Olympus did its darnedest to drum up hype for the recently unveiled
E-P1 Micro Four Thirds shooter, and while we
already shared our two pennies on the thing, we figured it prudent to round up the best of the best from elsewhere on the web to give you a fuller picture. The long and short of it is this: the E-P1 is universally praised in terms of image quality, with the only real knock in that department going to higher-than-likable noise levels in low-light scenarios. Still, a camera is about more than just the output, and reviewers were quick to lament the dearth of an integrated viewfinder and flash. Furthermore, critics panned the camera for being slow to focus, oftentimes requiring well over half a second to finally settle and snap a shot. That said, we couldn't find anyone who wasn't won over by the image quality, but we'd make darn sure those other nuisances won't frustrate you to no end before falling for the cute factor.
Read - PhotographyBLOG
Read - DigiCamReview
Read - photocrati
Read - PhotographyPress
Read - OutbackPhoto
Read - CNET
Read - Steves Digicams
posted Jul 17th 2009 9:03AM
Am I the only one who finds the look of this thing the main problem? I 'get' that it's supposed to look retro and i applaud it not looking like a DSLR (unlike the Panasonic G1/GH1) but it just looks horrible IMHO. Leather belongs on car seats, sofas and socks only.
You must be young. I learned photography on a camera which looked remarkably like that. It felt good in the hands, was just heavy enough, small enough, sturdy enough. Behemoth digital SLRs and toylike point-and-shoots just don't do it for me.
I'd buy this in a second...if it had a viewfinder. I didn't want that to hold me back, but it will.
@mrspiteri... Leather belongs on socks?!
It's just that awful patch of leather :) I like that it has a metal body, of course.
How long until someone releases a wooden television.....
I like the design of it, very vintage feel to it. Plus it has a smaller form factor which is nice.
@McDeazy - I was trying to think of the most ridiculous thing to be leather just for a laugh...but after a quick google I find they actually exist! Crazy world
i wonder how much olympus is paying engadget for all this coverage for one freakin' camera.
So I love everything about this camera except for the price. I was hoping to make this my first "nice" camera purchase after being a life long P&S'er but just couldn't justify the hit to my wallet so I instead just ordered the Olympus E-520 w/two lens from amazon for $477. I will wait a couple of years for the new camera field to figure itself out.
Anyone have a link to *good* pictures out of this thing? Didn't see any up so far.
Just search Flickr. There are plenty of really nice pics up already.
Also as far as AF speed goes...it hasn't been an issue for me in the slightest. It easily compares to entry level DSLR's like the D40/60...which aren't exactly speed demons themselves. So far I've been happier with this camera after one week then I was with any of my previous 3 DSLR's.
Check out mine! ;)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spyker3292/sets/72157621273577451/
I love this camera. It may not be the best at some stuff, but looks sweet and it's fun to use. It won't replace my Olympus E-510, but it'll be a perfect 2nd camera to take when I don't want to carry around a DSLR.
Absolutely love this camera. High ISO output is actually really good. Not sure what those complaints were about with the noise but then I'm not a pixel peeper.
Things I don't like about this camera:
-Kit lens uses electronic manual focusing, ie, it's not a mechanical focus ring, when you turn it, a motor changes the focus. This makes it hard to focus by distance if you want to get around the slow AF. This is compounded by the fact that there's no focus/DOF range indicator like on the Panasonic LX2/3. I guess those are the compromises made to get it so compact.
As for the slow AF, this video makes it clear the kit lens is the real issue:
http://www.ukphotosafari.org/e-p1-team-review/2009/7/7/what-the-e-p1-cdaf-is-capable-of.html
-Menu system is pretty complicated though once you set most settings, you should be ok.
-No easy way to set bracketing without going into the menus (at least from what I've seen so far).
-No built-in flash. I wouldn't use it much at all, but it would've come in handy for going out with friends and I don't wanna carry the accessory flash.
That said, the advantages trump these misgivings.
Last thing, if you're looking for a black model, check out the pics of a leatherette skin on this page:
http://e-p1.net/index.php?topic=167.25
Curious why no AVCHD video format on this cam. It's probably the only bad thing about this camera for me personally.
Check out my test pics!
http://www.beerdrunksoul.com/?p=33
No built-in flash is a deal breaker for me.
Having to carry an accessory flash defeats the purpose of having a small camera. It means having to go back to carrying a camera bag.
There are times when one needs a bit of fill flash, and having to stop, drag it out of the bag, put it on, shoot the picture, put it away again... then what if you want to use the accessory viewfinder and the flash at the same time? There's only 1 hot shoe.
No thanks.
I love the small size, and I could actually live without the viewfinder, but no flash AND no viewfinder?
I don't know what the image quality is like, but I think the camera would be inconvenient to use.
"""No built-in flash is a deal breaker for me. Having to carry an accessory flash defeats the purpose of having a small camera."""
The camera has quite usable ISO 6400 instead.
I'm glad this camera exists, it is a year too late or I would have considered it for my last camera purchase. Then again, I'm not 100% satisfied with my current camera, so if this can compete with the 50D with good lenses, then I will have to look at it for my next camera.
It does look like a good camera, and I hope they or other companies start using bigger sensors and better lenses.
