Olympus 75-300mmii lens Manual Focus: I just received this used lens and it appears as if I don't know how to use the manual focus or it doesn't function properly. It is my...

rb61 Loc: Maple Grove, MN

I just received this used lens and it appears as if I don't know how to use the manual focus or it doesn't function properly.

It is my understanding that manual focus can be used to tweak AF. With peaking on, I find that rotating the manual focus ring doe's nothing to the focus.

Any help?

Thanks

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Which camera are you using it with?

rb61 Loc: Maple Grove, MN

Thanks for replying.
OMD E-M10ii

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

rb61 wrote:

Thanks for replying.
OMD E-M10ii

Me too! Check page 99 of the user manual. In the AF/MF options, make sure you have "MF assist" on.

rb61 Loc: Maple Grove, MN

After searching through menus, I found that I did not have AF set to both AF and MF.
Thanks for your patience.
My camera is on a tripod two floors away from my computer. I have completed my cardio for today.

Thanks

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

rb61 wrote:

After searching through menus, I found that I did not have AF set to both AF and MF.
Thanks for your patience.
My camera is on a tripod two floors away from my computer. I have completed my cardio for today.

Thanks

LOL, win-win. And a third win because I checked my own settings just in case. I purchased the Oly shortly after buying a Panasonic G7 and though I love them both, their buttons, knobs and menus are very very different

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

Linda From Maine wrote:

LOL, win-win. And a third win because I checked my own settings just in case. I purchased the Oly shortly after buying a Panasonic G7 and though I love them both, their buttons, knobs and menus are very very different

Decided on the best of both 4/3rds worlds? I don't know, Linda. That sounds kind of greedy to me.

Jeffcs Loc: Myrtle Beach South Carolina

Linda From Maine wrote:

LOL, win-win. And a third win because I checked my own settings just in case. I purchased the Oly shortly after buying a Panasonic G7 and though I love them both, their buttons, knobs and menus are very very different

So Linda do you have favorite or do the two cameras oly-Pan serve different jobs for you
I’m just curious as I’m only Olympus but always curious about functionality of the pany line up
Thanks

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

wdross wrote:

Decided on the best of both 4/3rds worlds? I don't know, Linda. That sounds kind of greedy to me.

Jeffcs wrote:

So Linda do you have favorite or do the two cameras oly-Pan serve different jobs for you
I’m just curious as I’m only Olympus but always curious about functionality of the pany line up
Thanks

Yeah, I don't really recommend two different cameras if one is easily confused - which I am these days

The idea to buy two (originally of the same body) came from when I pondered upgrading my Canon T3i, decided instead to buy a second body as "insurance" - they weren't making any more - and to keep different lenses on the bodies. But I only had that dual setup for a year before I went mirrorless! (I did have one T3i for 4+ years)

First I bought the Panasonic, with 14-140 mm lens. That was close to my 18-135 mm Canon lens I found extremely versatile. Knowing that Olympus lenses fit Pany, at the same time I bought the 75-300 lens, which had been highly recommended to me. But both the UHH person and the B&H rep I spoke with about the lens didn't mention that Olympus image stabilization is in the camera, not the lens. I couldn't hold it steady enough on my Pany which uses lens IS.

I ended up sending my second Pany back (before I even opened the box) and bought this adorable little rectangle of an Olympus that has the retro look: some silver metal on the black plastic.

As to the differences, there are many!

Panasonic G7 looks and feels very similar to my Canon sx50. It has rotating LCD, ability to see b&w through the viewfinder while still shooting raw + color jpg. The 14-140 mm lens is about 1/3 the bulk and 1/2 the weight of the Canon EF-S. I set the camera to 3:2 aspect and mostly take landscapes, though I have an ultra-sharp (cropped) kitty pic in close-up forum from a recent shoot. I have also tried its jpg-only in-camera panorama mode, which is very cool.

The little rectangular Olympus would probably be awkwardly small without the slightly heavy, bulkier 75-300 mm lens. It has a very nice digital zoom should that be of interest (see a topic of mine in PP Forum comparing to heavily cropped raw). I use this camera mostly for wildlife.

Both have several shortcut buttons that are very handy, though when I haven't used either camera for awhile, I forget which has what and where

Both have bright and sharp EVF, and of course live exposure.

Also, the cameras are opposite each other in both the direction of the rotation when zooming and the direction the two knobs on top turn for shutter speed and aperture. The location of those knobs - especially the one that "surrounds" the shutter button - makes it easy to inadvertently change them. Both have auto ISO capability while manually setting aperture and shutter speed; that setup has been my go-to for several years.

Please feel free to pm me. I haven't taken nearly as many photos in 2018 as prior, but I have some from both cameras on UHH.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

Linda From Maine wrote:

Yeah, I don't really recommend two different cameras if one is easily confused - which I am these days

The idea to buy two (originally of the same body) came from when I pondered upgrading my Canon T3i, decided instead to buy a second body as "insurance" - they weren't making any more - and to keep different lenses on the bodies. But I only had that dual setup for a year before I went mirrorless! (I did have one T3i for 4+ years)

First I bought the Panasonic, with 14-140 mm lens. That was close to my 18-135 mm Canon lens I found extremely versatile. Knowing that Olympus lenses fit Pany, at the same time I bought the 75-300 lens, which had been highly recommended to me. But both the UHH person and the B&H rep I spoke with about the lens didn't mention that Olympus image stabilization is in the camera, not the lens. I couldn't hold it steady enough on my Pany which uses lens IS.

