Micro 4/3 lens compatibility - Panasonic/Olympus

[wayne_murphy8]

<p>I know that the micro 4/3 mount is standard/universal but manufacturers find ways to deliberately frustrate compatibility. I would like a wide angle zoom for my Panasonic GF1 but the 7-14 mm price is ridiculous. Is the new Olympus 9-18 micro version compatible? I can't seem to find any other wide zooms specifically made for micro 4/3. Thanks.</p>

[deirdre_saoirse_moen]

<p>Sure looks like it. I don't own either, but I do have a GF1.<br>

Here's a review I found with some comparison of the two lenses.<br>

http://www.seriouscompacts.com/f41/olympus-m-zuiko-digital-ed-9-18mm-f-4-0-5-6-lens-review-213/</p>

[ronhartman]

<p>I have a G2 and have also been looking into the M 9-18. Everything I've seen says it's compatible with the G2 and the autofocus works well. But then I looked at the Panasonic information about compatibility for the GF1 and I'm confused. Maybe just the auto photo rotation is lost.<br>

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/connect/g1.html<br>

Maybe someone else had direct experience with this combination.</p>

<p> </p>

[steven_f1]

<blockquote>

<p>Maybe just the auto photo rotation is lost.<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/connect/g1.html" target="_blank">http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/connect/g1.html</a></p>

</blockquote>

<p>The table you attached to says it will work with the following limitations (Text from the table you linked to is in bold. My comments are in normal text)<br>

<em>(*1)</em><br /><strong>Direction detection related functions on DMC-GF1/GH1/G1(ex. a function to rotate and play back pictures vertically when they are shot with the camera held vertically) are not available. </strong>Functions that require a motion sensor will not work. Panasonic puts its motion sensors in the lens as part of its IS system. Panasonic saved money by using the IS motion sensor to support multiple functions. Olympus puts them in the Bodybecause Olympus uses body IS. In the future Panasonic will probably put an addtional motion sensor in the camera for these functions while dedicating the lens sensors for IS.<br>

<strong>(*2)</strong><br /><strong>The firmware update on lenses to the following designated versions or later is required to enables Contrast AF(AFS mode). Please refer to the required firmware version of lenses listed in the table below.</strong><br /><strong>Please note that the following Zuiko lenses are absolutely required to be updated to the designated version or later, otherwise the message "PLEASE CHECK THAT THE LENS IS ATTACHED CORRECTLY" could be displayed on the camera.</strong><em> </em>YOu need to update the firmware ont the lens.<strong> </strong>There might be a bug in older firmare or a section of the m4/3 specification documents was not very clear resulting in a incompatability.. They came up with a firmware fix to correct this and the m4/3 document has been corrected to more correctly specify the affected function.<br>

<strong><em>When the camera is in MF mode, the image will be magnified automatically by rotating the focus ring. These lenses do not support this function. It is possible to magnify the image by pressing the left button of the 4-way controller and then pressing MENU/OK button. </em></strong>Not sure whats behind this but they do list a work around.<br>

<strong>(*8)</strong><br /><strong>Operational noise of the aperture in AE(Auto Exposure) control may be recorded while motion picture recording.</strong> Audible noise from the aperture may be recorded in the sound recording of your video.<br>

<strong>(*9)</strong><br /><strong>The camera body firmware is required to be updated to Ver.1.1 or later for GH1, and Ver.1.3 or later for G1, respectively. </strong>you need to update the firmware. </p>

<p>Panasonic and Olympus agreed to make one standard specifying how the lens and body work together as well as the sensor size. Such documents are long and complicated. Some areas might be interpreted differently between the two companies. In other cases a feature is not specified by the document because it didn't exist when the document was originally created. Such problems are to be expected in a long technical docusment. To resolve these issues the m4/3 document is revised and firmware is updated. </p>

<p>As long as you update the lens and camera body firmware the lens will work.</p>

<p>I have an E-PL1 and the 9-18mm lens. but I don't have any panasonic hardware. So Icannot comment on this exact hardware set.</p>

[meissner]

