Talk about Olympus AP interface

Olympus has never had an autofocus interchangeable lens system in the film age, but in the digital age, it joined hands with Panasonic and other small partners to launch a new era standard 43 system.

43 system realizes a common sharing standard in many aspects, from lens bayonet to hot shoe interface. Olympus hot boots and Panasonic have the same definition, and flashlights of each other's brands can also be interchanged (of course, the accessories made by Oba seem to be more energetic), which is remarkable.

By the way, Leica also likes the consistent hot boots ~

This commonality has created a lot of convenience, and the concept of open source has been born in the camera market, which has also delighted many players. But with the development of science and technology, there is a new demand for hot boots.

In principle, it should be called "electronic viewfinder digital camera" It is characterized by using real-time view as the only way to view it.

In addition to being displayed on the LCD screen on the back, manufacturers often provide electronic viewfinders for people who are used to close-range framing or to meet the needs of framing under strong light.

There is a built-in electronic viewfinder, such as Panasonic's G 1, but it has been criticized by the market because of its similar appearance to SLR. Compact reflection (at that time) could not be built-in viewfinder, so it could only be met by external connection. Real data needs an interface to transmit, and a new standard is coming out.

On the original E-P 1 model, the standard "pure" hot boots are still continued; However, in the sequel "E-P2" in the same year, changes have taken place (two sets were released within one year, which was quite hasty).

The hot shoe opening of electronic P2 has been proposed for some time. Looking from the front, you will see a hot shoe very abruptly higher than your forehead. The reason is that it has a new interface-AP (Attachment Port).

The AP interface is located on the user side of the back of the camera and is a flat concave interface. The corresponding original accessories are generally installed and fixed with shoes. When sliding into the hot shoes, naturally insert the AP interface to communicate with the fuselage.

In the first generation of products, the first one was the external electronic viewfinder "VF-2" with high sound, while the "SEMA- 1" in the same period actually only provided a 3.5mm interface for recording.

The AP interface has two main functions:

20 1 1 1 With the launch of E-PL2, the interface has also been upgraded from AP to AP2. The interface form has not changed, but from the attachment type, it may be updated in data transmission and some new definitions; For example, the 2.36 million-point VF-4 introduced later cannot be used on the original AP interface.

The AP2 interface can be an accessory of backward compatible AP interface.

By the way, Leica's "EVF-2" is actually Olympus's "VF-2", and the two are interchangeable-so part of Leica's fuselage also has an AP interface. But for economic reasons, Leica X2 and M240 are often plugged into VF-2, not the other way around.

electronic viewfinder

Olympus electronic viewfinder is supported by ULTIMICRON technology provided by Epson.

There are three products: VF-2, VF-3 and VF-4.

All three viewfinders can flip 90 degrees. Only in this respect, they have greater freedom of viewing, which is slightly better than fixed designs such as E-M5.

Newcomers may wonder why the product called VF-3 is actually cheaper than VF-2. In fact, 3 is a new miniaturized and economical product.

As for VF- 1? That is either an electronic viewfinder or an optical viewfinder equivalent to 35mm, which was released together with the M.Zuiko17mm2.8 biscuit lens. Later, some people regarded it as a cheap external viewfinder of Sony RX 1, and that's another story.

wireless data transmission

This is actually a very interesting function, especially after the rise of smart phones-"sharing photos quickly" is a new demand, and this mood may be compared with previous instant imaging cameras.

PP- 1 uses Bluetooth connection for transmission, which is slow. But for outdoor photo communication, it is always more convenient than pulling the card to the computer ~

But there are two challenges in this application:

The next thing is that since 20 12, more and more new machines have chosen the built-in wifi, which can not only share pictures, but also take photos remotely, which has overwhelmed the special accessories in function and does not require extra money.

In 20 12, DC Watch also organized the comparison of several wireless transmission schemes at that time for reference:

Lights, lights, lights.

Olympus has made three products about lamps with AP interface, two are flash lamps and the other is always-on lamps.

Compact mini E-PM and economical Lite E-PL don't have built-in flash, so they provide attached small lights < fl-lm1\

The interesting thing about this flash is that it doesn't need a built-in power supply. It seems that the AP interface is used to get electricity, charge it into the capacitor and then discharge it. So the whole is very compact and small.