I ended up sending my second Pany back (before I even opened the box) and bought this adorable little rectangle of an Olympus that has the retro look: some silver metal on the black plastic.

As to the differences, there are many!

Panasonic G7 looks and feels very similar to my Canon sx50. It has rotating LCD, ability to see b&w through the viewfinder while still shooting raw + color jpg. The 14-140 mm lens is about 1/3 the bulk and 1/2 the weight of the Canon EF-S. I set the camera to 3:2 aspect and mostly take landscapes, though I have an ultra-sharp (cropped) kitty pic in close-up forum from a recent shoot. I have also tried its jpg-only in-camera panorama mode, which is very cool.

The little rectangular Olympus would probably be awkwardly small without the slightly heavy, bulkier 75-300 mm lens. It has a very nice digital zoom should that be of interest (see a topic of mine in PP Forum comparing to heavily cropped raw). I use this camera mostly for wildlife.

Both have several shortcut buttons that are very handy, though when I haven't used either camera for awhile, I forget which has what and where

Both have bright and sharp EVF, and of course live exposure.

Also, the cameras are opposite each other in both the direction of the rotation when zooming and the direction the two knobs on top turn for shutter speed and aperture. The location of those knobs - especially the one that "surrounds" the shutter button - makes it easy to inadvertently change them. Both have auto ISO capability while manually setting aperture and shutter speed; that setup has been my go-to for several years.

Please feel free to pm me. I haven't taken nearly as many photos in 2018 as prior, but I have some from both cameras on UHH.

Yeah, I don't really recommend two different camer... (show quote)

Linda, the E-M10 may not have the feature, but I know my older E-M5, for P mode, could assign/reassign what function was on each of the two dials and which direction the dials turned for increasing that function (clockwise / counterclockwise). I discovered it one time while playing with my menus while waiting for the transfer to the airport. I don't recall if I ever found that information in the manual. I thought that was neat and possibly the reassignment of what function changed - aperture, exposure comp, ISO, shutter speed - could be useful for a future need. It might be worth an e-mail to the Product Support line on the Olympus website to see if the various E-M10s might have this feature. If this feature exist for the E-M10, you might be able to set it up to mimic your Panasonic.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

wdross wrote:

Linda, the E-M10 may not have the feature, but I k... (show quote)

Thanks very much! I have the pdf of the 1,000 pages (well seems like anyway...) user manual. I do remember one item about reassignment, but it only switched the location of aperture/shutter speed buttons. At the moment the two cameras have those knobs in the same place even though they turn in opposite directions

Jeffcs Loc: Myrtle Beach South Carolina

U

Linda From Maine wrote:

Yeah, I don't really recommend two different cameras if one is easily confused - which I am these days

The idea to buy two (originally of the same body) came from when I pondered upgrading my Canon T3i, decided instead to buy a second body as "insurance" - they weren't making any more - and to keep different lenses on the bodies. But I only had that dual setup for a year before I went mirrorless! (I did have one T3i for 4+ years)

First I bought the Panasonic, with 14-140 mm lens. That was close to my 18-135 mm Canon lens I found extremely versatile. Knowing that Olympus lenses fit Pany, at the same time I bought the 75-300 lens, which had been highly recommended to me. But both the UHH person and the B&H rep I spoke with about the lens didn't mention that Olympus image stabilization is in the camera, not the lens. I couldn't hold it steady enough on my Pany which uses lens IS.

I ended up sending my second Pany back (before I even opened the box) and bought this adorable little rectangle of an Olympus that has the retro look: some silver metal on the black plastic.

As to the differences, there are many!

Panasonic G7 looks and feels very similar to my Canon sx50. It has rotating LCD, ability to see b&w through the viewfinder while still shooting raw + color jpg. The 14-140 mm lens is about 1/3 the bulk and 1/2 the weight of the Canon EF-S. I set the camera to 3:2 aspect and mostly take landscapes, though I have an ultra-sharp (cropped) kitty pic in close-up forum from a recent shoot. I have also tried its jpg-only in-camera panorama mode, which is very cool.

The little rectangular Olympus would probably be awkwardly small without the slightly heavy, bulkier 75-300 mm lens. It has a very nice digital zoom should that be of interest (see a topic of mine in PP Forum comparing to heavily cropped raw). I use this camera mostly for wildlife.

Both have several shortcut buttons that are very handy, though when I haven't used either camera for awhile, I forget which has what and where

Both have bright and sharp EVF, and of course live exposure.

Also, the cameras are opposite each other in both the direction of the rotation when zooming and the direction the two knobs on top turn for shutter speed and aperture. The location of those knobs - especially the one that "surrounds" the shutter button - makes it easy to inadvertently change them. Both have auto ISO capability while manually setting aperture and shutter speed; that setup has been my go-to for several years.

Please feel free to pm me. I haven't taken nearly as many photos in 2018 as prior, but I have some from both cameras on UHH.

Yeah, I don't really recommend two different camer... (show quote)

Thank You for your informative answer and Now I’m slightly confused. I’m currently working with OMDem1mk2 and was wondering what (basically) Plus and minus for each as I was think of adding the panny body to my kit thinking (hoping) the panny body could do what my OMDem1mk2 doesn’t.

jgunkler

Olympus lenses have a unique and wonderful feature. If you pull the focus ring toward the camera it slides back and instantly becomes manual focus! No need to change any camera settings! Push the ring out and you're instantly back in autofocus mode.