Focus point on EM1 keeps moving.
Hi everyone, hope someone can help me out. I have two EM1 bodies which I carry on my Cotton Carrier. I generally set both cameras up for the large, central, single focus point (AF area pointer). When taking the cameras from their individual mounts on the carrier I have to turn them at 90 degrees in order to disengage the securing device. In doing so I must be touching one of the arrow buttons because on too many occaisions I discover the focus point has moved to the right. The problem, I suppose, is that I am right handed and move the camera bodies/lenses anticlockwise to remove them. My two main lenses are also rather long, which may compound the problem. Does anyone know of a way of locking the the AF area pointer in place? I have searched my EM1 reference book by Darrell Young as well as Google but can find no reference. Thanks a lot.
I had three years of this with the XZ1, have it with my E-M5 and am horrified to learn that it continues with the E-M1 and E-M5 ii. I usually resort to setting the focal point with the touch screen and then it tends to stay exactly where you put it for multiple shots or until you re-set it or switch off the screen.
Quote:I had three years of this with the XZ1, have it with my E-M5 and am horrified to learn that it continues with the E-M1 and E-M5 ii
Your doing it all wrong then.
I`ve never seen this with my EM5 or any other stylus camera.
Paul,
You must be very meticulous in the way that you handle your cameras. It would be very helpful for the benefit of clumsy people like me to be able to lock the focal point, instead of it being accidentally nudged all over the FOV.
You must be very meticulous in the way that you handle your cameras. It would be very helpful for the benefit of clumsy people like me to be able to lock the focal point, instead of it being accidentally nudged all over the FOV.
I have an EM5 and the way I select a single focus point is:
Press OK to bring up the control screen and select the AF area section (the one that looks like a grid)
Press OK and you should see the focus grid covering the screen
Press the Info button
Then press the down arrow and the focus points should scroll through various options
Press OK when only one square is highlighted
The focus point should now be locked and cannot be changed with the arrow keys or touch screen unless you go through the menu setting again
Press OK to bring up the control screen and select the AF area section (the one that looks like a grid)
Press OK and you should see the focus grid covering the screen
Press the Info button
Then press the down arrow and the focus points should scroll through various options
Press OK when only one square is highlighted
The focus point should now be locked and cannot be changed with the arrow keys or touch screen unless you go through the menu setting again
I have yet to meet a person who doesn't have this problem occasionally, including me. It's simply that there are so many ways to move the focus area about that it is bound to be moved inadvertently sometimes. That's why both Olympus and Panasonic provide a short cut to centre it at any time.
Olympus: Go to Custom Menu A -> Set Home. Set the home position to the centre or, if you are lending the camera to someone you don't like, to the top right corner. Now go to Custom Menu D -> Button Function -> Fn1 Function and set it to [...]HP.
From now on no matter where the focus area has been moved, a press on Fn1 will bring it back to centre.
Panasonic: With the focus area box high-lighted, press the Disp. button. The box will centre itself immediately.
Olympus: Go to Custom Menu A -> Set Home. Set the home position to the centre or, if you are lending the camera to someone you don't like, to the top right corner. Now go to Custom Menu D -> Button Function -> Fn1 Function and set it to [...]HP.
From now on no matter where the focus area has been moved, a press on Fn1 will bring it back to centre.
Panasonic: With the focus area box high-lighted, press the Disp. button. The box will centre itself immediately.
This has been a very helpful topic for some of us. I'd like to say thanks to Jerrin for raising it and to Fma7 and lemmy for their helpful tips. Now I've got my E-M5 mk1 locked on centre focus and I'll be happy for it to remain there.
Quote:Paul,
You must be very meticulous in the way that you handle your cameras. It would be very helpful for the benefit of clumsy people like me to be able to lock the focal point, instead of it being accidentally nudged all over the FOV.
As others have pointed out here, its simple enough to correct and its hardly a horrifying problem.
Given the complexity of modern digital cameras and the size of the menu system required to configure and control them I doubt there are many people who know 50% (if that) of what they can do and how they can be configured. Mostly they don't need to know the other 50% anyway.
Then up pops an irritating problem like Jerrin had. You are causing it but you don't know how and given the plethora of ways you can set, move and configure focusing and the opacity of the manual, that's not surprising. Since you don't know what the cause is, it's hard to find a remedy. And the manual doesn't have an entry for 'focus area seems to move at random'.
I have the luxury of using and writing about Micro Four Thirds cameras for a (sort of) living these days and I've amassed a good amount of knowledge and expertise with them which I enjoy sharing with anyone who wants to listen. Where did I get that knowledge? Of photography itself, from 50 years in the business. Of digital cameras and techniques? Ninety per cent of it from web sites and, especially, asking questions on forums like these from people who knew more than I did. Not from the manuals, that's for sure.
There are no dumb questions. Something that seems totally obvious to one person can perplex another and vice versa. The worst thing anyone can do is pooh-pooh the question or use it to showboat their superior knowledge. I found Jerrin's question useful because I'm doing a book on the Pen F and I'll make a point of mentioning the wandering focus area and the antidote to it. I had the same problem myself a long while ago but thought it was just me being cack handed. Now I know it's not just me so worth noting.
Then up pops an irritating problem like Jerrin had. You are causing it but you don't know how and given the plethora of ways you can set, move and configure focusing and the opacity of the manual, that's not surprising. Since you don't know what the cause is, it's hard to find a remedy. And the manual doesn't have an entry for 'focus area seems to move at random'.
I have the luxury of using and writing about Micro Four Thirds cameras for a (sort of) living these days and I've amassed a good amount of knowledge and expertise with them which I enjoy sharing with anyone who wants to listen. Where did I get that knowledge? Of photography itself, from 50 years in the business. Of digital cameras and techniques? Ninety per cent of it from web sites and, especially, asking questions on forums like these from people who knew more than I did. Not from the manuals, that's for sure.
There are no dumb questions. Something that seems totally obvious to one person can perplex another and vice versa. The worst thing anyone can do is pooh-pooh the question or use it to showboat their superior knowledge. I found Jerrin's question useful because I'm doing a book on the Pen F and I'll make a point of mentioning the wandering focus area and the antidote to it. I had the same problem myself a long while ago but thought it was just me being cack handed. Now I know it's not just me so worth noting.
Well said Lemmy. As you say, the menus of modern cameras are so complex that even after learning everything on the menus, and how to use it, if one doesn't use all of it day in and day out, it's difficult to retain everything. What's needed, which I managed to get for a few cameras I've had in the past, is a small quick reference field guide that can fit in a pocket and be available for those times of memory laps, which seem to be getting a little more frequent recently.
Quote:
Quote:Your doing it all wrong then.
Really helpful, you must be proud.
Quote:As others have pointed out here, its simple enough to correct and its hardly a horrifying problem.
Obviously not to them, should they not have bothered to ask?
AS I said, it is not a horrifying problem as one person here put it, if you have a problem with that then tough.
