Olympus E-P1 Digital Pen Impressions
By now, the Olympus E-P1 Digital Pen isn’t news anymore. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, where have you been these past few days? The link I provided to Olympus’ product page should explain it all. If, on the other hand, you know what this is all about, you will probably find yourself in one of two camps: those who consider the Digital Pen to be the Next Big Thing and those who think it’s a big flop. Myself, I’m in the first camp. And let me explain why.
The E-P1 is the first digital camera in a very long time that has got me really excited. Based on its specs and capabilities, I wouldn’t call it perfect by any means, but it certainly will create a huge Precedent. And that’s what the photography world needs: a manufacturer bold enough to come up with something that people have been asking for a long time but which can be considered “risky” from a business standpoint.
This isn’t by any means the affordable digital rangefinder that everyone’s been waiting for, but to my mind, it has too many characteristics that make me fantasize about the possibilities of shooting with this camera. I haven’t been this excited since I heard about the Canon 5D MkII and even that passed quickly.
The thing is, I haven’t felt like shooting photos in a very long time. I do shoot occasionally but it’s mostly snapshots with a cheap P&S. I have stopped doing any “serious” work. And why is that? Despite owning a complete set of high-quality lenses and a DSLR, I can’t make myself use it anymore. All that equipment is heavy and cumbersome and not at all discrete. A few years ago I gladly lugged around my Lowepro CompuTrekker filled to the brim with all the stuff I had and I prided myself for owning a Canon 100-400mm lens. As time went by, I got rid of the 100-400 and instead bought a very nice 70-200 f/4 IS. It doesn’t have the reach but it has better image quality but more importantly it’s lighter and more compact. You can see the pattern here: as time goes by I’m becoming more interested in making my equipment more compact and portable so that I have an incentive to go out and shoot.
And so, I am slowly moving towards lighter equipment. I would have switched long ago to a Canon G10 but unfortunately when I tried one out for a day I was appalled by the image quality. Even ISO100 was noisy and that’s even more obvious when switching from a DSLR. Now why would I need such clean images for displaying on the web at low resolutions? I don’t. But I do engage in some stock photography on the side. And for stock, the noise produced by a G10 would be unacceptable. Furthermore, the G10′s lens suffers from some purple fringing and thanks to the small sensor there’s a ton of highlight clipping that I simply cannot tolerate.
There really wasn’t any camera out there that was small (pocketable), with very good image quality comparable to a DSLR and relatively cheap (around $1000 or so). You might say what about the Sigma DP1/2? Well, to be honest, I think that camera is a joke. Sigma had the good idea of fitting a large sensor in a small body but the rest of the execution is very poor. It’s a very clunky and ill-conceived camera. I had the opportunity to use a DP1 and it sucked. Even the Canon G10 is superior in every way except for the sensor. Now why couldn’t Canon engineer an APS-C sensor into a G10-like body?
And here’s where I get to the part about Precedent. With the E-P1 I’m hoping Olympus has created a very important precedent. I really wish this camera to succeed and from the response it’s had, I am sure it will. There needs to be a lot of competition in this budding new segment. Canon and Nikon which are the biggest camera companies have been sitting on their asses content to produce top-notch DSLRs and lackluster P&S cameras but neither has had the guts to create a true enthusiast camera. I’m hoping this will change in the future.
Unfortunately it isn’t that simple. Olympus has the advantage of already having support for the Micro Four Thirds format, especially lenses. The lenses that fit this format are compact and designed specifically for it. Canon and Nikon would need to spend a lot of money to develop a new lens format that would fit a more compact camera system. They might not consider that profitable. They could presumably continue to use, for example, EF-type lenses on such a compact camera but the lens would be very bulky and there would probably be other technical difficulties such as the distance to the sensor which would have to be a lot smaller in such a camera.
But enough about Canon and Nikon. I don’t care about them anymore. Olympus has stolen the limelight with this amazing new camera. Finally, after many years, a company proves that they actually listen to what enthusiasts want.