<p>If you use non-Panasonic lenses on your GF1, you lose the auto-rotation and image stabilization features, since Panasonic puts those in the lens, while Olympus puts the feature in the body. Note, even Pany doesn't put it in all of their lense (20mm for instance), and Olympus doesn't put auto rotation in its E-PL1.</p>

<p>In my mind, auto rotation is nice, but can easily be done in post. I know on Olympus bodies you could set the rotation of the images during image review, perhaps you can with the GF1.</p>

<p>I tend to think that IS on wide angle lenses isn't as useful as it is on telephoto lenses. For instance on a 7-14mm, at 7mm, the usual rule of thumb is you would need IS for speeds slower than 1/14, and similarly at 14mm slower than 1/28. For people shots, you typically want a faster shutter speed anyway. For low light landscape shots, just use a tripod. I shot for a couple of years without IS on my E-1, so it isn't the end of the world not to have IS, but you do have to be more aware of the shutter speed used, etc.</p>

<p>So in terms of micro-4/3rds, your only two choices are the 7-14mm and 9-18mm, with the 9-18mm being $220 cheaper, but you lose 2mm. This classic post from dpreview tries to show the field of view differences between various focal lengths: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1022&message=24302133</p>

<p>Going to classic 4/3rds lenses, you can add the Olympus 9-18mm lens with an adaptor. However, using a classic 4/3rds lens means you lose continuous focus support. Including purchasing the adapter, you would save $310 over the 7-14mm lens. I did try out a classic Olympus 9-18mm vs. the Olympus m4/3rds 9-18mm on an Olympus E-PL1 at a sales event, and the classic 4/3rds lens focused slower than the m4/3rds lens. The classic 4/3rds 9-18mm is much bigger than the m4/3rds version.</p>

<p>There are a couple of other wide angle lenses in the 4/3rds arena but on the G-f1 they will be manual focus only:</p>

<ul>

<li>Olympus 7-14mm (more expensive than the Pany m4/3rds version)</li>

<li>Olympus 8mm fisheye</li>

<li>Olympus 11-22mm</li>

<li>Sigma 10-20mm</li>

</ul>

<p>If you've never shot with a wide angle lens before, it will take a lot of practice to learn how to take acceptable shots. In general, you need to make sure that the camera is dead on level on the plane you are shooting, and the wider you go, the more you have to carefully compose the shot (for example, people at the edges of a 7mm shot will be distorted, you can't argue with physics of optics).</p>

<p>If your interest in wide angle shots is primarily landscape, have you considered shooting multiple shots for a panorama and merging the shots together during post processing, instead of buying a new lens? Often times if you shoot with a more normal lens, you have less apparent distortion, and the cost of doing it is fairly cheap or free, depending on the program you use to merge together the panoramas.</p>

<p>In terms of lens cost, wide angle lenses tend to be speciality items. Given the size of the Panasonic/Olympus market compared to the Canon/Nikon market, there isn't that much incentive for a 3rd party manufacturer to enter the fray.</p>

[sf_photo1]

<p>Would like to see a 10 or 12mm fast prime.<br>

Anyone tried a 12/5.6 Voigtlander? Not fast but small. Manual exposure only?</p>

[sam_chapman1]

<p>I've used the 12mm f5.6 Voigtlander prime and have to say that the 3 f-stops of variation between the centre and edge of the frame, (Tolerable on negative film, but iffy at best on digital) was a serious pain correcting out with image-editing software. You can of course, shell out a 3-figure sum buying a Schott Heliopan filter to correct this, but the working aperture is reduced down to about f11, which is okay if your camera has an optical rangefinder.<br /><br />Needless to say this lens is manual focus, and experience has taught me that AF systems don't like f5.6, so using f11, would make AF (if it was available) neigh-on useless. </p>

<p>Highly corrected optics cost, as do the high levels of QC needed during production. You pay your money and reap the consequences. The zukio 7-14 was for me a seriously wallet/card mangling experience, BUT, I reckon worth every penny/cent. An example of just how good this optic is, can be gauged by looking at what this lens sells for s/hand. </p>