OMD Firmware 4 upgrade

[bcys1961]

This upgrade has been announced.

https://www.olympus.com.au/Products/...E-M1/Overview#


Includes following which sounds interesting - Focus stacking and focus bracketing .

No doubt focus stacking results will not be as effective as doing it yourself in some external software , but the ability to do it in camera may be useful for those of us who just want the option to do it occasionally . Has anyone tried it yet?




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I got a bit excited . Apparently firmware update is not out until November.

[bconolly]

Yeah lots of handy, incremental updates in this upgrade. Kudos to Olympus / Fuji in this space. Cannikon would release a new body for features like these ;-)

Brenden

[arthurking83]

..... Cannikon would release a new body for features like these ;-)

Brenden

undoubtedly!
Apart from a firmware for the D300 where they added a much needed ability to tweak Auto ISO .. I can't ever remember Nikon launching a firmware update to 'modernise' an older camera in any way.

Focus stacking! Would be easy enough to implement in most cameras without too much drama(as long as there are enough bytes in the ROM module to accept the data for it).
On the whole, I'm not all that much of a fan of firmware feature gimmicks, but focus stacking in camera(with a resultant raw file tho!) .. is one I'd pay money for a new camera.

Although I had to laugh a bit on one of the items on the list of 'features'.

feature #7 reads as: S-OVF (Simulated OVF) has been added to provide a view that is similar to that of the unaided eye.

LOL! we keep reading that EVFs are so much more superior to OVFs .. so why would anyone want to go so far backwards in tech terms when they already have the best available!

[bconolly]

LOL! we keep reading that EVFs are so much more superior to OVFs .. so why would anyone want to go so far backwards in tech terms when they already have the best available!

Completely agree Arthur - I just read about that feature and was a bit stumped as to the value of it. From a purely personal perspective, I love the EVF so can't see the need / use. But each to their own I guess ;-) Why you'd want a "slow" refresh simulated OVF tho?

Brenden

[swifty]

Brenden: I'm trying to find where the 'slow refresh' reference is from the firmware upgrade.
I can't imagine why anyone would want a slower OVF refresh.
The only value I can see in the S-OVF feature is if refresh rates get a boost if it doesn't have to correct for WB and exposure settings.

[bconolly]

Sorry swifty, I was being tongue in cheek with the slow refresh comment. My apologies for the confusion!

Brenden

[arthurking83]

.....
The only value I can see in the S-OVF feature is if refresh rates get a boost if it doesn't have to correct for WB and exposure settings.

My guess is that the S-OVF feature is just to display a non picture style OVF rendering. That is, it'll use a simple standard picture style probably a low-ish contrast rendering that looks like something you would view through a OVF.

I doubt that it would speed up refresh rates, as the LCD screen itself would be limited to a refresh rate that is xHz(eg. 60Hz or 120Hz).
Whatever the current fastest refresh rate is, would be a predetermined value and almost impossible to speed up unless they reduce resolution or changed the actual screen hardware.

That's the same as the 4K resolution that many were rumouring before the update.
While there is now a 4K resolution feature, it's worded in a way that implies it's only for time lapse creation.
That is, the hardware chip that creates the video on the fly is set .. as with almost all other cameras.
That would be set to a highest value of HD(1920x1080) which is a hardware limitation. Unless you change this internal chip(which means changing a the circuit board that contains this video chip!) 4K video can't be done.
So what Olympus is offering is say a 10fps 4K capture which can then be rendered as a time lapse. is. not 4K video as such.

hope that makes sense.

[swifty]

hope that makes sense.

Yep it does. Cheers.

I should've been more clear though with my post above. I didn't mean a boost to increase the max refresh rate which I agree would be a hardware limitation.
But under a variety of real world lighting conditions, it would appear the EVF refresh rate performs sub-optimally in my experience. What that's due to I'm not entirely sure and haven't looked into it too much but I suspect it may be either to do with lengthening each frame's exposure time, increasing the gain or applying various processing steps as per your camera jpeg settings or a combination of them.
So perhaps by limiting these the EVF can perform closer to its optimum refresh rate under more situations ie. a boost in refresh from sub-optimal to its hardware limit.
But in doing so, you'd loose some of the WYSIWYG advantage of EVFs.

[arthurking83]

....
But under a variety of real world lighting conditions, it would appear the EVF refresh rate performs sub-optimally in my experience. What that's due to I'm not entirely sure and haven't looked into it too much ....

Aha! that makes sense then Swifty.
So, what you then described in terms of refresh rates also makes sense.

My EVF experiences are limited to only a few cameras, so I don't have the kind of exposure to it that you folks do(yep! pun intended )

I do remember the very first EVF I experienced with the Sony A700(I think)? .. one of the first anyhow DSLR type but with EVF only.(I'm sure someone will remind me what model it may have been)
Camera shop were a bit useless with info on how to set it up, but I remember it was set to a contrasty picture style mode for image capture .. so in effect WYSIWYG.
All well and good, and I tend to use Nikon's Picture Controls to minimise editing later.
But what I subsequently found was that you couldn't see one type of rendering(eg. low contrast) but still shoot with a picture style that suited another intention(eg. workflow management).
I could never live with a system like that all of the time. In fact the overly contrasty rendering through the vf was very off putting.

