pros and cons of two 4/3rds cameras

[Dgsmith]

I have been trying to decide which camera to get. the Olympus E-PL1 or the panasonic GF-1.
What are the pros and cons of the two cameras. what has the best selection of housings and lens combinations and ports?
Any assistance would be great.

 

[gstrek]

This is more of an opinion based on my experience with the Oly 5050. I stayed with Olympus and upgraded to the Oly E-PL1 with kit lens, Oly housing and Sea & Sea YS-01 strobe sitting on a ULCS tray. It will be underwater in 2 more weeks and I hope my opinion remains positive, especially with potential shutter lag due to focus time (could be a plus for the Panasonic).

There seems to be a lot of support from the online community, Olympus and third parties for this combination. The new Oly WA zoom looks impressive and there are third party housings and ports either available or soon to be available.

 

[Dgsmith]

Is there that much more shutter lag than the GF-1? I thought there also was a software update that helped the focus speed.

 

[gstrek]

I have updated the firmware and don't find the focus time a problem but I've only been shooting above water so far. The update speeds up the Oly 14-42 focus time making it nearly as fast as the GF-1 according to online reviews. I expect a huge improvement when compared to my old Oly 5050 but I don't have a GF-1 to personally compare. I will have to count the number of fish tails versus fish faces!