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Archive 2020 · Bird detection AI

galenapass
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Bird detection AI

Looks promising! Bear in mind that Peter is an Olympus ambassador, though.

Nov 24, 2020 at 05:24 PM

Imagemaster
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Bird detection AI

Geez talk about boring. 13 minutes mostly showing him talking. Bird AF test photos of gulls and a crow taking off? Wow, really hard subjects.

Nov 24, 2020 at 11:42 PM

galenapass
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Bird detection AI

Imagemaster wrote:
Geez talk about boring. 13 minutes mostly showing him talking. Bird AF test photos of gulls and a crow taking off? Wow, really hard subjects.

I know....I know. But, I hope the AI works well. Did you catch that really exciting part of about the zoo? Makes me want to get me wallet and credit card out to donate some money to their awesome work!

BTW - I think your shot may have been about 2% sharper with that bird AI. Better sell the EMI iii for an EM1x.

Nov 25, 2020 at 01:06 AM

Paul_100A
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Bird detection AI

galenapass wrote:

Nov 25, 2020 at 01:39 AM

Imagemaster
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Bird detection AI

$900 more for just Bird AI? I think not.

Nov 25, 2020 at 01:56 AM

Paul_100A
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Bird detection AI

Imagemaster wrote:
$900 more for just Bird AI? I think not.

on a more serious note...
re: EM1X
i have an EM1X (still have the EM1mkII i used before the 1X)...
like you, i don't have a lot of troubles getting shots of of birds which show proper focus (on the eyes and not the shoulder/breast)...but "i" don't get them all.
for the little birds (and many other sizes) there is often not enough time for "me" to 'focus and recompose'.
i 'thought' the EM1X's joystick would be the 'answer' to the issue of quickly moving the AF target around the frame (to get on the bird's eye)...I was wrong...the joystick does not respond (at first press) fast enough in my opinion in a lot of situations.

from the looks of it... the EM1X fw 2.0 bird Ai looks like my 'focus and recompose' issues are all going to be complete non-issues. i am expecting to get a higher keeper rate and i am also expecting the task of attaining that higher keeper rate will be very much easier.
those two factors are worth time and money to me.
if the bird Ai works as well as it seems it does I would have no issue recommending the EM1X above the other Oly bodies to interested 'birders'.
before bird Ai i wouldn't have recommended EM1X over the EM1 mk II/III based only on AF performance.
now...if "i" ("i" only use Oly for birding) had only the EM1mkII (or III) i would upgrade to the EM1X just for the bird Ai and i would consider the cost minimal as i normally spread the cost out over 5 years or so.
5 years of high keeper rates and very fun/easy work and good IQ is worth a lot.

Nov 25, 2020 at 11:14 AM

PV Hiker
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Bird detection AI

Andy Rouse tested the 150-400 and has a review here, but he mentions.

https://www.andyrouse.co.uk/index.php?b=1¤tpage=2

Cannot get it to go to page two (2) just the current on with mallard duck, click on second page.

BIRD DETECTION AI - All of the images on here were taken using the new Bird Detection AI Tracking firmware update that a few of us have been using. It certainly made these kind of images much easier to take! I will do a separate BLOG on this in a few days when I am allowed to talk about it.

I have not seen a follow up yet.

Nov 25, 2020 at 12:56 PM

PV Hiker
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Bird detection AI

On Olympus Facebook page Andy Rouse talks briefly about eye detect. Advance to 37:40 to 39:20. Along with the 150-400 lens

https://www.facebook.com/OlympusUK/videos/845503869613532

https://www.facebook.com/getolympus?utm_content=150-400mm&utm_campaign=2020_11_150-400mmFBLive_US&utm_kxconfid=t5ljhtrz5&utm_source=email_etevent&utm_medium=email&sfmc_sub=209671669

Nov 25, 2020 at 01:14 PM

Imagemaster
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Bird detection AI

Paul_100A wrote:
on a more serious note...
re: EM1X
i have an EM1X (still have the EM1mkII i used before the 1X)...
like you, i don't have a lot of troubles getting shots of of birds which show proper focus (on the eyes and not the shoulder/breast)...but "i" don't get them all.
for the little birds (and many other sizes) there is often not enough time for "me" to 'focus and recompose'.
i 'thought' the EM1X's joystick would be the 'answer' to the issue of quickly moving the AF target around the frame (to get on the bird's eye)...I was wrong...the joystick does...Show more →

Seriously, I have never had a problem with focusing on the eyes of birds. But then I am more interested in getting more than just the eye in focus, and that is not usually a problem with the DOF that I get with my most common 5.6 f-stop.

