Micro 4/3 How is the E-M1X and OM-1 with Animal AI Tracking (Specifically dogs)

L0n3Gr3yW0lf

Hall of Famer
Location
Somerset, UK
Name
Ovi
Hello, a bit of a out of left field question (don't ask me why am I using a baseball saying, I don't even understand baseball and I don't even know where, when or how I even heard it):

How is the Olympus E-M1X and/or OM-1 handing the autofocus with Animal AI Tracking (I don't remember if it has Eye AF) for dogs (compared to Sony a9/a7 IV, but not strictly necessary if you do t have or used both systems)?

Doing some research and reading up I came across a few mentioned of it and it made me curious how well are the camera suited for action and tracking of dogs. Also doing research I came upon, with a shock, that the E-M1X is going as low and 680 £ on used market (which is a stark comparison where it was still demanding over 1.800 £ 12 months ago).
 
Hello, a bit of a out of left field question (don't ask me why am I using a baseball saying, I don't even understand baseball and I don't even know where, when or how I even heard it):

How is the Olympus E-M1X and/or OM-1 handing the autofocus with Animal AI Tracking (I don't remember if it has Eye AF) for dogs (compared to Sony a9/a7 IV, but not strictly necessary if you do t have or used both systems)?

Doing some research and reading up I came across a few mentioned of it and it made me curious how well are the camera suited for action and tracking of dogs. Also doing research I came upon, with a shock, that the E-M1X is going as low and 680 £ on used market (which is a stark comparison where it was still demanding over 1.800 £ 12 months ago).

Given the recent releases by OM Digital - their "stock and trust" I believe are eroding for many within the m43 ecosystem and it does not bode well for them to bring in new adopters to the mount.

A lot of m43 people that I know locally are looking to divest and are looking very hard at Fujifilm. The smaller X-E3/X-E4 bodies are attractive for coat pocket size cameras, and the X-H/X-T are very capable as professional tools. The Fuji f/2 "Fujicron" primes and the f/2.8 27mm are compelling options for a small kit.

My fear is, and this appears to have some evidence, is that the OM1 was something Olympus already had in the pipeline and was just branded as an OM Digital camera. The OM5 is really nothing more than a slightly upgraded EM5 Mark III with OM Digital branding.
Even the current lens lineup - OM Digital is concerning themselves with re-releases with their branding on it.

A lot are jumping ship now while the gear is still worth something.
 
I was going to post these elsewhere on the forum but now I think it's better to put them here, even though it's a different topic to the autofocus.

W0LF3633.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

I went back to the pictures I made on my holiday trip to visit my mom in Sicilly 2 years ago and I haven't managed to edit the pictures yet. Going through them made me realise that for landscape and still subjects I was depending 100% and exclusively on the HHHR of my (back then) E-M1 III. In this image, the scene is brutally punishing for the little sensor but I still pushed the exposure to get both shadows and highlights and the noise levels in the darkest areas (the chairs, the ceiling) is just baaaaaaaaaad. From using the Sony a7R II for the last 10 months I know that a situation like this wouldn't make the camera sweat one bit in holding on to the details without any noticeable noise.

W0LF3668.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

I am not here to bash Micro Four Thirds, Olympus and Panasonic have been my photography life for 11 years out of 13 and I still believe they have a place and value. This image was not HHHR (because of the horses on the left side) but at 20 MP I don't "feel" the details and the natural look that I get right now with the Sony a7R II.

W0LF3724.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Another HHHR and I thought that the slowness of the sea and the clouds would be fine but they have artefacts when I look close. Looking at a distance or on a small screen it's fine but I am not excited by it.

W0LF0472.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

This one was shot with E-M5 Mark II and I am just not feeling it, it looks closer to what I get with my phone camera than what I get with my Sony a7R II.

W0LF3770.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Another high-contrast scene for the E-M1 III, the colours look good but all the trees and the buildings have a crunch to them and the clouds to the top right have gone pure white. It looks fine for sharing but I don't t think I would be happy to print this larger than A4.

W0LF3913-Edit.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Now to autofocus, I had only the Panasonic Leica 50-200mm f 2.8-4 and the Panasonic 1.4x TC with me, I found a few birds to photograph and this is the only one where I got the sharpness I was happy with, but it's only 4 out of 37 bursts in focus to get the sharp look.

W0LF3754-Edit.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

The only bird I have seen on "that" day and the AF struggled, this is the sharpest I could get and it doesn't look very good on the feather details.

W0LF5298.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

I had a few chances to photograph large birds of prey but I never got an image better than this unfortunately and one of the biggest struggles was AF-C.

W0LF5117-Edit.JPG
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

I am not sure I want to go back to Micro Four Thirds no matter how good OM-1s AF and Tracking might be or how cheap the lenses can be, even for personal use.
 
I don't think it makes much sense being already at least partly invested in Sony. I'd get an A7iv. Love that A7rii sensor btw. It's hard to look at when you have both side by side. Also pretty easy to discount the stuff you love about mFT. I recently compared some old files with a Fuji GFX50r and 110 F2 to my EM1.3 and 75 1.8/HHHR. I posted that the mFT was pretty close in certain situations but it was mostly to make myself feel better. The GFX files are wonderful.

My ex-EM1x and 40-150 2.8 tracked my 8 month old Dober-shepherd much better than I thought it would. She's big, fast and puppy erratic. There isn't a dedicated dog eye-AF but I used C-AF and tracking. One thing nice is the dof of mFT is deeper so it masks the inefficiency. I just sold my EM1x but was very happy that I tried it. Felt great in hand.

