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E-P1 Fashion accessory?

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Kerry Munroe

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The EP1 has broken new ground in camera design and small camera image quality. Some have called it the poor mans Leica M8. At a glance it does check many of the boxes describing and "ideal" camera. Smallish and high image quality are two that come to mind. The E-P1 is smaller and does have SLR like image quality and depth of field controls. But there continues to be 2 things that hold me back.

Said many times -the camera with you is always better than the camera at home, which in most cases is a bigger SLR style camera. The E-P1 is smaller than most SLR cameras, but it is still a little big. Maybe asking for the impossible.

The other thing I want in my camera is an understated seriousness. I do not want flashy. I don't want bling. The E-P1 is cool and retro in all, but it is fashion accessory? Off white and beige? Nice colors fora womans hand bag. It has been cutified. I hold the romantic (fantasy) view of the war corresponded, civil rights protested, photo journalized camera. The Ep1 is just a bit too pretty.
 
I wouldn't worry to much about what your camera looks like. I really don't think people care. I'm a guy and I have what some people call the girly white or hello kitty camera, what ever.... I take it on the street, shoot in front of all sorts of people and all I hear is what a cool camera, and comments to that effect.

Don't over analyze it... Good luck with your decision.
--

Quote by Robert Roaldi: I often take pictures at less than optimum apertures and shutter speeds. At 1-to-1 on my monitor I can often see the blur that is the result of too low a shutter speed and too much coffee. But I can often fix those pictures by just reducing the magnification and printing them anyway and pretending that I never saw them at 100%. It seems to eliminate the problem.
 
Kerry Munroe said:
The EP1 has broken new ground in camera design and small camera image quality. Some have called it the poor mans Leica M8. At a glance it does check many of the boxes describing and "ideal" camera. Smallish and high image quality are two that come to mind. The E-P1 is smaller and does have SLR like image quality and depth of field controls. But there continues to be 2 things that hold me back.

Said many times -the camera with you is always better than the camera at home, which in most cases is a bigger SLR style camera. The E-P1 is smaller than most SLR cameras, but it is still a little big. Maybe asking for the impossible.
Click to expand...
I dont think it will ever be possible for an m43 to be much smaller.. theyve omitted the VF and flash to save volume and weight, what else can they remove. In any case, once you put a decent and fast lens on it (there arent any at the moment), then the size grows significantly. Even the 14-140 is gigantic by 43 standards.
Kerry Munroe said:
The other thing I want in my camera is an understated seriousness. I do not want flashy. I don't want bling. The E-P1 is cool and retro in all, but it is fashion accessory? Off white and beige? Nice colors fora womans hand bag. It has been cutified. I hold the romantic (fantasy) view of the war corresponded, civil rights protested, photo journalized camera. The Ep1 is just a bit too pretty.
Click to expand...
Wait for the Panasonic range finder body, coming this Fall... it should be more serious looking (think LX3) and come in black.

You can also remove the metal casing bits, and paint over if you like.
 
I don't like the white one either, not because I think it's a fashion accessory, I just don't like the scheme. But really, who cares what the camera looks like? I care more about what the images it produces look like.

Besides, the silver model looks like a Contax G2 rangefinder to me and no one ever called that a fashion accessory.

 
Kerry Munroe said:
... The other thing I want in my camera is an understated seriousness. I do not want flashy. I don't want bling. The E-P1 is cool and retro in all, but it is fashion accessory? Off white and beige? Nice colors fora womans hand bag. It has been cutified. I hold the romantic (fantasy) view of the war corresponded, civil rights protested, photo journalized camera. The Ep1 is just a bit too pretty.
Click to expand...
So just buy the traditional silver metal with black accents model. I don't understand the problem. That's what most photographers used for many many years. Black cameras because a fashion accessory fad when amateurs thought the pros who had them looked cool.

I prefer simple, stark, black cameras myself. It would not be very hard to strip the metal skin off an E-P1 and have someone refinish it in a simple, tough black lacquer with white lettering on the name plates. But I really don't care enough ... I look through a camera, not at it. Any camera is an understated seriousness if you treat it that way.

