Pen F autofocus vs. OM-D E-M1 (either version)

James Pilcher wrote:

Hello Dunsun,

All of the noise about Panasonic AF seems to be this DFD stuff. Is that in play when an Olympus lens is on, say, a G9?

DfD is limited to Panny lenses on DfD-capable bodies. Oly lenses aren't included in their lens data.

Rick

Skeeterbytes wrote:

James Pilcher wrote:

Hello Dunsun,

All of the noise about Panasonic AF seems to be this DFD stuff. Is that in play when an Olympus lens is on, say, a G9?

DfD is limited to Panny lenses on DfD-capable bodies. Oly lenses aren't included in their lens data.

Thanks, Rick.

I thought that might be the case; I don't pay much attention to the Panasonic side of m4/3. Thanks for the information.

Jim Pilcher
Summit County, Colorado, USA
Life is good in the woods

Hi Jim,

Same here--I had to dig into the Panny technical references to learn what the DfD system actually does and how its implemented. When they rolled it out they uploaded focus tables for their existing lenses to the cameras via firmware but since then their new lenses have the data on board, dispensing with FW updates for every new lens.

I suspect they could develop the data for any system AF lens and choose not to, for obvious is slightly cynical reasons. The E-M1s at least seem fairly agnostic as to the lens brand--applying PDAF to all brand in the modes its used (although, I think the Pro teles have faster focus motors in general). CDAF-only Oly cameras won't get top focus performance from Panny lenses compared to their DfD bodies. We're at a bit of a crossroads with the two brands at the moment.

Cheers,

Rick

James Pilcher wrote:

Dunsun wrote:

I own both of these cameras (E-M1 mark I, Pen F + E-M5 II).

CAF on Pen F is close to useless. Contrast detection in a lower light is the slowest on Pen F but the difference is not huge.

Anyways if you need far superior AF in bad light rather get a Panasonic camera. GX8 AF speed and accuracy is amazing. By the way I'm waiting for GX9. This camera will become my main camera (and yes mainly for its superior AF accuracy compared to Olympus cameras but also for other features like their great implementation of touch AF).

Hello Dunsun,

All of the noise about Panasonic AF seems to be this DFD stuff. Is that in play when an Olympus lens is on, say, a G9?

Jim Pilcher
Summit County, Colorado, USA
Life is good in the woods

Hey,

It's not only about DFD. DFD is used mainly for CAF AF. But Panasonic uses superior AF algoritms even for SAF.

Anyway I was owning Olympus 17mm 1.8 and yes this lens does better on a Panasonic body than on any of Olympus camera I have owned (all except E-M1 mark II). Especially at night Panasonic can focus almost in a complete darkness.

Sadly it does not work the other way around. Some Panasonic lenses can strugle on Olympus bodies. First they do produce magenta fringing and flare on Sony sensors, second they can suffer from a AF hunting. Like my Panasonic 15mm 1.7 (amazing lens) on my Olympus cameras. On my previous GX8 it was lightinngly fast and accurate to focus in almost any light conditions not so with my Oly cameras.

Cheers