Olympus OM-D E-M5 Firmware Update

[deveaushawn]

Released January 29:

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[TD="bgcolor: #f0f0f0"]Ver.2.0
(Jan. 29, 2014)[/TD]
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• Small AF target (
  
  ) was added to the AF target settings.
• ISO LOW (100 equivalent) was expanded on the low sensitivity side.

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E-M5 Firmware Update

 

[The_Traveler]

thanks

 

[Ron Evers]

The small focus box is very useful, however it seems auto ISO will not invoke low ISO even in very bright snow scenes.

Some folk claim the CAF tracking is also improved.

 

[deveaushawn]

Here is a post regarding the Low ISO from another forum. I have no idea whether it's accurate, but it seems plausible.

As the others have said, it [Low ISO] over exposes, then pulls back a stop. If you're familiar with the concept of ETTR(exposing to the right) for RAW files, the camera is essentially doing the same thing in-body. What this means in terms of your actual image is that you lose about a 1 stop in dynamic range around the highlights, but get less noisy image as a result (shadows are cleaner in particular). It may sound like a silly trade-off, but it's pretty useful if you consider that the E-M5 already has excellent dynamic range better than some APS-C sensors, so losing a stop isn't always a big if you're not at risk of blowing out your highlights. Just keep an eye on the histogram =P

To answer your question more directly, ISO LOW images will only be inferior to ISO 200 images when it comes to highlight retention. Cleaner shadows, more blown out highlights.