Via dcresource.com. Today, Olympus announced an upcoming firmware update for their three digital PEN cameras, the E-P1, E-P2 and E-PL1. The update will improve autofocus speed with all MFT lenses, according to the press release, while dcresource speak of “about 15%”. The update will be released on April 22nd.

Well, I guess that’s good news, isn’t it? I just happened to read a post in the dpreview Micro Four Thirds Talk forum mentioning that eventually Olympus will catch up with Panasonic in terms of AF speed. So this is probably another step in that direction. I’m excited to see how much improvement the fw update will actually bring!

UPDATE: imagingresource feature an exhaustive article with speed charts and tech-talk on the topic, don’t miss it!

And another thought: I sincerely hope this or one of the next fw updates brings some of the enhancements of the E-P2 and E-PL1 to the E-P1 – like the new art filters or the better high-ISO performance, provided this is even possible via firmware.