Much to the dismay of OM System camera owners, other camera brand users have been buying up all the OM System EE-1 Dot sights and the stocks have disappeared. Don’t tell anyone, but they are available again for now. Canon, Nikon, and Sony readers, please ignore this article about how useful they are.
Why Do We Need the Dot Sight EE-1
Besides landscapes and macro, one of the other main markets that the OM System is aimed at is wildlife photographers. The ever-increasing numbers of wildlife and bird photographers migrating to the system is partially due to the narrower field of view and the extra effective reach that telephoto lenses are afforded as a consequence.
When I used to shoot with a DSLR and was photographing birds in flight with a telephoto lens, it was relatively easy to keep the bird into the frame. With both eyes open, I could easily track them using the optical viewfinder, keeping the camera pointing in the same direction as my eyes were looking. However, when I switched to mirrorless, things became more difficult. I found it much harder to find the bird with the camera. With practice, I’m getting better at it. But it is still more difficult than it was with the optical viewfinder, especially when using a very long lens like the 150-400mm f/4.5 PRO.
The OM System Dot Sight EE-1 is a battery-powered device that fits into the hotshoe on top of the camera. It’s small, measuring about 3 x 1.5 x 1.5 inches (7 x 4.25 x 4.25 cm), and weighs just 2.6 ounces (73 grams).
At the back is a switch that lifts the top upwards to reveal an optical viewfinder screen. When you switch on the EE-1, a red LED projects a dot onto the screen, and that is used to align the camera with the subject. There are two ways of using it. First, you can keep your eye close to the Dot Sight and forget the electronic viewfinder (EVF). Alternatively, you can use the dot sight to line up your subject and then move your eye to the EVF, as you would with a spotting scope on a telescope.
Once mounted on the camera and switched on, the site needs a little bit of setting up. I started by mounting mine on my OM-1 with the OM System M.Zuiko 150-400mm f/4.5 PRO lens attached. I mounted the camera on a tripod using the lens’ foot. Then, I aimed and focused it on a subject sitting approximately at the distance that I would be from a large flying bird like a gull. That’s usually about 12 yards (11 meters). I used the door handle of my house. Next, looking through the Dot Sight, I adjusted the position of the red dot so it too sat on the handle. The dot’s position is adjusted by two small wheels that move it up and down, left and right. There is also a brightness adjustment for the dot. Then, it’s all set to go.
Using the OM System EE-1 Dot Sight
Using this device, it is much easier to align subjects with the camera. That’s because looking through the window of the Dot Sight, you are seeing the world exactly as you would with your eyes. Furthermore, that window is not enclosed, so you can see around the edges, enabling you to spot subjects in the periphery and bring them into the frame. When I placed the dot on the subject, it was in the middle of the frame.
One thing I was curious about was the parallax error. Most of us are used to seeing the world through our cameras’ lenses. When you look through the Dot Sight, you are not doing that but viewing from above the lens. This is why the position of the red dot is adjustable. However, if you set it up to photograph something 12 yards away and then change to a subject double that distance, the angle formed by the lens and the Dot Sight to the subject becomes more acute, and the red dot is no longer exactly aligned.
In the following shot, I had set up the Dot Sight for the starling at 400mm. Shortly afterward, I took the second picture of the sparrow using with same settings but standing closer. You can see the bird is higher in the frame. At greater distances, the parallax error becomes less noticeable as the angle is more acute.
When this happened, I was still getting the subject in the frame, but I would need to rely more on cropping in development to get the composition I wanted. With the huge number of pixels and the quality of the lenses we have today, this is not an issue for most of us.
But was this realignment a problem? For me, not really. When I am photographing wildlife, I know what I am going to shoot, and how far away it is likely to be. With practice, I am learning how many clicks of the vertical adjustment wheel it takes to realign the dot for more distant subjects. I might, very carefully, add a white dot of paint to the vertical wheel as an index mark for when I first set it up.
You don’t necessarily need to use the sight for actually taking the photo. I also used it on a tripod in the same way as one would use a spotting scope. My big lens, with the internal teleconverter activated, has a similar field of view as a 1000mm lens on a 35mm sensor camera. I used the site to line up the camera with a distant subject and then transferred to using the viewfinder. Of course, the picture isn’t going to be as great as getting close to the subject. However, many people use these big lenses not for fabulous photos, but in the way they would use a spotting scope to see a bird and then record it. For this purpose, the Dot Sight is an excellent tool.
