OM System OM-1 - Manual Focus Expert Guide

Adapted lenses or adverse circumstances: Sometimes, manual focusing is a must. Thankfully, the OM-1 boast an impressive array of assist functions to help you - combine them with the proper technique, and you will get perfectly sharp images every time.
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Video Content:
0:00 Introduction
1:15 OM-1 Manual Focus Basics
1:50 Manual Focusing Technique
4:30 Manual Focus Assist Functions
10:17 Focus Assist Functions in Practice
13:18 Focusing Non-Native Lenses
15:14 Closing Remarks
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Article: thomaseisl.photography/techni...
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Website: www.thomaseisl.photography/
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🎥 OM System OM-1
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#OMSystem #OM1 #ManualFocus #Masterclass #ThomasEisl #ThomasEislPhotography #MicroFourThirds #ExpertGuide

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Please consider supporting the channel, donate a cup of coffee ☕ ko-fi.com/thomaseislphotography

[@mxyptlk]

Thank you Thomas....you are a photography surgeon and knock spots of the manual...you took me right back to the early 70's using an SLR camera with split screen focusing or constantly looking at the DOF scale on the lens :) Oh and using a hand held light meter as well... happy days.... 🙏🏻

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Many thanks! By coincidence, I will share a video on using a light meter in digital photography in the future 😊 still very useful tools. Best wishes and thanks again

[@mxyptlk]

Thanks again Thomas....I have now activated IS via a half press of the shutter button as described...that one went right past me....!!!!!!

[@matthiashuber2725]

There is simply no better way to explain it. Outstanding!

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Many thanks for the comment and your support on Ko-Fi!

[@peregrineclarke]

Thank you Thomas, another interesting and insightful tutorial!

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

My pleasure!

[@mladenerak]

Thanks! This was an excellent video. Great tips!

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Glad it was helpful! Thank you very much for your kind support!

[@laurencefield6532]

Your explanations are sooo informing. Thank you soooo much!!

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Many thanks!

[@metalmick99]

Thanks for another very useful clip, Thomas. I've known of most of the things you mentioned - but not all! But the great thing you've done is not just delivering the information - the manual can provide that nicely - but receiving _context_ to it as well. (Most manuals fall quite short in this regard.) Your mention of days gone by sparked a touch of nostalgia for me: my very first 35mm film camera had split-screen focus in a tiny square in the middle of its viewfinder _and_ parallax correction! (A Yashica Minister-D which I still have.) As a teen I would fiddle with old cameras and be fascinated at the ingenuity of the mechanisms and I'm glad that I still find mechanical devices just as wondrous today.

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Many thanks for your comment! This means a lot - and much like your story about examining old cameras describes: it is not just about using tools, but about exploring all their capabilities to always get the shot, no matter what. Many thanks again!

[@baqcasanke]

Another super helpful video 👍

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Thank you very much!

[@Mark-qm7ry]

Thomas, your videos are fantastic. Clear and precise, with good examples of settings in the menu and in practice, and all tied back to theory. Bravo!

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Thank you very much!

[@2o4II112II26o2]

Thank you Thomas - yes you are right with your recommendations at the very end; focus zoom for critical sharpness ( if there is time ) but focus peaking with focus zoom-assist turned off when there will be enough depth of field and the need is for fast almost-perfect focusing. All the Best, David

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Many thanks for the comment, David! Great to read such feedback 📸

[@JeffreyMcPheeters]

I was glad to see this episode, as I've felt for some time that photographers new to photography who missed out on the manual focus era are at somewhat of a disadvantage if coming into a fully autofocusing mirrorless system without the skills from prior experiences of manual focusing due to the many situations where manual adjustments or full manual focus may be helpful if not essential in some cases. One very minor adjustment to the critical focus plane as it sits within the depth of field range: as focal length increases beyond 50mm, the critical focal plane moves close to the middle and by 100-150mm for all practical purposes, it exists in the center of the field with less than 1% difference in front vs back distance.

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Many thanks for the very valuable comment! Yes, the plane of critical focus can indeed move so close to the middle that the near-far distribution becomes practically irrelevant.

[@Mthompson4545]

Thanks again. Your advice on manual focus is extremely helpful to me with my work as a bird photographer.

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

That is great to read thank you very much! I greatly appreciate your feedback and your support!

[@Martin_Siegel]

Thank you Thomas. I'll have to translate you recommandations to my various cameras (where applicable). Excellent video once again. Take care!

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Many thanks - I very much appreciate the kind feedback and I'm glad it was useful!

