(Changing focus box size) Very important hidden function in epl-1.

[cshanaberger]

One of the problems I was having with the epl-1 was the autofocus would miss due to the size of the autofocus box (autofocus sensitivity). sometimes the camera would focus on something behind or in front of the subject that was also included in the focus box. Well I figured out something Olympus didn't include to much detailed info on in the manual. You can change the autofocus sensitivity of the epl-1 by actually changing the size the of the autofcus box, & let me tell you this really helps with critical focus. here is the trick.

1. from the normal shooting screen, press the "zoom" button once.
2. press the "info" button once. 7x will be displayed in the bottom left corner.
3. press the "up"(exp. comp.) button once you get to 10x & the autofocus box gets smaller, press again you get 14x the auto focus box gets even smaller.
4. press "ok" Just Once now you can move the smaller box around using the keypad.
5. to go back to full size box just press the "ok" button once more.
6. The neat thing is that once you intially set your desired autofocus box size, it can be easily recalled just by hitting the zoom button once.

unless you press ok a second time the smaller autofocus point remains from shot to shot, when the camera is powered down the box resets to full size, just simply hit the zoom button once when you power it up & your back to the smaller autofocus point.

Although I just figured this out last night on a walk, I could also say to me that the autofocus speed significantly increased due to less hunting, but will have to shoot more of a variety to know for sure.

I hope this may help some epl-1 owners cause it seemed to work wonders on my walk last night when I figured it out.

Charles

[cshanaberger]

Here is a shot from last night with the increased sensitivity in action, I wanted to focus on the rock to the left but during the first couple of shots the autofocus was focusing on the water coming off the small ledge in the background, using the previously explained trick the autofocus snapped right on the edge of the rock like I wanted it to.

Charles

[Greg Chappell]

This is timely! I read that dang manual at least twice looking for a way to narrow the AF area. It is way too wide for many subjects. Thanks for posting this.

[cshanaberger]

Greg, the only mention of it in the manual is very vague as to what it does, Olympus for some reason calls it "zoom frame af" which gives me the impression it is just blowing up the image on the lcd,which it is not "unless you press the zoom button a second time", probably why I missed it when I read the manual. It can be found on pg. 46, although even the instructions aren't really clear on how to do it, let alone what it really does.

Charles

[shoturtle]

Great info, thanks charles.

[Hards80]

Went ahead and stickied this for reference.

[shoturtle]

thanks hards,

It works, it does seem to focus a bit quick also with the smaller points.

[Greg Chappell]

Originally Posted by shoturtle

thanks hards,

It works, it does seem to focus a bit quick also with the smaller points.

I wouldn't doubt it at all. The default AF box size really leaves what point within the box to focus on wide open for the camera to choose from. If one were shooting portraits, the camera might pick the eyes, or it might pick the top of the head or neck and cause the face to be just enough out of focus one might wonder if their camera was front or back-focussing. Narrowing the box size should make the selection of the exact AF point a shorter exercise.

I could see an extremely useful firmware adjustment allowing one to hard-code the AF box size so you do not have to re-establish it everytime you power up.

[shoturtle]

yeah, the larger AF box is a hinder when shooting a clutter scene, just tried the 14x box a I could pick out a single tree branch to focus, instead of getting the one of the others. Great find Charles came across.

[j_alex]

Looks like a super tip. This will be the first thing I'll do after getting the battery charged :-}