Received the USB connector cable for my E-P1 today and finally got to updating my E-P1’s firmware. Yes, it’s true what they say – AF speed has been considerably improved AGAIN! After firmwares 1.1 and 1.2, both of which came with tweaked AF algorithms, this is now the third AF improvement iteration for Olympus’ PEN series, and one wonders if it can get any better from here. dpreview’s testings have shown the E-PL1 to be on par with the Panasonic G1 – I can’t do a similar test for the E-P1 as I don’t own a Panasonic G model, but I’m pretty sure it’s got the same algorithms and thus performs equally well now.

I only had the 14-42 to test the new algorithms with (since Panasonic seem to have grown quite fond of my 20/1.7, not wanting to send it back to my dealer), but I can say it feels substantially quicker than with fw 1.2. I did some focusing tests before and after the update, and the difference is noteable. Great job, Olympus, finally giving us decent AF speed more than half a year after the cameras were first introduced – but as I said earlier, better late than never!