In-camera focus bracketing with Olympus OMD M1 part 2

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Fri Apr 22, 2016 4:32 pm

Excuse me - I'm in the coal cellar about 4/3rds / M4/3rds lenses - does
"The focus BRACKETING feature is available with all MicroFourThirds compatible autofocus lenses."
Refer to only Olympus ones?

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Fri Apr 22, 2016 5:33 pm

rjlittlefield wrote: There's not much difference in effective f-number for objectives in the range of 4X-10X. At higher magnifications, say 20X and 50X, there's only a modest change, and that's actually an increase in effective f-number which would lead to a larger allowable step within the camera.

Out on the subject side, of course, using a different objective would indeed change the effective step size by quite a lot.

--Rik

Ok I was assuming internal, .. I'm thinking DO focus =~ M x DO field, (?)
which over a range of NAs from 4x to 50x, gives DOFocus 35 to 200um or so range.
I assume the smallest step the focus would go would be for full apeture at min focus. Then it depends. Reasonable so far?

chuong nguyen · Post by **chuong nguyen** » Fri Apr 22, 2016 8:20 pm

I have tried in camera stacking with objectives and lenses up to 10X with very good results. With 20X objective, the allowable stack depth is only about 300 microns when focus changes from 5 meter to infinity. The FOV changes about 10 percent.

chuong nguyen · Post by **chuong nguyen** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:41 am

Here is the test target ( 1mm microscope calibration ) with 20X Nikon CFI in front of the Olympus 40-150 2.8 set at 150. The target was slanted so that the focus varies from 10 meter to infinity. Lighting was stronger on the left side.

Helicon image:

dolmadis · Post by **dolmadis** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:51 am

Any views on using the "non pro" Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40-150mm 1:4.0-5.6 as a tube lens (plus objective) and the "in camera" focus BRACKETING feature?

I don't have one but it is an economic purchase at USD 200 from Amazon new.

So my question is "is there any technical reason not to try this combination?"

Many thanks.

John

g4lab · Post by **g4lab** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 5:03 am

g4lab · Post by **g4lab** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 5:05 am

Excuse me - I'm in the coal cellar about 4/3rds / M4/3rds lenses - does
"The focus BRACKETING feature is available with all MicroFourThirds compatible autofocus lenses."
Refer to only Olympus ones?

I didn't even know about the focus bracketing until AFTER I bought the M5 mkII which I bought to get the hi rez mode trick it does.

The in camera STACKING apparently , limits you to stacks of eight. It only works with a few PRO series lenses and the 60 macro. ( OM-D M1 not M5)

The bracketing seems to be available for any micro four thirds compatible lens that can autofocus.

This came from the Olympus web pages about OM series firmware updates and I think I understand and am quoting them correctly, but please double check.

I would expect the non PRO lens to work according to what they posted.

I don't have an M1 to check menus on and I only have one the 12-40 pro lens and the Macro 60. I have some nice images on the computer and as I figure out Lightroom and a reasonable work flow, I may even be able to get some posted here.

Since buying the M5 II and signing up for Olympus propaganda , they have lots of sales on lens and camera combinations.
http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/lenses/ ... 5-6-r.html

This lens is $100 if you buy it with a camera. all their lenses are discounted one or two hundred dollars if bought with a camera. Even the $300 AIR which would live very nicely on a microscope.

dolmadis · Post by **dolmadis** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 7:54 am

Leaving the in camera focus bracketing with that lens aside for further review (or simply trying it) can I reasonably reason that a tube lens at zoom 150mm and f4.0-5.6 could be a workable combination with Nikon MRP70100 (CFI E Plan 10X 0.25 WD 7.0 ) and MRP70040 (CFI E Plan 4X 0.10 WD 30) on the basis that this very near 4X and 20X combo is OK on the experience of chuong nguyen with the Pro version?

dolmadis · Post by **dolmadis** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 8:50 am

g4lab wrote:
The bracketing seems to be available for any micro four thirds compatible lens that can autofocus.

This came from the Olympus web pages about OM series firmware updates and I think I understand and am quoting them correctly, but please double check.

I would expect the non PRO lens to work according to what they posted.
I am struggling to find a reference to "any micro four thirds compatible lens that can autofocus" having Google'd and read quite a few Olympus web pages about OM series firmware updates.

Can you reference these for me please?

Some third party comments referred to bracketing only being available on the three Pro Lenses. (http://www.mirrorlessons.com/2015/11/03 ... -stacking/)

"It is also important to note that this mode currently only works with three M.Zuiko lenses: the M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 macro (the lens I used for this article), M.Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO and M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO. If you try to use it with other lenses, you’ll notice that the option is blacked out in the menu."

But on DP Review I did find a reference to landscape bracket testing with non Pro lenses.

