so much!

[@solitone]

yes, I can’t understand why the zebra pattern is not available in video mode 🫤

[@wmilberry]

Auto-ISO is such a useful and standard feature in all other cameras. My budget Canon M50 has it, how could Olympus not include it in the EM1 II and EM5 III???

[@berntlie6799]

Not too much into video, but good to see you back -- always instructive videos!

[@solitone]

12:17 I don’t think C-AF is in fact different between photo and video modes. C-AF continuously focus what is in the focus point area.If the subject moves away from the focus point, the camera won’t focus on them any longer. Hence it’s not tracking. If I need tracking I’d use C-AF+TR, or face detection. Is my understanding correct?

[@GlobeHackers]

Very informative. Thanks. How do you grade your flat profile clips?

[@martineldridge1319]

Hi Joseeph, I've just received my Olympus EM-1 Mark iii. In Video Mode, I can't work out how to set the Autofocus Tracking while I press the Shutter Button or Back Button. Or is there a toggle I can set up, to Start/Stop Constant Auto Fucus. I'm a Wildlife filmmaker so the Auto Focus Tracking is important, but I don't want the Constant Auto Focus going all the time, when I walking along or waiting for something to happen. Hope you can help.

[@pep98]

Havent heard one word from you about the bugs in this camera ? Like the one where each last frame of every (video) shot is saved as a 'freeze frame'? So the first 1 hour you're sitting there just removing the last frame from each scene you shot, before you can actually go to work? Orders from the big boss from OM Systems? Or you havent found it yet?

[@toxotis70]

Can I switch between caf and manual focus, while recording video? I can’t find a way..

[@AbrahamLatchin]

Great walk through. I certainly learned a few items. On the pro res RAW element I use it when colour and tone are critical to the end use.

[@docrjay]

Hi Joe, how did you get the video screen to include the sound meter levels and and spirit levels. I cant seem to put it in mine. Thanks, your tutorials had been a great help for me setting up my camera.

[@hauke3644]

Thanks a lot! Going to do another video job this evening... I just got a second E-M1 II because it's much better for video than my older Olympus models, including Pen-F. By the way, auto-iso is possible with the E-M1 II when using a photo mode and starting recording from there. As color profile, I most like the "natural" profile. Only for high-contrast scenes I found Log useful. I experienced problem with skin colors falling apart, using it, probably due to only having 8 bit. (I use DaVinci Resolve with the Olympus LUTs.) I have a problem with Cinema 4K with artificial light, because I need to have 25 fps to avoid flicker (in Europe, where we have 50 Hz power). But C4K only supports 24 fps :-( My most serios complain, however, is the lack of highlight clipping indication in video mode. The histogram is quite small.

[@JosephEllisPhotographer]

I agree about the highlight clipping and great note about using auto ISO, I hadn't tried that.

[@mcfl1]

Hello. So it is possible to use Shutter priority (S) and set Auto ISO and record video? I always want to use a fixed shutter speed for video also but I also prefer to set the aperture and let the camera choose the ISO ( within a range).

[@hauke3644]

@@mcfl1 Choose mode M, set aperture and shutter to your liking and ISO to auto. Btw, the 180 degree rule isn't absolutely fixed, you can vary a bit around that, depending on how fast motion you have in the scene.

[@solitone]

yes I also would need C4K@25fps, not 24!

[@visionsfbayone9900]

what is that tiny microphone? Nice to fit for OMD.

[@JosephEllisPhotographer]

Rode Video Micro

[@visionsfbayone9900]

@@JosephEllisPhotographer Thanks a lot. Cute.

[@Sophie-if5oc]

do you know how to change the aspect ratio for video, because when i record it keeps cropping in (16:9) and a non cropped, custom aspect ratio would be extremely beneficial for me. my firmware is up to date.

[@Sophie-if5oc]

my camera is the olympus omd em1 mark ii

[@JosephEllisPhotographer]

@@Sophie-if5oc As far as I know there isn't a way to record 4:3 video or a custom aspect ratio. Let me know if you find a solution but for me, I just crop in Premiere.

