Hello Listers, I have both the Lumix L 1 (bought the kit in order to get the Leica D Vario-Elmarit 14 - 50 zoom lens) and the Olympus 330E. I use Leica R lenses on both 4/3rds bodies using a R > 4/3rd adapter that is available locally and costs HK$600 (US$77), If you want to see what it looks like please go to Gary Todoroff's Lympa log at <http:// www.northcoastphotos.com/Lympa.htm>. Previously I was using a Canon 5D with a microprism / rangefinder Brightscreen and frustrated with the number of focusing misses I experienced - especially using wide angle lenses (the R 28 Elmarit is one of my favourites and MUCH better in the corners than any Canon wide that I have tried). After reading Gary's log, I went to Shogun Camera in Tsim ShaTsui (Kowloon side) - bought the R > 4/3rds adapter and took a bag of R lenses to the nearby Olympus show room where I spent a pleasant afternoon with a helpful, pretty young sales lady trying R lenses on various Olympus 4/3rds bodies and ended up buying a 330E. I bought it because the "live view" feature, combined with a 10X magnification of the screen let me nail the focus on my R lenses much more frequently than with the Canon 5D. This was before the L 1 was available. The L 1 works in the same way (live view B mode) and has the added advantage of letting you choose 4 X magnification or 10X - Olympus only has 10X and sometimes (especially with long lenses like my 180APO) on the Oly a tripod is really needed to get a steady enough image that one can focus. Of course, the mirror, which is up in B mode, in both cameras needs to come down and up again to measure, set and take the exposure so the set up isn't quick enough to catch a fast fleeting decisive moment. Still, it feels good to be able to focus R lenses on a digital platform with a higher degree of accuracy than I was getting before. Between the L 1 and the Oly 330E, I prefer the latter because it has a Live View A mode (from an extra sensor in the viewfinder) which you can use with the mirror down and which permits auto focusing if you are using a lens with that feature. This is faster then mirror up B mode and in consequence more suitable for catching decisive moments. The Oly 330E also has the moveable LCD on the back which lets you use the camera like an old TLR (I still have a Rolleiwide in my dry box and put one roll a year through it) and that is a feature which I really, really like (as the Spice Girls once sang). One attractive feature in the Oly 330E is that as you close down the lens the LCD brightens so you don't have to focus at maximum aperture and then close down to take the shot. With the L 1 - the LCD darkens more than the Oly does as you close down the lens. The ergonomics of each camera is different - I prefer the menu screens on the L 1 - but don't like that your settings(unless saved in a Custom setting and in use when you change lenses) default to factory settings when you install a lens without an aperture ring. This doesn't happen on the Oly when you install the Leica D Vario. There are other incompatibilities as well. Using the Olympus E 1 extender on the Oly 330E with the Leica Vario zoom is intermittent - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. With the L 1 and the E 1 extender there is a firmware upgrade available which I have installed but not yet tested which is supposed to solve compatibility problems. I have a replacement Sigma 30mm f1.4 on order (the first sample back focussed on both camera bodies) to increase low light capabilities and I am looking forward to the 25mm Leica summilux which I saw at Photokina, under glass at the Olympus booth, but without any price information (ask Leica they said - that means it will be expensive!). Leica have said they will also issue a 14 - 150 f3.5-5.6 "universal zoom" in 2007 followed by a 50 - 150 f3.5 - 5.6 telephoto zoom and then a 45 f2.0 macro lens (I have the Oly 50 f2.0 macro and it is superb). All the Leica zooms will have image stabilization (which the 14 - 50 vario has) and which no Oly lenses have - another reason perhaps to go with Leica. These 4/3rds Leica lenses are designed by Leica and quality controlled by Leica but made in the Panasonic factory in Japan (even though my 14 - 50 Vario doesn't say made in Japan anywhere). Sorry to ramble on at such length but once started it seemed I should just include all my 4/3rd experience rather than just answering the question about the adapter. Howard (in Hong Kong) On 25 Nov 2006, at 3:01 PM, FreeLists Mailing List Manager wrote: > Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2006 13:10:45 -0800 > From: David Young <telyt@xxxxxxxxx> > Subject: [LRflex] Re: Question-LumixL1-LeicaD3 > > Philippe Amard wrote: > >> Since I got Panaleicaed over the weekend, I was curious to see if I >> could get the ring adapter from Leica and use my older lenses on >> the newcomer. > > Leica have a part number for the adapter, but I do not believe that > is available, just yet. Coming soon, to a dealer near you! > > There are, however, a number of Hong Kong and Chinese made adapters > available for Leica-R to 4/3rds mount. A quick search of Google or > *bay might put you on to one. Perhaps our Hong Kong "secret agent", > Howard Cummer can shed some light on this for you. > >> I visited the Leica site for the reference number and discovered >> that the instructions for use of the D3 are free for download. At >> first sight, there ARE differences, in the menu for example; 4 pages >> or screens instead of three. More options are apparently offered. > > Underneath the skin, the cameras are the same. But Leica do offer > their own firmware. > >> So the question is: can one upgrade a Lumix thanks to Leica >> software. If so, how to upgrade? and, what are the risks? >> (I know David, that's three questions, in one ;-) ) > > Sorry. My answers are: I don't know, I don't know, and I don't know! > > Anybody else have better information? > > > --- > > David Young, > Logan Lake, CANADA > > Wildlife Photographs: http://www.telyt.com/ > Personal Web-pages: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt > ------ Unsubscribe or change to/from Digest Mode at: http://www3.telus.net/~telyt/lrflex.htm Archives are at: //www.freelists.org/archives/leicareflex/