Olympus pen face detection?

Question

how do you turn the auto face detection off? i wont take pictures in the dark because it cannot detect a face. is there a way to turn it off or what mode should i take pictures in almost pitch black dark?

Answer 1

In either Live Control or the Super Control Panel, you can select or deselect Face Priority. Face Priority tries to lock onto what it thinks is a face, but it reverts to regular autofocus if it does not recognize a face. That won't solve your problem taking a picture in the dark. If you are trying to take a flash or very long exposure picture in little or no light, you could try using manual focus that you set in advance under brighter conditions. You could use a flashlight to illuminate your subject. If you set the self timer and have a flashlight, you could illuminate the subject, lock on the autofocus and start the timer, and turn off the flashlight before the timer finishes and the shutter opens.

Seriously. I placed the focus zone over the car's side reflector and used that method to get my focus for this moonlit shot:

http://www.martingrumet.com/olympus60sec-iso400.jpg



If you want to ambush someone or something with a flash picture in pitch darkness, you might try looking for a used Olympus Stylus Epic film camera. The early models used "active autofocus"--an infrared beam to detect the distance to the subject. Things like windows or rain would disrupt that, which is why passive contrast detect autofocus has caught on.

Answer 2

First in the dark you're camera won't be able to focus regardless of face detection (check your owner's manual for that).



What I do is shine a flash light on my subjects face, grab focus, light off and shoot. You can shoot over and over just to make sure you get what you want. That's exactly how I did this shot.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimsphotostuff/4654942709/in/photostream

But, since I was the subject, I had to have something standing where I was going to be then move it while my camera counted down from 10. It's not that difficult but your camera does need light to focus.

Answer 3

Consult the manual. It's free.