My G1 is blue ... ;-)
--
Godfrey
http://www.gdgphoto.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdgphoto/sets
http://twitter.com/godfreydigiorgi
 
As a Mac user I have been through this discussion too often.
What is "too pretty"? Seriously. What makes it "too"?

It's an odd belief system that requires that things that are capable have to be dull or boring, if not ugly. It is often suggested that perhaps one's masculinity is in danger if he has things that are not only capable tools but are also attractive. While sometimes being a cheap shot, it is also sometimes true. Some guys are a little too worried what others think.

Pretty is certainly in the eye of the beholder. So it should be a personal decision only. Not worthy of a forum post IMHO. Whether the camera can perform as you like is another matter.

I personally will accept things that work wonderfully but look ugly. But if you like art or aesthetics in general, why can we not ask for things that both look nice and work well?
 
I was using the EP1 at a party that my daughter threw to celebrate her being cancer-free for 5 years. Her husband works for the NY Post and several of his photo-journalist friends were there. Two exclaimed, "How the &#%@&& did you get your hands on one of those already???" They did not ask or remark about it being a fashionable camera - they all loved the "retro" styling. (But I will admit that I never would have considered the camera if only the white was made and would have prefered the all black one that was rumored.)
Steve
 
And then I'd poop on it.

I'd rather use my much sexier (and prettier smelling) EP1. ;)

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluelemonphoto/
Ricoh GX100
Nikon D700 & D200 | 70-200mm VR | 24-70 2.8 | 50mm 1.8 | 14-24 2.8 | Tamron
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35mm f2
 
It just looks like a silver P&S camera to me. Pretty understated as far as I'm concerned. The white one is kind of gawdy, but to each his own.
Kerry Munroe said:
The EP1 has broken new ground in camera design and small camera image quality. Some have called it the poor mans Leica M8. At a glance it does check many of the boxes describing and "ideal" camera. Smallish and high image quality are two that come to mind. The E-P1 is smaller and does have SLR like image quality and depth of field controls. But there continues to be 2 things that hold me back.

Said many times -the camera with you is always better than the camera at home, which in most cases is a bigger SLR style camera. The E-P1 is smaller than most SLR cameras, but it is still a little big. Maybe asking for the impossible.

The other thing I want in my camera is an understated seriousness. I do not want flashy. I don't want bling. The E-P1 is cool and retro in all, but it is fashion accessory? Off white and beige? Nice colors fora womans hand bag. It has been cutified. I hold the romantic (fantasy) view of the war corresponded, civil rights protested, photo journalized camera. The Ep1 is just a bit too pretty.
Click to expand...
 
(snip)
Jogger said:
Wait for the Panasonic range finder body, coming this Fall... it should be more serious looking (think LX3) and come in black.
Click to expand...
Are you referring to the upgrade to the LX3 or is this a new range finder to compete with the Leica M8?

Thanks,

-Ted

--
'There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.'
-Ansel Adams
http://www.pbase.com/tedwill
 
I am dead tired of black DSLRs. I took part in war, in protests and did some correspondent type assignments. I want to have fun with my camera, and I want it to convey the message - I am for fun! If I wanted to look dead serious, I would have carried a rifle with me. :)
--
Eugene
http://picture.stanford.edu/Photo
 
I think pink and blue and red pastel colors are a requirement in California, afre they not?
 
The masses don't have a clue, or care.

White & beige may draw some attention but silver & black make it disappear. No one has taken a second look at mine except a Japanese guy in Edinburgh last month.
 
LOL!

Actually, some of the most amusing professional cameras I recall were a series of Hasselblads available in your choice of bright Yellow, bright Green or bright Orange leather coverings. I thought the Yellow looked particularly smart.

From out of the past, one of the prettiest SLR cameras I recall was an Alpa 10D finished in a dark, anodized gold color with either burgundy or forest green snakeskin coverings. I always wanted one of those, just for the sheer beauty of it (and because the Kern Pailliar Switar lenses were simply as good as you could get at the time), but it was priced WAY out of my pay grade as a high school and then starving college student. A Nikon F was cheap by comparison. !
--
Godfrey
http://www.gdgphoto.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdgphoto/sets
http://twitter.com/godfreydigiorgi
 
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