[@Irishwanderer15]

When I'm shooting in video mode the exposure compensation says +2.0 even though the dial is set to 0 for exposure. How do I dial that down? I'm using the mark iii by the way.

[@TITAOSTEIN]

Always great tips! Thank you! We are missing you in the mft community! :) I would love to see new reviews about mft gear: 8-25mm f4, the new 20mm f1.4 and the OM Wow Camera. Hopefully you will comeback to mft also for wedding photography! I think that the OMDS is in a good path!

[@alaskalonghunters2990]

Do you have a course???

[@JP11]

How can you get the camera not to break into sections? When filming a 10 min video, it breaks up into 3-4 files. Is there a way to have one video file?

[@JosephEllisPhotographer]

Hi JP, no there isn't any way to get only one file, the camera just chunks up the video I think based on file size. The video is seamless of course, no loss of frames/time when you put them together in post.

[@JP11]

@@JosephEllisPhotographer ok, appreciate the help.

[@tobiaslehmann2305]

Great to see you back! I curious - how do you stabilize your videos if you not use a tripod?

[@waywardriley]

Hi Joe, do you notice any audio preamp hiss when recording on em1 mkiii? Mine seems to be very bad and I’ve tried all of the in camera settings to try and fix it, but can’t seem to. I absolutely love this camera and my lenses for it, but this audio preamp issue has me very close to selling all of it. :(

[@JosephEllisPhotographer]

I really don't... what mic are you using the what do you have the gain set to? Happy to help if I can.

[@waywardriley]

@@JosephEllisPhotographer I’ve tried dozens of combinations with recorders to try and get around the in camera preamp. I’ve used Zoom, Rode, Tascam, lav mics, etc. I find the worst results with the internal mics, and the gain just set to -4 or -5 which records my voice around -12db. The result is unusable it has so much hiss. Interestingly when I just plug in a Rode lav directly into camera I get the best results with this camera, which to me is suggesting the hiss might be actually coming from the internal mics rather than the internal preamp. No matter what combination I try, the audio quality on my Sony absolutely crushes the Olympus. I’m pretty bummed about it.

[@JosephEllisPhotographer]

@@waywardriley Sounds like maybe there's something wrong with your body? Or have you tried multiple cameras? Out of curiosity are you using TRS or TRRS cables for input into the camera? Also you don't have anything like wind noise reduction or plug in power set in the sound menu by accident (depending on the mic being used)?...grasping at straws here

[@waywardriley]

@@JosephEllisPhotographer I bought the body new right after they were released in 2020. I just did more testing and the noise floor is definitely the worst with the internal mics, it doesn’t improve or change if I turn the “plug-in power” on or off (when using the internal mics). It does improve slightly when I use an unpowered mic of any sort, so it seems the issue might be just noisy internal mics. I’m using a Rode video micro with the Rode TRS cable, also Rode lav, and a cheap lav. All providing a much lower noise floor than the internal mics. I don’t have a powered mic to test, but I tested a tascam DR10L and Zoom H1N to use their audio circuit by using a lav plugged into the recorder, then the headphone jack on the recorder plugged into the mic jack on the camera, the result is decent, but definitely still has a distracting noise floor. I very much appreciate you even taking the time to read through this. Haha. You are a cool guy. :)

[@johannesleyman2628]

Thank you -- most useful and in-depth explained! One question: I have E-M1 Mk II bought brand new in December 2020. It came with fw 3.0 and I have not updated to 3.4 because of this alledged issue with the stabilization in video mode. Are you foremost referring to the major 2019 fw 3.0 update for E-M1 Mk II when you say updating is critical, or do you mean updating to the very latest 3.4?

[@JosephEllisPhotographer]

3.0 although I’m always in favor of the updates.

[@alinstancu1233]

@@JosephEllisPhotographer Thanks. Can I do a downgrade? I have the issue with stabilization in 3.4 fw...

