Using WiFi with the E-M1 is straightforward and potentially useful. You will need a smartphone with the Olympus Image Sharing application downloaded, which looks like this:
Remote control is used for controlling your phone via WiFi. Import photos transfers images from your camera to your phone and Edit Photo allows you edit those photos on the phone. Finally, the Add Geotag option will geotag all the images currently on your camera. This is potentially very useful, provided all the shots on your camera are from the same location and you remember to geotag them before you jump in your car and drive home.
To get started, go to the record menu on the phone and select Connection to Smartphone.
You then get this screen…
…and then this…
If you have already paired your camera with your phone; all you need to do now is join the camera’s WiFi network and start the Olympus application. If this is the first time you have used the feature, you have to set up the pairing by capturing the QR code on the camera with your phone.
With the WiFi connection established, press Remote Control and you will see what the camera is seeing, together with a number of set-up options. My camera is set to Aperture Priority, but by clicking at the top right, I can change that setting:
I can change the Aperture (or the shutter speed, or both, depending on which mode I am in):
Exposure compensation:
ISO:
White Balance:
Shutter mechanism:
The focus type, e.g. S-AF is also shown, but it is not possible to change it.
Finally, there is control at the bottom which defines whether the camera will merely focus when you touch the phone screen, or whether it will focus and take the shot. I have found focusing and shooting via the rear screen on the E-M5 to be slower than focusing/shooting via the viewfinder, but there are times when it can be useful.
For example, I was using the 60mm Macro lens and trying to catch insects landing on a flower. By the time I had moved the focus box to where the insect was sitting, it wasn’t sitting there any more. Even touching the screen to move the focus point and then pressing the shutter was too slow. So I set the screen to focus and take the image, and was able to catch the nimble insects:
So I decided to try this via the phone. Before doing that, I set up a couple of subjects and tried focusing on them and taking a shot by touching the rear screen of the E-M1:
[flickr video=10417077543 show_info=no w=640]
Then I did the same thing via the phone screen:
[flickr video=10417103324 show_info=no w=640]
After each shot it shows you a preview of the image on the camera screen. Moving that image onto the phone slows down the process, and you have to cancel the preview before you can take the next image; but I got the impression that the actual speed of capture was the same as touching the rear screen of the camera (although there must be a slight delay).
I had the phone next to the camera for ease of video capture, but I tried standing 5 metres away and the connection was the same. I couldn’t try at a further distance because I would have fallen over my balcony, but get too far away and someone will come along and steal your camera; so I reckon 5 metres is more than enough.
WiFi adds a useful shooting aid to the E-M1. Now, where are those insects…?