Photographing the Moon with Olympus E-M1 MK3 Hi res mode VS single exposre VS Stacks

[@jeremiahmontana]

Your tests to demonstrate the effectiveness of HHHR has been super helpful! So glad you did these videos. Thanks!!

[@PaulForgy]

Great video, very informative. Couple of things to try if you use the Oly again: 1. Silent shooting mode can help to eliminate vibration from the shutter. In my experience it can make a difference at or over 300mm in some scenarios. 2. As you observed, manual focus can be too touchy when using the focus ring clutched into manual focus override mode. But, if you leave the focus ring in the autofocus position, and select manual focus from the menu, the focus ring will behave much more precisely depending on the speed it's rotated. It's possible to get much finer control this way. In this mode, the ring is not coupled to the lens mechanically, but can rotate around infinitely and digitally controls the electronic focus motors.

[@chasingluminance]

Good points

[@pault151]

Wow, this is interesting! I will have to see if it works the same way on my m1 mk 1. I had problems getting the conjunction in focus this week, it would go from not well focused>pretty close but not perfect > not well on the other side. It seemed consistent with the motor using discrete steps that were too large when in manual focus mode.

[@terrywbreedlove]

I have the 300mm F4 and thinking of buying the 2x converter for this and small birds. Thank you for the video it sure helps

[@chasingluminance]

I have another video soon taking about the 300 and 2x

[@terrywbreedlove]

@@chasingluminance oh sweet can’t wait

[@helenagarcia4151]

Gracias desde España, saludos

[@alejandrobaqueiro29]

Great video, I have just seen it after these months. But I don't know if you have understood correctly how the HR modes work. The tripod mode uses the IBIS mechanism to shift the sensor half a pixel from shoot to shoot and then compose the whole image. It needs to be on a tripod because it doesn't use the position and movement sensors (the camera is supposed to be fixed) but the actuators to move. The HH mode takes several pictures with sensor locked and uses the IBIS mechanism to detect the movement on the camera caused by trepidation so it stitches the different images properly. The speed of the Moon is enough to have a different position for the tripod mode so it won't work well. The handheld mode works well even with subjects moving not too fast (considering all images are taken in 1/60 s.

[@chasingluminance]

Interesting, I really appreciate the explanation 👍

[@alejandrobaqueiro29]

@@chasingluminance I'm glad you find it interesting. One more thing: the tripod HR improves the color accuracy as it avoids the Bayer filter interpolation. It's not the same for the HHHR, due to the random position of pixels.

[@Jay19876]

@@alejandrobaqueiro29 When it comes to dynamic range the HHHR actually has slightly better dynamic range than the tripod High Res mode in the EM1 X and the EM1 mark III. Check out the website "photons to photos"! Agreed, that the modes stack the photos differently but both methods use the incredibly accurate gyros for the cameras IS to help align the images, thus, both modes can avoid the limitation of the Bayer filter interpolation color accuracy problems.

[@Jay19876]

@@alejandrobaqueiro29 Link to the website www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR_HighResShotMode.htm

[@stefanwagener]

Are you sure about the HH mode? First, because by half pressing shutter IBIS is activated and stabilizing the sensor which you can prove when handholding the camera. Second, it would mean that the final image is cropped if you are really shaking the camera which you can prove as well by heavily shaking the camera during the high res recording. I just tested it and I don't find this to be the case. Third, you still can use e.g. 1/4s shutter speed and still get sharp handhold images which wouldn't be possible if IBIS wouldn't be active during shooting. I rather assume that just sensor stabilization is combined with sensor shift which should not to be difficult to do. And with the good IBIS the Olympus cameras do have, it seems more logically do make use of that IBIS while shooting rather than just using the data for backwards calculation which would be much more complex as you need to consider e.g. focal length in your image processing/calculation. While your explanation definitely could work, I think a real shaky handhold shot with long shutter speed proves that IBIS is just activated during the HH mode. If you use longer shutter speeds you can also watch the slight misalignment of each (sub-)photo on the camera display, which confirms that some stacking technology is still needed afterwards (probably like photoshop) and which is the reason why the moon shots get sharper with handhold mode than with tripod mode which obviously doesn't make use of this stacking alignment.

[@crankCINEMA]

Tip as a wildlife photographer with the same setup. F11 on that combo may be a better compromise with a higher iso, the 2x tc benefits from 1 stop down. Also SAF uses contrast detect AF, CAF uses phase detect plus contrast. I think the manual focus on that combo is not able to be fine tuned enough for this type of shot. Contrast AF should be the best option especially if you use magnify on a crater, as it targets even more precisely.

[@chasingluminance]

Thanks for the tips!!! I'll have to try the different af modes.

[@dogs4399]

I've got the same gear combo and have been shooting the moon, but never tried stacking in Ps or using Hi Res Handheld on tripod. thx so much!

