New OM-1 any tips

Just creating a new thread. Just got a OM-1, been watching some youtube videos, any tips you have to share? I'm a casual user, photography as a hobby.

Without knowing what kind of photos you want to take, here's a few: You can change the size, the shape, and how precisely the focus box moves around in the frame, the settings are in the AF menu in the Focus Mode Settings. Focus mode settings are useful for different AI Subject Identification situations, it's nice to have your own custom sizes and shapes besides the default ones. You can save your favorite settings in the four memory banks on the mode dial, C1 through C4, in OM Workspace so you can restore them if you need to do a full reset. Look at all the YouTube videos, but experiment for yourself to see what settings work best for you. If wildlife is your thing, you can buy a tutorial by Petr Bambousek that isn't expensive and will get you started. Rob Trek's videos are usually helpful and free.
The OM-1 AI Subject Recognition isn't perfect. Don't expect miracles. Use the custom button assignments, there are lots of them. Make sure you know what the defaults are. I don't do video so I can't offer anything there. DPReview has lots of threads with lots of ideas about what works for the posters. Good luck.

Before you start using Custom Modes, save a copy of the Settings. Then you can reset Custom Modes to defaults without losing all of your day to day settings.

Andrew

Are you new to photography?
- if not, what did you shoot before?
New to interchangeable lens cameras (ILC)?
- if not, what did you shoot before?
What lens(es) do you have?
What subjects interest you / do you have other hobbies, interests / what did you intend to take photos of?

The OM1 is a very flexible and capable camera. It can do many things very well. You can get great photographs with it using the automatic modes (P, A, S) or you can get more control using M and setting up the custom modes (C1 to C4). You have many focus, shutter, and computational modes you can use to extend/enhance your ability to "get the shot".

Without knowing what you want to do, or your current knowledge level, it's hard to give advice.

Find subjects that interest you and go photograph them. Then study ways you could do better through technique or different settings of the camera. Come back with examples of what you've done and ask specific questions. People here will be happy to help.

For many years my photography centered around travel photos and landscapes (which I still enjoy and do a fair amount of). Then I got interested in shooting birds. My settings and techniques have had to change. If I were to get into street photography, or macro in a big way, or motor sports, I'd have to adapt my techniques and settings for that. All depends on what you want to do.

Hi Ryan,
I recently added an OM-1 to my pile. I was specifically looking to up my game in bird photography. Most of the bird images that I had admired had been shot using an OM-1. Since I've been a MFT user for a while I already had a number of Panasonic lenses and I've had the PL100-400 on the OM-1 from day one. I purchased Petr Bambousek's "OM-1 for Wildlife" pdf for $25 and it was worth it to me.
So far I have three custom settings: C1 is for birds, C2 is for general and C3 is set up for astro.

I have practical tip. When I occasionally use the screen for shooting I like to turn eye detect off (or what it's called), the feature that turns the viewfinder on when the eye, or something else like your hair or your scarf, is close. Because it also turns the screen off and it happens all the time of you want to photograph something low on the ground and your cloths dangle about.

From E-M1 I was used to push the little button to the left of the eye piece to do this. Didn't work. I couldn't find how to do it in settings or the manual. At last a kind soul at DPR provided the answer. It's the same button as before, but you must long-press it! Drove me nuts, this. 😀

Welcome to the club! 😉

The OM-1 is extremely customisable. There are adjustable things there you didn't even know were things. Stay away from them. Keep it simple. The defaults are pretty good. Be prepared to do factory resets and start over if you get yourself in a mess. If you are methodical (I'm not) write down what you have done. Only when you are happy and confident with your settings, you might dare to venture into the deeper recesses of the OM-1's menu structure. There is much advice as to how to set things up for this or that. Take these with a grain of salt. They are not panaceas, just someone's preferred method. You can get yourself in a mess with these if not familiar with that photographer's technique.