The E-M5 has arrived but I am nowhere near figuring out how to use it.
I fully expected the battery to need charging first but was surprised to
see that it indicated near full charge... or so I thought. I started
with some basic setup including setting date and time. After about an
hour of fiddling with things the battery symbol turned red indicating
need for recharging. I charged it for about 4 hours. After
reinstalling the battery I was surprised to see that the date and time
setting had been lost.
My first thought was something was wrong with the small lithium backup
battery such as used in my Canon 5D. A thorough search of the camera
and manual turned up no such device. As it turns out the clock is
maintained only by a capacitor. That requires that a well charged
battery has been in the camera for some unstated period of time to
deliver a charge sufficient to last "about one day". Clock is now
working and doesn't get reset if you remove the battery.
The menus are extensive and almost overwhelming but I am finally getting
a bit more comfortable with them. I've done some basic setup such as
getting a grid displayed and enabling many things that were initially
off just so I can see the functions. My biggest confusion point at the
moment is the "super control panel" and variants. I couldn't even get
it to display for a long time since the instructions seem to start from
the default state of the viewfinder/monitor control switch as it comes
out of the box. I had apparently pushed that control a few times and it
took much more reading of the manual before I really understood how it
was controlled. And I'm still not 100% sure I completely understand it.
The Canon 5D has a single button dedicated to ISO and drive mode. After
pressing that one button you turn one control wheel to change ISO and
the other control wheel to change drive mode. The E-M5 has two
buttons labeled Fn1 and Fn2 which are freely reprogrammable between
various functions. I had already reprogrammed those to move the AF
button off the shutter button and add the missing DoF preview button.
But I was missing a button for ISO. I didn't realize at first that the
video mode button can be reprogrammed in the same way. If you want to
shoot video and have reprogrammed that button just switch the mode dial
to video/movies. Anyhow the movie button is now something else.
I've moved the buttons around and am not sure whether the assignments
will move around again. I wanted the Fn1 button (thumb operated on
back) to be the focus button but it's partially blocked by the ridge of
the raised thumb rest and a bit difficult to press. So right now the
Fn1 button is depth of field preview, Fn2 (next to the shutter button)
is the focus button and the movie button is the change ISO button. The
X-Y arrow keys can also each be individually reprogrammed to some other
function but you'd have to give up the ability to move the focus point
while shooting.
But I have a long, long way yet to go. I haven't even begun to
understand manual focus, the touch modes of the screen (when enabled),
various live view stuff and much, much more. I just stumbled across the
fact that it has bluetooth a few minutes ago. I'm not surprised but I
hadn't known that until just now.
I'd like to get a small waist belt bag for it but don't know what. I'd
like to carry the camera, the two lenses (12-50 & 14-150), maybe a
third lens, a flash (probably a T-32 but maybe the Canon 540-EZ) a spare
battery and some other miscellany.
Carry bag, lighter weight tripod and usage suggestions will be greatly
appreciated.
Things that bug me a bit -
I'd like to shrink the giant screen in favor of another couple buttons.
Can't view flashies and histogram at the same time
Top of shooting histgram is truncated
Separate colors RGB histograms (plural) only available in review mode.
Olympus owner's manuals, eg; page 30, 31 show high data content
viewfinder and monitor displays that I have been totally unable to
reproduce on my own camera.
Luke warm -
The 800x600 EVF display is not bad but even I (vs Eagle-eye Moose) can
see some pixellation. It blows my Minolta A1 out of the water but it
will take another generation or two before it's really great.
Things I love
Both highlight and shadow flashies
Live preview of exposure and compentation
Freely moveable focus point over most (but not all) of the screen
Full time vertical/horizontal leveling bars
Multiple grid displays
Body with 14-150 about like carrying an OM-1 with 135/3.5
Chuck Norcutt
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