As soon as I started using the OM-D E-M1 Mark II, I was impressed by the speed of its autofocus system. In most instances, even low-light, it gets the subject sharp very quickly. The Tracking AF system is also good. It doesn’t always stay with the subject, but I found it more reliable than past tracking systems.
When photographing a cyclist in a gloomy woodland I found that when I used C-AF Tracking and shot at 15fps (frames per second) the tracking point stayed on or near them as they cycled towards me and I moved the camera to adjust composition. Checking the images for sharpness at 100% for our Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II review revealed a success rate of around 85% before the cyclist got within the focus distance limit that I had set.
Switching to regular C-AF mode with a small AF point set with a cluster of five points (5-Target Group) produced more consistent sharpness with a hit rate of over 95% at 15fps. Boosting the maximum rate to 18fps by using Pro Capture Low mode limits also achieved an impressive hit rate of 90%.
"I was reminded of the downside to Phase Detection AF with the Olympus and the Olympus 300m F/4 with the 1.4x teleconverter on my recent trip to Kenya. While in Kenya, after the first two days of not getting as sharp of images as I expected from the OM-D EM-1 and the 300mm, I finally came to the conclusion the new camera was front focusing. Thankfully, Olympus has an AF Adjust option Custom Settings Menu so I was able to fine-tune the focus for the camera and lens, and I finally started getting the results I expected. And I will say, once the AF was adjusted, it was as sharp as anything I’ve ever shot, including the Nikkor 600mm F/4 I recently sold."