I found one drawback to the EE-1 Dot Sight when I looked through the viewfinder. If I am wearing my peaked Lowe Alpine Mountain Cap, the peak gets in the way. The simple solution is to reverse the hat or use one without a peak.
What I Liked and What Can Be Improved
What I Liked
A test shot using the EE-1 Dot Sight.
The EE-1 is small and light and can be slipped into a top pocket.
It’s easy to set up.
It’s affordable
It is a useful tool for shooting with telephoto lenses, especially super-telephoto lenses.
It works well with subject detection on the OM-1
It’s dust- and splash-proof. That’s just as well as the first time I took this out, it rained.
The hot shoe mount is universal for most camera brands.
Photographing birds in flight is much easier with a long lens when using the dot sight.
Distant subjects are easier to locate than just using a super-telephoto lens.
What Could Be Improved?
I was pushed to find anything that I didn’t like about the EE-1 Dot.
Stocks of the device disappear from the shops quickly because Nikon and Canon users keep buying them.
Conclusion: Is It Worth Buying?
This is definitely a useful piece of equipment for those who shoot with long lenses. It takes a little setting up each time you change the lens, but once you are used to that, it’s a quick process.
A professional photographer, website developer, and writer, Ivor lives in the North East of England. His main work is training others in photography. He has a special interest in supporting people with their mental well-being. In 2023 he accepted becoming a brand ambassador for the OM System.
Not every professional writer uses click bait. The "more professional ones" if there is such a phrase, do not as their talent shines through and they have a solid following based on their excellent style of writing.
Please, please, dont quote "to kill a mocking bird" as an example, as you have obviously missed the point of this book. I also never said in 2021 I would stop reading your posts. Finally, my comment's about Alex stand on their own. I dont see why you are protecting him, as it does not affect your style of writing nor was it directed at you. He is a grown man and can protect himself. I hope your not one of these people who will keep this going on and on. The points have been made and we have both in a round about way agreed to disagree. Lets move on.
"Ive already stopped reading Alex Cooke's articles, now i just added another name to the list." That was what you wrote on an article of mine in 2021. So if you are going to attempt to repeatedly troll me, at least get your facts right.
Petty. Guess you are in same league, both not worth reading. When are you going to stop putting your hand inside the tigers mouth? Honestly, give it up. As a supposed writer, you have far more to lose. 😄
It's worth pointing out trolls who snipe at others and make disingenuous comments. It's worth showing them up for what they are: nasty, sad, unintelligent idiots with no creative talent, who hide behind fake identities in a failed attempt to disguise their inadequacies. If they put as much effort into their photography as they do into trolling others, they might even start to enjoy life and become successful, as opposed to failed nobodies.
Getting to the point and not slamming one another. I am also a birder but the extreme, Hummingbirds! And also some water birds. My sister-in-law has some 15 + feeders around the farm. The gem photo is one with a hummingbird in flight not next to a feeder. Yes a capture next to a flower that is like a trap with the camera only an a foot away is gold also. The point is this is like a Red Dot sight on a gun and once sight is aligned with lens you will be able to follow looking at the bird/s as well as the camera with a camera strap set to length away from you. Mainly for the big birds also while in flight. Does not cost much and easy to put on flash holder. I saw this item on a YouTube video some years ago, just in time for migration of white pelicans that fish on a slew/creek just down a knoll out my backdoor. So very handy and small in a camera bag.
One of the great things about mirrorless cameras, like my Sony a1, is the excellent EVF that allows us to see our subject and observe how the AF system is doing at acquiring and locking focus. I've been doing this photography stuff for over 65-years, so perhaps I'm a bit jaded, but, if you have trouble doing something, like locating a bird in flight in your EVF, then practice. Go out and shoot gulls or some common bird. Don't buy some jury-rigged device that prevents you from taking full advantage of the data in your EVF.
Here's how: You look at the bird with your eyes, raise the camera to you eye and lock in. All it takes is a small bit of practice to get good at it. I shot dslr bodies for years, with 500mm and longer lenses, and I don't see any disadvantage in using an EVF. In fact, there are a ton of advantages, such as seeing the actual exposure and a bunch of other signals that help my photography, including the AF behaviour.