Anyhow .. I still live with the hope that one day Nikon will see the (added) value of what Olympus/Sony/Fuji and to a lesser degree Canon have all done with camera firmware updates.
The knumbskulls in management there seem to live with their heads in some quarantined sandpit, with nary a clue as to what drives consumer loyalty.

[Ross the fiddler]

Hi, I thought I'd drop in (finally) & say I'm looking forward to this FW 4.0 update. Thankfully I have the 60mm macro lens to take advantage of the Focus Stacking since I don't have any of the Pro lenses (yet) for other stacking uses & although it won't be as good as Focus Bracketing with many more possible frames, it is at least something that can help improve some still (macro) shots, so long as the settings are right to not need more tweaking of the JPEG afterwards.

Another feature to come I will appreciate that has been included in the both lower Mk II OM-D models is sequential '0' second AntiShock setting as well as Silent Mode, Electronic Shutter that can be used up to 1/16,000 sec. There will be times that Silent Shutter will be useful (so long as the lens drive is quiet too ). The E-M1 will be full of many features that a lot of us may never really put it to any serious use, maybe that's just me not getting out enough.

[bconolly]

Out on the 26th of November apparently!


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[Ross the fiddler]

Out on the 26th of November apparently!


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Yes. Not long to wait now (still seems like ages), but the Version (FW) 4.0 Manual for the E-M1 is now available for download. http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/support/...em1_ver4_e.pdf (& also the E-M5 Mk II FW 2.0 too) found here. http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/support/...l/pen.cfm#body
Essentially it's the Version 2.0 manual with an extra chapter 15 titled 'Additions/modifications by firmware update' which seems quite nicely set out.

Now we can read up on the coming FW updates due on the 26th November in the manual.

[Aussieden]

Focus Stacking and Focus Bracketing seem to be attracting most interest!
Focus stacking is in-camera producing a composite jepg image of up to 8 images stacked. Focus braketing can be up to 999 images but need to processed using stacking software on computer.

Decided to a simple test to see how the new firmware stacks up! (pun intended)

Nothing very scientific or a real closeup/macro but just to see how it works.
Mounted my E-M1 and 40-150mm + MC14 on tripod.
Set camera to Manual, SS 1/100 sec, ISO 200, WB Cloudy (Indoor shed with skylight above on a dull cloudy day), A f4, Gradation Normal, Noise Filter Off.
Subject is an old dog statue in a crouching position approx 48cm in length to provide a bit of DOF. Difference between front paw to rear paw is about 23cm.
Dog statue subject on table at a distance that I could focus on 3 spots. Played around with the focus differential and decide that 2 gave the best results.

Here is result from focusing on nose of dog. Ist image is Ist frame and 2nd image is 8 frames stacked. Both images OOC, no other processing applied.

More experimenting required but it looks like being a nifty feature.
Dennis

[Ross the fiddler]

That looks good. My first try was this.
This is the first frame


And the resulting merge of the 8 frames it takes.


I used the 60mm macro lens at f4 & the maximum differential of 10 for this result. It's not perfect at the back, but it was my first try (well, 3rd try actually).

[bcys1961]

I did a focus stack outside which I posted in the Weekly Challenge. I will republish here for discussion. Conditions were not idea as it was outside and there was a slight breeze blowing but nevertheless this is likely to be real world conditions. Camera was tripod mounted , 60mm Macro lens , Iso800, f 4.0 and 1/640 sec.

#1 is a single shot and #2 focus stacked.

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The other thing I noticed is I can now get my histograms and my horizontal/vertical levels on the same screen. Not sure if this was in the upgrade or always there but it used to frustrate me having to toggle through the views to get fromone to another.

[Aussieden]

Not bad. The difficult part is to judge the focus point and what focus differential to use. I think 10 is too wide.
I read somewhere else that the focus moves 2 times foward then progressively backwards. But I haven't been able to verify this.
Dennis

[Ross the fiddler]

Not bad. The difficult part is to judge the focus point and what focus differential to use. I think 10 is too wide.
I read somewhere else that the focus moves 2 times foward then progressively backwards. But I haven't been able to verify this.
Dennis

That might be correct as my images seem to have that look about them.

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I did a focus stack outside which I posted in the Weekly Challenge. I will republish here for discussion. Conditions were not idea as it was outside and there was a slight breeze blowing but nevertheless this is likely to be real world conditions. Camera was tripod mounted , 60mm Macro lens , Iso800, f 4.0 and 1/640 sec.

#1 is a single shot and #2 focus stacked.



The other thing I noticed is I can now get my histograms and my horizontal/vertical levels on the same screen. Not sure if this was in the upgrade or always there but it used to frustrate me having to toggle through the views to get from one to another.

That's a great result. The Live View Info now has the Custom 1 & 2 which it didn't have before & I thought it was nice now to have those two aids seen at once. That was something that was introduced with the E-M5 Mk II.

[peterb666]

It would be nice if they added this to the original E-M5 but I know they won't as they want you to upgrade to a current model. Very surprised how well this works and I want it. Waiting to see what the next E-M1 brings with it before deciding should I upgrade to the E-M5 II.