I'm still not sure if carrying around a large DSLR with 3 lenses in a pelican case would be the best way to get good pictures, or if a camera like this would get the job done. I did enjoy traveling my my pocketsized Panasonic with 10x zoom, but the pictures are pretty noisy, pixelated when zoomed in, and blurry compared to these new high end cameras.
It will be interesting what will happen in this area in the next 3 years.
Olympus? Who the hell uses Olympus? The pros use Canon because they have the widest array of lenses including their "L" line which stands for Luxury. Olympus keeps introducing formats that are doomed from the start..... including XD memory cards and the archaic four third standard. I wouldn't trust a company like Olympus to manufacture my cameras, they rely on small sensors that produce noisy images and because of this mirrorless design, a slow contrast based AF. I'd rather get a Canon Rebel T1i or the EOS 500D for the huge sensor and little sacrifice in weight and size. The Rebel also does full HD videos and uses a standard SD memory card!
Dude, seriously, for once in your life, shut up about Canon.
You're obviously not a professional anyway, pros don't care about the brand, just what the user can do with it.
well really iif you want to talk lenses, the micro 4/3rds cameras have a much shorter distance between the sensor and the lens attach point than any other lens system... that means that you can buy adapters for ANY kind of lens (since all the competitors just need a spacer of the appropriate size and a correct connection interface)
that's exactly what olympus and panasonic are doing, there are already adapters out for many older lens types and I'm sure ones for cannon and nikon lenses are coming out.
"""The pros use Canon because they have the widest array of lenses including their "L" line which stands for Luxury."""
LOL. You are an idiot.
I've been using the EOS system for well over ten years, was a working photojournalist for several years, own a decent mix of Canon prime lenses and L lenses for my EOS 5D, and I have always avoided all other dSLR camera brands. And yes, I've always thought Olympus' E-system would never be a purchase consideration.
But the minute the Pen was announced, I pre-ordered it immediately and since I've started using it two weeks ago, think this is the best thing that's ever happened for pros and enthusiast shooters. This camera answers the prayers of those of us who've gotten tired of lugging a full-scale SLR system for holidays and for family outings. Sure, the image quality isn't going to kill my 5D anytime, but it's many times better than so-called "prosumer" digicams. It doesn't have a viewfinder or built-in flash, but I have no issues with that.
Here are my blog posts (reviews and sample shots) on my Olympus Pen: http://iantan.org/?cat=28
I love my Canon gear, but I'm glad Olympus finally listened to what photographers have been clamouring for over many years.
Every type of camera has its place. It would be unfair to make such a statement. A pro photographer would most likely have 2-3 different systems i.e. 135mm for sports and fast action ... medium format for studio, portraits & landscape ... rangefinder for street photography.
Micro 4/3 has the advantage of being compact and yet giving you the SLR features. If you are talking about using only ONE system, then Olympus Pen E-P1 is most likely not the best to go with. But it is a excellent alternative / backup to whatever system you have right now. I uses 135mm Nikon and Hasseblad but this little wonder gives be the flexibility of occasions where I do not wish to lug half a ton of equipment around ... i.e. street photography.
As for lenses, there are adaptors available in the market place to fit major brand of lenses onto this camera. I currently uses my old Nikkor lenses on it and it works just fine. In fact, it is a trend in Japan now to fit Leica lenses on this camera and it produces wonderful results.
If you really are into low noise and high sharpness, then you should be looking into medium or large format ... not s DSLR and may not even be Canon. From your statements, it is obvious that you have not venture beyond Canon.
To me, this little thing has its place in my camera bag and so far after using it ... it truly has earned that place.
When the production model came out, I was a little disappointed with the look because I thought the prototypes were pretty sexy, but I gotta admit, the more I look at this, the more I like it.
That said, from the reviews that I'm reading, I'm going to hold off for one generation until some of the issues are ironed out.
I bought the white one three days ago....I love it
I fondled a pair of these last night. One was a production model and the other a pre-production with old pre-release firmware. I wish people would stop whinging about the screen and autofocus, the screen is lovely in-person (rather than bitching from a specs page) and the autofocus I found was pretty damn quick, on both units.
They're a little bigger than I expected, but they have a nice solid feeling to them, and a really nice weight to them. The preproduction unit with the 17mm I played with had taken a damn good beating as well, as it had pretty much toured all of Australia with the various Olympus reps before landing in that particular store. The top and bottom plates were plastic, and were dented all to shit. The sales rep told me that he personally had seen it take about five hard falls and it still works perfectly.
It's a damn nice camera people, quit second guessing it and grab it, and enjoy it, while you can.
Have it for a few days. So far I cannot get white balance to work at night on Auto. It either comes out all red or all yellow. But on P setting it seems to work.
This camera is a great looker! While it is ligher than other SLRs, the grip is not as comfortable, which kinda ruins the weight advantage. The lens is insanely small and light compared to Canon stock lens with similar specs. Theoretically without the mirror box video should come out much better as well. I could not care less about the optical viewfiner, it is old school and probably only useful for professionals, if at all. "Micro 4/3" format is the way to go! Now your only other option for a decent Micro 4/3 is Panasonic GH1, but that will drop you some $1500, though it arguably is worth it.