Perhaps the author has been shooting with inferior EVFs, to which I'd suggest buying a body more suited to bird-in-flight photography, like a used Sony a9, which is excellent for that usage.
Thanks for the comment, David. I can only claim 50 years of photography. I'm actually quite good at capturing birds in flight but lots of photographers are finding the EE-1 Dot Sight improves the hit rate, and I do too.
I find the subject detection of the OM-1 first class and can happily rely on that to lock onto the bird while I look through the EE-1. It also has an excellent EVF. However, when shooting at a similar field of view with my lens as you would have with an 800-1000mm lens, the challenge is greater.
Although I understand your technique, when shooting fast-moving subjects, like swallows, puffins, or arctic terns, in the quarter second it takes to raise the lens, the bird has gone.
On the whole, like you, I like the EVF and would never go back to an optical viewfinder, apart from when I am shooting film. But, I definitely found it easier to align the DSLR with a fast moving, small subject by keeping both eyes open than I do with a mirrorless' EVF. Perhaps it's my wonky eyes!
Having an additional aid to facilitate that works is great; I take it you haven't tried one. Sadly you can't get one at the moment. It's so popular OMDS have told me they have run out of stock once more, so I'm not the only one who likes it.
You're absolutely correct to tell people not to buy this 'thing'.
There's a perfectly good alternative thats free and is very robust, always available and simple to use. You get it free with nearly every long lens. I've been using it for long lens images for a few decades on my 500 f4 and 300 f2.8 working on various unpredictable subjects with great results as I look over the top to determine where the subject might suddenly appear (eg marine wildlife).
It's the screw for the lens hood as shown in the picture at top (where it's oriented towards the bottom.) Simply loosen and turn it so it points upwards, then when using the kit simply align that roughly with the hotshoe, just like a gun's rear sight/front sight as you look over the top.
Once you get. a feel for it, it works nearly every time. Minimal parallax error as a bonus. And did I say it was free? Whats not to like! :-)
There are significant disadvantages to your proposed alternative, not least the lack of calibration between your eye position and its alignment with the screw, and then the distance of the subject. Each time you raise your camera, with your single reference point, your lens angle will differ relative to the subject. Furthermore, when walking around with several thousand dollars worth of camera and lens, paying a few dollars for something that works properly and increases the hit rate is a better option than trying to make do. However, if it works for you, that's fine, but your method is flawed and I could not recommend it as a way of working.
When I used to shoot with a DSLR and was photographing birds in flight with a telephoto lens, it was relatively easy to keep the bird into the frame. With both eyes open, I could easily track them using the optical viewfinder, keeping the camera pointing in the same direction as my eyes were looking. However, when I switched to mirrorless, things became more difficult. I found it much harder to find the bird with the camera. With practice, I’m getting better at it. But it is still more difficult than it was with the optical viewfinder, especially when using a very long lens like the 150-400mm f/4.5 PRO.
Not every professional writer uses click bait. The "more professional ones" if there is such a phrase, do not as their talent shines through and they have a solid following based on their excellent style of writing.
Please, please, dont quote "to kill a mocking bird" as an example, as you have obviously missed the point of this book. I also never said in 2021 I would stop reading your posts. Finally, my comment's about Alex stand on their own. I dont see why you are protecting him, as it does not affect your style of writing nor was it directed at you. He is a grown man and can protect himself. I hope your not one of these people who will keep this going on and on. The points have been made and we have both in a round about way agreed to disagree. Lets move on.
"Ive already stopped reading Alex Cooke's articles, now i just added another name to the list." That was what you wrote on an article of mine in 2021. So if you are going to attempt to repeatedly troll me, at least get your facts right.
Petty. Guess you are in same league, both not worth reading. When are you going to stop putting your hand inside the tigers mouth? Honestly, give it up. As a supposed writer, you have far more to lose. 😄
It's worth pointing out trolls who snipe at others and make disingenuous comments. It's worth showing them up for what they are: nasty, sad, unintelligent idiots with no creative talent, who hide behind fake identities in a failed attempt to disguise their inadequacies. If they put as much effort into their photography as they do into trolling others, they might even start to enjoy life and become successful, as opposed to failed nobodies.
