Friday, February 10, 2017

So Far I Like Everything About The New Olympus E-M1 Mark II With Two Exceptions

OM-D E-M1 Mark II with universal L-bracket on ball head (click to enlarge)
The new Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II is a remarkable camera in so many ways.  It really is a computer with a lens.  I've only had mine for a few weeks and have enjoyed taking it out and making photographs.  The camera is capable of creating beautiful images. However, I found two issues with it that are troublesome.

First, the camera seems to take a very long time to turn on and be ready to make a photograph.  Turning on the camera and being able to take that first photograph takes considerably longer than the time it takes my Fuji X-T2 to be ready to photograph.  In a few rudimentary tests, I was able to turn on the X-T2 and fire a frame in under a second. The E-M1 Mark II took about 2 1/2 seconds before I was able to fire a frame.  I am having a hard time believing that something is not exactly right as just about any point and shoot camera made today has a faster "turn on until first photograph time" than that.

I'll be looking into this issue to see if there is a way to reduce the "on" time.  I haven't read anything about this timing, but it is still early and many of the review sites don't have comprehensive reviews published yet.  This long turn on time might come down to allowing the camera to go to "sleep" and then awakening it with a half-shutter push rather than turning it off and on.  But this is the minor of the two issues for me and my kinds of photography.  

Tell me what I'm missing or doing wrong with this next issue?  Again, I don't believe I've seen anything written about this so I must be missing something as I believe it affects any photographer who uses a camera with the swing out articulating LCD feature with a tripod.  This feature has been available with other cameras for a few years now.

The major issue I have found has been created by individuals who cry out for a fully articulating and swiveling LCD.  These are mainly video people.  I have no interest in video.  I guess this feature is a good thing for the movie people as they don't create movies with vertical compositions, but not so good for us still photography people, especially landscape photographers.  It really screws things up.  Let me explain.


Typical tripod mounted position for a horizontal composition (click to enlarge)
In order to tilt the LCD, one has to swivel it out and rotate it.  The mounted L-bracket
allows the swivel but prevents any rotation beyond about 10 degrees.
I use L-brackets on all of my cameras and have for years.  L-brackets give the photographer some nice advantages.  They allow us to mount (and remove) a camera to the tripod very quickly and securely.  Place the bracket on the tripod head, snap it or screw it closed, and you are ready to photograph with a very securely attached camera. That quick.  No extended time fiddling with screwing the tripod mount screw into the bottom of the camera. 

L-brackets also allow you to center your lens directly over the axis of your tripod head as the plate allows you to slide left or right to change the horizontal position of the camera to ensure it is centered.  Many cameras manufactured today don't have the tripod mounting hole directly in line with the lens axis.  That makes a difference when trying to level your camera for panoramas, etc. 

Third, L-brackets allow you to quickly switch from horizontal position to a vertical position, keeping your lens centered over the tripod head and foregoing the need to adjust your tripod head or even move your tripod to achieve the exact same composition. No tilting the tripod over to the side 90 degrees to move from horizontal to vertical.

However.....with a fully articulating and swiveling LCD, you can't do those things with an L-bracket.  You can do those things with only the bottom part of the L-bracket attached to the bottom of the camera but not with the vertical part of the bracket that parallels the left side of your camera attached, which makes it an L-bracket.  Two issues arise.


Maximum downward tilt with camera mounted on L-bracket and LCD swung out (click to enlarge)


Maximum upward tilt with camera mounted on L-bracket and LCD swung out (click to enlarge)
First, if you have the LCD in what I'll call the "home" position, that position where it is nestled into the back of the camera body, and you have the LCD facing out toward you, you can't tilt the LCD up or down.  It is nestled into the back of the camera body and can't tilt up or down as it can on the X-T2 or other cameras with an LCD that doesn't swivel. Oh, but just swing it out.  Won't work.  As you swing the LCD out toward the left side of the camera the LCD now faces forward and the vertical piece of the L-bracket won't allow you to tilt the LCD more than a 10 degree angle up or down. Additionally, you cannot rotate the LCD 180 degrees so you can see it.  You have now essentially lost your tilting LCD function.   If you want to switch to a vertical composition, you are out of luck as now your LCD is facing down and you can't swivel it to see it.


LCD at "home" positioned with plastic back exposed to protect LCD (click to enlarge)
Second, if you have the LCD facing inward in the "home" position (with the back plastic side visible for protection of the glass) and want to view it, you swivel it out and you can view it.  You can't tilt it up or down but at least you can see it.  Again, you lost your tilting LCD function. If you turn your camera vertically, great!  You have an LCD you can see if it is at eye height or below.  

