This document was written in June 2009. It's now only of historical
interest, and much could be incorrect.
I bought an Olympus
E-30 in May 2009. On the whole I'm very happy with it, but the documentation is
pretty terrible, and some of the firmware gives me the impression that it was released in a
hurry. I've spent a considerable amount of time trying to work out how specific
functionality is implemented, and how to use it to its best. This page is (currently) a
work in progress describing the conflicting terminology that Olympus uses. It draws on
Olympus' documentation, a review by Andrzej Wrotniak, and my own experience and
experimentation.
The terminology that Olympus uses is confusing and inconsistent to the point of
self-contradiction. If you speak a language other than English, you could be in for a
surprise. Here are some terms in five common languages, along with the term that I prefer
to use:
English
French
German
Italian
Spanish
My preference
Manual page number
Live View
vue en direct
Motivansicht
Live View
Live view
34
IMAGER AF
IMAGEUR AF
SENSOR AF
AF IMAGER
V. IMG
Contrast AF
35
AF SENSOR
CAPTEUR AF
AF SENSOR
SENS AF
SENSOR AF
Phase AF
35
HYBRID AF
AF HYBRIDE
HYBRID AF
AF IBRIDO
HYBRID AF
Hybrid AF
35
(unclear)
Focus mode mode
95
Note particularly that in German and Spanish, the term “SENSOR AF” has the
opposite meaning. In Swedish it's like in German, and in Norwegian it's like in English.
Here are the Norwegian and Swedish versions of the same menu:
This could cause real confusion: the two languages are almost identical, and Swedes
and Norwegians typically speak to each other in their own languages. It's also a problem
because there appears to be no Swedish handbook for the camera (at least not on the web
site), so the typical Swede would read the English description, which gets the thing the
wrong way round.
The problem here is that the word sensor is used to mean in two different things: the
11 autofocus sensors (“AF Sensor”) and the image sensor (“Imager”)
that also records the photo. But the terminology is so broken that I can't see any way to
use it at all. So I've chosen the descriptive names, though that can cause its own
problems.
Olympus doesn't really describe “Focus mode mode” well. The modes described on
page 95 describe modes applicable to specific modes, so the only sensible term is
“Focus mode mode”. But I think it's ugly too.