Also, I never use "focus and recompose". Believe it or not, instead for little birds perched or moving around, I use C-AF +Tr and find the AF spot remains locked on the bird when I recompose. In fact, I was just using that method a couple of minutes ago with the Oly 100-400 + 1.4x TC and the focus point stayed locked on the hummer's eye.

Nov 25, 2020 at 03:08 PM

Imagemaster
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Bird detection AI

Here is one of those hummer shots that I just took earlier. Handheld and light was terrible, but focus locked on the eye.

Nov 25, 2020 at 07:07 PM

Imagemaster
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Bird detection AI

I forgot to mention that the previous shot was a focus-stacked jpeg straight out of the camera.

Focus-stacking settings were: 5 exposures with distance increments set at 2.

The little guy hardly ever kept his head still as he continuously looked around. Because of his head movements, many of the focus-stackings failed. The example below must have been on the borderline of failure due to head movement.

In all, I think it is impressive that the first shot worked considering poor light, TC on the 100-400, subject movement, and handheld shooting.

Nov 25, 2020 at 08:01 PM

Paul_100A
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Bird detection AI

Imagemaster wrote:
Here is one of those hummer shots that I just took earlier. Handheld and light was terrible, but focus locked on the eye.

very impressive details...closer is better.

to be honest...when i started out birding/BIF (with EM1mkII) I used C-AF+Tr but after trying and testing and trying and testing and so on and so on so many combinations of so many different settings...i fell into settings which didn't use +TR. this was long before an Oly tech explained to me that +TR is intended for subjects moving on the Y axis.
I might just go ahead and give +TR another try. It won't cost nuth'n...and I need something to do until Dec. 02.

Nov 25, 2020 at 08:22 PM

arbitrage
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Bird detection AI

Paul_100A wrote:
on a more serious note...
re: EM1X
i have an EM1X (still have the EM1mkII i used before the 1X)...
like you, i don't have a lot of troubles getting shots of of birds which show proper focus (on the eyes and not the shoulder/breast)...but "i" don't get them all.
for the little birds (and many other sizes) there is often not enough time for "me" to 'focus and recompose'.
i 'thought' the EM1X's joystick would be the 'answer' to the issue of quickly moving the AF target around the frame (to get on the bird's eye)...I was wrong...the joystick does...Show more →

This is exactly what I've found using the R5's Bird Eye-AF...I can catch way more fleeting, perching moments with a good composition because the AF has pinpointed the eye as soon as I've raised the camera to my eye and I can do a slight recompose if needed or else just fire before it moves a split-second later. Moving a single AF point is a recipe for missed opportunities even on a fast reacting joystick when a bird is in come clutter. However if the bird perches with clear surroundings, distant background then most Auto or Zone modes will nail the shot if aperture is sufficient for DOF.

Nov 28, 2020 at 09:02 AM

Paul_100A
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Bird detection AI

arbitrage wrote:
This is exactly what I've found using the R5's Bird Eye-AF...I can catch way more fleeting, perching moments with a good composition because the AF has pinpointed the eye as soon as I've raised the camera to my eye and I can do a slight recompose if needed or else just fire before it moves a split-second later. Moving a single AF point is a recipe for missed opportunities even on a fast reacting joystick when a bird is in come clutter. However if the bird perches with clear surroundings, distant background then most Auto or Zone modes will nail...Show more →
Yes indeed. I’m expecting that I may or or may not get “better” results than anybody else’s (or my own prior results) but I sure am expecting a much easier and much more fun time getting those said results. Also expecting time spent out in the field to be of a much higher yield.
All good.

Nov 28, 2020 at 09:52 AM


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