Olympus PEN E-P1 review
Its been 3 weeks as of this writing since I picked up my Olympus PEN E-P1, and I think its time for a quick review.
Olympus E-P1 top view.
First Impressions
From the moment that I took this camera out of the box, I was impressed. The build quality is fantastic (lots of metal) and the styling is spot on. It’s the small manual digital camera that I have always wanted, and it has a big sensor which is icing on the cake. Like most people, I thought that I was going to miss the viewfinder, and that has not been the case. The LCD is bright, and easy to compose with, and its a breeze to manual focus with as well.
Subsequent to purchasing the E-P1, I found out that the Four-Thirds and the micro Four-Thirds mount used by the PEN are the most adaptable mounts on the market. I have since purchased and been busy playing with my Pentax K-mount to m4/3 mount adaptor, and its a lot of fun.
Usage
The PEN is really easy to use, thanks to the smart button layout, and the dual control wheels for aperture and shutter speed. The menu system is intuitive and easy to use while shooting.
Auto-focus is significantly improved thanks to the latest firmware update, and even before the update, AF was better than most big Internet camera reviewers would lead you to believe.
Olympus E-P1 rear
While the LCD is good, it could be a lot better, but I think Olympus put a lower-resolution LCD in the PEN to help with battery life, and for what I use the PEN for, its fine for my shooting needs.
The nice thing about only having an LCD for composition, is it allows you to use some angles that you wouldn’t otherwise consider using. I can put the PEN right on the ground, compose and shoot without having to lay in the dir to get a shot.
The 14-42 Kit Lens
The kit lens surprised me. It was sharper than I thought it would be, and it has some pretty nice bokeh. Its such a compact lens, its easy to under estimate its abilities.
Dandelion Head, taken with 14-42mm kit lens
I do however feel that Olympus should be selling the E-P1 with a 25mm 1.4 lens, (50mm equiv). I think the PEN would really excel and impress with a nice fast normal prime. Panasonic does make a 20mm 1.7, and Olympus does make a 17mm f2.8 (34mm equiv). I plan to try both at some point (hopefully) and purchase one of them for my daily camera carrying needs.
E-P1 with 14-42 Kit Lens
Image Quality
If you are going to buy a digital camera without an on-board flash, its going to need some decent low-light capabilities, and the PEN does really well for a smaller than APS-C sensor up to ISO 1600. If needed, you can increase the ISO to 3200, and 6400 ISO, the images are noisy, but still usable. The noise in the high ISO images from the PEN is actually quite pleasing, it has an almost film-like quality, which works well when converted to black and white.
Its 12mp I feel is just about perfect, the images are a bit smaller than the .DNG raw files out of my K20D, so its nice to save on some space where I can.
Conclusion
If you are considering a PEN, you won’t be disappointed. I think its a great camera to help a beginner learn composition, as its allows you a bit more freedom to compose. Its also a bit easier to adjust exposure in manual mode, which will take some of the fear away from new manual mode shooters.
After three weeks, I’m very happy with mine. It has made photography fun, and its a great source of inspiration. In the short time that I have had my PEN, I find that I am making better photographs, and trying new angles that I would have never tried before.
Happy shooting.
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