[@Mthompson4545]

Thanks!

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Thank you very much, once again, for your continued, generous support! I'm very thankful!

[@emptyandseephotos7858]

Nice very essential technique

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@david_allen1]

Thomas! You continue to amaze! This video tutorial is absolutely wonderful to see. I've been using focus peaking without really investigating how to maximize the feature and sure enough, some of the images I've taken were not tack sharp and I didn't know why not. I suppose the manual explains the technical settings well enough, but without context to know how, why & when to apply the knowledge, it becomes a game of trial and error -- which I hate. :( In this video you really make is plain how focusing works, and even though I knew some of what you covered, there are many details that I did not know. Now I do! Thank you again. I'll have to practice focus zoom because I don't think I've ever tried it -- and I shoot with long lenses often!

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Many thanks for that! I agree - trial and error is not sufficient for demanding photographers like us. So it is really important to figure out how to get consistent results. I very much appreciate that you found this technique to do just that! And yes, definitely give focus zoom a try, it makes sense in many situations, especially when the subject remains relatively still. Best wishes, hope to read from you soon!

[@JocelynSimard]

Merci!

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Most welcome, thanks for the support!

[@keithwilkinson8310]

Thank you for a very useful video. Until your video I did not know about use of the info button to bring up peaking settings, I see it works on earlier OMD cameras as well as OM1. This will be very useful, especially for quickly changing the colour setting. I used to shoot with a SLR in the 1970s and 1980s .These cameras had microprism and split image focus aids in the focus screen of the viewfinder and made focussing very easy. I have often wondered why my EM1-II and EM5-III and OM1 that have phase detect capability in the sensor.do not emulate the same aids, particularly split image.

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Many thanks! I've seen this emulation on Fuji cameras, but I never found them very practical. They are - as you've said - only a simulation. If the calculation/measurement of the camera is off, you end up with an incorrect simulation. So maybe that was the reasoning behind why OM never introduced that. Just guessing. Thanks again for the comment!

[@ingerpalo2356]

Tack!

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Thank you very much for your kind support!

[@sourcebased]

Another great deep dive! I did not know the settings shortcut with the info button yet. The overshoot undershoot method is just the way I do it without knowing it was a method - and some repetitions often if I am not certain that the focus is nailed and have the time… 😂 Thanks, Thomas!

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Haha, thanks for sharing that 😂 now it's a method haha

[@joeyret.617]

Excellent I did not know focus peaking can fool you by highlighting noise.

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Most welcome - thanks for the feedback!

[@GodelEscherSpock]

As always a great video with several tips I was unaware of! Great demonstration using closed cap & high ISO, showing why you can get false positives for peaking. One thing - leave the diagrams up a little longer still. It would have been nice if you could have figured out a way to animating the focus plane graphic a bit, show if moving as you change the focus plane and getting larger and smaller as you change the f-stop.

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Many thanks for the kind words and the very relevant feedback! That is very helpful indeed. Best wishes and thanks for watching!

[@antonmuhlbock9486]

Great video Grüße aus Perth Western Australia

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Many thanks!

[@BlueDogTabby]

Thank you again for your great work. Do you have any suggestions about the HDR modes?

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Most welcome! I have - in my next video. Stay tuned!

[@jamdontaylor]

Thomas, thanks for another enlightening video tutorial on the OM-1. I use back button focusing and I noticed that the peaking indicator goes off whenever the shutter button is half pressed. Is there a way of making the focus peaking indicator stay on when the shutter button is depressed?

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Many thanks! Regarding your question - I've tried a couple of things, and there is a great solution I'd say: if you enable Peaking under MF assist, the OM will display it whenever you turn the ring, regardless of half press shutter or not.

[@sillydg]

Thank you Thomas for a clear presentation of the manual focus tools. I'm having an issue that I hope you can help me with. When I use a Pro lens and turn on manual focus via the ring, I get what looks like a lot of digital noise as I turn the focus ring. This happens when focus peaking is turned on. The image is obscured by the noise all over the screen for a few seconds, and then returns to normal live view. If I turn the ring again, the noise returns. Suggestions? Thanks.

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

There are three things you might be experiencing here - it is either the focus peaking itself, which can look like digit noise, or you have turned Image Brightness adjustment to ON (which also generates some noise) or what you see is the natural increase in noise during peaking operation. If you like, you can take a photo/video with your smartphone and send it to me via email, I might be able to easily identify what is actually the case.

