Body and lens compatibility: Micro Four Thirds

Is it easy to tell which bodies and lenses work nicely together? I am wondering how old bodies work with new lenses: How would a body compensate for distortion, for instance, with a lens that didn't exist when the body was produced?

In the Micro Four Thirds system, do Olympus and Panasonic handle the above question differently?

I have a Panasonic kit zoom that I used on an Olympus E-M1 and E-M5. As far as I know lenses should be interchangeable throughout out the M4/3 system. One possible incompatibility—I believe all of Olympus’s lenses don’t include in-lens image stabilization, whereas Panasonic have in on many of their lenses. I don’t know how well the in lens stabilization works with the Olympus bodies.

I don't know, but what I do know is that when shooting raw, corrections for specific lenses are applied during post-processing via lens profiles built into software such as Adobe's Lightroom. Or, if they don't already exist, you can create your own lens profile.

My impression is that if you want the corrections to be performed within the camera body, that may require a firmware update. And even so, that will not affect the raw data, just JPEGs (including embedded JPEG preview) and the live image that you see in the viewfinder.

abruzzi said:

I believe all of Olympus’s lenses don’t include in-lens image stabilization, whereas Panasonic have in on many of their lenses.

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Are both brands pretty good about including in-body stabilization?

4season said:

that may require a firmware update. And even so, that will not affect the raw data, just JPEGs (including embedded JPEG preview) and the live image that you see in the viewfinder

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I'm a JPEG shooter. Are firmware versions and upgrading pretty easy to sort out? I can begin to imagine lack of clarity about which firmware versions include which newer lenses.

multivoiced said:

Are both brands pretty good about including in-body stabilization?

I'm a JPEG shooter. Are firmware versions and upgrading pretty easy to sort out? I can begin to imagine lack of clarity about which firmware versions include which newer lenses.

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IMO, Olympus/OM System offers some of the best IBIS and dust-removal in the industry; at least that has been true of my Pen-F. Firmware updates require appropriate USB cable and the (free) Olympus software suite. Software also looks for lens updates, including those for Panasonic. Since purchasing items new, I think I've seen maybe 3 updates to the camera body, and typically 1 or fewer lens updates.

I have less experience with Panasonic camera bodies. I don't recall whether my Panasonic GM5 had IBIS, but it certainly lacked dust-removal, but in exchange it was amazingly compact.

When I have noticed significant differences due to in-camera correction, it's mostly been distortion correction, and most visible with inexpensive zoom lenses which may otherwise have plenty of barrel distortion (here, I am thinking more of Sony's tiny 16-50 mm E-mount pancake zoom; the Olympus 14-42EZ and Panasonic 12-32 pancake zooms are surprisingly good in that regard).

multivoiced said:

Are both brands pretty good about including in-body stabilization?

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Olympus was an early player in IBIS, when I think Panasonic was relying on lens stabilization. Both of my Olympii (Olympuses?) were first generation circa 2012 and both have IBIS. I'm less familiar with the Panasonic line but its worth checking out if they do, especially if you want to use adapted or manual lenses. (I mostly use 7Artisans/TTArtisan lenses, so it get usable stabilization, I need IBIS and I have to enter the focal length of the lens when I mount it.)

most panasonic cameras have dual image stabilization - lens and body.

Let's say I own two early PEN bodies: E-P1 and E-P3. I'm shopping for lenses.

The Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 lens came in two versions. Where do I go to look up compatibility between all four items? Can I find out which firmware versions, if any, are required to make either or both of those lenses work well?

I'm not finding that Olympus's site is very helpful, but I could be looking in the wrong place.