Testing HIGH RES mode on OM-1 mk 2

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Tom Reynolds

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High-Res mode is OM Systems label for pixel shifting. According to the description the camera takes 8 shots in hand-held mode moving 1/2 pixel and stiches them together in a 50 mp .ORI file.

I am currently testing in my back yard, OM-1 mark 2, 300f4, 50 f/s @ various shutter speeds.

Of great interest is that the camera's stitching worked even on Lesser Goldfinches which are always moving.

Attached is the standard .orf file uncropped and a significant crop of the .ori High-Res image run through Topaz Photo AI
_3120520a_lesser_goldfinch_HR.jpg
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_3120520_NO_CROP_SMALL.jpg
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Sounds good, do you get the 8 raw files, or just one raw file output?
 
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Thanks for showing your results, Tom. You share a lot of examples of the the OM1 can do, and as a former M43 shooter I appreciate it. If I could bring myself to shoot a fourth system, I’d pick up an OM1, O100-400, and 60/2.8. The OM1’s (in-camera!) computational features are fantastic.
 
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Wait... are you saying that you took a HH Hi-Res - multi-frame - shot (50Mp) of the *moving* bird and OM-1 mk2 stitched it OK? That's impressive. I also have OM-1 mk2. Is the .ORI a version of .ORF raw file?
 
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The .ORI file is a standard 20mp shot. The stitched shot is .ORF. The Lesser Goldfinch seems to always be moving but the camera stitched the 50mp image together. I was using a 300f4.

I am just in the beginning of researching and understanding the capabilities and limits of this HIGH-RES mode. I have both the OM-1 mk 1 and OM-1 mk2. I also have 100-400 lenses and 300f4 plus both TC's.

I don't know yet if the lens makes a difference (since HIGH-RES is single shot) or if the body makes a difference is stitching ability.

However, I have hip replacement surgery tomorrow and will be stuck home for 3 weeks with little to do but research this feature. I will report because if we can routinely take perched birds in 50mp files hopefully the IQ would be better and overcome some of the issues with cropping the m43 image.

Tom
 
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Tom Reynolds said:
The .ORI file is a standard 20mp shot. The stitched shot is .ORF. The Lesser Goldfinch seems to always be moving but the camera stitched the 50mp image together. I was using a 300f4.

I am just in the beginning of researching and understanding the capabilities and limits of this HIGH-RES mode. I have both the OM-1 mk 1 and OM-1 mk2. I also have 100-400 lenses and 300f4 plus both TC's.

I don't know yet if the lens makes a difference (since HIGH-RES is single shot) or if the body makes a difference is stitching ability.

However, I have hip replacement surgery tomorrow and will be stuck home for 3 weeks with little to do but research this feature. I will report because if we can routinely take perched birds in 50mp files hopefully the IQ would be better and overcome some of the issues with cropping the m43 image.

Tom
Click to expand...
It should also, theoretically, reduce noise. I think...
 
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Both my wife and I LOVE the light weight and compactness of our OM-1/100-400 combos. What I hope that I can increase the IQ @ 400mm of the combo.

In comparing different lenses we found that the 300f4 routinely outperforms the 100-400 both with and without either TC.

The problem is that we don't like adding or subtracting lenses or TC's in the field. The 300f4 combo is light enough for use even with either TC but we lose flexibility. If the HIGH-RES mode increases the IQ of the 100-400, problem solved.

My experience is that Topaz Photo AI does a fine job of removing noise in the background and the default sharpening is fine for a 100-400 shot but needs to be toned down with a 300F4 shot like the Lessor Goldfinch.

Tom
 
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Tom Reynolds said:
Both my wife and I LOVE the light weight and compactness of our OM-1/100-400 combos. What I hope that I can increase the IQ @ 400mm of the combo.
Click to expand...
I also have the OM-1 (both mk2 and mk1, which will likely get sold), and Oly 100-400, 300F4 and both TCs. My experience is similar to yours. I love the lightness and handling of the 100-400 but 300F4 is better optically (plus sync IS). My other system is A1 +FE200-600 and it does outperform m4/3 at ~800mm eq. FOV in sharpness. But it's heavier of course.
 
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Tom Reynolds said:
The .ORI file is a standard 20mp shot. The stitched shot is .ORF. The Lesser Goldfinch seems to always be moving but the camera stitched the 50mp image together. I was using a 300f4.

I am just in the beginning of researching and understanding the capabilities and limits of this HIGH-RES mode. I have both the OM-1 mk 1 and OM-1 mk2. I also have 100-400 lenses and 300f4 plus both TC's.

I don't know yet if the lens makes a difference (since HIGH-RES is single shot) or if the body makes a difference is stitching ability.

However, I have hip replacement surgery tomorrow and will be stuck home for 3 weeks with little to do but research this feature. I will report because if we can routinely take perched birds in 50mp files hopefully the IQ would be better and overcome some of the issues with cropping the m43 image.

Tom
Click to expand...

Wishing you a speedy recovery, Tom!
 
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John-
Trying to put all the latest info together:

It appears that the OM-1 snaps all the shots necessary to stitch together a High-Res shot at the no-refocus rate of 120f/s using the unique capabilities of this sensor to move 1/2 a pixel. That means that the lens and the frames/per second limitations of the 100-400 don't matter. Yes, all shots taken with a 150-400 or 300f4 will be better that the shots taken with the 100-400 but the shots will all be taken very quickly (120f/s) thus limiting the effect of the subject moving.

That may mean that my compact, lightweight OM-1/100-400 combo may be capable of taking shots near the IQ of the Sony A1.

If so, awesome.
 
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Tom Reynolds said:
John-
Trying to put all the latest info together:

It appears that the OM-1 snaps all the shots necessary to stitch together a High-Res shot at the no-refocus rate of 120f/s using the unique capabilities of this sensor to move 1/2 a pixel. That means that the lens and the frames/per second limitations of the 100-400 don't matter. Yes, all shots taken with a 150-400 or 300f4 will be better that the shots taken with the 100-400 but the shots will all be taken very quickly (120f/s) thus limiting the effect of the subject moving.

That may mean that my compact, lightweight OM-1/100-400 combo may be capable of taking shots near the IQ of the Sony A1.

If so, awesome.
Click to expand...

The only thing is my example had a shutter speed of 1/50th so it wouldn't be able to get anywhere near 120 FPS. Honestly I'm amazed at what it did, I was handholding 800mm FOV @1/50th using hand held high rez and it was sharp. Not sure how the magic works but it does.

I know you mentioned the A1 and saw my post on FM so for others I'll post the A1 shots here that was taking a few minutes after the OM shot above.

A_104050-Enhanced-NR_1500.jpg
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So the comparison is between a $13000 lens on a $6500 body verses a $7500 lens on a $2400 body and, while I like the Sony shot better, it is mostly because of the pose of the subjects.
 
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Tom Reynolds said:
So the comparison is between a $13000 lens on a $6500 body verses a $7500 lens on a $2400 body and, while I like the Sony shot better, it is mostly because of the pose of the subjects.
Click to expand...
Yup, I was impressed with the quality. The downsize of course is that you have to wait for the HHHR for the 10s or whatever it is in camera before you can take the next shot. I got the Sony shot because I was able to fire away without having to worry about waiting as they were only in that position with their eyes open for a very short period of time. I could have been waiting for the HHR shot to finish and missed it.

So pluses/minus but overall (at least in this limited example) it's extremely impressive.
 
The resolution might be the same, but the impact of the size of the sensor is still there. All else equal the larger sensor is still going to have better IQ. Still good results though.
 
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