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[OM] E-M5 EVF delay, again

Subject: [OM] E-M5 EVF delay, again
From: Peter Klein <pklein@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 00:15:33 -0800
A while back we had a discussion of the EVF delay in the OM-D E-M5. I 
found that it lagged significantly behind real life--enough that it was 
very difficult to nab a fleeting "decisive moment." Example:  I could 
not catch the instant of ball meeting the raquet in a very gentle family 
game of duffer tennis.  I have no trouble doing such things with a Leica 
RF or a DSLR.  I also found that if I put an external optical viewfinder 
in the hot shoe, the problem went away, and results were similar to a 
Leica RF. So the problem is not *shutter* lag, but the EVF. I later 
confirmed that the viewfinder had lag by photographing an electronic 
metronome with the sound turned off.

Someone (I believe Moose) suggested that that there was a custom menu 
option to speed up the viewfinder refresh rate.  This week I tried using 
this. I do not believe it helped.

The setting is in Custom Menu J (EVF).  The item is Frame Rate. "Normal" 
is 120 frames per second, and "High" is 240 frames/sec. The manual says 
that High reduces viewfinder lag.  Fooling around with photographing the 
metronome, I got pretty much the same results with High as with Normal.  
Yes, my fallible human reaction time is part of the measurement, but 
things average out to about the same.

My guess is that the "viewfinder" lag they refer to is image tearing in 
video, not the lag behind the action in front of the lens.  Also, the 
delay I'm experiencing appears to be something like 1/8 of a second, or 
125 ms, as seen on my metronome.  The difference between 120 and 240 
frames/sec is 8.3 vs. 4.2 milliseconds. Nowhere near enough to account 
for what I'm seeing.  So the lag has nothing to do with the refresh 
rate--it's built into the chain between the sensor and the EVF.

So my question now is:  Has the E-M1 improved on this significantly?  
This subject is rarefied enough that no reviews I've read address it.  
Steve Huff says that everything about the camera is faster, but I'd like 
to know what and how much.  I'd also like to know how much if any the 
shutter shock has been mitigated, because this means I must add yet 
another 1/8 second delay if I want sharp pictures.

Sometimes all this doesn't matter--often actions and expressions "peak 
and hold." But somtimes the E-M5 doesn't cut it for fast "people 
photography." A pity, because it is so very, very good at so much else.

--Peter


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