Customer Reviews

Olympus PEN E-P1 12.3 MP Micro Four Thirds Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera with 3-inch LCD and Silver 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens (Silver)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This past holiday week-end I made the decision not to take my Nikon DSLR with me on a 3 day road trip to Minneapolis. The majority of my time was spent wandering the Mall of America, and the E-P1 was an absolute delight the entire time.

This little camera makes me smile each time I use it!

If you don't care to word a long, winding review let me summarize it. The E-P1 doesn't have to make any apologies for being petite, its a full fledged camera on its own merit.

Positives
* Great photo quality!
* Built in image stabilization (works pretty well too)
* Customizable and responsive interface/buttons
* HD movie mode with autofocus
* Low profile, doesn't get you noticed
* Quiet. I'd say quieter than my old rangefinders and way more quiet than my DSLR's

Could be better
* Battery life
* Perhaps almost too customizable (pretty good learning curve). Keep the manual handy!

I'm not a people shooter and certainly not a "street" shooter but my week-end was spent at the Mall of America, which is enormous but all in doors. It was an interesting challenge. I found that although I fumbled with the interface and settings a bit, it became very engrossing and almost mesmerizing to shoot publicly with the E-P1. It never drew attention, not once, where as I saw people clearing out from the obvious DSLR guys like fish around a barracuda in the reef.

Lens: My only lens is the 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6, which doesn't sound too exciting. However in practice it has been a great general utility lens that has rendered quite nicely, showing nice resolution and sharpness. I can only anticipate what the E-P1 will do with a quality, wide aperture prime. I'm up in the air about my next move, but the 50mm f/2 sure looks tempting. But then again it would be great to try OM mount too! Arg....

Auto-Focus: I've read some questions about the auto-focus performance of this camera, but in normal operation haven't see an issue yet. Granted I haven't tried to shoot a basketball game or dance recital yet so take this with a grain of salt. For my people shooting in the mall the AF performance has been wonderful and spot on. When I've gone to outdoor settings or even just trying to snap something quick from my car, I've found that the autofocus is quite a ways behind my D90. I think it is real world quick, but it is probably a step slower to focus than any DSLR on the market. Not saying that's a bad thing, some worth knowing.

Sensor: The sharpness I see from this camera is well beyond what I expected, so there may be something to the talk that Olympus removed the strong anti-alias filtering most DSLR's are plagued with. The jpg results thus far haven't required any post process sharpening and the Olympus color engine is a breath of fresh air in my opinion.

Handling: Coming form a DSLR will make you take a little time to get used to the difference. Getting used to shooting with a LiveView display will also take some getting used to. There isn't a front/rear two wheel control system as I'm used to with the D90, but there are two primary controls for manual shooting and they can both be worked while shooting one handed. Very nice design! The buttons and functions are all fully customizable but expect to be nestled up with the manual a wee bit to do it. All in all composing from the LiveView LCD became very natural and fluid after a day. High marks to Olympus in designing such a usable system. The only thing I still have to figure out is a button to disable auto-focus so I can go fully manual.

Results: The bottom line to any camera is what it can produce. The E-P1 is not a D700, A900 or 5DII. Those are different kinds of cameras that excel at higher ISO and extreme resolutions. What the E-P1 is to me is a system capable of going toe-to-toe with any DX sensor system on the market in terms of deliverable results. No it doesn't shoot 8 frames per second. Again not that kind of camera.

This is a practical camera whose size and form factor make it usable in places that larger cameras wouldn't work as well or possibly not at all. I'm seeing very detailed and sharp results up to ISO 1,250. After years of shooting 35mm, DSLR and even large format I'd have to say this is the most fun I've had with any camera I've owned. Its a camera guy's camera that the beginner can use as well.

First a little background. I have a couple of other SLRs and was mainly looking for something to give me close to SLR quality files but in a considerably smaller physical package. A couple of downsides you should already be aware of from the product description.:

1. There is no pop-up flash. Not a problem for me, I don't ever use them anyway (your mileage may vary).
2. There is no viewfinder. Again not a problem for me, got used to that very quickly.

