Perfect exposure on the wing with the OM1
Shooting birds in flight at high shutter speeds may require high ISOs when there is low light. This is often quoted as a drawback of the Olympus system, because of its smaller sensor. I don’t have this problem because I take care to expose the bird correctly, so shadows do not have to be pushed and highlights are not blown. The technique I use to achieve this is to expose the bird to the right of the histogram as far possible (ETTR). The OM1 has some unique features for ETTR and this super technical post provides detailed information on how to set them up. The full camera setup details and BIF shot technique are described here.
If you would rather head straight to a concise summary, the TL;DR is at the foot of the page — or jump directly to the FAQ.
Exposing to the right and exposure compensation
The OM1 has the best system of any camera I have ever used to get the perfect exposure on the wing of a flying bird. This is particularly critical for a bird such as the Sacred Ibis, which has extreme contrasts in tone. Specifically, it has a long pointed beak which is the darkest black, and into that are set black eyes. Its wing tips are also deep black. But its wings are the purest white, and frequently catch the light to make them brilliant white.
There are few other subjects in photography that have such an exposure range, and for those, there is usually time to set exactly the right exposure. However, everything has to be done superfast in BIF. The light or the bird’s position can change in an instant, and the exposure has to be changed to match.
If the white of the Ibis wing is blown out, the shot is pretty much ruined. On the other hand, the physics of photographs mean that you need as much light in the shot as possible, not least to show up details in the black beak.
So the trick is to set the exposure so that the wing is just on the edge of being blown out, but not quite there. But how can you tell in a fraction of a second if the wing is correctly exposed?
With most cameras, including pro cameras from Canon and Nikon, you can’t. What’s needed is an instantaneous means of seeing what the wing exposure is by a visible highlight indicator on the bird’s wing, coupled with a means of being able to instantly dial back or increase the exposure to get it just right. As you can see from the screen capture above, the OM1 allows just that with a visible orange warning, along with a superfast method of exposure compensation, to get to ETTR but not beyond.
This generates far better results than, for example, exposing for the general scene, and then trying to lighten the shadows in post. I also find that spot metering is pretty useless for ETTR, as it requires fantastic accuracy with birds in flight, and even then, will not correctly expose for the whole bird. Instead, I use the OMD Highlight and Shadow indicators, which work really well to show the complete exposure of the subject. I then use auto ISO and exposure compensation to get the right exposure for the shot.
Setting up Highlight & Shadow indication
To set up over and under exposure indication, go to Menu/ Cog 4 info settings. There are two variants of info settings – the top one in the menu list (camera icon only) is for the monitor, which I use only with Pro Capture. The second one down (camera and screen icon) is for the viewfinder. That’s the main one you will want to change.
As an aside, I also have this setting for quick access in the OM1 “My menu” section. At the top right, you can see that the camera rather brilliantly tells you which “My Menu” page the setting is on – in this case, page 3.
Although the OM1 can have up to 4 different information views , all reached by pressing the “info” button, for BIF I only have a single view available, so that I always know when I start the camera the orange highlights will be operating. If other views are available, you might start up the system and never see the highlights because another info option is in operation
For my single info view, I only set Highlight/Shadow (over/under exposure), so that the screen is not cluttered.
Setting up highlight and shadow thresholds
Exposing to the right has the inherent risk of blowing out highlights. To prevent this, I back off the indicators from the 255/0 levels that are the default.
The Highlight & shadow thresholds are set from the histogram settings on Cog 5. I have highlights set at a conservative 250, and shadows at 3, to ensure I don’t accidentally clip.
Controls for fast exposure compensation
For my BIF Custom 2 setting, I have the function lever set up so that on position 1 the front dial controls shutter speed and the rear dial controls exposure compensation. Aperture adjustment is something I rarely do with birds in flight, as I always want to be wide open (at least in sunlight-challenged northern countries). However, if I flip to position 2 on the function lever I now have the classic front dial shutter, and rear dial aperture.
To set up this way, go to Menu Cog 1/Fn lever settings, and change it to mode 1. This changes the dial function depending on where the function lever is set.
Then, still in Menu Cog 1, click on Dial Settings
….choose manual (M/B)
Then set Function Lever position 1 to Shutter/exp comp, and position 2 to Shutter/FNo for. Be careful to set the normal exposure compensation, not the flash compensation, which looks very similar.
