New Pen F thoughts

BluenoseNS wrote:

Got a new silver Olympus pen F and Panasonic 25mm f1.7

The camera overall is excellent and it will take quite some enjoyment time before I am used to all its functions and capabilities

After owning it for only a few hectic days, only a few obvious ‘negatives’ are apparent:

1. The power switch is on the wrong side
2. The bottom plate is plastic and scratches easily
3. The battery opening slide is very poorly designed and would seem to be suitable on a cheap camera
4. Why on earth is focus stacking not available in this camera ( I understand it is on the omd E-M5ii?)
5. The flippy screen is horrible to use quickly or to go unnoticed. You can use it flat against the body— great. But if you want any other perspective, you have to fold it out and twist it etc. Plus the idea of turning the screen inwards against the body for ‘protection’ is horrible because it takes even longer to flip it out etc
6. No 4K video
7. No pop up flash

The positives however are overwhelming and why I got one and yet still have a pen ep5

1. Far more functions and features than the ep5. The list is quite long, and it is due to the faster processor
2. Creative dial on the front is such a great tool! This alone will keep someone quite busy to find their special formulas. The first two monochrome settings are what I would spend a lot of time trying to get from raw files anyway. The customization here is vast
3. 4 custom dials! This is great to setup scenario settings etc etc
4. Little flash unit can bounce and twist etc

I haven’t processed or printed from it yet, but according to dxomark it is marginally better than the ep5– so I got it not for the better picture quality but for the newer features

Also I am surprised at how much I am using the evf—!likely because I hesitant for now with the flippy screen. I think evf’s are an antiquated thing and a good lcd screen is better to use

The Panasonic 25mm f1.7 overall is impressive, however a ‘negative’ is that it is quite large— much larger than the Olympus 45mm f1.8 for example.

But the lens has a great view and seems to be sharp on the little lcd screen, and they do look sharp on a 4K tv. No printing or pixel peeping yet

I had the E-P5 but wanted built in EVF. Got the Pen-F. Love the viewfinder.

Can't help but agreeing about the LCD screen. It was an incredibly stupid decision to include a fully articulating screen in this type of camera. The advantage is that I find I enjoy shooting more by not using a screen at all. I have the screen turned into the camera. Just shoot and check the results later.

I think the lack of small high quality primes is something of a problem. 25/1.8 in my view is good, but not excellent. I am tempted to reacquire the Panasonic 20/1.7 pancake - which is an excellent lens. For wide angle I really like the Panasonic 14/2.5 as a cheaper and smaller alternative to the Panasonic 15/1.7 or the Olympus 17/1.8. The 15 has a stellar reputation, but I never managed to acquire one. I like the 17 in many respects but I often find resolution wanting.