UDPATED: New Olympus firmware next week. It will improve the autofocus on each PEN camera.
Good news Olympus folks! On April 22 Olympus will release a new firmware update for your PEN camera
Read the press release:
Auto Focus Performance
This update will improve camera AF performance when shooting both stills and videos with the E-P1
Viewfinder/LCD Simultaneous Playback Function
This upgrade also brings additional display functionality to the E-P2 and E-PL1 cameras when fitted with the VF-2 Electronic Viewfinder. Photographers using these combinations can now view menu and recorded images on the LCD while the VF-2 Electronic Viewfinder is in use.
Movie-Still-Compatible (MSC) Lens Compatibility
This update also ensures that like the E-PL1, the E-P1 and E-P2 camera models are fully compatible with and able to take advantage of two recently announced and soon-to-reach market lenses; the M. Zuiko Digital™ ED 9–18mm F4.0–5.6
source: OlympusAmerica
UPDATE:
Tthe new Olympus Viewer 2 software that replaces Master 2 & Studio 2 is also availble!
Olympus Australia has the PDF Full Press Release on both the software & firmware updates.
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Recent comments
Comment from Ole: @ Jan A: Sorry it's off topic but i have...
Comment from Spiny Norman: Smaller formats have *always* demanded b...
Comment from Spelling Police: "Improve" your spelling....
Comment from BenH: Oh, and I can't return the e-p2 with eve...
BenH
3 years ago |Any chance they’ll fix the train wreck that is the menus? I had to buy my sister a 5Dmk2 because she couldn’t figure the e-p2 out. I had enough trouble with it myself and I consider myself a geek.
Mark
3 years ago |YOU CONSIDER THAT A TRAINWRECK??
Its a very clearcut menu going laterally into specific items and down for next section.
The alternative is the supermenu which is really easy to utilize.
AND its actually clearer than Canon’s which goes down / sideways and down…
BTW EP2 and 5DmkII together for a comparison??? Worlds apart and if you bought it for the FF, I’d agree but to replace the EP2 because of its menu is a ‘lame’ excuse – if you don’t mind my wording. (No offfense)
Jan A
3 years ago |Could they please fix the E-PL1 so the following are available in movie mode.
All ISO steps esecially auto!
magnification works
Histogram on while recording, theres room in the black bar, so why turn it of?
I just love this camera with the panny 20, my E-3 is gathering dust,-9
w
3 years ago |BenH, just read the manual and learn how to use the camera. Don’t make yourself (or your sister) stupid if you are not.
CR102
3 years ago |Finally Olympus are hitting the gold. And a side comment: this firmware update undermines the probability of a new Pen coming soon.
Duarte Bruno
3 years ago |I hope they haven’t just enhanced AF speed, but digged down into the algorithm because the main issue with the Pens isn’t the speed at which it focus but the way it dances around the focus point before locking down!
Agent00soul
3 years ago |I would say the main issue with the Pens isn’t the speed at which it focus but that the focus areas are simply too large. When focusing, the camera very often picks up detail from the background which throws the focus off. This needs to be fixed urgently.
Jules
3 years ago |Normally, when you want to display your wealth, you buy a luxury car, not a Canon FF. That way, you don’t have to explain on forums that its because you did not like the color on the previous Honda Civic
Anyhow, the Pen’s menu does have bad reviews. To paraphrase Michael Reichman, its not a deal breaker, but defenately on the con’s list.
Chow
3 years ago |Will the viewer software be available on 22 of april also?? On the AU website it mentions from March but can’t seem to find it yet..
Jón
3 years ago |Ben is trolling and/or joking
Don
3 years ago |All sounds very good but think about it a 15% improvement in AF speed if true is almost inperceptable with a decrease from +/- 0.8 sec to 0.7sec compared to 0.2 sec on GH1 or 0.4 sec on GF1 with kit zooms in average conditions? It will make the difference much closer if using the Pany kit lenses but does Oly really want to advocate that? I hope that the new Oly 9-18 and 14-150 lens designs do provide the faster AF needed in combination with the Pens but that is going to cost. Improvements to the design and quality of the kit lenses would do more to improve the AF speed then any new firmware can bring but that takes more time?
Juan
3 years ago |i’d love to see some improvement in the menus. for the most part they work fine, but i’d love it if they would add a “bracketing” menu to quickly get to exposure/focus/white-balance bracketing. and a way to use one-touch white balance without having to dedicate the Fn button to it full-time!
BenH
3 years ago |Not trolling… Compared to every other camera I have owned, Olympus’s menus and buttons are convoluted. I’m not the only one who thinks so. (Google ‘e-p2 menus convoluted’) I had bought the e-p2 b/c it was small and it seemed a good fit for my sister and she didn’t want to me to spend a lot of money but in use, it was just hard to get the shot especially with the m43 to 43 adapter’s focus speed. In the end, I bought her what I wanted to buy her in the first place, which was the 5dmk2.
BenH
3 years ago |Oh, and I can’t return the e-p2 with everything that I bought with it b/c I gave my sister more than 30 days to learn it. So I might keep it for a while or I might sell on ebay. She got some good shots with it but it wasn’t consistent. Also, I’m not flaunting wealth or at least, that’s not my intention…
Spelling Police
3 years ago |“Improve” your spelling.
Spiny Norman
3 years ago |Smaller formats have *always* demanded better technique to obtain equivalent results. this was true in the film era and it is true in the digital era. The extra dynamic range of a 5DII means you can know jack about proper exposure and still get good results.
Ole
3 years ago |@ Jan A: Sorry it’s off topic but i have now one else i can ask. I have the E-PL1 and the Panny 20, too. When i put the lens on the cam it’s very stiff when spinning around the bayonette. It’s not so easy to spin like the Olympus Kit lens. The panny lens scratches a bit. Do you feel the same, too. I’m not sure if the lens is defect. And sorry but i don’t now the right words to describe, i’m not native english. If anyone else can help me too it would be nice. Thanks.
To the topic: i would like to have the AF improved. It’s the only aspect i’m missing my old DSLR of.