If you photograph fast moving things that are unpredictable, then pre-capture may be a life saver for you. In this video you’ll get to see pre-capture in action… through the camera’s lens. You’ll see just how slow I was to capture the action, but how this one setting saves the shot. And we’ll even do some quick editing at the end.
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It’s a special shooting mode on many Olympus and OM System cameras which buffers, that is configured, with a half press. When you fully pressed the shutter button the buffered images are written to storage + the configured images.
There are 2 pro capture modes, hi and lo. In hi only the focus value is saved where as lo, with C AF, it continues to focus.
I usually use Lo for BiF and other erratic subjects. When the subject wasn’t moving I use Hi. For example when wildlife leaves or arrives to a location.
Additional information on my blog -> https://larrysphotography41.blogspot.com/2025/07/pro-capture-why-what-is-it.html?m=1
Does Nikon have the pre-capture
Depends on camera – on Z6 III it is under Custom Settings Menu, d shooting/display d3 – Pre-Release Capture options.
Nikon has it on some models, but annoyingly, it’s only jpg, not RAW. Rumor has it that the Z9 II will support raw pre-capture. It’s the one feature I feel my Z9 is lacking.
I’ve been using Pro capture on my Olympus/Om cameras for 9 years since it was launched in November 2016. It’s brilliant for sports photography as well as birds taking off, whales fluking and dolphins jumping.
I also have been using predated gif s few years now with Olympus .
Olympus has had this for a long time
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Do any of the Canon cameras have the pre-Capture feature, the R5 or R6 for example?
Enjoy it on my R5M2
My fuji has that option but I never used it, so thank u for making it clear for me!
Anxious to see the new pre-capture.
Just saw your clip on pre-capture. The Sony alpha R5 just got precapture. I look forward to using it when I’m in Florida. As always, thanks for the info.
Hi Matt: love your videos. But on this one I didn’t see the precapture stuff as you used it. It talked about the menu settings, programming the C5 button and then some editing. Did I miss something?
Yep, somehow I messed up and cut it out of the video. Sorry about that. Will redo and send out again
No. I screwed up and cut that part out of the video and I’m not near my drive to redo it just yet. Sorry about that.
This was a very timely video as I am off to Wales next month to photograph three hundred hungry wild Red Kites being fed. This will be my first birding adventure, so definitely will be rewatching the bird course I bought a while back and will try out precapture.
Quentin, you’ll love photographing the kites! I booked a private blind at Gigrin Farm a few years ago. The action is fast and wild once the raw meat is spread around. There are lots of YouTube videos with tips specifically about the shooting the kites in Wales. They helped me know what skills to practice before I went and get some great shots once I was there.
Matt, you mentioned the C5 button. Perhaps a better way to use it is to set it to toggle on/off recapture. This way, you do not have to keep it pressed the entire time (or remember to have to press it).
-Jeff
Hi…. Toggle on and off (for me) would be horrible. I can’t remember where I put my car keys 60 seconds after I walk in the front door. There is no way I could ever remember that I’ve toggled it on or off. And the chances are for me, that it would always be toggled to the wrong setting. Knowing I have to hold it down when I want to use it is the best setting for me.