Long exposure with OM computational photography
Long exposure (LE) photographs, particularly of seascapes, rivers or waterfalls, can create magical effects that allow you to express your creativity, and to show elements of…
Giant OM-3 photo settings spreadsheet and best settings files across 5 genres
Following on from my earlier OM-1 settings post, here is a spreadsheet of my top OM-3 photo settings across 5 genres; landscape, birds in flight, street,…
OM-3 – not just a hipster street camera?
The new OM System OM-3 is the most powerful small digital camera on the market. It achieves this by shoehorning the sensor and imaging pipeline of…
Best lenses for the new OM-3 camera
The new OM-3 from OM Systems was announced on 6th February 2025. This lovely new camera is a very careful modern rendering of the legendary OM…
Perfect long exposure with physical ND filters
Long exposure photographs, particularly of seascapes, rivers or waterfalls, can create magical effects that allow you to express your creativity, and to show elements of the…
OM-1 settings for landscape and long exposure photography
This is a companion to my settings for birds in flight (which are shown in detail here, and here). This time it’s my settings for landscape…
On1 Photo Raw – I’m all in
A while back, I got an email from a visitor to this site about On1 Photo Raw. She was frustrated with some annoying bugs in the…
Giant OM1 I and II spreadsheets of my top photo settings
In this post, I present a complete list of all my OM menu settings in giant OM1 I and II spreadsheets, with the logic for every…
Matching the best camera system to the occasion
Before Covid, my primary photography genres were Birds in Flight and Street. Since then, my interests and skills have expanded to cover Landscape, Macro and Astro…
OM1 vs R5, A1 and Z8: which is the best all-round system?
In a separate post, I posed the question of what to take for the once-in-a-lifetime camera trip. Can one camera system be the best at all…
OM5 custom settings explained
Custom settings are a very powerful feature of the OM1 and OM5 cameras. However, there are significant differences between the two cameras in their use. It…
OI share, OM1 and Pixel phones solution
Olympus/OM systems cameras have some exceptionally useful features when connected to smartphones. But there are major issues when using the OM1 camera and Google Pixel phones. This…
Hot pixels in OM1 and OM5 Long Exposure photography
In an earlier post, I compared the performance of the Olympus OM1 to the Nikon Z7 for long exposure (LE) photography. My conclusions from that comparison…
Best Olympus pro telephoto – surprising test results
The Olympus pro 150-400mm F4.5 zoom is described by many as the best telephoto lens ever made for wildlife photography. It costs an eyewatering £6500, however,…
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…
My OM1 birds in flight settings
This is a description of my approach to the Olympus OM1 (any version) when shooting birds in flight (BIF). This is super technical and only intended…
Taking better birds in flight photos
I started photographing birds in flight (BIF) in 2017 in Cape Town, having previously concentrated mainly on long exposure sea and river scapes, and street photography….
Taking and processing interesting* seascapes
In March 2024 I returned to our place in Noordhoek, Cape Town for the first time since 2019. Circumstances like Covid and grandchildren had kept us…
OM1 for Birds in Flight – as good as the A9?
Is the Olympus OM1 a big improvement on the EM1x, and can it compete with cameras like the Sony A9? I got my spiffy new OM…
Getting the best from On1 Photo Raw and Lightroom Classic
On1 Photo Raw is a post processing program that in my opinion exceeds the capabilities of Lightroom Classic in many ways. It’s become my default software…
Olympus OM1 compared to Nikon Z7 for long exposure photography
I currently own both the Olympus OM1 and the Nikon Z7. Recently, while waiting for my OM1 to arrive, I spent a week in Cornwall doing…
Olympus OM1 equals Nikon Z7 in long exposure photography noise tests
In addition to birds in flight, I do a lot of long exposure photography of the sea and rivers. A good way to assess the long…
Why I prefer Olympus 4/3 to Sony full frame for Birds in Flight
Over the last two years I have been trying to find the camera system that best meets my needs for birds in flight photography, particularly looking…
New Lightroom workflow for improved high frame rate bird photography
Lightroom is a wonderful product, and I am wedded to it, but it does not provide a complete environment for post processing of high frame rate…
Effect of teleconverters and light level on Olympus Pro lenses for for birds in flight
I have always wondered which Olympus Pro lens and teleconverter combination is best for birds in flight (BIF) in terms of focus accuracy. Last year I…
EM1x test, great results with ProCapture and Bird AI tracking
Last year I did an EM1x test of Gannets landing at Bempton cliffs wildlife reserve in the UK using ProCapture and Bird recognition tracking, and got…
AF for birds in flight with the Sony A9 and the 200-600 zoom
In prior posts I have presented data about AF for birds in flight with the Sony A9 and the 200-600 zoom. I have shown that in…
Sony 200-600 zoom: 4 cameras, two lenses
This is a summary of all the work I have done on Sony cameras and the Sony 200-600 zoom lens in 2020. I tested 4 cameras…
Sony A9 focus accuracy – birds in flight hit rate
In an earlier post I compared the Sony A9 focus accuracy with that of the Olympus EM1x to get a comparative birds in flight hit rate….
