pastorthomas
New member
The Olympus Pen E-PL1 is, what I believe, one of the best values around for a digital camera that produces excellent results. Yes, it is somwhat of a novelty item, but once you start using it and explore its imaging capabilities, you will not think of it any longer as a "toy" but a real high quality camera.
First, when you get the camera out of the box you will notice that it is bulit very solid. Maybe not to the degree of E-P1 or P2, but it still feels good in the hands. The controls are easy to read and manipulate. Understand that wilth such a small body, many of your setting will have to be done through the menu base system rather than direct control buttons or dials (I don't like that as much, but I can live with it). The screen is 2.7" and only 230k resolution, but it works well in brightly lit conditions due to the Hypercrystal technology bulilt into Olympus' LCD screens. But what is with Olympus when it comes to their LCD screens? Why hasn't Olympus moved up on any of their cameras with a higher resolution screen for more precise viewing and editing of pictures on the camera? Yes, the E-P2 has upgraded to a 420k screen, but come on Olympus, you could have done better than this, and your fans would have really appreciated a better offering. I know Olympus was not going to give to many upgrades to the E-PL1, but staying with that 230k, 2.7" screen is fast becoming a worn out welcome.
Second - The lens. The lens that came with the unit was the Olympus 14-42mm zoom. I was somewhat disappointed with the fact that it had a polycarbonite lens mount. This does help keep the weight down, and my immediate thoughts were that it would probably only produce so-so results. But to my surprise the lens actually produces pretty sharp results with good contrast as well. It is worth keeping and a good start point for the first lens. Since this writting, however, I have since ordered the Olympus 17mm pancake lens. The great thing about using an Olympus system is that, of course, all the lenses you put on to use with this camera will have the image stabilization feature built in since this is done from the camera body image sensor and not through the lens itself like Canon and Nikon have done. Both systems work well, whether the image stabilization feature is done through the lens or body, but this approach that Olympus has chosen provides more flexibility for your lens line-up.
Third - Performance. The image quaility on this camera is first rate. This should be first and formost anyone's primary objective in choosing a good quality camera. Because, if the lens and body cannot achieve excellent results then what do you have in a camera? Nothing but a toy, which is what this camera is not. So it performs quite nicely in this category. However, it does not do it very fast. Now, it is not super slow, don't get me wrong about this, but it does not focus as fast as compared to some other DSLR choices that are out there. The fact that it has a built in flash, which the E-P1 and E-P2 do not have, is a bonus, but it is limited and I would recommend if you are going to require doing much in the way of flash photography, then upgrade to the Olympus FL-36R flash. With this upgrade not only will you have more power in your flash range, but you will also gain ability to do wireless set-ups for more creative results. The video performance is also good and will serve you well when needed, but as I am not a video guru, I cannot add much more on this. Oh, don't forget this camera also includes 6 Art Filters to help expand your creativity and they can be used doing still shots or doing video. They are fun to use and save time for those who don't like to spend a whole lot of time creating special effects in post processing.
I do recommend this camera. It is a great value considering its features and price point. Many who may have been considering buying the new E-P2 may have to stop and think about whether cool looks (which the E-P2 has), more control, higher shutter speeds (1/2000 vs. 1/4000) is worth the difference because the image quality, processor, and the 12 megapixel image sensor are the same between the E-PL1 and E-P2. There are also a few differences in menu systems and the ability to access them, but all in all, you could save some money and still get great results.
Problems:
The ony problem I have to mention is the tight fit you might experience of getting your SD memory card out the camera. It can be a little nuisance when it will take several attempts to get it to come out. The nice thing is that it takes just SD memory cards, no XD card slot at all.
First, when you get the camera out of the box you will notice that it is bulit very solid. Maybe not to the degree of E-P1 or P2, but it still feels good in the hands. The controls are easy to read and manipulate. Understand that wilth such a small body, many of your setting will have to be done through the menu base system rather than direct control buttons or dials (I don't like that as much, but I can live with it). The screen is 2.7" and only 230k resolution, but it works well in brightly lit conditions due to the Hypercrystal technology bulilt into Olympus' LCD screens. But what is with Olympus when it comes to their LCD screens? Why hasn't Olympus moved up on any of their cameras with a higher resolution screen for more precise viewing and editing of pictures on the camera? Yes, the E-P2 has upgraded to a 420k screen, but come on Olympus, you could have done better than this, and your fans would have really appreciated a better offering. I know Olympus was not going to give to many upgrades to the E-PL1, but staying with that 230k, 2.7" screen is fast becoming a worn out welcome.
Second - The lens. The lens that came with the unit was the Olympus 14-42mm zoom. I was somewhat disappointed with the fact that it had a polycarbonite lens mount. This does help keep the weight down, and my immediate thoughts were that it would probably only produce so-so results. But to my surprise the lens actually produces pretty sharp results with good contrast as well. It is worth keeping and a good start point for the first lens. Since this writting, however, I have since ordered the Olympus 17mm pancake lens. The great thing about using an Olympus system is that, of course, all the lenses you put on to use with this camera will have the image stabilization feature built in since this is done from the camera body image sensor and not through the lens itself like Canon and Nikon have done. Both systems work well, whether the image stabilization feature is done through the lens or body, but this approach that Olympus has chosen provides more flexibility for your lens line-up.
Third - Performance. The image quaility on this camera is first rate. This should be first and formost anyone's primary objective in choosing a good quality camera. Because, if the lens and body cannot achieve excellent results then what do you have in a camera? Nothing but a toy, which is what this camera is not. So it performs quite nicely in this category. However, it does not do it very fast. Now, it is not super slow, don't get me wrong about this, but it does not focus as fast as compared to some other DSLR choices that are out there. The fact that it has a built in flash, which the E-P1 and E-P2 do not have, is a bonus, but it is limited and I would recommend if you are going to require doing much in the way of flash photography, then upgrade to the Olympus FL-36R flash. With this upgrade not only will you have more power in your flash range, but you will also gain ability to do wireless set-ups for more creative results. The video performance is also good and will serve you well when needed, but as I am not a video guru, I cannot add much more on this. Oh, don't forget this camera also includes 6 Art Filters to help expand your creativity and they can be used doing still shots or doing video. They are fun to use and save time for those who don't like to spend a whole lot of time creating special effects in post processing.
I do recommend this camera. It is a great value considering its features and price point. Many who may have been considering buying the new E-P2 may have to stop and think about whether cool looks (which the E-P2 has), more control, higher shutter speeds (1/2000 vs. 1/4000) is worth the difference because the image quality, processor, and the 12 megapixel image sensor are the same between the E-PL1 and E-P2. There are also a few differences in menu systems and the ability to access them, but all in all, you could save some money and still get great results.
Problems:
The ony problem I have to mention is the tight fit you might experience of getting your SD memory card out the camera. It can be a little nuisance when it will take several attempts to get it to come out. The nice thing is that it takes just SD memory cards, no XD card slot at all.