Now some observations from having used the camera:

- The sensor image quality is excellent. Dynamic range is at SLR quality. Noise levels up to and including ISO 800 is very clean. ISO 1600 has a bit more noise than the Rebel XSI (also 12mp)with the noise increasing relative to competitors from there.
- The user interface is intuitive. I used mostly Aperture Priority and Manual and found it easy to use. Stuff in the menus were also easily found. Changing the settings were at times challenging (like ISO) because of the smaller buttons, but given the camera's small size its something I could forgive
- Its heavy, almost as heavy as a basic, entry level DSLR. Now the lens is light as a feather, however I feel a lot of heaviness comes because of the build quality of the camera, which is superb
- The RAW processing software that comes with the camera is useless. The interface is horrible and the stability even worse. Wait for your favorite RAW processing software to add support and use that.


The deal breakers:

- The kit lens is slow. Really slow. So slow in fact that I found the system to not be very useful when the light levels got low or you were indoors. Now this could easily be fixed by having a series of fast pancake lenses, which I believe are coming, but sadly they aren't here yet.
- The auto focus is slow and unreliable, especially indoors. I found the AF to be very slow and borderline frustrating. Again, this was mostly indoors and in low light levels, so a faster lens may alleviate the issue.

Overall, this is a fantastic start for Olympus and once the system is fleshed out a bit more (with lots of those fast pancake primes at various focal lengths) I may consider it again. However with the limited lens selection available today, its not for me. You need to figure out if you can live with the kit lens (or the 17mm f/2.8 prime) while waiting for more lenses to come out for yourself.

I had been considering replacing my Leica d-lux 3 with the d-lux 4 when the EP-1 news came out. I immediately sold the d-lux 3 and ordered my EP-1. It is a little larger than I was hoping, but out of the box, the first results were incredible, RAW format on a par with my nikon d-90 RAW, requiring very little post-production. Feels good in the hand, responsive and fast auto-focus and much more satisfying to use than the leica - which I loved. Initial results in RAW much better than the leica, which was always just a little noisy.

This is a top notch camera, that I hope will continue to deliver results. The only current drawback for me is that photoshop CS4 doesn't recognizethe Olympus Raw Format (ORF). I have to go through Olympus software to convert, which severely disrupts my work flow, and the software is slow and clunky. Shooting JPGs alongside Raw in case I need the results faster.

If they get the plugin updated soon, I'll be over the moon.

Very happy with this purchase.

Yes, this would be the camera I would use to take photos of heaven.

I have had this camera for just over a week now and it is perfect for me - it just has the ideal balance of size, weight, features without sacrificing in DSLR standard IQ quality. If fact, it beats the IQ of my three previous DSLRs!!! (Canon Rebel XT, Olympus E-420 and E-620). I have heard from real users that the high-ISO comes close to the excellent Nikon D90).

The design and build-quality is stunning. When you hold it in your hands you just cannot help but admire it from all angles - it is a beauty! The ergonomics, although having that quality dense feel, is comfortable to hold even with one hand. Combined with the *really does work* IS and you can try a new-style of spontaneous shooting with one just hand (try doing that with a DSLR!).

Image quality is superb - sharp and with good colour. Olympus in-camera jpeg-engine is noted for being one of the best on the market for DSLRs. The sensor is the best from any Olympus camera to date. Although I think much of this is down to the latest Truepic V processor.

AF is similar speed to compact cameras. It is slower than the AF of the Panasonic G1/GH1 series, but much faster than the LiveView of current Olympus DSLRs. Speed will also improve with faster lenses. For me, it is nippy and is fast enough for me. If you want to take fast action shots or fast children, then you probably would be better off buying a DSLR. At least give it a try to find out if it suits your photographic style.

I have not missed the E-P1 in having no flash at all. I prefer more natural looking photos without flash and this camera is very good with shooting at ISO 1600. Even ISO 3200 in rare cases. Usually I would keep to ISO 400, but would not hesitate to shoot higher now.

Movie mode seems good (with HD and SD sizes), but have not explored that much yet. The audio sounds great! I have heard that Olympus has used their latest dictaphone technology in this, and you can tell. I think IS needs to be turned off though during movie mode. Also, it is great that it can take SD cards - they are so cheap.

LCD is large and bright, and refresh update is fast. Even though it is not as high-resolution as other cameras, I think it functions very well. Some have mentioned of low-battery life. I have not experienced that at all. Never during a day's worth of shooting have I run out of battery. There is a dedicated button that you can assign to switch off the LCD when not in use, but the camera is on standby-by and activates again by pressing any button. With this method and switching it off when not in use, you can save valuable battery life. It is just a matter of being prudent when using it.

Overall, this camera is a game-changer. By being able to carry it wherever, whenever, my photographic experience is taken to a new-level. Knowing I have a camera with DSLR IQ in my bag all the time without the bulk is a great feeling of freedom.