FL-LM2 feels the same, but provides "E-M5" and "E-M 1" of OM-D.

These two flashlights can't flash, they can only be used to fill the light ... But the sequel FL-LM3 has some enlightenment, which will be mentioned in the following paragraphs.

Mal- 1 is a device with two LED lights, and it also has no built-in power supply. It uses AP interface to get power. ...

This is mainly used for macro photography to fill the light with greater freedom. In fact, there are many imitations in Chinese mainland, which have no shortcomings except the need to use button cell by themselves ... but they are cheaper.

By the way, show other macro lights:

There is also a "SEMA- 1" on the AP interface, which is the earliest batch of products. As mentioned above, it provides a 3.5 mm radio receiving interface.

In fact, such an interface can be completely made on the fuselage, even if it is a compact design, it can also use a 2.5mm interface.

In 20 14, Olympus introduced the OM-D model E-M 10 with low positioning, without AP2 interface.

It's easy to explain, as the most commonly used accessory of AP2 interface, EVF has been built in, so it's unnecessary.

The flash is also built-in, and there is FL-LM2；; No longer attached;

Wireless transmission of pictures? Now there is also a built-in WiFi in the fuselage;

3.5mm audio interface, in fact, the fuselage can provide ...

This is a big chess game. It seems that with the development of technology, this interface seems a bit redundant.

Extra? Then save it.

In 20 15, Olympus introduced the E-M5 MarkII model, which used a new hot shoe design and lacked the AP2 interface.

The people's eyes are discerning, and they have raised questions here. Obama only replied faintly.

This may be considered as the end of the AP2 interface.

The only thing that can wait and see is probably the mainstream model of PEN.

Panasonic next door set an example on LUMIX GX7-built-in EVF, no protruding warships; Even this EVF can flip 90 degrees.

Maybe when we get to E-P6, we'll see a pen machine with built-in EVF without AP2 ~

Supplement: 2065438+200665438+1October, Olympus released PEN-F to cancel the AP interface. There are probably no more stories behind.

Where there is a beginning, there is an end.

The "FL-LM3" lantern released at the same time as the E-M5 MarkII uses the new definition of hot boots to connect the fuselage.

Look at the hot boots on the E-P5 first.

On the E-M5 II, it is like this:

As you can see, except for the central point, the original three-point distribution has become four points. ∷

This change is actually synchronized with Panasonic. Panasonic's LX 100 and GM5 models are equipped with the same newly defined hot boots.

This addition point on GM5 also uses a yellow contact, which is a hint-backward compatible native product, but don't forget that I am a new definition.

By the way, the "FL-LM3" lamp ~ Olympus finally realized that a small lamp that can't jump is too weak, so it added the jumping ability to the third generation small lamp. This change makes M43 users very happy-many Panasonic users are even loyal to it.

The earliest discovery of this Panasonic gospel was a post on the DP Review user forum, and it was discovered when I was writing an article about MK320. It is mentioned in the article that hot boots have the same definition, but Oba adds some "very boring" things, so users have to do a fairly simple lighting operation before Panasonic's new machine can jump lights.

However, an "old product" like E-P5 doesn't seem to enjoy this kind of welfare, so I went to buy the domestic all-round small lamp MK320.

ェプソンにくパルビルティクロロンクロ.

http://DC . watch . impress . co . jp/docs/news/20 100709 _ 376423 . html

Special plan: ぃまどきのをする EVF comparison

ォリンパスパナソニック, リコー, サムソ.

(Specially planned: EVF comparison of 6 portable models)

http://DC . watch . impress . co . jp/docs/review/special/20 100427 _ 364230 . html

Special plan: デジカメスマートフォンのののォ.

(Special project: digital cameras and smart phones now)

http://DC . watch . impress . co . jp/docs/review/special/20 120424 _ 52867 1 . html

Special plan: デジカメ +スマートフォンののののののの

http://DC . watch . impress . co . jp/docs/review/special/20 120425 _ 528857 . html

Olympus attachment list

http://www . Olympus . co . jp/jp/support/cs/pen/acce/index _ pen _ acce . html