[@johannesleyman2628]

@@JosephEllisPhotographer That is actually what I thought you meant! There is plenty enough in the 3.0 update (your video about that back in 2019 was as useful as this one). 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it': Alin Stancu's comment here above proves that this golden rule usually is a good one. Thank you Alin for confirming this issue! I will stay with 3.0 until something turns out not to work properly. So far not, and I have no plans to get the lenses featured in 3.2 (12-45), 3.3 (100-400) or 3.4 (150-400). The only thing might be the On2 function in the 3.2 update but I find it easy enough to disable the eye sensor with the display button. Other than that I find nothing for me but eventually some minor improvements of the stills stabilization and the EVF operation in 3.1. I'm fine with both as it is. So, as always with updates: Take a close look at the revision history. Do I really need it? My personal answer is no. Thanks again Joe, and greetings from Sweden.

[@NWFALKNER]

I’m puzzled - for the past year I’ve been shooting in auto iso with my EM1 Mk2 and the results have been excellent - yet you say this isn’t possible. What’s up here?

[@nurnachman]

זהב! תודה!!!

[@edgewoodphoto6228]

Thanks for the video Joe. I am not sure if you can help me but I have had Lumix cameras for years and never had a problem with video functions with those cameras (GH5, GH3, GH1, etc). But now I've purchased and EM1 Mark ii, I set the dial to the video selection, hit the shutter release and the orange button and then... nothing. I've tried to reset the functions of these buttons a dozen times. I've reset the camera twice, and still I cannot get the camera to start recording video. All cameras have conditional settings disable other functions and sometimes you find out the hard way and have to look them up on blogs or youtube videos. But I cannot for the life of me figure out how I disabled the video function. Is there anything in your experience that you are aware of that would disable the cameras video recording function? Thanks.

[@JosephEllisPhotographer]

That’s crazy. Sorry to say nothing comes to mind, maybe if you didn’t assign any button to record that could happen? But a full reset should fix that.

[@edgewoodphoto6228]

@@JosephEllisPhotographer right. Thanks for tour response. I will call Olympus on Monday and if they can’t help me I’ll send it back. I’m still under warranty

[@edgewoodphoto6228]

I figured it out. after a lot of google searches, I saw a video of someone controlling their camera with the iphone app. I figured maybe I can trigger the video with the phone if there's something wrong with the camera's buttons. It was a reach, but when I hit the video record button on the phone I got a card write error. I immediately reformatted both the SD cards in the camera and that fixed it. I swap cards between my other camera (GH5) so that was clearly the issue.

[@Wairoakid]

Great advice. I have a question regarding audio sent through the HDMI. I record the HDMI output from my EM1 mkii on an Atomos Flame ( no overlay). The audio is embedded in the HDMI signal. I noticed that the sound to the Atomos recorder from the camera's internal microphone was being sent via the HDMI even though the setting in the camera was Movie Sound OFF. This got me thinking and I am now working on the assumption that all the sub items in the Gear record sound in video such as noise limiter, wind noise reduction DO NOT apply to the HDMI audio stream. The audio is just feed straight from the inbuilt microphone (or external mic) to the Atomos via the HDMI and is not affected by any alteration selected ( noise limiter etc) that normally be applied if the video and audio went to the internal SD cards. Does anyone know if this is correct? If so it is not a big problem as I separately record using an Zoom H5 and substitute the video audio in post. However I am keen to know

[@oneoldgit]

Does this apply to the M1X?

[@JosephEllisPhotographer]

Yes, 100%.

[@oneoldgit]

@@JosephEllisPhotographer thanks very much. Good tips thanks very much

[@TheSannaeriksson]

Oh yes! Welcom back, I was afraid you had died... 😳 So good to see you back!

[@splegtu]

HOW TO TURN ON

[@marymontedescubriendogranc1794]

Una pena no tenga subtítulos en Español saludos

[@MrEMann]

Ah, the Mk IV doesn't shoot log 😔

[@OneDegreeLife]

It's too bad that you can't use BOTH USB-C power and HDMI out at the same time. You have to pick your poison. Either longer battery life for recording, or, use of a monitor. Even the Sony ZV1 can handle them both. Kind of crazy. I can't find it mentioned anywhere in the literature, but Oly subtly hints at it by saying you can use the USB port to "charge the battery between filming sessions."

[@williampegram]

Great info. Thank you.