Being able to take my own outfit photos was the very reason I bought my first Olympus camera. Olympus cameras have a fantastic WIFI phone connection which meant I could use my phone as a remote, focus the picture on myself AND see myself on screen while shooting…

A huge improvement over setting up my clunky old Canon, focussing on a chair stand-in, setting the timer, rushing into place and then checking to see if I’d got the shot (with no cut-off head) afterwards! It was a faff!

This post is a part of paid partnership with Olympus & includes affiliate links.

With the Olympus Share app, you can use your phone as a fully functioning remote, with access to all the manual settings while seeing yourself on camera. It’s brilliant!

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Note! There is an absolutely fantastic deal on the Olympus Pen E-PL8 rn (with the non auto-zoom kit lens) which includes a free 45mm lens, worth £279. Add in my 20% discount code STYLO20 and you get it all for £319.99! Runs until July 5th – go, go, go! The free lens offer is also live on the Olympus Pen E-PL9,  currently reduced in price, so with STYLO20 comes in at £403.20. 

(The differences between the the Pen E-PL8 and Pen E-PL9 is the E-PL9 has 4k video, slightly better image processor, ability to trigger video from the phone app and some new filters and Advanced Photography functions which give you easy access to thinks like shooting double exposures and HDR! )

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USING THE REMOTE

Connecting the Wifi

I’ve always found the most reliable way to connect my phone to camera, is to first turn on the camera WIFI by tapping the WIFI icon in the top left of the screen. Then go to your phone Wifi Settings and select the camera in your networks list. It will then ask you for the password, an 8-digit number. Enter this, wait for the blue tick and then open your app. Wait for the blue On at the bottom to appear, then you’re good to go!

Setting your settings

You can read about the settings I use on my Pen here, and it’s worth always checking in on your settings (unless you’re on Auto) when you’re on remote.

Remember to select your focal point!

You can tap the the phone screen to focus – a little green box will appear – if you have it set to the little button with a finger on the square (similar to the one on camera screen, left hand side) – you can tap this to allow you to take a shot, tap the screen to focus, or have those functions turned off entirely. I usually have it set to focus only, unless I’m holding my phone in the shot and it’s easier to trigger the remote (not on timer) with my thumb!

Using the timer

Simply set yourself 6 seconds (or whatever you prefer!) to give yourself time to pop your phone out of sight – remember to make sure you’ve tapped on yourself to be in focus!

Setting up sequential shooting

Tap the settings cog wheel icon when you are in the self-timer section, (see the pic further up on setting the self-timer!) Then you can set up interval shooting. This means you can shoot up to 10 pictures in a row. You can also set the interval time, I have it at a 2 second interval, so you can strike a different pose and speed through outfit post pictures. When you want to use this function, you need to tap into the square at the bottom right, and tap the icon to the right of the self-timer one – the icon that is a self-timer on top of a stack of photos!

Filming video with your remote

On the Pen E-PL9, Pen F and OMD E-M10 mark iii, (you can use my STYLO20 code on all of these, btw! Lenses too!)  you can switch to video by selecting the mode in the top right of the camera.

Import your images & video to your phone

This is as simple as selecting Import Photos, selecting the ones you want, either individually or as a group, and hitting Import. It’s pretty quick, although videos takes longer.

Shooting Video For For IGTV

If you want to shoot a portrait video for IGTV on your camera for better quality than your phone, then all you have to do is position you camera on the tripod vertically. Once you’ve imported, the best place to edit a vertical video is in the InShot app.

Shooting Pictures & Video For Instagram Stories

I often use images and video I’ve taken on my camera for Stories, as I tend to import direct onto my phone throughout the day so I’ve always got some good quality content to use! If I have a sequence of photos, I’ll sometimes turn them into a GIF-like video on an app called Momento.

Shooting Photos In Different Sized Dimensions

This can be useful if, like me, you like to compose a shot in the dimensions your photo is destined for. Some people prefer cropping their photo after. But in the Super Control Panel, you can change your dimensions, for eg. to 1:1 which is a square, or a longer wider shape, 16:9 which is what I use for my blog post header pictures which appear on my home page. You can find out how to do this and more in my 15 Tips & Tricks for Olympus Pen!

I hope this post has been useful! And if you’re thinking of making a purchase, do shoot me any questions you have – here in comments, or DM me on Instagram @stylonylon.