AF S v AF C

[Ardy]

Hi all, I am nearing my, 'end of dive life', and finding it increasingly difficult to use AFS, and moving back and forth to maintain focus. I am wondering if any of you use AFC for macro and what advantages it might bring. I use an EM1 mk 2 and wonder if the CAF is good enough to do this job?
Regards to all

PS I don't want to waste a dive or two of what is left for me, to mess around with changing settings.

 

[BoltSnap]

I am nearing my, 'end of dive life'

I don't want to waste a dive or two of what is left for me

What does this mean, my friend? You got me worried now.

 

[BoltSnap]

 

[Ardy]

What does this mean, my friend? You got me worried now.

I made the call last time I was in Bali, and it goes like this. I will do 3 trips next year and then pull the pin. The main reason is that my balance is shot, and I have some arthritis. My guide helps me into my gear, helps me into the water and then out of the water. Once I am down there, I am OK.
I do not under any circumstances wish to become a pain in the ass to anyone, let alone these guys. The guides I have used over the last 10 years have been great.

By the end of next year, I will have been diving from the age of 24 to 80, and it's been great. The time seems right as my deterioration is slow but never ending.

 

[d^2b]

I think it depends a bit how good the autofocus on your camera/lens is. With the OM1 I have recently been almost exclusively using AFC for macro, in combination with back-button-focus. This works fine for the 60mm macro, although sometimes with a diopter I need to switch back to AFS. The only bad part is sometimes I _think_ I am using AFC when in AFS mode, and that doesn't work at at all. With my previous EM-5II I found the AFC not very useful (or maybe I just read it was not great and never really tried). I can imagine the EM1-II with PDAF will have good enough AFC to make it worthwhile trying. If you do try, I strongly suggest setting up back-button-focus. Here's a video on setting that up on your camera

BACK BUTTON FOCUSING | OM SYSTEM

Learn how to separate the firing and focusing functions onto two separate buttons with Gavin Hoey.

learnandsupport.getolympus.com

 

[WS007]

Hi all, I am nearing my, 'end of dive life', and finding it increasingly difficult to use AFS, and moving back and forth to maintain focus. I am wondering if any of you use AFC for macro and what advantages it might bring. I use an EM1 mk 2 and wonder if the CAF is good enough to do this job?
Regards to all

PS I don't want to waste a dive or two of what is left for me, to mess around with changing settings.

I was using EM1II in Nauticam housing with both Pana 45mm and Zuiko 60mm macro lenses. I was always using C-AF&tracking with small spot and it worked pretty o.k. For comparison: previously I had EM5II which has worse AF and there I had to use S-AF (just as you do now). C-AF&tracking with EM1II was much more comfortable and resulted in more photos with the right focus...

Now I have Sony A7R5, which is said to have one of the best AFs ever and I also focus with C-AF&tracking with Sony 90mm macro lens. It works even better, but the difference from EM5II to EM1II was bigger compared to EM1II vs. A7R5...

All the best, Wolfgang

P.S.: Maybe you like C-AF&tracking for macro so much that you will consider to add another year of scubadiving after next year...

 

[Ardy]

I think it depends a bit how good the autofocus on your camera/lens is. With the OM1 I have recently been almost exclusively using AFC for macro, in combination with back-button-focus. This works fine for the 60mm macro, although sometimes with a diopter I need to switch back to AFS. The only bad part is sometimes I _think_ I am using AFC when in AFS mode, and that doesn't work at at all. With my previous EM-5II I found the AFC not very useful (or maybe I just read it was not great and never really tried). I can imagine the EM1-II with PDAF will have good enough AFC to make it worthwhile trying. If you do try, I strongly suggest setting up back-button-focus. Here's a video on setting that up on your camera

BACK BUTTON FOCUSING | OM SYSTEM

Learn how to separate the firing and focusing functions onto two separate buttons with Gavin Hoey.

learnandsupport.getolympus.com

Thanks D2, I have been using BBF for a fair while and agree it is important. The problem is I carry extra weight to hold me in position, except when on slopes, it tends to pull me down a bit, so I have to use my spotting stick as an anchor.

 

[Ardy]

I was using EM1II in Nauticam housing with both Pana 45mm and Zuiko 60mm macro lenses. I was always using C-AF&tracking with small spot and it worked pretty o.k. For comparison: previously I had EM5II which has worse AF and there I had to use S-AF (just as you do now). C-AF&tracking with EM1II was much more comfortable and resulted in more photos with the right focus...

Now I have Sony A7R5, which is said to have one of the best AFs ever and I also focus with C-AF&tracking with Sony 90mm macro lens. It works even better, but the difference from EM5II to EM1II was bigger compared to EM1II vs. A7R5...

All the best, Wolfgang

P.S.: Maybe you like C-AF&tracking for macro so much that you will consider to add another year of scubadiving after next year...

Hi Wolfgang, hadn't thought of adding tracking. Thanks a lot.
Maybe I could struggle on for another year, but the body and my conscience regarding my guide, who is a great guy, make me think it is time. Add to the list struggling against the current. I would hate to put him at risk trying to pull me out of a strong current, which you get occasionally in Tulamben. I'm 1.93 and 103kgs.