Olympus E-P2 hands-on preview

[dalexa]

Originally Posted by Ian

They are completely different. In fact Panasonic told me that one reason why they didn't go for a high resolution EVF for the GF1 was that the connector would need to be huge to manage the data bandwidth.

It's widely supposed that Olympus is using a new Epson 1.44 million dot viewfinder LCD, and this may use a more efficient bus arrangement (smaller connector) than the Panasonic device.

Ian

that was what i was thinking. they never get this things right.
i guess that the gf1 owners will have to settle for that inferior evf.
it would be nice to have more compatibility among the olympus and panasonic.

[Ian]

Originally Posted by donmcmahan.com

I have no immediate plans regarding M4/3 buy if I did choosing between the superior jpeg rendering and in body image stabilization of the EP1 and the EVF and better auto focusing of the Panasonic GF1 would have required some thought. Does the EP2 have improved auto focus? if so no additional thought required

There is no hardware improvement in terms of autofocus (though the newly announced m.Zuiko 40-150 and 9-18 lenses might have better AF motors - in reality I have no idea) but the E-P2 has improved AF functionality, most noticeably in being able to select the AF target point more flexibly. The AF-lock algorithm is said to be slightly improved.

Ian

[Ian]

Left to right: m.Zuiko 14-150mm* f4-5.6,m.Zuiko 9-18mm* f/4-5.6, m.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6, and the m.Zuiko 17mm f/2.8 pancake.
*-Denotes scheduled to ship in the first half of 2010.

I'd just like to point out an important typo error in my article (now corrected) - the new planned m.Zuiko Micro Four Thirds telephoto zoom is a 14-150, not 40-150, so it's a wide angle to tele 10.7x superzoom (28-300 equivalent).

Having spent a good period using the Panasonic Leica Four Thirds 14-150 last year, and the Panasonic G Micro Four Thirds 14-140 this year, I can say that these lenses are very versatile indeed. The Leica 14-150 was an impressive performer as well.

Ian

[donTTouchonlywatch]

Hi.E-P2's viewfinder VF-2 is compatible with E-p1?
Thank's

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by donTTouchonlywatch

Hi.E-P2's viewfinder VF-2 is compatible with E-p1?
Thank's

It plugs into a socket behind the hot shoe and this doesn't exist on the E-P1, so I don't see how it can be compatible

[donTTouchonlywatch]

Originally Posted by Stephen

It plugs into a socket behind the hot shoe and this doesn't exist on the E-P1, so I don't see how it can be compatible

I don't believe that

SHAME ON OLYMPUS

Thank's Stephen

[Kuifje]

The Panny version of the 14-140 is extra silent, optimized for video. Is that the same for the new oly megazoom?

And one more question wrt manual focus - it seems to have different operation - when the focus ring is adjusted the screen goes to 10x for a period. Maybe alot to ask but any news if this was changed also for MF lenses. It would be nice if the Fn button could be assigned to toggle between the modes.

Thanks, Martin

[robminchin]

Originally Posted by Kuifje

The Panny version of the 14-140 is extra silent, optimized for video. Is that the same for the new oly megazoom?

I hope not - that is (at least partly) why the 14-140 is so ludicrously priced. A 14-150 w/o lens IS and w/o the video optimisation would be a lot cheaper, and therefore a lot more saleable.

One thing m4/3 certainly does NOT need is Oly and Panasonic producing identical lenses! I'm expecting the 9-18 and 14-150 to slot in below the 7-14 and 14-140 in the market rather than competing directly.

My other thought is that with the 14-150 and the 'telephoto zoom' (i'm guessing out to either 250 or 300mm), Oly must be planning a larger body as these would look silly (and be unbalanced) on the current E-Pn bodies and will be unstabilised on the Panasonic bodies.

Robert

Robert

[Bluebear]

Does anyone know if the Panasonic FL220 flash unit will work on the EP-1 or EP-2? I can't see why it shouldn't, but...

[Ian]

Originally Posted by robminchin

I hope not - that is (at least partly) why the 14-140 is so ludicrously priced. A 14-150 w/o lens IS and w/o the video optimisation would be a lot cheaper, and therefore a lot more saleable.

One thing m4/3 certainly does NOT need is Oly and Panasonic producing identical lenses! I'm expecting the 9-18 and 14-150 to slot in below the 7-14 and 14-140 in the market rather than competing directly.

My other thought is that with the 14-150 and the 'telephoto zoom' (i'm guessing out to either 250 or 300mm), Oly must be planning a larger body as these would look silly (and be unbalanced) on the current E-Pn bodies and will be unstabilised on the Panasonic bodies.

Robert

Robert

Good quality superzooms are not cheap. Nikon's 18-200 is £600, though Canon's is only £400. The Panasonic 14-140 can be bought for £650.

If you look at the pictures, the proposed m.Zuiko 14-140 is only about twice the length of the 14-42. I have used the FT 40-150 with an E-P1 and MMF-1 adapter, which is much bigger, and I felt very much at home with it.

Ian