[@christill]

I just tried out the focus peaking and indicator assists for shooting some birds behind tall grass that I can’t use autofocus for, and they’re really helpful. I did try magnification as well but it’s definitely not suited to this kind of scenario. I wish you could keep the focus peaking on all the time though when MF is engaged. I found myself having to refocus to check it was still properly focused. Maybe I’m missing a setting where that’s an option though. But either way, I really like how I’m discovering new things to try with the camera that really make a difference from pretty much every video of yours.

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Many thanks for the great comment - I'm glad to hear that it is helpful in practice. Here is the great news: if you map peaking to a button, you can leave it on all the time. Not just when the focus ring is turned. That should solve the problem you described.

[@christill]

@@ThomasEisl.Photography I did end up mapping it to the AEL button that I was using for S-OVF. I almost never used that after I thought I would.

[@ivanmarquez6809]

Thanks Thomas, any more videos of OM Workspace?

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Definitely another block planned in the future, stay tuned!

[@howardrollinson3819]

Thank you Thomas for another very informative video can this be done on my Olympus OM-D E-M1X or is it only for the OM1 kind regards Howard Rollinson

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Yes you can! The tips work with almost any OM / Olympus models. Thanks for the kind feedback, Howard!

[@Impostertot]

Thank you Mr Eisl. Can you consider doing a video on using Panasonic lenses(AF and MF modes with/without IS options) with Olympus cameras please? Would appreciate your recommendations and tips. Cheers.

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Thank you for the comment, Sir! I will definitely look into that - one tip in advance: There is no real difference regarding AF/MF when using a Panasonic lens on an Olympus body. Best

[@yellowshuttle]

I have several OM lenses that I use with a Fotodiox adapter every so often on my OM-1. For the life of me, I cannot get either magnification or focus peaking to work on these lenses. It does work on my MFT lenses set to MF, though. Any ideas?

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Yes, I know what the issue is - you have to manually activated the focusing aids. Meaning you have to map them to a button. Get in touch via insta and I can send you a voice

[@stan3223]

Thomas, have you tried the Venus Optics Argus 25mm F/0.95 APO Lens. A great lens with a paper thin depth of field. I did try it and my hit rate was very low.

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

I have not - but I can imagine it is very hard to focus. Hopefully my tips will help to improve the hitrate!

[@StephenStrangways]

There are several Four Thirds lenses that have true mechanical focus, not focus by wire: all Sigma lenses, and Olympis SWD lenses like the 12-60, 50-200, and 14-35.

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

True! Also, technically some Voigtländer lenses are also native MFT and they also have true mechanical focus. Thanks!

[@joeret2896]

Hi Thomas having an issue with probably a camera setting not activated on my om1. My focus peaking times out after and second or two. Is there a setting so it will stay constantly on the manual focusing mode using the om1. Thanks in advance.

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Hey there - have you assigned peaking to a button or have you activated MF assist for automatic operation? If you have assigned it to a button, it should stay on once activated.

[@user-nd8yi3uw1m]

👍👍👍

[@richardfink7666]

Hallo, wieder ein interessantes Video. Aber ich habe meine OM1 jetzt über ein Jahr und es gab keine Situation, in der der richtig verwendete Autofocus nicht funktioniert hätte.

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Ja, kommt bei mir auch sehr selten vor. Außer ich nutze eben adaptierte Objektive.

[@SzymonPytel]

Om got nice focus assist but there are better players. Fuji got some great focus assist modes like picture i picture mode, or panasonic where you can set fake black and white style, or it got also ability to use picture in picture mode. I miss function of using focus peaking with black and white style, or some fake black and white assist. Focus peaking i way more accurate with it. And what is realy strange you cant use focus peaking with half pressed shutter button and this makes a quite delay between shoots (when using flash)

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Don't forget about Pentax, they also have absolutely fantastic focus assist modes in Live View, although not many people are aware of that. Thanks for your contribution!

[@edwarddebruyn8717]

Have a problem for focusing zoom in very dark environments (Live Composite). Once I stop focusing the zoomed in image is disabled. Missed some pictures because of this lastly. Is it possible to leave the zoomed in image active for a longer period (use this on my Sony's) ? Thx good video

[@ThomasEisl.Photography]

Hi, thanks for the comment. So the short answer is, yes, you can leave the focus Zoom on as long as you want. Just assign the feature to a button and you are good to go (referred in the video as manually enabling focus Zoom). Alternatively, you can change the half-press behaviour so that the camera remains zoomed in. See the manual page 223 (mark I). Same settings for the Mark II btw. Let me know if this helps. Best, Thomas 📸