Just had a talk with my Oly gear and cheered them up. I told them that I've recently used almost all of the other "big-boy" stuff and prefer them for exactly who they are. But, I didn't tell them about the X-T5.
 
I was going to post these elsewhere on the forum but now I think it's better to put them here, even though it's a different topic to the autofocus.

View attachment 348719
I went back to the pictures I made on my holiday trip to visit my mom in Sicilly 2 years ago and I haven't managed to edit the pictures yet. Going through them made me realise that for landscape and still subjects I was depending 100% and exclusively on the HHHR of my (back then) E-M1 III. In this image, the scene is brutally punishing for the little sensor but I still pushed the exposure to get both shadows and highlights and the noise levels in the darkest areas (the chairs, the ceiling) is just baaaaaaaaaad. From using the Sony a7R II for the last 10 months I know that a situation like this wouldn't make the camera sweat one bit in holding on to the details without any noticeable noise.

View attachment 348720
I am not here to bash Micro Four Thirds, Olympus and Panasonic have been my photography life for 11 years out of 13 and I still believe they have a place and value. This image was not HHHR (because of the horses on the left side) but at 20 MP I don't "feel" the details and the natural look that I get right now with the Sony a7R II.

View attachment 348721
Another HHHR and I thought that the slowness of the sea and the clouds would be fine but they have artefacts when I look close. Looking at a distance or on a small screen it's fine but I am not excited by it.

View attachment 348722
This one was shot with E-M5 Mark II and I am just not feeling it, it looks closer to what I get with my phone camera than what I get with my Sony a7R II.

View attachment 348723
Another high-contrast scene for the E-M1 III, the colours look good but all the trees and the buildings have a crunch to them and the clouds to the top right have gone pure white. It looks fine for sharing but I don't t think I would be happy to print this larger than A4.

View attachment 348724
Now to autofocus, I had only the Panasonic Leica 50-200mm f 2.8-4 and the Panasonic 1.4x TC with me, I found a few birds to photograph and this is the only one where I got the sharpness I was happy with, but it's only 4 out of 37 bursts in focus to get the sharp look.

View attachment 348725
The only bird I have seen on "that" day and the AF struggled, this is the sharpest I could get and it doesn't look very good on the feather details.

View attachment 348726
I had a few chances to photograph large birds of prey but I never got an image better than this unfortunately and one of the biggest struggles was AF-C.

View attachment 348727
I am not sure I want to go back to Micro Four Thirds no matter how good OM-1s AF and Tracking might be or how cheap the lenses can be, even for personal use.
I have been trying Fuji with an X-T4, darn thing is back in for warranty for the second time.
Still like the Mu-43 gear better especially at the long end and Fuji have no super tele travel lenses like the Oly 12-100 so still no good for travel.
Thinking of trading in the X-T4 for the X-T5 if for nothing else the way the rear screen works. The tilting rear screen to me is far more important than a new sensor or some other upgrade.
 
Last edited:
My fear is, and this appears to have some evidence, is that the OM1 was something Olympus already had in the pipeline and was just branded as an OM Digital camera. The OM5 is really nothing more than a slightly upgraded EM5 Mark III with OM Digital branding.
Even the current lens lineup - OM Digital is concerning themselves with re-releases with their branding on it.
Thats exactly what it was, I thought it was well known that OM didn’t have time to engineer a new camera. Didn’t Olympus announce the ‘Wow’ camera before they sold to OMD? R&D was underway well before the sale.
 
Thats exactly what it was, I thought it was well known that OM didn’t have time to engineer a new camera. Didn’t Olympus announce the ‘Wow’ camera before they sold to OMD? R&D was underway well before the sale.

That could be...honestly...I lost sight of Olympus after getting burned one to many times from them overpromising and under delivering. I stopped reading their press releases and their marketing literature.

I like the EM1 Mark II and the 12-100...and for a general purpose walk around camera with minimal need for lens changes...I think it is very hard to beat. I have a small m43 kit that I will keep until it turns to dust, most likely, but cannot see me getting anything OM Digital branded.
 
That could be...honestly...I lost sight of Olympus after getting burned one to many times from them overpromising and under delivering. I stopped reading their press releases and their marketing literature.

I like the EM1 Mark II and the 12-100...and for a general purpose walk around camera with minimal need for lens changes...I think it is very hard to beat. I have a small m43 kit that I will keep until it turns to dust, most likely, but cannot see me getting anything OM Digital branded.
I suspect some are still buying Olympus or OM Digital. I know I just ordered an OM-1 for my wife. So far, we have an Olympus EPL-1, 2 EM-1 cameras, 2 EM-1 mark ii cameras, one EM-5ii, an EM-1x, battery grips for all but the EPL-1, lenses up the rear, Nikon D750, Nikon D2x, Fuji S3 Pro, and my new to me Fujifilm Xt 2. The Olympus gear is by far our favored gear and will be until it dies and then we will worry about replacement. I doubt if she will replace her cameras before she has to replace me. :) Why do we have such amounts of equipment (not including lots and lots of film Nikon gear)? We are the kind of folks who are not worried about resale nor about the latest trends in fickle camera ownership. We use what works for us.
I don't think Olympus owes me an apology for their business decisions. If I don't like the company, I would not buy from them. Maybe M43 will die, maybe APSC will die, and maybe FF will die as cellphone cameras become more and more sophisticated. I try not to figure out the what-ifs of life. I would always tell my law clients that I was 50/50 on the first what-if but would not go down that slippery slope path after one what-if.
 
Back
Top