E-520: joy and dissapointment

Some first impressions
IS is great, the 70-300 is like a whole new lens!
Shutter sounds somehow more solid than the E-500- reminds me of my OM-4

A couple buttons moved, nothing serious, the new camera feels much like the old in my hand.

now the dissapointment- despite entering the focal length for IS, this figure doesn't show in the EXIF I was really hoping I wouldn't have to keep notes on what lens I was using and enter this info into the EXIF as a note

Haven't done a side by side w the 500, but color and exposure look good- the image below is OOC JPG (w resize and sharpening only)
shot handheld at 300mm f7.1 near minimum focus distance
--
Art P



Select images may be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8131242@N04/

Wow,that lens looks a stunner! Superb image, sharp and with bags of detail.
--
Dave
UK Photo Safari Group Member
Welsh Photographic Federation and UKPSG judge
http://www.pbase.com/benvendetta
pbase supporter

Art_P said:

now the dissapointment- despite entering the focal length for IS,
this figure doesn't show in the EXIF I was really hoping I
wouldn't have to keep notes on what lens I was using and enter this
info into the EXIF as a note

Click to expand...

Not sure exactly what you mean, but the EXIF for my E-510 shows the focal length the shot was taken at (without me having to enter anything). I'm not aware that the camera has a way to detect what lens was used however.

Nice shot.

I think entering the focal length only has to do with lenses on an adapter. Is that what you are using?

Great photo, btw!
--
Stu (N80, D50, E510, TZ4)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stujoe/

.

khaz said:

Not sure exactly what you mean, but the EXIF for my E-510 shows the
focal length the shot was taken at (without me having to enter
anything). I'm not aware that the camera has a way to detect what
lens was used however.

Click to expand...

The OP was referring to using manual focus lenses, not ZD lenses.

The lens info (i.e. what lens was used) is recorded in the metadata fields of each jpeg or orf file. Some image processing software can read and show this information, e.g. Lightroom.
--
Leon . http://picasaweb.google.com/travelfotografer



E3 HLD4 . E1 FS2 SHLD2 . 1260 . 30f1.4 . 50 . 50200SWD . EC14 . EX25 . FL50R . B+W . LEXAR

I should have specified- for my OM lenses, I can manually set the focal length so IS works correctly, but in EXIF the focal length shows as '0.0000'.
--
Art P



Select images may be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8131242@N04/

ART_P... is this image cropped?

I sent an email to Oly a while back about this and here is the response I got:
++++++++++++++++++++++
Thank you for your e-mail concerning the E-510.

The firmware revision 1.3, enabled use of the Image Stabilization function with non-Four Thirds System interchangeable lenses by inputting a specific focal length in advance.

However, in order to record the focal length in Exif-data, E-system digital SLR cameras need to communicate with the interchangeable lenses.

E-system digital SLR cameras can communicate with F our Thirds System interchangeable lenses, but they can not communicate with non-Four Thirds System lenses.

While appreciating your interest,
we are not thinking of updating the firmware for E-510 at present.

However, your opinion will be passed on to our department concerned for our future reference.

We are constantly making efforts to improve our products.
Therefore, we are always grateful for customers' opinion.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards,
++++++++++++

I do however disagree with this answer: the camera does not "need" to communicate with the lens in order to record the focal length. If the camera knows that a manual lens is attached (and it does in order to use IS) then it should know to go look somewhere else to record that info into the exif. It should be very straightforward to implement (and yes I am a Software Engineer).

So let's hope that someone at the Oly firmware shop gets the memo an ddecides to do something about it.

seems like you are really enjoying the 70-300 along with the new E520 =).
--



http://jiayaw.smugmug.com
Yoko Dam

Art_P said:

I should have specified- for my OM lenses, I can manually set the
focal length so IS works correctly, but in EXIF the focal length
shows as '0.0000'.

Click to expand...

...is a 0.0000mm lens?



--
Cheers,

Jim Pilcher
Colorado, USA

'It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see...' -- Henry David Thoreau

at most 20%
--
Art P



Select images may be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8131242@N04/

The disappointment seems to be marginal.

Dharma

Best,
Oly

--



http://www.pbase.com/olyinaz

Art_P said:

now the dissapointment- despite entering the focal length for IS,
this figure doesn't show in the EXIF I was really hoping I
wouldn't have to keep notes on what lens I was using and enter this
info into the EXIF as a note

Click to expand...

If we're on the same page here, this "feature" which allows entering the focal length is meant to be used with the older OLY (manual) lenses so that the IS will know how to work with the older non-communicating lenses.

--
Paul
Vancouver, WA . . . (USA)

galleries at:
http://www.pbase.com/spdavis/just_between_us_

I love your joy Art... lovely image...

--
Gary Hebert
E-520, 12-60mm, 70-300mm,
http://www.pbase.com/turnstyle

Indeed you are correct - it's been available on the E-510 since the last firmware and also on the E-520.

It would be nice if it also recorded that entered focal length in the EXIF, as the OP is lamenting it does not. But, it's certainly better than nothing, as IS works for legacy glass!

--
'There's nothing worse than a brilliant image of a fuzzy concept' Ansel Adams
(Equipment in Profile)