In either position, you lose some critical functionality.  You can't have all functionality, it seems.


LCD swiveled out from the above position, but you cannot tilt it (click to enlarge)
Here is the rub.  You better figure out ahead of time if you want a horizontal or vertical composition before you mount your L-bracket because once it is on, you give up one of those abilities.  If you want to photograph both horizontally and vertically, well, you are going to have to take the bracket off, change the position of the LCD, then remount your bracket, which seriously defeats the purpose.  Or....you just give up tilting your LCD all together.


Vertical composition requires having the LCD set with
the plastic back out otherwise it will not be visible
if you swivel out for a better view (click to enlarge)

Thank you video people!

But what about mounting the L-bracket with the vertical piece out far enough to clear the LCD screen when it is swiveled out?  You would have to mount the bracket almost 3 1/2 inches from the side of the camera for that to work.  I don't know of a bracket made that allows you to do that.  Also, the negative side to that is that if you were switching from a horizontal to a vertical composition, your camera is now about 3 1/2 inches higher and probably a bit less stable.  Think of loss of stability when extending the center pole of your tripod.  Same thing.  You would have to lower the legs on your tripod and recompose the scene to regain the exact height at which you originally composed your image.  Not a satisfactory solution.

A second solution is to remove the vertical part of the L-bracket and only use the horizontal portion.  One would then have to tilt the tripod head over 90 degrees to achieve a vertical composition.  Not a good solution as, again, you would have to move your tripod and recompose the scene to regain your exact composition.  If you have a smaller tripod, there is the danger that the weight of the camera and lens may throw it off balance and possibly cause it to tumble over.

A third solution would be to attach a universal L-bracket in the opposite manner in which it is designed to attach, i.e., with the vertical portion of the plate on the right side of the camera instead of the left.  If it fits, and that is the key with this solution, it would block your ability to open the door to access your memory cards.  That is not a serious hindrance as I normally don't access memory cards until the end of the day.  However, it would allow you easy access to the doors that hide the connections for microphone, earpiece, electronic shutter release, etc.  This solution is a possibility.  The bottom plate of the one in the above illustrations is approximately 4 inches, which is just short of allowing me to attach it as described here.  If I were to try to implement this solution, I would purchase a universal L-bracket with the "under camera" horizontal piece no shorter than 5 inches.  The plate would have to also have the ability for the mounting bolt to slide left and right a good distance.

A fourth solution, again which to me is not acceptable, is to forego using an L-bracket all together and return to mounting the camera on the type of tripod head that has a 1/4" X 20 bolt.  Unfortunately, none of my tripod heads have those.  All have Arca Swiss compatible quick release heads.  Mounting and unmounting a camera with the tripod bolt takes quite a bit longer than a quick release plate.  You also run the risk of scratching up the bottom of your camera trying to place the bolt in the hole without looking directly at it.  Third, I always worried about the bolt being a bit too long and punching through the bottom of the camera.  I don't think that is an issue today as it was many years ago, but the worry remains.

What about using a tripod at all?  The Olympus has a world class in-body-image-stabilization (IBIS) capability that allows us to handhold a camera at amazing slow shutter speeds.  Yes, the camera's IBIS is excellent, but doesn't take the place of a tripod when a tripod is necessary.  

Again, what am I missing here?  This has had to arisen long before I acquired this camera.

Some sort of satisfactory solution must be found.  Yours may differ from mine according to your needs and preferences.  Any other suggestions? Please comment and share them with the other readers.

I'm not sure what to do about this second issue.  Right now I don't see an acceptable solution.  The bottom line is that the fully articulate swing out LCD screens are not conducive to tripod work when using a quick release type of head and an L-bracket.

Why couldn't Olympus just leave things alone?  It all worked well before.

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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18 comments:

  1. Dennis,

    the L-bracket problem with camera bodies using the fully articulating and swiveling LCD is common to all such bodies I know of. I do not like them- (my E-M5 mk 11, G4). I know all the reasons why they are "superior", but they are mainly for videographers. There is also another problem with many of them, in that if you do use them for video, they also lose their ability to tilt when you have microphone or other cables plugged into the ports on the left side of the body (L-bracket or none). I wind up taking the L-bracket off, as verticals are a small portion of my work (and this situation makes them even less so). I then carry the L-bracket piece and the wrench with me for desperate times (until I lose/misplace). Another validation of the old "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

    Rick

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    1. Thanks, Rick. I appreciate your insight.

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    2. Dennis,

      mine is arriving Monday (at last). Is that a generic L-plate? If so, could you share where you got it (Amazon?), and if it allows access to the battery compartment?