[@chasingluminance]

I'm loving the hhhr more and more. I use it all the time

[@dogs4399]

I believe I asked you this on another video, but did you find an answer why sometimes, using HHHR on the moon, my pics fail to composite?

[@chasingluminance]

@@dogs4399 sorry, I haven't yet. I've ben unfortunately busy in the past few weeks. have you reached out to the Facebook groups?

[@catherinetremerryn]

Brill video! Looking forward to yr star one .

[@RJPhotographics]

I was delighted with the details from a single cropped moon shot using the MC14 + 300mm f4 on an E-M1ii, just because we had a really clear night. Haze can be a huge factor. Your HR and stacked shots had way better colour, and less noise.

[@chasingluminance]

ive been playing with HHHR a bit more. it's amazing... just got done writing an article for it on the Olympus learning page.

[@MikePageKaltenberg]

thanks for doing a lot of leg work for me, saves me a lot of mucking around!

[@chasingluminance]

That's why I'm here

[@derrickkelly4745]

Great video very clearly explained

[@fabiolicenziato4263]

Nice video, congrats!

[@chasingluminance]

Thank you!

[@BLarsenPhoto]

Great stuff. Would love to see what happens if you boost the vibrance way up on each image to see how much colour is really there.

[@chasingluminance]

Got em up on my instagram chasing.luminance

[@sphaera3809]

Thank you for this tutorial, I'll try moon photos with my GFX 50R and Mamiya tele lens. In my case, my only option will be to come out with a nice stack of images. The trick will be to get the focus right...

[@chasingluminance]

Yeah, focusing can be hard. A little trial and error and you'll get it

[@tremaincheerful4189]

I understood the hand held hi rez mode used your own unavoidable movement to gather the pixel shift information. The Tripod mode uses the 5 axis sensor shift built into the sensor to shift the pixels. So, shooting hand held hi rez mode on a tripod may not supply such useful data.The additional resolution changes resulting from your stacking activities, makes the results still more unreliable for judging the difference between hand held mode and tripod mode.

[@ianhrp]

Nice video. Have the em2 mk2 but not the 300mm lens yet so using the 40-150 with 2x convertor. Never thought of stacking the images in photoshop so trying that now.

[@chasingluminance]

It helps so much to clean things up

[@stehlealexander]

Starry AF for Stars 😃

[@chasingluminance]

Haven't gotten the chance to use it yet. How does it do?

[@stehlealexander]

@@chasingluminance I am still on the Mk2..

[@pault151]

I really liked the video and your comparisons. I am considering the Mk III body. I'll have to look for your other videos to see if you got around to testing Starry AF.

[@chasingluminance]

That starry af is fantastic. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gX_bfJulYr56nZo

[@jamesbell1000]

Great video again 👍 I’ve been trying the same thing but didn’t try the handheld mode on the tripod, I assumed the tripod mode would be superior I’ll be trying that next time. Starry Af is really good in my experience. Initially I thought it was hit and miss but then I realised I wasn’t actually focusing so I consulted the manual, it’s set to back button focus by default once I knew this it’s brilliant. Obviously you can change it to half shutter press but back button makes sense so I left it as it was.

[@chasingluminance]

Well that makes sense. I tried it on the moon and the shutter button did nothing so i gave up quick..... i cant wait for this moon to get out of the way now!

[@chasingluminance]

Ok.... I've used the starry af on the milky way.... omg its fantastic

[@jamesbell1000]

Chasing Luminance I was very impressed too. I’ve bought a move shoot move tracker and had nothing but cloudy nights or bright moon since it’s arrived!

[@chasingluminance]

Well of course, that's how it works

[@marekl]

Great video. I found that fascinating. Thanks dude.

[@chasingluminance]

Thank you! .... 4 months isn't too long to respond to a comment is it?

[@seamuswarren]

Does anyone know why the exposure settings in manual photo mode don’t seem to be applied in video mode? I was taking photos of the moon at times shrouded in cloud ☁️ and as I saw the cloud drift by the moon pressed the movie button but the exposure was unusable.

[@chasingluminance]

Could it just be the drastic difference in exposure caused by the clouds? This could be a good question for the Facebook groups

[@maidn1887]

Nice Test, i´ve made the same experiance. I think the reason why the result in High Res Tripod Mode is worse is because of the 16 frames pictures in this mode. Additionaly, i dont know if there is even any kind of alignment in tripodmode.

[@chasingluminance]

That makes sense

[@costinio3983]

There is no alignment on the tripod mode so it's the slight movement of the moon that makes it a bit blurred. If the camera was on a tracker I bet the tripod hi res would be even better.

[@taair6270]

Hi really interesting and informative video. I getting into Astrophotography. Will be buying the New Olympus OMD E-M1 Mark III soon which I will adapt to fit my Newtonian telescope ( maybe you might know an adapter I can use ? ) then should be able to get some great HI res shots of the planets and deep sky objects can’t wait! Look forward to some more videos soon

[@TheGotoGeek]

Start a T-ring for µ4/3, and then get a t2 thread nosepiece that matches your focuser. Make sure you have enough back focus to reach the sensor plane.

