Quick update before leaving for London Premiere...

Hello everyone,

I'm so excited to be meeting with fellow Safari Group members this afternoon, and attending the UK Premiere Launch of the Olympus E-P1 this evening.

Must dash, a couple more observations from my experience with the E-P1 yesterday.

Dale Cotton asked :

Brian wrote:
> The E-P1 is about 75% the speed of the G1

I understand that this applies to non-m4/3 lenses as well as m4/3. Does this ratio also hold up in low light? Simon Joinson in his dpreview preview states: "[AF focus speed] in low light at the long end of the zoom is pretty painful". But this was with pre-version-1 firmware.

Well, it's not a straightforward thing to measure, or to summarise - but you may be shocked to hear that the E-P1 is actually 2x faster than the E-620 to focus the ZD 14-35mm f2 in low light.

Also, where the E-620 + ZD 11-22 will give up trying to focus on a closed curtain fine textured surface (low light focus stress test) - the E-P1 locks on fast and accurately.

Also, where the E-620 + ZD 50mm f2 will occasionally rack the lens all the way across its' focus range - and if it misses the focus point will carry on and on... before failing, the E-P1 CDAF seems to detect the right direction to track to get focus - so this can be dramatically more speedy.

Also, the E-P1 supports auto focus for *all 4/3rds* lenses - this is MASSIVELY important for 4/3rds shooters - I like MF, and the G1 does it well... but CDAF is a hell of a lot more convenient :)

Bottom line - it's a different form of focusing, very advanced and actually preferable in many situations to PDAF. Look at your entire image gallery, and ask - 'Would I have missed this shot without high speed auto focus?'

If you need the best speed and best available OVF for shooting in the field - the E-3 is the answer in 4/3rds - bulletproof and weathersealed helps too!

Imagine an E-30 in a PEN case with P&S style framing and focusing via big 3" LCD and you're there.

As for eye level viewfinder, here's an example of a shot I just wouldn't have taken through a viewfinder :

Nothing spectacular, but I saw the light on the floor, combined with shadows... and because I can wear the E-P1 all day these opportunities pop up.

Kind Regards

Brian