M43 System
Pro Capture
An OM System pre-burst shooting mode that begins buffering frames when the shutter is half-pressed, then includes frames from before the shutter was fully pressed in the final burst. Used to capture fast-starting action that would otherwise be missed.
Pro Capture is a shooting mode available on OM System and Olympus Micro Four Thirds cameras that addresses the reaction time problem in burst photography. In a standard burst, the camera begins recording frames only after the shutter button is fully pressed. By the time the photographer reacts to the peak of an action — a bird launching from a branch, a splash, a goalkeeper's dive — the moment has already passed. Pro Capture solves this by buffering frames continuously while the shutter button is half-pressed, then retroactively including those pre-press frames in the captured burst when the shutter is fully pressed.
In Pro Capture mode, the camera begins a rolling buffer of frames the moment the shutter is held at half-press. When the shutter is fully depressed, the camera saves a configurable number of pre-capture frames — typically up to 35 frames — from the buffer, followed by the ongoing burst after the full press. The result is a sequence that includes what happened immediately before the photographer reacted, not just after. On the OM-1 Mark II, Pro Capture operates at up to 120 fps with the electronic shutter, meaning the pre-capture buffer covers approximately 0.3 seconds at maximum frame rate with 35 pre-capture frames.
Pro Capture H (High) and Pro Capture L (Low) modes offer different frame rates. Pro Capture H operates at the maximum electronic shutter burst rate; Pro Capture L operates at a lower rate with reduced file sizes and longer buffer capacity. The choice depends on subject speed and how much storage is available. Pro Capture is particularly effective for bird photography, where the moment of takeoff or a wing position at peak extension lasts only a fraction of a second, and for any wildlife behaviour that is fast, unpredictable, and difficult to anticipate precisely.
Pro Capture is specific to OM System and Olympus cameras. Panasonic M43 cameras do not include an equivalent mode. Some Panasonic bodies offer a pre-burst feature under different names, but the implementation and frame counts differ. Pro Capture is one of the primary reasons wildlife and bird photographers choose OM System bodies within the M43 system.