mffox Loc: Avon, CT

Yes, they are cropped.

mffox Loc: Avon, CT

Thanks. I will try that.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Auto focus can be fooled in low contrast situations. The red color wasn't large enough to catch it's eye.

MMC Loc: Brooklyn NY

Can you post original ?

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

mffox, your metering mode is set to multiple (5). Because of the large area of the tree, that's where the camera focussed.
Try setting it to one.
I usually use the centre one, but if the "item" I want in focus, I can switch to a point on the side, or use the centre one and recompose.

Tigger1 Loc: Surrey, BC Canada

Hi Mark, I have almost the exact same camera/lens combo and have experienced the same soft focus issue. Unlike the Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras, your EM10 has only contrast detect focusing mode/ no phase detect focusing mode, as a result, in low light the lens has some difficulty focusing on low contrast objects particularly if they are small objects compared to the relatively large objects with higher contrast in the overall scene which is most probably the case in your uncropped image. By any chance were you shooting through a window, particularly a double or triple paned window? If you were then that will definitely contribute to your focusing issue, at least that has been my experience with my OMD EM10 Mk II.
One poster suggested your camera could be "back focusing" which with Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras as well as several other brands is entirely possible, but is not possible with mirrorless cameras regardless of brand or lens attached, so do not give that issue another thought. The contrast between the dark green needles of the coniferous trees covered in snow in the background provided much more contrast than the drab beige colour of the seeds in the bird feeder so the lens chose to focus on the background as I suspect you had matrix focusing turned on in the setup shooting menu while using a single point focus. While I am not familiar with the EM10 setup menu, I suspect it is little different from my EM10 Mk II setup menu, but others here that are familiar with the EM10 model may give you better information on this point than I am capable of doing. Keep shooting and best of luck.

brentrh Loc: Deltona, FL

Manual focus

Morning Star Loc: West coast, North of the 49th N.

PS - too late to edit:
On page 51 of your manual you'll find how to change the focus points to only 1.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Your camera focused on the tree, not the birds. These are operator's errors and they happen to be the most frequent cause of AF problems.
It has happened to many of us. Keep practicing paying more attention to focus on the birds.
If the birds are not moving too much you can attempt manual focus. You work a little harder but focus will be better controlled.

brokeweb Loc: Philadelphia

I sold my M10, I did not like it as much as my M5. I use manual lenses but I had the same lens you used (sold it with my M10). What I do: you know that green square on your LCD screen, I use the touch screen to magnify then focus manually, then shoot. Also I would not recommend using the digital teleconverter that the camera offers. It takes a little getting used to but it works for me with the same camera.

https://www.viewbug.com/photo/66918127

http://www.rsmithdigital.com