Getting to the point and not slamming one another. I am also a birder but the extreme, Hummingbirds! And also some water birds. My sister-in-law has some 15 + feeders around the farm. The gem photo is one with a hummingbird in flight not next to a feeder. Yes a capture next to a flower that is like a trap with the camera only an a foot away is gold also. The point is this is like a Red Dot sight on a gun and once sight is aligned with lens you will be able to follow looking at the bird/s as well as the camera with a camera strap set to length away from you. Mainly for the big birds also while in flight. Does not cost much and easy to put on flash holder. I saw this item on a YouTube video some years ago, just in time for migration of white pelicans that fish on a slew/creek just down a knoll out my backdoor. So very handy and small in a camera bag.
One of the great things about mirrorless cameras, like my Sony a1, is the excellent EVF that allows us to see our subject and observe how the AF system is doing at acquiring and locking focus. I've been doing this photography stuff for over 65-years, so perhaps I'm a bit jaded, but, if you have trouble doing something, like locating a bird in flight in your EVF, then practice. Go out and shoot gulls or some common bird. Don't buy some jury-rigged device that prevents you from taking full advantage of the data in your EVF.
Here's how: You look at the bird with your eyes, raise the camera to you eye and lock in. All it takes is a small bit of practice to get good at it. I shot dslr bodies for years, with 500mm and longer lenses, and I don't see any disadvantage in using an EVF. In fact, there are a ton of advantages, such as seeing the actual exposure and a bunch of other signals that help my photography, including the AF behaviour.
Perhaps the author has been shooting with inferior EVFs, to which I'd suggest buying a body more suited to bird-in-flight photography, like a used Sony a9, which is excellent for that usage.
Thanks for the comment, David. I can only claim 50 years of photography. I'm actually quite good at capturing birds in flight but lots of photographers are finding the EE-1 Dot Sight improves the hit rate, and I do too.
I find the subject detection of the OM-1 first class and can happily rely on that to lock onto the bird while I look through the EE-1. It also has an excellent EVF. However, when shooting at a similar field of view with my lens as you would have with an 800-1000mm lens, the challenge is greater.
Although I understand your technique, when shooting fast-moving subjects, like swallows, puffins, or arctic terns, in the quarter second it takes to raise the lens, the bird has gone.
On the whole, like you, I like the EVF and would never go back to an optical viewfinder, apart from when I am shooting film. But, I definitely found it easier to align the DSLR with a fast moving, small subject by keeping both eyes open than I do with a mirrorless' EVF. Perhaps it's my wonky eyes!
Having an additional aid to facilitate that works is great; I take it you haven't tried one. Sadly you can't get one at the moment. It's so popular OMDS have told me they have run out of stock once more, so I'm not the only one who likes it.
You're absolutely correct to tell people not to buy this 'thing'.
There's a perfectly good alternative thats free and is very robust, always available and simple to use. You get it free with nearly every long lens. I've been using it for long lens images for a few decades on my 500 f4 and 300 f2.8 working on various unpredictable subjects with great results as I look over the top to determine where the subject might suddenly appear (eg marine wildlife).
It's the screw for the lens hood as shown in the picture at top (where it's oriented towards the bottom.) Simply loosen and turn it so it points upwards, then when using the kit simply align that roughly with the hotshoe, just like a gun's rear sight/front sight as you look over the top.
Once you get. a feel for it, it works nearly every time. Minimal parallax error as a bonus. And did I say it was free? Whats not to like! :-)
https://fstoppers.com/s3/files/styles/thumbnail/s3/comment/2024/11/15/jm...
There are significant disadvantages to your proposed alternative, not least the lack of calibration between your eye position and its alignment with the screw, and then the distance of the subject. Each time you raise your camera, with your single reference point, your lens angle will differ relative to the subject. Furthermore, when walking around with several thousand dollars worth of camera and lens, paying a few dollars for something that works properly and increases the hit rate is a better option than trying to make do. However, if it works for you, that's fine, but your method is flawed and I could not recommend it as a way of working.
I didn't mention a single reference point, I mentioned two. I don't doubt the red dot is good, but if you cant buy one this method is 100% better! :-)