E-520 Live view Vs normal AF ?

Has anyone seen or checked out whether or not there is any benefit of one over the other. what I'm trying to get at is , does live view focusing give more accurate focus or even sharper focus than normal AF? Or better in low light etc? I can't check myself as the camera is away at Olympus but was just wondering if anyone has done any testing is this area?
Nic
--
'The decisive moment'....
Always appears to happens when I not looking !!!!!

E-520 ( 14-54,11-22 ON EBAY) awaiting 12-60 to arrive, 50-200 E-510 & FL-50 Flash

Pic-nic4u
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Comments welcome



extension.

There have been no reported differences in focusing accuracy between using Imager AF (I-AF) and AF sensor AF. The only advantage to using I-AF during live view is that the mirror doesn't have to flop to achieve a focus, thereby increasing focusing speed in Live View. The drawback is that I-AF can only be used currently with the two kit lenses and the pancake lens.

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Good Shooting,

English Bob

Actually it depends on the lens. I have tried I-AF vs Hybrid-AF with the lenses I have. The kit 14-42 and the 25 the I-AF works pretty good. But for the lenses that need the Hybrid-AF the regular Sensor AF (where you only get the mirror-slap) is better. However - by using the Hybrid version you first get a pretty well focused view on the Live View before the mirror-slap. This can be an advantage sometimes.
Steve

I did some tests with the 40-150, and I got superb focus at 150 with the Imager AF -- much better than with the normal phase-detection AF.
There was some difference even at 60.
The imager, contrast-based AF seemed to be most accurate.
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Luca

That sounds interesting but I guess that advantage is only with the 2 kit lenses?
--
'The decisive moment'....
Always appears to happens when I not looking !!!!!

E-520 ( 14-54,11-22 ON EBAY) awaiting 12-60 to arrive, 50-200 E-510 & FL-50 Flash

Pic-nic4u
http://www.pbase.com/picnic4u
Comments welcome



extension.

Nic Christie said:

That sounds interesting but I guess that advantage is only with the 2
kit lenses?
--
'The decisive moment'....
Always appears to happens when I not looking !!!!!

E-520 ( 14-54,11-22 ON EBAY) awaiting 12-60 to arrive, 50-200 E-510 &
FL-50 Flash

Pic-nic4u
http://www.pbase.com/picnic4u
Comments welcome



extension.

Click to expand...

Imager AF works on those two (appropriately firmware-updated, if they are older copies), the 25mm f2.8 pancake, and the 14-50mm f3.8-5.6 stabilised Leica Vario Elmar lens that comes with the Panasonic L10. And possibly some of the other Leicasonics too, but I'm less sure of those.

Hi,

I'm having problems with the e-520/14-42 autofocus, similar to the 'e520 front focus' issue described in another thread. But the images I've got with live-view are sharp and well focused. I've doing side-by-side comparison of the same image with a tripod and the contrast AF is far better than the (defective?) normal AF in my case.

Kike

They're seeing the same thing with the 450D forum - contrast based live-view auto focus is slow and accurate; normal AF is fast, more fussy about what you point it at, and often less accurate. It's a pity contrast AF doesn't work with all Olympus lenses, it can be very useful when you need to be sure of focus and have the time to use it. I find the 450D's live view focus very good in low light - so you may find this true for the e520 as well.

It's nice that there is now an easy way to validate normal AF. But when it fails to work as expected, is it a faulty camera/lens or and poor-technique? The Canon forum is filling up with heated discussions about this - and of course some fanboys are very hot about the negative vibes this is generating.

The 450D with Canon's consumer grade lenses are supposed to deliver focus somewhere inside 1 DOF - so you can see that this is going to bother some users - especially now that live view can achieve more accuracy than this. What is Olympus's stated focus accuracy for normal AF? (I'm thinking of switching to Oly to get access to smaller lenses and wider DOF).

I used LIVE view AF the first time this week end and I am really impressed.

Took the shoot above my head and although focus a bit slower its very accurate.

I also used the grip on the E520 and that also really helps to have three shutter buttons to chose from with the camera held that high.
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Collin

http://www.pbase.com/collinbaxter

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. (George Carlin)