You now have Highlight/Shadow indication set up so you can see if the bird is overexposed, and the rear dial set up for super-fast exposure compensation.
Taking BIF shots with this setup
With the bird in the viewfinder, I typically increase the exposure comp until I start to see orange overexposure indicators on the bird, then back down slightly. The reason I have exp comp on the rear dial, is that I am using my front finger to get focus lock, and at the same time adjusting the exp comp on the rear one. By the time I am firing, I have the exposure and ISO about right. One challenge is that the next time you shoot, the exposure compensation may be way off. I correct this just by flipping to a different Custom setting and then back, (which resets the exp comp to zero again) in between bird shots.
Managing ISO
This may be an obvious point, but when Shutter Speed and Aperture are fixed, what exposure compensation is doing is adjusting the ISO. This is the only thing that can be changed if you want the lens wide open (fixed aperture) and the fastest speed practicable.
Some photographers are wary of auto ISO, as they are nervous of the ISO accidentally being too high. Controlling ISO is the photographer’s responsibility, and the way to do it is to watch the ISO level when shooting, and if it is too high, drop the shutter speed. This concept is beautifully explained in this YouTube video from Sim d’Etremont
If I see a static subject, or if the ISO is too high, I spin down the shutter speed and this automatically reduces the ISO, but either way, static or flying, the rear dial enables me to get the exposure right for the bird.
TL;DR
- The OM-1’s Highlight/Shadow blinkie system — orange for overexposure, blue for underexposure — shows the exposure state of the bird itself in real time, not a histogram average of the whole scene. This is what makes per-shot ETTR practical for birds in flight.
- Set the function lever to Mode 1 (Menu ? Cog 1 ? Fn Lever Settings), then assign Function Lever Position 1 to Shutter/Exp Comp in the Dial Settings. This puts exposure compensation on the rear dial, instantly accessible without removing the eye from the viewfinder.
- Set highlight threshold to 250 and shadow threshold to 3 (Menu ? Cog 5 ? Histogram Settings) — backing off slightly from the 255/0 defaults gives a safety margin against accidental clipping.
- For BIF, configure only a single info display view (highlight/shadow only) so the system is always in the right state when you pick up the camera — if multiple views are available, you risk starting up without blinkies active.
- When shutter speed and aperture are fixed, exposure compensation controls ISO directly. Watch the ISO readout and spin down shutter speed if it climbs too high rather than accepting noise.
Frequently asked questions
Why not just use spot metering to expose the bird correctly?
Spot metering requires exceptional accuracy to keep the spot on the bird at all times during a fast-moving BIF burst, and even when it works it meters for a single point rather than the full tonal range of the subject. A white bird with a black beak will still fool a spot meter unless you meter specifically from the wing. The Highlight/Shadow blinkie system shows the actual clipping state across the entire bird simultaneously, making it far faster and more reliable for this kind of subject.
What happens to the exposure compensation between bursts?
It stays at whatever value was set during the last burst, which can leave you badly exposed at the start of the next one. The quick fix is to flip to a different custom setting and back again — this resets the exposure compensation to zero, giving a clean starting point for the next bird.
Is this ETTR technique specific to the OM-1, or does it work on other OM System cameras?
The Highlight/Shadow blinkie system and the function lever/dial assignment approach are available across the OM System range, including the OM-1 Mk II, OM-3, and OM-5. The menu paths and specific options differ slightly by camera but the principle is identical. The companion posts on BIF settings and the OM-3 settings spreadsheet cover the camera-specific differences.
Why set the highlight threshold to 250 rather than 255?
At 255 the warning only fires at absolute clipping, leaving no margin for error. Setting it to 250 means the orange blinkie appears just below the clipping point, giving a few fractions of a stop of headroom to back off before highlights are genuinely blown. In practice this is the difference between a recoverable and an unrecoverable highlight on a pure white wing in strong light.
Why not just shoot at a lower exposure and push in post?
Pushing shadows in post amplifies noise, and the OM System’s smaller sensor gives slightly less headroom for shadow recovery than a full-frame alternative at the same ISO. Getting ETTR right in camera means the RAW file starts with maximum signal, minimum noise, and no need for shadow recovery — the image needs far less work in post and holds up better at aggressive crops.