      Looks the "big players" don't yet have their L-plates available.

      Thanks,

      Rick

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    3. Rick, the one I am using is a generic one I purchased for the X-T2 from Amazon. It does not have a cutout for the battery door. But it is very easy to slightly loosen and move since it has a mounting bolt can be loosened or tightened by hand. You don't have to use a hex wrench. It is secure when tightened and doesn't loosen. You can read my post here:

      http://www.thewanderinglensman.com/2016/11/inexpensive-yet-effective-solution-for.html?q=L+bracket

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    4. Thanks very much!

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  2. Two more good reasons (for me) not to buy the camera.

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    1. Two more? So what are the other reasons?

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  3. I find the EVF sensor slow down the start up. Try turning that off and use the button to switch between LCD and EVF.

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  4. Dennis, did you contact either Really Right Stuff or Kirk Photo to see if their new L-bracket plates will allow full articulation? On their website, Kirk Photo has a couple of pictures showing the monitor at an angle, but there's no verbiage to indicate that full articulation is possible.
    Jim

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  5. I had the OMD EM5 Mkll and asked the Olympus engineer. He said the reason it takes long is several things are happening IBS activation, system check and OVF time

    So no secret settings. Best.

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  6. Hi Dennis,

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts. These sound like frustrating issues for sure. I personally feel that the slow startup is a larger, more widespread problem with Olympus camera bodies. I felt similar about the E-M5 Mark II. The issue seems like it should be a major firmware fix priority.

    As for the L-bracket, a potential immediate stop-gap until a bracket manufacturer comes up with a better solution might be to use the WiFi app on a smart phone as the live view display and just keep the articulating screen turned inward for protection. While I feel the Panasonic WiFi and app are super convenience and reliable, the Olympus version is passable and may work for your landscape photo needs. It might also allow for you to shoot in real time without a delay as you will avoid camera shake by using the shutter in app on your phone.

    Just a thought. Either way, good luck and please keep sharing the wonderful images and helpful commentary!

    Cheers,
    Hal

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  7. I do not see a problem at all and do not agree a swivlescreen is there for videographers only.

    Low angle shots with the cam faced upward...A swivlescreen is ideal. A tilting on does not help at all.

    I also wonder how you shoot landscapes. Why would you change your position in the first place? I do see how it is very nice to just tilt the cam and snap it on, but how many times do I need to do this since I first look think about my composition and than mount the cam. I thhink many times, but not always, I see what works and what not. So then I start to setup the cam and shoot.

    Landscapes do not tend to fly away or drastically change a lot bar the light. And sure I tilt the cam every now and then but most of the times there is not need to rush. Just calm down, recompose and shoot.

    Another thing is that I see another culprit and it is not Olympus. These screens are nothing new. They have been around for a many many years and they are used more and more. You could say that manufacturers of these brackets need to adapt since video and photo hybrids are more and more common rather then less. Do you want to keep on selling these brackets or not? If so: you found solution for a quick change first, now you need to find another one to prevent your bracket is blocking an essential feature of such a cam.

    Startup time. I don't think I have noticed that but again I am not bothered with it. I am rarely in rush. It takes many minutes to find the right shot and the right composition. Why would I care about 1 or 2 seconds? So I can see it is a problem for some kinds of shooting but not portraits, landscapes, architecture etc.

    Kind regards,

    J.

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    1. Another point that I liek a whole lot with swivle screens...you can turn them inward soi now it is protrected for instance when you pit it in the bag. No scratches since the plastic part is facing outwards. My EPL6 got seriously damaged that way...

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  8. I'm totally in agreement regarding the flip-out LCD messing things up for all of us who want to use Arca-Swiss L brackets. I REALLY like Fuji's LCD solution on the X-T2 and now also on the GFX-50s medium format body. I would LOVE to see that style LCD adopted by Olympus on the next generation OM-D bodies.

    https://www.dpreview.com/files/p/articles/1061973559/Body-Elements/Angled_screen.jpeg

    Dave

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  9. "Low angle shots with the cam faced upward...A swivelscreen is ideal. A tilting one does not help at all."

    I've heard this argument before, and I guess I agree. I suppose if you are taking a lot of low angle shots with the cam facing upward, then the flip-out screen is useful. But I don't take a lot of those shots. I take a lot of straight-on shots, landscape and street, and the flip-up screen on my E10 is ideal for that.

    BTW, I do have a flip-out screen on my small Canon GX5, which I got to take videos of the grandkids. What's interesting is that, even when shooting video, I never flip the screen out!

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