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Thinking about buying first mirrorless camera

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intensity studios

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Looking at possibly buying Olympus E-PL1. Does this camera suck?

I shoot mainly street photography with natural light and portrait photography with studio lighting. Looking for something lightweight to carry around but also to be used as a backup for my dslr.

thanks

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Antonio
http://www.intensitystudios.com
 
The E-PL1 is no slouch. The image quality is very good. However, if it were my money, I would spend the extra few dollars for the E-PM1 or the E-PL3. This is the latest generation of cameras, which will be replaced with new cameras announced at Photokina. I would suggest either of these cameras over the E-PL1 for reduced size, and increased focus speed.
 
The EPL1 uses a sensor that is over 4 years old.. Oly is moving over to the 16mp sensors from Sony, which are the best m43 sensors available right now. So, i would wait until the unpdated PEN models come out from Oly.

There are also other options like the Panasonic LX7, Oly ZX1, Sony RX100, etc... real compacts that fit in your pocket.
intensity studios said:
Looking at possibly buying Olympus E-PL1. Does this camera suck?

I shoot mainly street photography with natural light and portrait photography with studio lighting. Looking for something lightweight to carry around but also to be used as a backup for my dslr.

thanks

--
Antonio
http://www.intensitystudios.com
Click to expand...
 
For $150 (body only) it certainly does not suck. Team it with a used panasonic 14-45 (about $220) and it will do your studio work just fine (the background won't blur much but in the studio that shouldn't matter). For street you'll want a faster lens (Panasonic 20 f/1.7 or the to-be-announced olympus 17/1.8) in dim light and a viewfinder in very bright light.

I did a lantern parade in the dark Saturday night with my most expensive setup (em5 plus 12mm), then did an event in bright sunlight the next afternoon with my cheapest (EPL1 + 14-45 + VF2). Both did their assigned jobs just fine.
 
intensity studios said:
Looking at possibly buying Olympus E-PL1. Does this camera suck?
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No, but AF performance may irritate as follow focus AF-C is poor. Manual focus may be better in some cases. The LCD is not good for manual focus or in very bright conditions, the optional VF-2 viewfinder makes life better.
intensity studios said:
I shoot mainly street photography with natural light and portrait photography with studio lighting. Looking for something lightweight to carry around but also to be used as a backup for my dslr.
Click to expand...
Team it with a decent lens and it's all good.

In my case two E-PL1 bodies but may upgrade if something exciting happens in this coming Monday's announcements.

Some general E-PL1 info on my pages at http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~parsog/olyepl1/01-epl1-menu.html (or tinyurl.com/m43stuff takes you to the same place).

Regards....... Guy
 
It shines if quick AF and hi ISO are not your main mileage.

Sharp, generally very good colours, and in my view (and hands) very nicely shaped, small but not really tiny, with a small but very distinct grip. For the meagre price it nowadays can be had for d for, it is, sort of, a steal.

Due to slow auto focus, it´s not well suited for action, IE for moving subjects.

And its sensor isn´t the best in weak light/HI ISO territory. Fine up to around 800 ISO, then it gets less nice...noise wise. Shoot RAW for best possible IQ.

A thin lowpass (Anti alias) filter, among other things, make it able to take very sharp images, depending, of course, also of which lens it is working with...

Like all PENs it´s highly configurable, like contrast, sharpness, noise filter, and other IQ related settings are possible directly in camera.
intensity studios said:
Looking at possibly buying Olympus E-PL1. Does this camera suck?

I shoot mainly street photography with natural light and portrait photography with studio lighting. Looking for something lightweight to carry around but also to be used as a backup for my dslr.

thanks

--
Antonio
http://www.intensitystudios.com
Click to expand...
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Aim & Frame ;-)
 
Considering the E-PL1 because of the low price and I have had good luck with olympus cameras in the past.

I also have heard good things about Panasonic's mirrorless cameras. The two of those I am considering are the GX1 or the G3

Let me know if you have additional advice about these two cameras.

My main criteria for a mirrorless camera is: less than $500 and MUST be able to sync to external studio flash units with either hot shoe or PC sync terminal.

thanks

--
Antonio
http://www.intensitystudios.com
 
To the OP: EPL-1 has same 12 mp sensor as all the EP-x to date, plenty enough for street shooting. Operationally, it is like a rangefinder. For low light: 20mm Panasonic and 45mm Olympus lenses. For a tiny zoom, pair with the Panasonic 14-42X. Many posters say it is slow focusing but has been fast enough for me.
 
If interested at all in using flash then Olympus offers more versatility. Panasonic cripples its flash operation somewhat.

When taping the comms contacts on Olympus or using say a Nikon flash in auto mode then the E-PL1 will sync to 1/320 sec (or faster with shutter shadows) instead of the default 1/160. Panasonic on the other hand detect a flash via the trigger contact and always limit to 1/160 or whatever their flash sync max is.

Olympus has the option of manual power of the pop-up so a single flash ranging from 1/1 to 1/64 power can be used. Good for studio slaves. Panasonic always does the double flash of TTL unless a foreign flash like a Nikon is used.

Olympus has RC mode for its R series flashes and some Metz models, Panasonic has no remote slave system.

Olympus flash compensation is easy to access, Panasonic buries it in the menu system.

Regards....... Guy
intensity studios said:
Considering the E-PL1 because of the low price and I have had good luck with olympus cameras in the past.

I also have heard good things about Panasonic's mirrorless cameras. The two of those I am considering are the GX1 or the G3

Let me know if you have additional advice about these two cameras.

My main criteria for a mirrorless camera is: less than $500 and MUST be able to sync to external studio flash units with either hot shoe or PC sync terminal.

thanks

--
Antonio
http://www.intensitystudios.com
Click to expand...
 
Because I NEED to have a hot shoe or PC sync terminal for using external lighting. That model doesn't have one, right?
Danny Zilio said:
intensity studios said:
Looking at possibly buying Olympus E-PL1. Does this camera suck?

I shoot mainly street photography with natural light and portrait photography with studio lighting. Looking for something lightweight to carry around but also to be used as a backup for my dslr.

thanks

--
Antonio
http://www.intensitystudios.com
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
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--
Antonio
http://www.intensitystudios.com
 
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