I would place my bets that this *gem* of a camera will win many design awards and, dare I predict, be crowned `Camera of the Year'.

1. For reference sake, I've used many cameras before (film and digital) and thus realize that there is no "perfect" camera. For most photographers who are "into" photography, they will agree with my contention that you need at least two cameras; one for "serious" work (ie typically a DSLR, but not always) and a compact camera for snapshots (which is also an important part of one's personal photography).

2. With the above said, I have a DSLR (currently E-620), I have a fairly compact camera (Ricoh GX200), but for various reasons, I wanted a smallish camera with HD video (a fair amount exist, most of which was much more compact than the EP-1) that also has good image quality (which for me also means the ability to shoot RAW)--> which really narrowed down the choice to the EP-1 and the Panasonic G1. I'll conclude this rambling point, by noting that it's important for folks to realize that the EP-1 is a niche camera; ie it does produce nice quality images, it has many (not all) performance features more similar to DSLRs than compact cameras, but it is NOT a compact camera... nor is it as big as a DSLR, even the smallest DSLR. I just wanted to make this point, because even though it is smaller than any DSLR, no matter what most folks say, unless you solely use the pancake lens, you are not going to be putting this into your pocket. Even if you did exclusively use the pancake lens, the entire unit is relatively hefty (which is a testament to the construction) and thus most folks wouldn't feel comfortable walking around with this thing in their pocket. Thus on a personal side note, I've come to the conclusion that I'll use / need a DSLR for my "serious" work, EP-1 for most family shots, family travel vacations (ie excellent image quality equal to that of my E620 but without the bulk, HD video etc...) AND a true compact for those situations where I actually need to carry something in my pocket (ie Birthday dinner etc...).

3. Sorry for the long personal ramblings above; so here are my other brief impressions:

a. Build: very solid. As noted via others, kind of relatively heavy, but for me, that's a good thing.

b. Image Quality: I shoot RAW all the time, very good image quality.

c. HD Video: I'm not a video expert, but it's overtly better than my regular resolution videos via my other digital cameras. Via apeture priority mode, you can set the apeture and then one can also adjust the exposure via exposure compensation. It would be nice if there was a manual focus assist like when one shoots photos (ie having an enlarged image). The continuous focusing mode is lame and thus one needs to focus manually or single focus lock (which is basically like shooting manually). Supposedly the EP-2 will be able to track subjects better in video mode. Unless one shoots subjects which come to / fro in the video and shoots long segments, the above problems should not be much of an issue.

d. Focusing: ... it's not bad. It's not great, but I didn't expect anything super great in the first place. When using the zoom kit lens, it is definitely fast enough for 90% of situations. I agree with many that it is irritating that the camera has to refocus each time you press the button, but in the end it's a minor annoyance. I haven't used the pancake lens with the EP-1 yet; I'll get it soon. Another very important point in regards to focusing, the EP-1 has this very cool feature that if one is in manual or S-M focus mode (I think that's what it's called), as soon as you touch the focus ring, you'll get a 7x or 10x view on the LCD--> translation, it is the quickest manual focus via LCD I've come across thus far. It's so quick and accurate (because you're actually doing the focus) that when I use my 4/3 Olympus lens on the EP-1 (ex: 12-60mm or 9-18mm) I always use the manual focus method and it works fairly well.

e. Lack of Flash? It's a nonissue for me because I rarely ever use an onboard flash. When I need a flash, I use a hotshoe flash (ex: Olympus FL-36 or better yet--> Olympus FL-50R). But I do agree that having a built in flash is important, especially the smaller the camera you have simply because the purpose of having a small camera is to avoid carrying other gear... like a flash.

f. IS: I assume it works. It works in my E-620 and this was one of the reasons I stuck with the Olympus Line; ie the G1 doesn't have in body IS. To me, this feature is more important than having an onboard flash that I might use 1% of the time. I use IS a fair amount.

g. LCD: I've used the camera in various conditions, including the worst LCD shooting situation; sunny day at the beach. Yea, it can be challenging in such situations but again, only in certain conditions: trying to manually focus at telephoto. For most shooting situations while at the beach, on a sunny day, using autofocus--> no problem. I just turn up the LCD to max brightness.

h. Other stuff: frame rate is decent, turn on / off time is ok, writing to card seems ok--> ie none of this issues have been noticeable or an irritating issue to me.

