OM-1 Mark II - Initial Thoughts
OM-1 Mark II for Wildlife Photography
I’ve been lucky enough to borrow the new OM System OM-1 Mark II before it’s official release. In this blog post I’ll go through some of the new features and share some images I’ve taken during the month I’ve had it.
OM-1 Mark II
Camera Body
Besides the new name “OM System” and the “II” the body of the OM-1ii looks exactly the same as the original OM-1. The only differences I could make out were the slightly more rubbery feel of the body and dials, which gives a better grip on the camera and the dials feel very easy to rotate. A welcome bonus when I was in Dovre, Norway in -26 degrees celsius and wearing wool mittens, I could still easily rotate the dials.
Updates to the OM-1 Mark II
Auto Focus
As a wildlife photographer and someone who spends a lot of time photographing birds, this is the feature that most excites me.
The OM-1ii has improved AI Subject Detection for birds, the ability to lock onto a bird and to choose one bird out of a total of eight birds in the frame to focus on.
I noticed a significant improvement in the camera’s ability to find the bird in amongst twigs and branches and keep tracking the subject. The image of a redpoll is one of several I took where there were branches and twigs both behind and in front of the bird and the camera AI Subject Detection picked up the bird and acquired focus easily.
Redpoll | OM-1ii, 150-400mm 1.25x, 350mm, f/5.6, 1/125s, ISO 1600
Willow tit | OM-1ii, 150-400mm 1.25x, 500mm, f/5.6, 1/200s, ISO 1600
I was also impressed with the Bird AI Subject Detection to pick up a distant eider duck in backlight using the new M.Zuiko 150-600mm f/5-6.3. I’ve often had issues using subject detection on birds in water, especially distant birds and in in backlight.
Eider duck | OM-1ii, 150-600mm, 600mm, f/6.3, 1/1250s, ISO 640
The ability to choose the individual bird to focus on is a very welcome feature that I’ve missed in the OM-1. I found that locking the focus on a particular bird would focus on that bird, but if another bird came nearby the AI Subject Detection could be fooled and the focus jump to the other bird.
I’m still experimenting with some settings and using smaller focus patterns to see if this can help with the issue. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel as I will be making a video where I explore the Bird AI Subject Detection in depth.
Redpoll | OM-1ii, 150-400mm 1.25x, 459mm, f/5.6, 1/200s, ISO 1600
Image Stabilisation
The OM-1ii has 8.5 EV stops of image stabilisation!
I tend to mostly photograph handheld and well as film handheld. When I was at Dovre using the M.Zuiko 150-600mm f/5-6.3 it was extremely useful to be able to film handheld at these extreme focal lengths and get steady footage.
I photographed this female mallard duck with the M.Zuiko 150-600mm f/5-6.3 at 1/8s shutter to see if I could blur out the other ducks as they were swimming.
Mallard duck | OM-1ii, 150-600mm, 240mm, f/9, 1/8s, ISO 80
Muskox | OM-1ii, 150-400mm 1.25x, 150mm, f/4.5, 1/500s, ISO 800
Blackout free sequential shooting
Enhanced Blackout free shooting. When shooting with fast frame rates you can see very short blackouts, but for me it’s not been an issue, I can always see and track my subject while shooting fast action.
Goldeneye | OM-1ii, 150-400mm 1.25x, 406mm, f.5.6, 1/640s, ISO 500
Pro Capture
Pro Capture with an updated 2x buffer - this is very beneficial and for me this will be great coming into spring for woodland birds flying to and from their nests which is when I really tend to use Pro Capture a lot.
I captured the redstart using the OM-1 Pro Capture with the 150-400mm 1.25x last spring.
Want to join me photographing birds in flight using Pro Capture in Perthshire Scotland this spring? Check out my workshops page!
Redstart | OM-1, 150-400mm 1.25x, 400mm, f/4.5, 1/2500s, ISO 6400 Pro Capture
Live Neutral Density from 64 to 128
Great for getting that smooth flow of water without filters - I even try this sometimes for wildlife. If I can get a bird sitting still for a second with water moving around it, such as a dipper or a heron. This feature goes great with the 8.5 stop IS as I rarely use a tripod.
Backlit muskox |
Live GND (Graduated Neutral Density)
A very interesting feature, I often go for long walks with my camera and I take the occasional landscape images, but not enough to bring filters on my walk. So I can see this feature be excellent for opportunistic landscape images.
14 Bit High Res
High Res mode is a feature I use fairly regularly and I have a quick button setup for this feature. For occasional landscape shooting, after I find my composition I tend to switch to High Res and get a larger file with more details. With 14 bit I can get enhanced colours though with a larger size file.
After the faster processing of High Res photos in the original OM-1 I tend to use this feature for wildlife that stands still. I captured a tawny owl at ISO 16000 at twilight with high res and it meant that I got no noise in the image as well as a higher detailed image.
Want to learn more about how I setup and use my cameras? Check out my course on the OM System for Wildlife Photography
I will update the course for the new OM-1 Mark II
Tawny owl | OM-1, 300mm 1.4x, 420mm, f/5.6, 1/60s, ISO 16000 High Res Handheld
Human AI Detection
In the OM-1ii you can now chose human subject detection
Muskox | OM-1ii, 150-400mm 1.25x, 500mm, f/5.6, 1/320s, ISO 800
Goldeneye | OM-1ii, 150-400mm 1.25x, 500mm, f.5.6, 1/640s, ISO 800
Conclusion
In conclusion, the new OM-1 Mark II doesn’t have any revolutionary updates. However, I see some significant useful benefits for me as a bird photographer and improvements that will benefit anyone who likes photographing nature.