Panasonic 4/3rds adapter, 4/3rds lens support
Monday, June 22, 2009 at 10:13PM Brian:
#1 Can you confirm that a Panasonic four thirds to micro four thirds adapter (DMW-MA1APP) will work on the E-P1? Specifically that the E-P1 can autofocus *all* four thirds lenses with the Panasonic adapter. That would be very helpful :-).
>>> Yes - I can confirm the adapter works with all 4/3rds lenses and the E-P1.
#2 Any information at regarding lens performance of various four thirds lenses on the E-P1 would be greatly appreciated.
>>> CDAF is very accurate, and works reliably to relatively low light levels... on all 4/3rds lenses. The speed is quite similar to the E-30 / E-620 CDAF with the ZD 9-18, ZD 14-54mkII and ZD 25mm... but with all 4/3rds lenses.
>>> I'll try some action shots tomorrow - to see how well the E-P1's CDAF tracking works, but there's a definite delay as the CDAF goes out past focus, and then returns to lock. The G1 has a silent motor that seems to move more quickly, and locks focus faster.
June 22, 2009 | 
JD Hodges
Reader Comments (4)
Randomly, would you be able to tell us a bit about how the face detection works? Does it put any restrictions on settings when in use? How does it influence focus speed? What if you leave it on and shoot a scene with no faces in it? Sorry if these are silly questions but I haven't got any cameras with this feature :).
Hmm, what other questions do I have...the combining of photo, video and music on the camera? Is it really as versitile as it sounds? Can you edit clips? Is the result saved or is it just for viewing on the camera - ie a playback function except for adding sound to a particular image? Eg you can view pictures and put track b on at the same time but not output it in any filed form unless recording sound to one specific pic? If not, is it user friendly enough to prepare a slideshow/video on camera?
How quickly can you get to record sound alone? Is it only attached to a specific photo deep in menus? I ask cause I'm thinkng of a situation where a sound you want to record starts all of a sudden or you want to quickly record your thoughts. Obviously the quick way will be switch to video and record but card space could be saved recording just sound and may not be a time limit? Is there a time limit to the recorded sound?. Sorry for all the multimedia like questions. The photography sides of things are overall quite self explanitary, especially being an e-system user already.
Sounds like good news for FT lenses.
This is probably too extensive and not worth testing but using the camera with the LCD off and outputted using video cable to an external display is battery life different?
(Also feel free to edit this post to remove pointless questions/unimportant info - including this sentence)
Brian:
#1 Can you confirm that a Panasonic four thirds to micro four thirds adapter (DMW-MA1APP) will work on the E-P1? Specifically that the E-P1 can autofocus *all* four thirds lenses with the Panasonic adapter. That would be very helpful :-).
>>> Yes - I can confirm the adapter works with all 4/3rds lenses and the E-P1.
Does the Oly 50mm macro autofocus on the EP1 with the Panasonic adapter? If so, then it seems that Panasonic are deliberately crippling the G1 and preventing it from being fully compatible with all 4/3 lenses.
Hi Vaughan, yes - but I think Olympus have prioritised support for *all 4/3rds lenses* over CDAF speed... Now that I've used it, I would much rather have this solution - and be able to use all of my 4/3rds lenses with auto focus... than be limited to m4/3rds and select 4/3rds lenses with the G1.
Kind Regards
Brian
Thanks for the great info Brian!