Before I continue, let me tell you that I have read the many discussions that have cropped up after the E-P1 was revealed. Like I said at the beginning, people are in 2 camps: those who absolutely love it and are willing to get over the few negative points and those who hate it because it doesn’t have all the features they want. I too am a bit disappointed by a few things but on the whole it’s impossible to dismiss all the good things that the Digital Pen brings. Let me discuss some of the good and the bad.
Initially I was a bit skeptical about the Micro Four Thirds sensor derived from Four Thirds. Essentially the sensor size is the same but thanks to some engineering, this sensor works with cameras without a mirror box and prism, essentially allowing the camera body to be more compact. A friend of mine had a camera with a Four Thirds sensor once and he wasn’t very satisfied. So when I heard Olympus was going to use this newfangled Micro Four Thirds sensor in their new camera I was a bit disappointed. But when I saw the sample images on Dpreview, I was amazed. Not only are ISO6400 images usable (but not for stock), but ISO100, 200 and even higher seem identical in quality to the ones produced by my DSLR! I never expected to see such smooth yet detailed images come from a compact camera.
Image quality aside, the Olympus Digital Pen also shines in regards to design. I think the body is a work of art, especially the silver/black version. The craftsmanship looks exquisite and I really appreciate the metal body. By all accounts, it is weighty and feels very solid in your hand. It’s not a tiny camera by any means but like these early reviews have indicated, it fits nicely in a cargo-pants pocket. Now let’s face it, I doubt such a feature-packed camera would ever fit in a shirt pocket. Yes, some were even complaining about the size. It is certainly larger than a G10 but much smaller than a regular DSLR.
The interchangeable lenses are obviously a major selling point for the Digital Pen. The 2 lenses specifically created for this camera seem OK but the 17mm 2.8 is still not bright enough to satisfy me. I will be watching for Panasonic to launch their rumored 20mm 1.7 pancake for the Micro Four Thirds format. But the E-P1 can also use other Four Thirds lenses, older Olympus OM lenses and even Leica M lenses with an adapter. It feels like a very versatile system. The beauty of it is that it is open to third party lens manufacturers or lenses from different companies such as Panasonic. This breeds competition and that is a good thing.
The E-P1 packs a whole lot of other interesting features including, but not limited to: sensor image stabilization, 12MP sensor (which is “just right” in regards to megapixels), HD video (720p only but that should be good enough for now), fast image processing, a 3″ screen (but see below), some nice external control dials, usable ISO 6400, RAW and a bunch of other nice stuff. Enthusiasts will undoubtedly appreciate the more expert customization options that can be discovered in the menus. Some of these options aren’t available even in high-end $8000 cameras from the competitors.
On the flip side of the coin, there is the group that proclaims the E-P1 as a big failure. They do make a few points to support these claims but here’s what I think about the main (mostly perceived at this point in time) weaknesses of the Digital Pen.
Lack of an Optical Viewfinder is a big one. Many people are positively angry and very disappointed that Olympus has chosen not to include an optical viewfinder or even an electronic one. They consider this a deal-breaker. I admit I would have been happier if this camera had a nice, usable optical viewfinder. Truth be told, it wouldn’t be very easy to implement that from an engineering perspective. I’m sure that by trying to keep the camera affordable, Olympus had to forsake a viewfinder.
You simply cannot have both small size and a large, usable viewfinder. Besides, by being an interchangeable lens camera, it is very hard to create a viewfinder that will suit all lens combinations. Especially with such lenses as the new 14-42 kit lens which extends a lot, an integrated viewfinder would be partly obscured by the lens. So Olympus opted for the next-best thing: using the LCD with full-time Live View. They also provided a clip-on viewfinder for the 17mm lens and obviously third party finders will be usable for other lenses. As for an electronic viewfinder, I am very wary of those. The only ones I saw were pathetic low-res displays that made Canon G10′s OVF feel like the one on a 1D in comparison. I’m not saying that good EVFs can’t be made. In fact, Olympus has other cameras in the pipeline which will have EVFs, but for the E-P1 I’m afraid that won’t happen very soon.
