OM-D E-M5 and the corkscrew

[SmartWombat]

Using either C-AF or C-AF [TR] modes, the E-M5 is capable of some decent motorsport images at 4fps.
Not any faster, because you can't use continuous AF with the high speed (5-9fps) burst mode of the camera.

There is a trick I've found to successfully using the C-AF modes; ignore the camera manual.
In my experience over the last two days, half-press of the shutter to start the tracking mode AF is a waste of time. The tracking box glows green and jerks about drifting off the target (the driver's head usually) and then a full press results in about 3 seconds of not taking a picture ... by which time the car it out of the corkscrew and on the way to turn 9.

I found the same for a vulture in flight; start out with the box on the vulture, half-press and the box jerks about and loses track of the bird then the focus hunts and the bird vanishes as it goes so far OOF that there is not even a dark blob to track.

Seems that the tracking works best if I half-tap to set the AF, then track the subject with the [ ] black corner markers round the AF point, and when I want a photo just full-press and hold it. No half measures just mash the button down and off it goes.
The Af is really fast for the first image, then a 1/2 second pause maybe (not always) then the burst continues with focus tracking.

It lives up to the claim of a fast AF system for single AF, and for the first of a continuous focus session - then there is a delay before the rest of the burst. I need to find some way of recording it to show it happening.

[Photo-John]

Look pretty good, Paul. How sharp are these photos? Is the continuous auto focus keeping up? Have you tried using the viewfinder instead of the LCD or does that not work for you?

[SmartWombat]

I used the viewfinder almost exclusively instead of the LCD.
With the EVF set to auto-select and then turning off the LCD with the button just by the eyepiece, I was able to shoot over 1000 images in burst mode. No chimping to save battery life

The problem with that is the EVF turns off when there is no eye detected, so if I wait between shots there is a pause while the camera detects my eye and turns on the EVF before I can take a picture. Because of that I missed a few shots, and so changed my approach this morning.
So today I set up for manual control of the EVF/LCD and turned off the LCD but then the EVF did not go into power saving mode. Result was flashing red battery by mid-race, so I had to go back to the GH-1.

Oh how I missed the E-M5 !
Going back to only 1 shot per second in C-AF "burst" mode was painfully slow.
And the EVF blanking time on the GH-1 was so long that I couldn't pan at all.
And the C-AF lock time was awfully slow.

Once upon a time I was happy to have the GH-1, no longer so.
I may have to sell it and put the money toward another E-M5.

[MotorToad]

Did you have a firend in the 37 car?

I've had the worst time at tracks shooting the subject I want. I get great shots of the slow folks while I practice my panning, but the people I'm there to photograph almost never come out well.

[Lava Lamp]

I haven't checked in here in a few years and came back to find you were still shooting racing. Bravo on a sustained passion.

I like the blur on the last shot. The limited racing photos I've taken have been unsatisfactory because the frozen action doesn't convey any sense of speed. Similarly, I like the Porsche (?) shot because the debris also gives a sense of motion.