Olympus Hi Resolution mode

introduction

the Olympus High-Res sensor shift mode was introduced in Feb 2015 with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 II
it is a technique first used on Hasselblad medium format cameras, and was introduced by Olympus to further enhance the capabilities and functionality of their amazing sensor based image stabiliser
the sensor moves 0.5 pixel between each shot (that is just 0.0002mm from its previous position – with a tolerance of +/-0.0001mm)
the camera automatically takes 8 shots with the sensor in slightly different position and then analyses each shot and merges them into one 64mp RAW file then downsizes this to a 40mp jpeg (as there is no significant image detail to be gained from having more than 40mp on this sensor)
“Unlike the Hasselblad system, which uses four or six shots, the Olympus method uses eight. This is because it's essentially doing two things: the first four movements shift the sensor in whole-pixel jumps in a square pattern. This is designed to overcome the limitations of the Bayer color filter pattern: moving each red and blue pixel into all the gaps that would normally exist between them and their nearest same-color neighbor, meaning you sample every color at every pixel. The sensor then moves up and left by 1/2 a pixel's width and repeats its square pattern - theoretically doubling the vertical and horizontal resolution.”¹⁾

image courtesy of dpreview.com

set camera to HiRes mode, this may automatically set file type to jpeg only, so you may wish to change this to jpg+RAW
place camera on a tripod
take shot - camera will automatically take 8 shots and combine them to produce:
- HiRes jpeg
- +/- HiRes RAW (ORF)
- +/- normal res RAW (ORI) of 1st frame

if you are using the new Olympus OM-D E-M1 mark II, and want Adobe to process the RAW files directly, you will need to wait until Adobe releases a new version compatible with this camera's RAW files

according to Olympus these files cannot be viewed or processed in the E-M5 II camera
Olympus Viewer 3 will handle these files and you can export to TIFF
this file type is not supported by most image processing software even though it is apparently just a regular RAW file just of the first image the camera takes
you may be able to process this file in most software if you change the file name extension to .ORF instead of .ORI (make sure you have moved it to a different folder from your actual high res ORF file, or renamed the filename so there is no duplication with this ORF file) ²⁾

Olympus Viewer 3 will handle these files and you can export to TIFF
latest versions of Adobe software will handle the E-M5 II files (eg. Lightroom 6, Photoshop CC 2017 and CS6) but not E-M1 II files
older versions of 64 bit Photoshop or CS5 require an additional plugin:
- Olympus plugin for 64bit CS5 or Photoshop can be found here and the instructions can be downloaded here (pdf)
- there is no plugin for 32 bit CS5 or Photoshop!
Adobe Lightroom 5 requires initial conversion of the ORF file to DNG via the Adobe DNG Converter

gives significantly more image detail when you want it than the usual 16mp image
gives more colour detail and less moire than a 36-50mp full frame sensor while giving similar base luminance detail
more detailed edge-to-edge images than full frame
- optics of Micro Four Thirds system will generally give sharper image with less aberrations across the image from edge to edge compared to a full frame system (physics of optics means that for a given optical design, aberrations and resolution loss decline - often to the power of 4 - as one moves in distance from the centre of the image)
one can resort back to 16mp file sizes when this mode is not needed
36mp+ cameras need to be on a tripod to give 36mp+ image detail so these uses are generally just wasting file size for all their other shots taken without tripods and critical focus techniques - for most photographers, improved image stabiliser is more important in gaining image detail than more megapixels

currently requires tripod and static scene
- the current implementation on the Olympus OM-D E-M5 II takes almost 1 sec to complete the 8 shot sequence and thus any scene motion between shots results in artefacts in the image and thus currently it is limited to tripod use with a static scene and when using flash shutter speed sync is only 1/20th sec due to use of the electronic shutter for each shot
- Olympus is hoping improved technology will allow the 8 shots to be completed in 1/60th sec and thus requirement of the tripod and static scenes may be substantially reduced³⁾
requires very sharp optics to achieve 40mp
- for example, the Olympus mZD 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro weatherproof lens needs to be shot at f/4, and by f/5.6, diffraction effects reduce actual resolution below 40mp, while at f/2.8, it is not quite sharp enough.

¹⁾

²⁾

³⁾