Olympus EM5 MkII High Resolution Mode

Pete November 4, 2016November 6, 2016 0 Comments Blashford Lakes, Common Puffball, Macro, Manfrotto Pixi Evo 2 Mini Tripod, Mushroom, Olympus 60mm F2.8 macro lens, Olympus High Resolution Mode, OLYMPUS OM-D E-M5 Mark II, Scaly Earthball

Here is a little break from the holiday posts, a macro post combined with a trial of the Olympus EM5 MkII high resolution mode.

For those not in the know Olympus included a special high resolution mode on their EM5 MkII camera that takes and combines 8 sequential images into a 40 megapixel JPEG image, a staggering 24 megapixels larger than it’s standard 16 megapixel sensor image.

If, unlike me!, you configure the mode correctly you can also get a 64-megapixel raw file in addition to the 40 megapixel JPEG. The 64 megapixel raw file at time of writing has to be processed using the Olympus special Photoshop plug-in as it is not supported by Camera Raw yet.

(link to the Olympus software download page)

A word to the wise, you will need to use a tripod and to choose a subject that is motionless to take full advantage of this special feature, otherwise you are more than likely to have images with blurring and artefacts. I choose mushrooms which I have been led to believe don’t have a habit of moving very fast!

I attached my Olympus EM5 MKII & Olympus 60mm F2.8 macro lens onto the Manfrotto Pixi Evo 2 Mini Tripod, and I selected a 4 second time period between the shutter button being pressed and the shutter release in the high resolution mode settings. The aim of this was to limit any shake resulting from pressing the shutter button.

What amazed me about the shoot in the field was the speed in that it took the 8 sequential images, and then combined them into a final photo viewable right there and then.

Anyway enough of the writing I hear, so onto the results including the standard size as a comparison. I trialed a selection of different apertures up to the high res mode max F8 aperture.

The high res is the 1st of each pair

F5.6

Woodland Mushrooms Olympus High Resolution Mode

Common Puffball high resolution mode image

Common Puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum) standard image size

Here is a comparion at 100% enlargement

Scaly Earthball high resolution mode image

Scaly Earthball (Scleroderma verrucosum) standard image size

F2.8

Mushroom Gills Close-Up high resolution mode image

Mushroom Gills Close-Up standard image size

Finally, if all that wasn’t enough, I stacked two F5.6 high res images together as I focused the 1st on the mushrooms in the foreground and the 2nd of the mushrooms in the background.