[@chasingluminance]

I don't actually know, haven't tried that yet. seems like Archer has the right idea

[@taair6270]

@@TheGotoGeek Hi thank for the info but not quite sure what you mean can you please clarify?

[@serenadenphoto]

Thank You for a very useful video. I have the equipment. Now I just have to find a place with less light pollution to try it for myself.

[@geordielass7862]

Hi I've been following your videos but I cant edit in Photoshop for some reason. Am I taking the shots as raw files or something else. I tried what you said and I didn't get the colour either. I started watching you as you explain the MSM Great but got lost on this tutorial so any help would be great

[@TheNarrowbandChannel]

Did you set your tracker to moon tracking rate? I am about to give shooting the moon a try with my new 100-400 and the Em1.3

[@chasingluminance]

That'll be awesome!! Yes, if you're using a tracker the moon setting is good. The star setting also works because the exposures are so short

[@ridealongwithrandy]

The tripod hires does indeed align the shots

[@chasingluminance]

I must need to try again

[@simonharding5696]

Great video, thanks. I'm definitely going to have a go at this!! :-)

[@chasingluminance]

Go for it!

[@hauke3644]

Using the hand-held highres hand-held didn't work for me, but I didn't get the idea to use that on a tripod (which usually would make no sense). On your standard resolution series, did you really use the mechanical shutter? You might have got shutter shock.

[@MDMiller60]

Chasing, wouldn't it be better to use electr shutter?

[@chasingluminance]

I mean, it couldn't hurt... would help with vibration

[@ROUSSEAUG99]

When you put the camera on the tripod do you need to deactivate image stabilizer, normally we deactivate the stabilization on the tripod. Thanks

[@chasingluminance]

I never do... and haven't noticed an issue. The only time I had an issue with stabe was on my canon 6d and tamron 24-70... the IS on the lens had to be off while on a tripod. But with Olympus I've never had an issue

[@stehlealexander]

Cool 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@chasingluminance]

Thank you!

[@warrenmartin8309]

Hi, really enjoyed your vlog. I have a Mk iii, please can you tell me exactly which Newer you used as a shutter release? Thanks Warren

[@chasingluminance]

I use the Neewer EZa-C1

[@shiyangzhang110]

Hi, wonder if u will make a video of taking a deep astro photo with the EM1MK3 and the MSM tracker :-)

[@chasingluminance]

Yes. Working on a video and article for Olympus now

[@shiyangzhang110]

@@chasingluminance Cool, look forward to it!

[@peterhordijk7407]

Great video | I recently bought an Olympus M1X body and wanted to shoot the moon in HigRes as well. But : the while ORI files were super sharp the (80MP) RAW files were super blurry !!! Did you use only a tripod (like I did) but did you also use a rotator ??

[@chasingluminance]

Yes, I also had it on a tracker. Try the HHHR mode not the tripod mode. it does some aligning for you and you should get a clear ORI

[@teribyrdic3955]

I really enjoyed the video and it answered a lot of questions on shooting the moon. thank You

[@chasingluminance]

So glad it helped!!

[@MikePageKaltenberg]

Alex, help! I'm just doing a dry run using nd filters ready for a shoot this weekend. As soon as I go over a 2 sec exposure in HHHR mode, I get a message saying "error - image composition failed" have you got any ideas? My E-M1 Mk III is on a tripod. 2" works fine.

[@chasingluminance]

Make sure all long exposure noise reduction is off. That could be it

[@MikePageKaltenberg]

@@chasingluminance actually that wasn't it, Nr was off. If I slip it into tripod HR mode it works. Switching it back to HHHR sometimes lets me get high res images, sometimes not. Initial impression is that if something moves in the scene it works, if it's absolutely still it doesn't. Strangely it's taking much longer than 4x 60" to get the image and it seems to be variable. I've got until the weekend to try to sort it out. Firmware is latest edition.

[@MikePageKaltenberg]

OK, it's working consistently now, but 16 min per shot. Wow!

[@chasingluminance]

@@MikePageKaltenberg glad it's working. Yeah, it takes forever.... it may or may not be worth it, but worth experimenting

[@Excessus1978]

Don’t think you should use sequator for moon stacking. Its for stars. Nice video otherwise.

[@chasingluminance]

yeah, i'm starting to wonder about it myself. photoshop struggled to align the frame. i'll see what happens next time

[@stehlealexander]

HI Res on tripod -> IBIS OFF!?!?!!!...

[@chasingluminance]

No, I dont think so... but I'm not sure how it compensates for the moons motion

[@stehlealexander]

@@chasingluminance there are people who said that on tripod IBIS should be off. I don't know.

[@dominiclester3232]

Alexander Stehle Yes, tripod hi res does automatically switch off the ibis. See manual.

[@catherinetremerryn]

Brill video! Looking forward to yr star one .