EP5/Poor man's Pen F

Ariunbold wrote:

I've bought this gem for around 100$. Only has 7000 shutter actuation and both control wheels working perfectly. Paired with 14-42mm ez, 42.5mm F1.8 YI M1 lens(now costs around 60$ and actually very sharp and very underrated lens IMO) and 40-150 R. All of it costs around 200 bucks lol. And with Aki Asahi's custom leatherette skin it looks stunning and very retro. Is anyone still using EP5?

Yes. Nothing since then appeals to me.

The Oly E-P5 is the camera the Pen-F should have been !!!

Marc

I bought one new, kinda liked it . . . used to have an E-P1, (got the sun burn worm in the the VF4 too) but moved more into video making so went into Panasonic and Sony. But I held onto it. Recently have had it converted to full spectrum IR (to replace a converted GH1) so it is now it is my primary IR body and I love it, fading worm and all (but the front dial is starting to play up!).

I still using (as a main camera), under 6 year approx the shutter count is around 137000+.
Still a great performer.

Just look the never Olympus camera body specs, near the same than in the Pen E-P5...
As i see: Shutter: still max 1/8000, max iso: still 25K, Still image quality <= iso5000 is near the same, etc. Focus speed was okay, never bodies faster. but not so faster on thatBack LCD : same, Resolution 16 -> 20mp, not so impressive advancement under 6 year...

Andras,

I love this camera, it's built like a tank, but very compact. It misses a viewfinder though, and i'm searching for an VF4 EVF, but it's expensive.

Ariunbold wrote:

I've bought this gem for around 100$. Only has 7000 shutter actuation and both control wheels working perfectly. Paired with 14-42mm ez, 42.5mm F1.8 YI M1 lens(now costs around 60$ and actually very sharp and very underrated lens IMO) and 40-150 R. All of it costs around 200 bucks lol. And with Aki Asahi's custom leatherette skin it looks stunning and very retro. Is anyone still using EP5?

I have had my EP5 for a few years now and I still use it.

I never did consider the Pen F to be a replacement for the EP5.

What I would like to see is an EP6 - same body, new processing engine, weather sealed and an EVF on the left side.

I bought the Panasonic 12-32 and 35-100 f4 for it although I sometimes use my primes.

Allan

Dezz7 wrote:

I love this camera, it's built like a tank, but very compact. It misses a viewfinder though, and i'm searching for an VF4 EVF, but it's expensive.

In my case I hate EVF/viewfinders so live with using screen only. Yes, sometimes it is hard to see, but the tilt screen plus shading with a hat does help. I simply hate having a camera pushed up against my face. The screen use certainly works better for travel and street scenes as screen use often does not make it obvious that you are taking a shot and I possibly get more natural poses.

I did early on buy the VF-2 for my E-P5 pair but have not used it now in possibly 4 years, maybe it still works. I sometimes carried it just in case, but never found that I needed it.

Allan Brown wrote:

Ariunbold wrote:

I've bought this gem for around 100$. Only has 7000 shutter actuation and both control wheels working perfectly. Paired with 14-42mm ez, 42.5mm F1.8 YI M1 lens(now costs around 60$ and actually very sharp and very underrated lens IMO) and 40-150 R. All of it costs around 200 bucks lol. And with Aki Asahi's custom leatherette skin it looks stunning and very retro. Is anyone still using EP5?

I have had my EP5 for a few years now and I still use it.

I never did consider the Pen F to be a replacement for the EP5.

What I would like to see is an EP6 - same body, new processing engine, weather sealed and an EVF on the left side.

You are singing my tune. Yes the pop-up flash could go as it is useless with the 12-40/2.8 attached and a neat pop-up EVF like my RX100M6 has could work. Then it would keep the neat shape when stored.

I bought the Panasonic 12-32 and 35-100 f4 for it although I sometimes use my primes.

Allan

Most used is 12-40/2.8 and 8-18/2.8-4 plus some 35-100/2.8. In the background and sometimes carried and used are 45/1.8, Samyang 7.5mm fisheye, Panasonic 12-32mm and 45-150mm. Other lenses seem to gather dust now.

Just for fun, here's my pair......

I swap between them maybe on a 6 monthly basis to even the wear.

The dial tops have been remade since that photo and now only show 1/2/3/4 where the previous rubbish was, the numbers are of course my four MySets assigned to the mode dial.

Home made cotton wrist straps to reasonably firmly fit my hand, helps with camera handling and means no need to firmly grip the right side.

As for Pen-F I was initially turned off by that silly flip out sideways screen, it needs to be tilt only for me. Later on when I looked again in a local shop I see the Pen-F as a horribly clunky retro squared design nowhere near as smooth and neat as the perfection of the E-P5. See the two side by side in real life and see what I mean.

So for me the E-P5 is no poor man's alternative, it is the ideal camera that no company has managed to make a better one yet. "Better" means a combination of ease of use and image quality results to suit my needs.

Oh yes, I do have a page that attempts to make a bit more sense than the user manual about menus http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~parsog/olyepl1/56-ep5-custom-menus.html

I do drive a 20 year old Subaru, next to see if my E-P5 will last 20 years......

Regards..... Guy