Sony a6400 for birds in flight
What is the actual performance of Sony a6400 for birds in flight? The Sony A6400 and A6600 have been described by some as mini A9 cameras,…
APSC vs Olympus noise and dynamic range -which is best?
While many photographers are under the impression that the Olympus Pro cameras have poor noise quality, they do not think the same about competitive APSC cameras…
Post-processing workflow for birds in flight
Here is a quick run through of my post-processing workflow for birds in flight. It is designed to get the best possible final images of birds,…
Noise and DR roundup for Sony A9 and EM1x
I have posted several earlier articles about noise and dynamic range (DR) compared between the the Olympus EM1x and the Sony A9. They have created quite…
EM1x update on firmware 2 bird AF operation and settings
There is some recent news about EM1x bird AF settings, both on how it works, and using a 25 point grid. This has come from several…
Multi-lens speed and noise comparison of EM1x to Sony A9
In this post I make a lens speed and noise comparison between the EM1x and the A9 across the whole range of lenses that a professional…
EM1x and firmware 2 – great owl results with Pro Capture
I recently tested the EM1x and firmware 2.0 at the Hawk Conservancy Trust (HCT). Shooting owls with the new bird AI tracking system and Pro Capture…
Depth of field for birds in flight – good or bad?
Many camera enthusiasts see the wide depth of field (DoF) inherent to Olympus cameras, as a disadvantage. In my humble opinion, wide DoF is a positive…
Dynamic Range on Olympus vs Sony cameras for birds in flight
In other articles I have compared focus accuracy and noise between the Sony A9 and Olympus EM1x cameras, This time I’ll look at Dynamic Range on…
Noise on Olympus vs Sony cameras for birds in flight
Most Internet and YouTube pundits look only at the sensor performance when comparing image quality on the Olympus system with other cameras. But it is called…
EM1x and new firmware 2.0 operation for birds in flight
This is a description of my approach to the EM1x and firmware 2.0 operation when shooting birds in flight. It’s not designed to be a fully…
New EM1x firmware 2.0 focus tests for Birds in Flight
The EM1x firmware 2.0 update now has the ability for the AF system to recognise and track birds. For all current and prospective EM1x owners, there…
Sony A9 vs Olympus E-M1x focus accuracy tests
All through the summer and autumn of 2020 I have been testing the Olympus E-M1x and E-M1iii with the 300mm and 40-150 plus TC against all…
Did YouTube damage the camera industry?
YouTube has become the primary medium for potential camera buyers to get information. Manufacturers have recently focused their attention for new announcements almost exclusively on YouTube…
The lessons from owning too many cameras
The photography software that I use, Adobe Lightroom has a useful feature where you can see in tabular form which cameras, lenses, shutter speed, focal length…
The decline of the professional photographer
In the 20th century, when film was king and digital had not yet arrived, printed magazines such as Time, Newsweek, National Geographic, and the Sunday glossies…
The trials of being a Camera manufacturer
Two powerful trends are currently turning the established camera manufacturers inside out and upside down. These unique business conditions are creating a challenge for almost every…
How Sony became the Kodak of the 21st century
In the 20th century, the giant of photography was Kodak. In 1976, Kodak sold 90 percent of the photographic film in the US and 85 percent…
Are real cameras dead?
Why have a camera as opposed to a smartphone? For most people, including me, the vast majority of photographs are taken with a smartphone. That includes…
The Sony AR74 and the Sony 200-600 f5.6-6.3 lens, a non-functional combination for birds in flight?
I have taken approximately 2000 birds in flight shots with the Sony AR74 and the Sony 200-600 and obtained a miserably low number of in-focus images….
State of the systems
Here’s an overview of state of the systems that I currently have, by usage type, together with the reasons I made those choices. People/Street photographs: Olympus…
Is the ( Really Right Stuff) RRS BH 40 ball head worth the money?
Quick background. Ball heads are an essential part of the tripod equation if you need to steady your camera for landscape, long exposure or portrait work. …