4. In summary, it's a no brainier that this camera is more than capable of producing great images and it has the flexibility that all serious photographers want. I would say the primary issue that one has to clearly figure out in one's mind is for what purpose one envisions using this camera. It is not a DSLR replacement, but in many instances it could provide similar images (at least non-full frame DSLRs) and it is NOT a replacement for a true compact camera. It is a niche camera that is capable of some very good images.

I have owned this camera for almost a month now. There have been some disappointments but overall I have been pleased. I also own two Olympus DSLRs so I bought the adapter that allows me to use those regular 4/3 lenses. My main interest in the camera was the compact size and the styling. My other Olympus cameras going back to a 1970's OM-2n have been extremely reliable so I had no hesitation in that regard. My impressions (pro and con) so far are: Pros: 1) excellent image quality even with the kit lense. 2) nice to have both standard and hi def video capability, 3) better noise reduction at high ISO settings than other Olympus cameras, 4) excellent build quality, 5) The "cool factor" is very high. Cons: 1) I wish it had a built in flash for fill in use although I have used my Olympus FL-36 flash on it with no problems, 2) I wish it has some sort of viewfinder and hope a third party electronic viewfinder will become available soon, 3) it is pricey and will likely be a niche product, 4) The kit lenses are not "fast" which does present some low light/action issues, 5) accessories are expensive. Overall, while there are some significant drawbacks I don't regret the purchase. For someone who doesn't want to lug a camera bag everywhere this is a great "walk around" camera with image quality that far surpasses point and shoot models. If they can get the price down and make more lenses available it could be a winner for Olympus.

I own a couple of high end DSLR's (Canon) with L glass but have always preferred to travel with small, light gear. I have Panny , 2 Richos, plus Fuji. And as much as I have liked aspects of these cameras, bottom line is I've always been disappointed with the final output as compared to the DSLR's. Bought the EP-1 on a whim just before a vacation - I had thought of waiting to see what Panasonic would bring out since I was concerned about the lack of viewfinder and the universally acknowledged slow focus. I couldn't be happier. The focus is not any slower than my other compacts. Yes, I would prefer a viewfinder. But everything else about this camera is fantastic. I was very pleasantly surprised about the the kit zoom - it's really quite good. This camera is just plain fun to use. IQ is really great - better than anything small out there. It's not tiny but for me it handles better than the pocket cameras. I am now an Oly convert! I just ordered an adaptor to use all sorts of lenses I accumulated during my film days. And they are going to be image stabilized!

I've been shooting with the Olympus E-P1 for 15 months now and I've been pretty happy with the results, particularly with the Panasonic 20mm lens. However, that all changed two days ago when a pale, streaked arc began appearing on my images regardless of which lens I used. I took the camera to Calumet Photographic to have the sensor cleaned, hoping that there was something I couldn't see on the sensor that was causing the problem. Unfortunately, there wasn't. I've contacted Olympus and since my camera is 3 months out of warranty, I will be charged $168 plus shipping to have the camera repaired (the cost is the same regardless of the repair).

Clearly this changes my previous review. No longer does the E-P1 deserve 3 stars.

We have to address the built-in obsolescence and shoddy build quality of contemporary electronics, including digital cameras. I'd hoped to have this camera for many years, just as I'd had my Contax G2 film camera for many years. Now I'm not sure what to do. Sell the lenses and the camera? Spend an additional $200 to repair the camera, assuming it can be repaired? All told, I've spent $1260 so far for this camera and the additional lens, about what I'd spent on my Contax G2, which never had to be repaired in the decade I owned it.

I get that our economy is based on our consumption of disposable goods. But I don't think I'm crazy for expecting a camera that cost $800 to not be in the "disposable goods" category. Yet this one is.

I am truly disappointed in Olympus and I will never buy one of their products again.

I was looking for a camera which was as small as possible, yet capable of professional quality image capture.
I travel extensively and cannot be weighted down with a huge D-SLR. As of July 2009, this was the most compact & feature-rich camera made with such image quality!

In general, it's as spectacular as everyone says, but I do have a few problems:

1. The battery technology is quite disappointing.
UPDATE: This battery works great and only $5! Make sure to buy 1 or 2 extra:
Generic BLS-1 Replacement Battery

2. As mentioned, the auto-focus is pretty slow and fails in low-light.
UPDATE: Even with 1.1 Firmware upgrade (lens and body), there is no obvious improvement. Still I have found that I am not missing shots *too* often because of the AF. If AF performance is a showstopper for you, consider the Panasonic GF1.

