Some (positive) thoughts about the E-PL7

Marco Zima wrote:

- It has the 3-axis IBIS system of the E-M10, which I have found to be really good, whereas the 2-axis version in the E-PL and E-PM series has caused me intermittent problems. It also has the 0-second anti-shock feature introduced on the E-M10, which can make things even better.

What's the ani-shock feature doing exactly?

I didn't see anyone else respond to your question, Marco.

The Anti-Shock 0-second setting was introduced with the E-M10 and, via firmware update, the E-M1. It does two things:

• First, it imposes a very tiny delay (about three-thousandths of a second, .003 s) into the activation of the shutter/capture cycle. This tiny delay is enough to allow residual shutter vibrations from the shutter cycle (which on a mirrorless camera has more steps than on an SLR) to naturally die out before the capture begins.

• Second, for exposure times up to 1/320 second, it implements an electronic-first-curtain-shutter (EFCS) mode to completely eliminate first curtain vibration. What this means is that even though the mechanical shutter curtains cycle, the actual exposure is being made with the first curtain being implemented by the sensor itself, decoupled from the vibration associated with the shutter curtains. (The Sony A7 uses EFCS as its default mode as well, to very good effect.) The reason they cap this operation at 1/320 second is because of sensor readout speed limitations: at shorter exposure times, the sensor readout (a serial process) cannot keep up properly and causes gradation or barring in the exposure. (I see this with the Sony A7 at 1/2000 second and above, particularly when using longer lenses; turn off EFCS and it disappears.)

The Anti-Shock 0-second setting is a very clever way of reducing shutter vibration with very little impact on the rest of the camera's operation. Some sequence modes are affected: It's hard to have fast sequence capture when you're imposing delays in the shutter cycle. But usually those kinds of picture taking situations are not much affected by shutter vibration anyway.

G