The Pen, Again
If forum debates are any indication, there are few loves as strong as those of a camera brand loyalist, and one way to stoke those flames is to compare current camera lines to beloved film cameras of yesteryear. Pentax naming convention still draws a parallel back to the ubiquitous K1000, Rolleiflex has a couple miniature models that look like their famous TLRs without being anything like them, but Olympus may have scored a coup by tying their new E-P1 in look and feel to the old, beloved half-frame Olympus Pen. If nothing else, just having a miniature-sized digital camera that actually looks professional and sleek has a surprisingly high effect on sales, as anyone scouring for in-stock black Panasonic LX3's can attest.
But the EP-1 is no simple historical curiosity. It comes packed with the latest Olympus tech, including a 12.3 megapixel sensor and two new lenses, the compact 14-42mm pictured above and the extremely compact 17mm f/2.8 pancake. It can also take any lens designed for the micro-4/3s format, so you can give up the portability by putting a fast telephoto lens on it if you need.
The proof will be in the pictures and hands-on experience, but with a sensor much larger than most other cameras in its size class (though smaller than the fixed-lens Sigma DP2's sensor), it should more than hold its own.
One possible worry for casual users -- the camera has no built-in flash, just a hot-shoe for external flashes. So if you don't plan on spending all of your time in good lighting, you will lose some of its portability. Also, there is no viewfinder, rangefinder, or EVF -- all photos must be composed on the back LCD. In the US, this will start at around $750. DPReview has a hands-on preview of this little guy.
terry chay on June 16, 2009 at 05:09 PM
I've been waiting for this for… five years now?
Compromises:
- all digital viewfinder (focusing is going to be a pain with manual lenses)
- not a wide native lens selection at launch
- small lag
- smaller
- ISO 6400 barely useable (it's 4-3)
- not CF (sigh)
Surprises:
- support for OM lenses, 4-3 lenses, and Leica (via Panasonic and Cosina Voigtlander)
- HD video support
- SD (not XD)
- sensor shift image stabilization
Clearly the surprises category shows that Olympus is very committed. The price point will keep it from catching on (P&S outsell dSLR 10:1, but the pricepoint puts it in the midrange dSLR), but if they keep at it, I think they can capture much of the market of a pro dSLR shooter looking for a backup.
I think this will wipe the floor of my M8. A camera, unusable at ISOs > 640 that costs 4x of this... and that's without the lenses. :-)
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