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Olympus E-P1 PEN Review by Ken Tanaka @ The Online Photographer.

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi folks,

Although I am a regular reader of the Online Photographer, I haven't been there for a week or so. When I just visited the site to catch up with my reading, I have been pleasantly surprised to see this excellent review of the Olympus E-P1 PEN by Ken Tanaka. Although I am not in the market for such a camera, I have enjoyed reading this balanced and photographer oriented review by Ken. Certainly recommended.

Cheers,
What a great article. What makes Ken's review worthwhile is that he deal head on with the things the new camera cannot do well, that's AF and having put that aside, one has a pocketable good quality carry around serious camera that overcomes the Canon G10's limited performance above 400 ISO. To me, this allows one to have a camera capable recording in a wide range of lighting and giving a file which seems to have a good chance of being brought up to creditable standards in Photoshop. As I'd expect no more than a few dozen images from a vacation that would really merit such great attention and adoration, I think that's not bad compromise.

I have no store of fine M or 4/3 lenses, but I think that this camera is worthy of a look as a carry around camera fro a pro.

Asher
 

Ken Tanaka

pro member
Aww...shucks guys. (blushing)

I'm glad you found my E-P1 write-up interesting. I was somewhat relieved to see DPreview agree with my major points in the (as-usual) thorough review they posted just yesterday.

Frankly, I've been using the Oly E-P1 almost daily since July 3rd and I've been having a blast with it. With two more weeks of experience since that review I recommend it even more highly, although under the terms that you treat it largely as you would a Leica M; manual focus. This camera is really knockin' me out.

115536561.jpg


I became intrigued by the Olympus PEN as I began researching the E-P1's background. I did not grow up among many shutterbugs. The Kodak Instamatic was probably the most sophisticated camera I encountered in the 1960's. So I found the original Oly PEN very interesting, so much so that I bought one! (A minty black -circa 1966- Olympus PEN FT.) So my next TOP article in August will be on "The E-P1's Grandpa".
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I became intrigued by the Olympus PEN as I began researching the E-P1's background. I did not grow up among many shutterbugs. The Kodak Instamatic was probably the most sophisticated camera I encountered in the 1960's. So I found the original Oly PEN very interesting, so much so that I bought one! (A minty black -circa 1966- Olympus PEN FT.) So my next TOP article in August will be on "The E-P1's Grandpa".
So would you take this on vacation instead of a G10, if you had one. I love that camera except for the noise 400 ISO onwards if one wants color.

It seems that there's a great advantage to using the Olympus lenses as the firmware can make adjustments as you zoom and not shift the focus.

Asher
 

Ken Tanaka

pro member
So would you take this on vacation instead of a G10, if you had one. I love that camera except for the noise 400 ISO onwards if one wants color.

It seems that there's a great advantage to using the Olympus lenses as the firmware can make adjustments as you zoom and not shift the focus.

Asher

No, in my case the Canon G10 would still be my generic vacation camera choice. It's more compact than the E-P1, packs a tremendous amount of functionality in that small volume, and is more fuss-free than the E-P1.

The E-P1 would be my choice, frankly, wherever I might otherwise take a Leica M8 but wanted a smaller and more versatile camera. I can use M lenses, the kit lenses for zoom/close range. The camera, and the Oly Master 2 software, do seem to make some intelligent adjustments for the kit lenses but they're subtle.

Regarding visual noise the E-P1 produces some of the cleanest high ISO images I've seen short of the Canon 5DII. You can shoot at 2500, and often beyond, with confidence.

Think of the E-P1 as the camera that Leica would have built if they could just get over themselves and their partly fictive heritage.
 

Will_Perlis

New member
Yes, that's a good review. It's the lack of an optical viewfinder that's stopping me from putting my name on a waiting list. I find the sun glare here on the Left Coast makes using a screen for even rough composition when outdoors a chancy thing.
 
Ken, thanks for the balanced review. I found it an excellent article.

The E-P1 would be my choice, frankly, wherever I might otherwise take a Leica M8 but wanted a smaller and more versatile camera.

I think this is a remarkable situation. Where the Panasonic micro four thirds bodies did not seem to do well with (i.e Leica) manual focus lenses the E-P1 seems to do a lot better. On the other hand as you indicate the E-P1 lacks in some key area's when you are using it in a way a less experienced photographer would do. And probably as Olympus had intended. But, on the positive side again you comment that some of your best photo's are with the kit lenses. And, from a general four thirds perspective, the sensor performance you comment on is such a step forward.

For now your report, and others, have me holding back and waiting for further releases from Olympus, a higher-end micro four thirds body with view finder and better LCD maybe on the horizon and better (brighter) lenses as well.

Thanks, Martin
 
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