Which built in motor is the quickest?

[Reportage]

has there been a official study of such?

USM
Ultrasonic Motor Ring/Micro

HSM
Hyper-Sonic Motor

SDM
Supersonic-Drive Motor

SWM
Silent Wave Motor

SSM
Super Sonic Motor

SWD
Supersonic Wave Drive

opinions?

 

[Rashkae]

Don't forget SSM.

In general, the ring motors are slower. But this also depends on lens design; how large are the lens elements that need to be moved around, etc. These have actually already been discussed o many other forums online...

 

[Reportage]

Don't forget SSM.

In general, the ring motors are slower. But this also depends on lens design; how large are the lens elements that need to be moved around, etc. These have actually already been discussed o many other forums online...

Would you mind giving me a couple of such links preferably those with more detailed like diagrams and scientific testing done.

Thanks in advance.

 

[egnaro]

Dun forget Olympus SWD (Supersonic Wave Drive)

Olympus 12-60mm F2.8-4 SWD is develop to be the world fastest AF System. See quote below from here. however is this few year old technology, not sure if any other catch up.

"Autofocusing is powered by Olympus’s breakthrough SWD. Developed as the “world’s fastest AF system”, this extraordinary autofocusing drive provides both high speed and high precision while operating with lower noise than ever."

 

[wildcat]

Does quickest also mean most accurate? And how to define accurate? :dunno:

 

[egnaro]

Would you mind giving me a couple of such links preferably those with more detailed like diagrams and scientific testing done.

Thanks in advance.

Dun forget Olympus SWD (Supersonic Wave Drive)

Olympus 12-60mm F2.8-4 SWD is develop to be the world fastest AF System. See quote below from here. however is this few year old technology, not sure if any other catch up.

"Autofocusing is powered by Olympus’s breakthrough SWD. Developed as the “world’s fastest AF system”, this extraordinary autofocusing drive provides both high speed and high precision while operating with lower noise than ever."

Not sure about the test, see quote below get from here

"Auto Focus

The Zuiko 12-60mm zoom is driven by Olympus's new high speed, ultra precise, and whisper-quiet Supersonic Wave Drive (SWD) technology. Autofocus is impressively quick and smooth as silk – the lens finds the subject and locks focus in what is essentially real time, even in low light.

According to Olympus, focus on the Zuiko 12-60mm is accurate to within 5/1000ths of a millimeter. With this zoom mounted, Olympus also claims the E-3 has the fastest AF system in the world (Olympus says 170 ms/0.17 seconds), and I have no reason, after using the E-3 and this zoom heavily for a month, to doubt that claim. The E-3 with the Zuiko ED 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 SWD ESP zoom is faster than any DSLR that I've used to date, and even with low contrast subjects the camera and lens combo shows little tendency to hunt for focus. "

 

[egnaro]

Does quickest also mean most accurate? And how to define accurate? :dunno:

read quote highlighted in bold from post #6

FYI after 1m the range gone to infinity.

 

[9V-Orion Images]

has there been a official study of such?

USM
Ultrasonic Motor Ring/Micro

HSM
Hyper-Sonic Motor

SDM
Supersonic-Drive Motor

SWM
Silent Wave Motor

SSM
Super Sonic Motor

opinions?

They are more or less based on the same principles and technology, just under different trademarks.

 

[Octarine]

read quote highlighted in bold from post #6

This only refers to accuracy of executing the positioning command from the camera. I guess wildcat referred to the overall accuracy of the system "camera AF sensor + lens".

FYI after 1m the range gone to infinity.

So only objects closer than 1m are recognized with a specific distance, everything else is just 'infinity'? If that's true than I'm not surprised about the "speed", simply pushing the lens to 'infinity' is not very difficult. Given also the deeper DOF for the 2x crop factor of 4/3 systems any focusing error of the system is less visible than on a FF cam.

No doubts about your experience, but let's compare in the right context

 

[egnaro]

This only refers to accuracy of executing the positioning command from the camera. I guess wildcat referred to the overall accuracy of the system "camera AF sensor + lens".


So only objects closer than 1m are recognized with a specific distance, everything else is just 'infinity'? If that's true than I'm not surprised about the "speed", simply pushing the lens to 'infinity' is not very difficult. Given also the deeper DOF for the 2x crop factor of 4/3 systems any focusing error of the system is less visible than on a FF cam.

No doubts about your experience, but let's compare in the right context

I agreed on this, that the reason I highlighted this... I think the main reason it claim the fastest auto focus mainly becuz of the short focusing range.

 

[engrmariano]

SWD (olympus) is the 1st thing that came into my mind when i read the thread's topic...

im a canon user but occasionally using & trying other brands, namely nikon, pentax, & sony. i must say that SWD i so darn fast!!!

but 100L is also very fast, even on poor AFing 5D2...

 

[Reportage]

SWD (olympus) is the 1st thing that came into my mind when i read the thread's topic...

im a canon user but occasionally using & trying other brands, namely nikon, pentax, & sony. i must say that SWD i so darn fast!!!

but 100L is also very fast, even on poor AFing 5D2...

last week finally managed to see a Olympus Pro User in action....during an S-League match of all places. The setup was simple but the pictures looked quite nice. Got some nice tips for next time.

 

[qwerty628]

I've tried canon usm vs nikon swm. Usm has an edge in terms of accuracy while swm hunts a bit at times. Swm more accurate though, although it hunts it is accurate while my canon miss focus green cnfrm light also come on. That said, body may also be a factor. I was testing d80 with af-s 18-135 vs 500d with ef-s 15-85. Dunno if that's a fair comparism.

 

[fatigue]

Just like what 9V-Orion Images mentioned, all works at the same principle
Here's another link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasonic_motor

The technology has been applied to photographic lenses by a variety of companies under different names:

* Canon – USM, UltraSonic Motor
* Minolta, Sony – SSM, SuperSonic Motor
* Nikon – SWM, Silent Wave Motor
* Olympus – SWD, Supersonic Wave Drive
* Panasonic – XSM, Extra Silent Motor
* Pentax – SDM, Supersonic Drive Motor
* Sigma – HSM, Hyper Sonic Motor
* Tamron - USD, Ultrasonic Silent Drive

Speed may vary on several factors. processor speed, load (focus mechanism) etc...

 

[NewbieInCS]

The speed really depends on the type of the lens, amount of focus ring travel and weight of glass inside, isn't it? I mean you can't expect a macro lens with such long travel from mfd to inifinity to be as quick, even though it may have usm or hsm. And even for the same lens, at different focal length, the af speed can be different also, isn't it?

 

[ArcticFox]

I am sorry but I think this is a waste of time. You can't possibly buy the fastest lens when it is a 200mm lens while you are looking for a wide angle lens? Am I wrong? :think:

 

[Rashkae]

The speed really depends on the type of the lens, amount of focus ring travel and weight of glass inside, isn't it? I mean you can't expect a macro lens with such long travel from mfd to inifinity to be as quick, even though it may have usm or hsm. And even for the same lens, at different focal length, the af speed can be different also, isn't it?

Yup, my point exactly. There's more factors than just the technology used.