Olympus EP3 kit OR Body only + Panasonic pancake zoom?

[wonglp]

yeah..as kawaii as wonglp. LOL...

Hey OTTTTT liaoooo!!!! But tks hor, yes Im ugly but adorable...

 

[electron]

mind to share how u tested the speed?

The old 'press both shutters at the same time and listen for the autofocus confirm beep' technique
Its easy to tell the difference. All Olympus PENs have the same pitch, the Panny GF3 has a higher pitched beep. And its almost always (70%) the first 'beep' I hear. Sometimes (30% of the time) both cameras AF beeps sound at the same time. But the Oly never beeps first :cry:

At first I couldn't believe it. I framed the shots to the same focal lengths, aimed at the same subjects, used 'P' on both, used ALL available AF points (and even centre AF on the EP3 when that didn't work). I swapped lenses so the EP3 had the panny lens and the GF3 had the oly lens. Same thing. EP3 is 70% slower, or hunting like crazy. As a desperate attempt I even swapped hands just in case I pressed one slightly faster than the other without realising. Same result. I really thought I was going crazy OR I got a lemon.

This test was done time and time again. Conditions - moderately lit room with fluorescent lights at night.

Yep.. even on digitalrev tv video review, it seems the ep3 is faster..
http://www.youtube.com/user/DigitalRevCom?feature=chclk#p/u/29/D44M0pbMJKA

look at the video around 4:49 sec

Yes, I saw that one. That is nowhere near as comprehensive as my own test I feel (only one shot?). And because he did it one camera at a time, there is no way to really know how fast he pressed the shutter. Also, it was done in bright sunlight. When I did the test in the daytime (indoors, near a glass sliding door) both cameras AF beeps sounded more or less at the same time. At night - completely different story!

I agree with you.

Yes, ep3 seems faster in many reviews or videos, in my usage experience, it has more misfocused shots than gf3. While i also feel gf3 is just as fast using the same lens at the same scene, same time.

In low light, gf3 can focus just as fast as in good light and accurate while ep3 hunts quite often in low light.

Yes, we cant do as professionally as other people can do, but a least we are speaking as owners of 2 cameras. Nothing beats the real world ownership usage experience.

Thank you. I'm not insane after all! I'm just wondering why I didn't find such issues while researching the EP3. All the reviews were glowing! Maybe all the reviews I read or watched on youtube were done in good daylight? I wish somebody could have written about this earlier.

If the EP3 didn't look so damn good, I would be tempted to sell it :bsmilie: In any case, it's still better than my EPL1. As Ouverture said I'm just throwing this out there for other potential users to note. I still love the EP3, but its only half the solution to what I wanted - a fast AF Pen in any light.

 

[eow]

ok....pls have some respect ok?
might be user fault or the case of panasonic cheat by using a smaller area for af algorithm

 

[Ouverture]

ok....pls have some respect ok?
might be user fault or the case of panasonic cheat by using a smaller area for af algorithm

respect for the world fastest af, somehow agree but it didnt mentioned whether its accurate or hunts.

 

[rhino123]

Well... many things can affect the focus speed of the camera... lens, lighting, etc. Some of the lens are designed for some cameras - said... a Panny 14-42mm might be faster on a Panny cam than on a Oly cam and likewise. There is a good table in the following web that actually show the time of focusing,

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/olympus-e-p3-vs-panasonic-gf3-vs-sony-nex-5-vs-samsung-nx11-17084

Essentially both the GF3 and EP3 are the same in almost all aspects. But I do have to agreed with the focusing accuracy of Oly... though. I thought because my cam is pretty old (E-PL1), as I went to shoot around fullerton hotel last wednesday, with my brand new Oly m.zuiko 40-150mm lens, some of the photo taken are out of focus even when my camera confirmed focus lock.

Anyway, only around 1 out of 15 shots suffered from this issue and because of the large 'focus area' in the camera, so in difficult area (many people or subjects appeared at one time), the focusing might be out. But I find that acceptable and not a big deal in casual shooting.

 

[electron]

I thought the Ad was 'The fastest PEN'
not 'The fastest m4/3'

I thought I was imagining things or I misread their ad then I found it HERE

World's Fastest AF*

* Among interchangeable lens type digital cameras available as of June 30, 2011. According to our in-house test conditions, with an M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 II R lens mounted on the OLYMPUS PEN E-P3 camera, with the lens at the infinity position, and with the subject at a distance of 1 meter and the lens focal length at 35mm (70mm at 35mm camera equivalent), AF calculation time is the time between when the shutter button is pressed and the start of exposure, focus to shutter release.

I guess it includes all DSLRs too as they are also Interchangeable lens type digital cameras! :bsmilie:

 

[electron]

Just an update - i got the panasonic 14-42 x power zoom and enjoying it. Initial tests conclude it has much better corner sharpness than the EP3 kit lens at close focusing distances at 14mm but the Oly kit lens edges it out at 42mm.

 

[Oly5050]

I thought I was imagining things or I misread their ad then I found it HERE

World's Fastest AF*

* Among interchangeable lens type digital cameras available as of June 30, 2011. According to our in-house test conditions, with an M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 II R lens mounted on the OLYMPUS PEN E-P3 camera, with the lens at the infinity position, and with the subject at a distance of 1 meter and the lens focal length at 35mm (70mm at 35mm camera equivalent), AF calculation time is the time between when the shutter button is pressed and the start of exposure, focus to shutter release.

I guess it includes all DSLRs too as they are also Interchangeable lens type digital cameras! :bsmilie:

That is right....