GF1: why no focus confirm beep for legacy lenses?

[squirrel$$$bandit]

So far, this is the only thing that is actively bothering me about this camera--and I assume it's true of the other Panasonic m4/3 cameras, too. When you're focusing manually with legacy lenses, there is no focus confirm beep.

I'm not sure why this should be so. On every DSLR I've ever used legacy lenses on, there is a focus confirm beep, or if you prefer silent operation, a flashing square. And the GF1 uses contrast detect AF, so the camera should have no trouble knowing when focus has been achieved. Even with MF of m4/3 autofocus lenses, you don't get the beep.

It seems this could easily be added in a firmware update. So why hasn't it already?

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

There even seems to be an item in the manual that suggests there IS a focus confirm beep in MF mode. But it doesn't want to happen.

 

[mawz]

So far, this is the only thing that is actively bothering me about this camera--and I assume it's true of the other Panasonic m4/3 cameras, too. When you're focusing manually with legacy lenses, there is no focus confirm beep.

I'm not sure why this should be so. On every DSLR I've ever used legacy lenses on, there is a focus confirm beep, or if you prefer silent operation, a flashing square. And the GF1 uses contrast detect AF, so the camera should have no trouble knowing when focus has been achieved. Even with MF of m4/3 autofocus lenses, you don't get the beep.

It seems this could easily be added in a firmware update. So why hasn't it already?

The focus system doesn't allow for it. It's not like Phase-detect where you have a specific AF point that's in focus at a specific time. They'd have to write a set of AF algorithms specifically to confirm MF on a specific selected point, which is somewhat of a waste of time for Manual focus use. SLR's get AF confirm essentially for free (and note that only Nikon, Pentax, Sony and older Olympus SLR's have AF confirm by default with legacy lenses. All Canon's and newer Oly's lack it).

 

[mawz]

I didn't realize Canon DSLR's didn't have this feature, BTW--rather a surprise!

Canon's do have AF confirm, it just requires an EF mount lens or an AF-confirm adapter. Plain adapters won't engage the AF system.