Olympus EE-1 Dot Sight for Cameras with Hot Shoe,Black

Product Information

Overall, holding your camera 10" away from your face isn't a great position to use. If your camera has a viewfinder it's best to use it, especially from an ergonomic standpoint.

My EE-1 is arriving today! And in a few hours I will be trying it out for the first time with my extreme setup. Forget the single AF point because it would require your composition to be more precise and for you to keep an eye on the LCD/EVF constantly to make sure the AF point was on the subject. On the E-M1 I used the 9-Target Group area and even the All-Target group area on some occasions. With the GX8 I set a Custom Area with 9 areas or more depending on the subject and the scene. I sometimes use an extender to get the EE-1 in front of the camera; because I wear hats and the EE-1 gets in the way when trying to use the EVF. I'm still looking for a good low-profile extender, however. The first interesting thing about this product is that it is compatible with any camera featuring a hot-shoe mount.

The subject to be shot can be seen crystal clear under the chosen reticule and coincides with the AF rectangle precisely in the EVF or Touch Screen (TS) The light in the sight doesn't ever really "hit" the target; you're still confusing it with a laser sight like in James Bond movies where the little red dot shows up on his forehead. These sights don't work that way. The challenge is moving my eyes from the EE-1 to the EVF; that takes a lot of practice. Sometimes it's easier to just use the LCD. Always easier to use a monopod or tripod to keep things steady. It's well made and much smaller/lighter than most home-brew solutions (for attaching a gun RDS to a Cold shoe).

I first found out about this type of framing by virtue of the Kontur type of viewfinder marketed by Voigtlander in the 1950's for use on Rangefinder-style film bodies. The folllowing two shots were taken without repositioning the camera, the reticule and AF target are in alignment you will notice. Keep the live view on the LCD screen activated so that you can see your composition better. Adjust your camera’s position until you see that reference point in the middle of the LCD screen. Now look at the EE-1 and move the red dot until it sits on the same reference point as the centre of your composition. It is important that you remain in the same position while performing the whole operation so that your view of the LCD screen and Red Dot Sight doesn’t change much. Now everything you point the Dot Sight at should appear at the centre of your image.Note that the configuration is related to the focal length used. For example if you set up everything for a 100mm lens and then change it for a 300mm lens, it is likely that you will need to reconfigure everything. The EE-1 makes more sense to use with very long focal lengths but if you intend to use different lenses, the best option is to configure it with the longest telephoto you have. If you are using a zoom lens, start at the longest focal length. I'm looking for ways to improve my autofocus on my cameras including the E-M1 and I see a mention of the Olympus EE-1 Dot Sight. It doesn't but relies on the native camera AF capability when it finds its target via the sighting screen which has to be mechanically aligned. Don't think of it as a laser... just think of it as a way to point the camera accurately without having to put the camera up to your eye. When I got my OM-1, I tried the old dot sight again. Clearly, subject recognition eliminated the problem of slight misalignment of the reticle dot and the camera focus point. It worked really well for birds. Unfortunately, the mount of the sight didn't fit precisely in the camera shoe so alignment was iffy. Moreover, it required a hex key for calibration, it was heavy and clunky, the battery compartment cover threads were horrible to work with, and the switches required a lot of force that would move the sight around in the shoe.

Lumix GX8 + MC-14 + 300mm f/4 + EE-1 The red reticle helps you frame flying birds and similar subjects. The reticle is projected on a polycarbonate lens (similar to sunglasses) via a red LED light. Using a dot sight can turn into a crutch. It may result in a few more keepers but I don't think it helps one learn fieldcraft or photography.An alternative way of holding the camera is by keeping the camera strap above the left shoulder and under the right one, and push the camera away from the body until the strap tightens. In this way, the strap contributes to steadying the camera. This position increases the distance of the eye from the dot-sight, but may be vulnerable to arm fatigue. I have a couple,of laser dot sights from my long ago days as a competitive - not very good - .22 pistol target shooter. I mounted a simple, cheap laser dot sight since my old eyes couldn't see the built-in metal "iron" sights and it worked prety well. The minimum distance for achieving this is a learning process, too close and it is accurate, framing and AF positioning is off. This was much easier because only the exposed frame on the 'viewfinder' had to be superimposed over the scene. The effect is of a frame floating over the wide scene of view. Good for birds. Most other situations the camera AF is more than good enough. I have not used one but have bought cheap Chinese gunsight versions and made my own mounts.