3. Camera has an amazing list of settings, but I still find that the feature I want is often buried deep inside he menus (even with the *super* menu, etc). There are a number of useless settings (disabling menu items and buttons) as well and strange limitations as to what options are available for each button. Why?

4. No Photoshop plugin for Olympus Raw (.ORF) files.
UPDATE: I am doing fine with Olympus Software and Freeware tools like DC Raw.

5. Lenses: As this is my first interchangeable lens camera, I was disappointed to learn about how few Micro Four-Thirds lenses there are. Seems this will change over the next year or so (looking forward to the 20mm f/1.7 Pancake in October). There are *many* good "classic" (manual focus) lenses available (if one is willing to buy the fairly pricey adapters).
There are even ways to "hack" your own adapters, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that.


Overall experience after 7 weeks:
I hoped I would still be using this camera in like 8+ years, but it seems that this is more of a 4-6 year investment.
This is still the best camera I have ever owned and a joy to use.

I bought this hoping it would be a barely acceptable DSLR substitute, expecting I would end up not liking it and sending it on it's way back to the retailer or to someone else by reselling it. I've been using film and then digital slrs for 20+ years, so I'm used to an SLR. I actually LIKE SLRs, especially sturdy, hefty and fast DSLR's such as Nikon's D200.

The e-p1 seemed very......different.

As it turns out, vive le difference!

While I was pretty skeptical, I figured I wouldn't lose too much if I took a chance on one to try it out. I'm now glad I did since mine has really changed what I think about this type of camera (bigger sensor, no mirror).

I was never entirely satisfied with the limits of the all-in-one digicams out there, although I had resigned myself to getting something like a DP2, LX3 or G11, so that I could travel lighter when I didn't really need the D200. Basically, when I might be headed somewhere where I MIGHT want a camera, but wasn't planning a trip explicitly for the photo opps.

True, there is no eye-level finder(addressed in the e-p2 and e-pl1 with the addon VF), so you have to compose using live-view. And yes, I'm still getting used to it. But I've found it gets more comfortable and less "unacceptable" the more you do it, so I'm making that adjustment. Pretty happily in fact given all the positive qualities of the e-p1.

I also thought that the AF would be unacceptably slow from the reviews I read, but I haven't found that to be the case. Yes, it is slower than my D200. But it turns out not to be a problem for me, even though I haven't upgraded to the latest firmware, which is supposed to provide even faster AF. Of course I'm not trying to shoot fast moving action with it either, so if you're into that you wouldn't be happy with the AF speed, since there are plenty of DSLRs that are quite a bit faster.

So what are the good qualities?

Great image quality for a start. It is really excellent for jpegs, but if you like to shoot RAW and cook the output however you like, you can do that too. I've started shooting more jpegs, since I hate sitting around in front of a computer (since it's what I do every weekday already). And the e-p1 really does output a great jpeg. Of course, the good lenses that are available help as well. As does the built-in IS.

And even though the AF is slower than an SLR, the e-p1 still seems more responsive than most compact digicams I've tried. Part of the reason that it feels responsive is just the camera's speed, but also the controls work well, which makes changing settings a breeze (for the most part.) And you can control pretty much everything, which makes the camera configurable and flexible.

Speaking of flexible, there are more options for a little camera like this than for a small digicam. You can good telephoto zooms, normal zooms (like the kit lens), wide-angle and wide-angle to tele zooms, as well as using the four-thirds lens adapter and OM adapter.

After using it for a week, I'm much happier with the e-p1 than I thought would be.

I do have a couple of complaints thought, one with AF/MF and one with the body design/spec.

Sometimes the camera focuses on a background object instead of the foreground object you wanted it to focus on. When this happens with my slr, I can switch to manual-focus and be ok. Unfortunately, using manual focus is a little more difficult than I would prefer. It works ok if the camera is on a tripod, but when using the camera unsupported, it's difficult to hold the camera steady enough with one hand to and fine tune focus with the other. The camera jiggles around as you're turning the focus ring with your off-hand, so it's hard to get things really sharp.

I also would have really like to see the camera and lens dust and weather-proofed some. It wouldn't need to withstand a torrential downpour (although it would be nice), but enough weather-proofing to stand up to a light rain would be good. Ditto with dust-proofing.

But I have a lot fewer complaints than I thought I would when I first got it. In fact, until I actually took it out and used it I was planning to return it. Lucky for me, I gave it a chance and it turned my opinion around. Now I've ordered the four-thirds adapter and a lens I've had my eye on, so I can see that I need to make more room on my gear-shelf for some more micro 4/3 gear.