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12mm f2.0 m4/3 Zuiko : Snapshot Focus
  • lenuisiblelenuisible
    It seems that Olympus addressed one of the biggest downside of the usual m43 lenses for manual focusing, "focus-by-wire" :


    "Olympus's take on the concept is to deliver a premium quality, large maximum aperture lens that becomes the first in the system to feature 'snap focus', a system by which the focus ring can be pulled back, engaging a modified manual focus mode. In this mode the lens is designed to feel much more like a conventional mechanically-operated manual focus lens, rather than the usual focus-by-wire behavior.

    There are four major differences between 'snap focus' and conventional manual focus mode. Firstly, the relationship between the focus ring movement and the movement of the focusing elements is fixed - rather than being speed-sensitive. This direct relationship allows the focusing ring's movement to be stopped at either end of the focus travel which, in turn, has allowed Olympus to add proper distance and depth-of-field scales to the lens. The final difference you'll notice in snap focus mode is that the damping of the ring's movement has been modified to provide a little more resistance and more 'feel.' Such engineering touches don't come cheap, of course, but really do help make the lens feel like a high-end manual focus optic. Right up until you decide you want to re-engage the super-fast autofocus."
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  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    As far as I know it is still focus-by-wire.
    But this time they use position and not speed.
    So, it'll be better, but not so good as true MF lenses.
  • last_SHIFTlast_SHIFT
    Yes - so this is the curse of the 2x crop factor. Do we think that Voigtlander will come out with a wide angle wide aperture lens? Tokina 11-16 for now I guess.
  • stoneystoney
    My guess.

    AF moves the distance scale ring. When the focus ring is snapped to enable MF, it snaps into the scale ring's locking mechanism where the scale ring has hard stops on both ends.

    That's the only way I can think so that the focus snap does not change the distance scale when switching from AF to MF.

    It sounds pretty cool, but it might still need 360 degree lens gear.
  • MihuelMihuel
    What will be a price for 12mm F2 ? And what about compatibility with Gh2 ?
  • stoneystoney
    Hmmm... E-P3 supports full-time AF mode. No more half ass shutter button pressing. That's nice.

    $799?

    It will work with GH2. But prolly not rectilinear. No software corrrection on distortion.
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