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/57178940

DP Review wrote:
Thus far, in my testing with a 75/1.8 using 26mm of extension tubes, I'm trying to figure out the approximate number of frames per DOF increment based on aperture, etc. I will try some landscape stacking experiments with the 12-40/2.8 soon to see what I think of your idea/question.
And on a YouTube Comment "Mathieu Gasquet (MirrorLessons)2 months ago Focus bracketing is not compatible with 4/3 lenses but only micro 4/3 lenses."

But note above the contradiction from the MirrorLessons web site.

Input welcome......................

Regards

John

chuong nguyen · Post by **chuong nguyen** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:14 pm

Below is the number of bracketing shots with various lenses and settings.

Olympus allows two parameters, #of shots and "focus differential" (step size). For this test, the # of shot was set at 999 and FD from 1 to 10.

The number of shots from minimum distance to infinity was recorded.

Lens Fl f # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Macro60 2.8 999
4 868
5.6 602
8 413 207 139 104 84 70 60 53 47 43
11 296
16 207
22 147
Zoom150 2.8 999
4 760
5.6 545
8 386 193 130 98 79 66 57 50 44 40
11 271
16 193
22 138
60 2.8 259
4 192
5.6 136
8 96 48
11 68
16 48
22 35
It is interesting that at same focal length of 60mm the macro lens has about 4 times more shots than the zoom lens set at same focal length.

Below are details for using the 40-150 zoom lens as tube lens with Nik CF plan 20X NA 0.46.

Fl = 150; Focus Diff = 1; Min distance= 7 meter; max distance = infinity; Depth = 550 micron; stack depth = 400 shots; step size = 1.375 microns; FOV = 1.1 mm

chuong nguyen · Post by **chuong nguyen** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:19 pm

Sorry for the bad formatting. Copy from Excel and past did not work to well.

dolmadis · Post by **dolmadis** » Sat Apr 23, 2016 3:44 pm

After a lot of reading I have found this reference from Olympus confirming that for Focus Bracketing Mode then Micro Four Thirds standard AF lenses are compatible.

http://www.olympus-global.com/en/news/2 ... 15omde.jsp

Firmware upgrade, Version 4.0 for Olympus OM-D E-M1 provides Focus Stacking mode and Focus Bracketing mode for advanced macro shooting

Function Compatibility Table
Focus Bracketing Mode*2
*2 Micro Four Thirds standard AF lenses are compatible.

In addition from the Manual for OMD EM-1 (EM1_VER4_Eng.pdf)

Bracketing ([Focus BKT] added)
[Focus BKT] (focus bracketing) is added to bracketing (P.82).

• Focus bracketing is not available with lenses that have
mounts conforming to the Four-Thirds standard.

g4lab · Post by **g4lab** » Sun Apr 24, 2016 3:09 am

There is some confusing and conflicting information out there.

I happened to look again at a Popular Photography review of the Olympus OM D M10 mk II (which I don't have) and previous reading of that review is where I had gotten the idea that an internal data base of lens characteristics is required for focus bracketing. I think the writer may have confused conflated the focus bracketing and Z stacking functions together.

The Z stacking does seem only to work with the Olympus Pro lenses and the Macro lens.

The focus bracketing mode is stated on their firmware update press release and also on the camera specs page for all the OM D cameras to be compatible with all mft autofocus lenses.

Chuong Nguyen , thank you for the above posts!

dolmadis · Post by **dolmadis** » Sun Apr 24, 2016 4:41 am

Yes there is a lot of confusing information out there and apart from this one technical briefing from Olympus there is no mention from them I can find or almost anywhere else a positive statement that standard AF micro four thirds lenses can be used in Focus Bracketing Mode.

I do wonder why although perhaps other than "us lot" perhaps there is little interest?

Or is there a marketing preference in Olympus to the Pro Lenses?

There is enough evidence for me to find one of the standard AF 40/150's (easy) at a very reasonable price and hook it up like Chuong Nguyen and without you and him I would not have realised the potential.

I have an OMD EM-1 just in my hands for a field trip in early June where I plan to have some fun with Focus Stacking Mode and in the evenings the Focus Bracketing Mode.

Many thanks to all and Pat (wayupnorth) who was the OP !!

g4lab · Post by **g4lab** » Sun Apr 24, 2016 5:05 am

I just realized that I posted some incorrect information myself.
When you look at the OM D M5 mk II nekkid without a lens in place you see the sensor in all its glory staring at you. I made the incorrect presumption that the shutter function was all electronic. I stated this somewhere back in earlier posts about the OM D series. I will go back and delete it.

This is not the case. All the OM Ds and the Pen F too have Electronic Focal Plane shutters. I stand corrected.

This forum is a completely wonderful place for sharing information. I have learned so much that eliminated what would have been time consuming trial and error.

I think the forum should have a national holiday for Rogelio Moreno for working out the use of tube lenses with Miti type lenses. Or an "Appreciate Rik Littlefields tutorials and experimental demos day" There have been so many other such wonderful shares too. If I said "I love this forum" everytime the thought occured to me I would be very repetitive.