Others are riled by the low-res LCD. Truth be told, that’s the biggest worry that I have regarding this camera. At 200K dots, this LCD is behind the times. Even the Canon G10 has 400K pixels, while other cameras have beautiful 900K displays. In this day and age, especially for such a premium camera as the Digital Pen and furthermore considering the lack of a viewfinder of any kind, such a low-spec LCD seems out of place and dumbfounding. I mean, c’mon Olympus, you would have made people a lot happier if you’d used a nice 900K display. I doubt the final price of the camera would have gone up by more than $50 or so. So this is what bugs me most about the E-P1, but it’s not a deal-breaker by any means.
Lack of an integrated flash is another grievance. Once again, I imagine that Olympus must have considered adding a flash but in the end decided against it perhaps due, once again, to the premium nature of the camera and the fact that bigger lenses would throw ugly shadows on the subject since they would cover the flash partially. Personally I don’t consider this “oversight” a deal-breaker either. I’m sure that many people complaining about the flash are coming from consumer P&S cameras.
Integrated flash has long been a subject of contention among camera aficionados. While most consumer P&S cameras and most DSLRs up to pro-level include some form of integrated flash, in most cases that tiny, underpowered and immobile flash is nothing to write home about. Let’s not forget that professional DSLRs do not have such a feature. Iconic cameras such as the M Leicas, the digital M8 and Epson’s R-D1 digital rangefinder (to name just a few) are all missing integrated flash. Are they any worse off due to this? Not at all. Advanced photographers usually shun on-camera flash anyway, especially if it’s the integrated kind. I admit that occasionally an integrated flash can come in handy but I wouldn’t normally consider those photos very high quality. I mostly use integrated flash for quick snapshots of friends.
So as far as I’m concerned, I won’t miss integrated flash. The E-P1 does have a hotshoe which is really what counts. For more professional photos I like to use off-camera flash triggered by a radio remote.
One other concern that I have – and I consider it more valid than the others – is the auto focus. Since the camera uses contrast detection AF, some people are concerned that it’s not fast enough, especially for non-optimized lenses. Of course, until a few professional reviews on the final product are made, it’s hard to say. At this point, real-world AF speed is pure speculation. What makes me hopeful is that so far none of the reviewers who’ve actually used the E-P1 have reported anything amiss regarding the AF. We shall see.
Finally, there are few who complain about the price. Well folks, I’m sorry but I happen to think (and I’m not the only one) that the price hits the sweet spot. At $750 body only it’s a steal. $800 with the 14-42 zoom? Even better. $900 with the 17mm + external viewfinder? Great. Of course, a Canon G10 is only $400 or so but let’s just admit that the image quality of the E-P1 alone justifies its price. When you consider that a Panasonic LX3 sells between $500 and $700 the price of the E-P1 doesn’t seem so bad now, does it? Of course, the Panasonic and Canon are in a different class than the E-P1 but ultimately all these cameras are meant to be carried around in your pocket for the purpose of producing outstanding pictures. And which one of the 3 produces the best image? The Digital Pen it is.
So there you have it friends: the camera that has hopefully started a revolution. It is by no means perfect. There are flaws but I’m sure Olympus will correct some of them (specifically the LCD and perhaps AF) in a future version. What’s important is that a smaller manufacturer has stepped up with a product that should give the bigger players some thought. I’m hoping with all my heart that the E-P1 will be successful. As for me, would I buy one? Sure. I’ve already added it to my Amazon Wish List. I will be patient though. The release date for the Olympus E-P1 is sometime in July. I will read some professional reviews first. I will consider all the pros and cons. I think I will also wait for Panasonic to release their 20mm 1.7 pancake because a fast prime is all I need. Hopefully this will prove to be the camera that get me out of the house and on the streets again.
You can read Dpreview’s excellent preview of the Olympus E-P1 if you haven’t already.
You can also read some interesting articles and hands-on impressions of the E-P1 on The Online Photographer. Make sure to check out the comments for various photographers’ opinions.
Olympus E-P1 Digital Pen Officially Announced
The Olympus E-P1, Briefly Held
Traffic Spikes and the Streets of Berlin
Finding the View and Zooming It Too
The E-P1: Not Exactly What You Want?
What’s a Fast Lens?
Three Cheers for Olympus
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Olympus PEN E-P1 12.3 MP Micro Four Thirds Interchangeable Lens Camera with 3-inch LCD (Body Only)
July 24th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
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