Olympus E-P1

35mmdelux

35mmdelux

Veni, vidi, vici
Local time
2:25 PM
Joined
May 17, 2005
Messages
4,211
Location
Los Angeles, CA
View My Gallery
Any strongly held opinions on the Olympus E-P1? Im thinking of getting one to have some digi capture ability. Something small to go along with my Leica M7.

Thanks - Paul
 
Yeah, I have a strong opinion. I think it's a great camera. I was very upset about not having a focus scale but I am getting past that issue. By the way, it's my only issue with the Pen. My percentage rate of images I like, sometimes called keepers, is much higher than any other digicam I have or have ever had, bar none.

The AF is somewhat slower than other cameras but not to bad and certainly adaptable.
The in body IS is really nice and works well under all light conditions...

The build quality will turn you on as you are a Leica user.

I use the 17mm and finder most times and that's about as free as it gets.
I'm really enjoying working with it and have no plans on unloading it....If the Pen 2 comes out...I'll get that and have 2 bodies....so what, I got a ton of M's....
Later....don
 
Would the EP-1 and Leica X-1 considered similar in capabilities? Other than price and lens interchangeability, would a 11x14 color enlargement produce similar results?
 
It's essentially a digicam which takes interchangeable lenses and has a larger sensor. No good for those who, like me, want an eye-level finder.
 
ymc226 said:
Would the EP-1 and Leica X-1 considered similar in capabilities? Other than price and lens interchangeability, would a 11x14 color enlargement produce similar results?
Click to expand...

You are not going to see much if any difference in image quality between the two cameras with an 11x14, or even larger print. The EP-1 has a high resolution sensor, and the only slight downside is the lower DR (often only described as the highlight performance), but as 4/3 sensors are good at the shadow end of the scale you can nearly always expose to the left of the histogram without spoiling the image.

Steve
 
I've also bought a PEN about two months ago and I'm really happy with it. I bought Leica M and Nikon F adapters, so I can use in it all my great Leica glass from the 1950s & 1960s (35/2.8, 50/2.8, 50/2 rigid, 90/4 collapsible) and also my Nikon AIS lenses from the 1980s (55/2.8 micro, 24/2.8, 105/2.5 & 200/4). Legacy lenses make great normal to tele combos (due to the 2x crop factor), but you'll need m4/3 or 4/3 lenses for wide to normal.

The two Olympus kit lenses (17mm & 14-42mm) are great, except for distortion which really annoys me. Some software corrects most of it (Olympus Master or Adobe Lightrom & ACR), but as I prefer to use Capture One for my RAW workflow, I bought PTLens for $25 (http://epaperpress.com/ptlens/) and it solves the issue perfectly (with two extra workflow steps).
 
Last edited:
Well, I think that you will be able to see a difference in 11x14 between x1 and e-p1. The smaller sensor size means it places greater MTF demands on the lens for a given desired contrast. The 17mm lens is a bit poor on the edges and at 11x14 I would expect to see a difference. I only print A4 so the E-P1 is great for me! I really do like it, an in body IS is a godsend, I can take sharper pics than my M8 thanks to this in low light.
 
The E-P1 with it modest 17mm lens and OVF makes a nice digital compact that would make a good companion for your M7.
Better image quality than smaller Ricoh GRDI-II-III but not so good when it comes to size and user interface.
Wider M lenses do not gain any quality over the olympus lenses, but using the longer and SLR lenses can sometimes be useful.
There is rumored to be a more expensive model with EVF and more tailored features due out by the end of the year (30th October ?)

According to DXo : the DR and SNR is very close to those of the Leica M8 at higher ISOs.
Can anyone with a M8 and E-P1 flame those tests down ?
 

Attachments

  • Picture 60.png
    Picture 60.png
    83.7 KB · Views: 0
  • Picture 61.png
    Picture 61.png
    81.6 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
i looked at one last week, and it was surprisingly large. oly said that they could have made it smaller, and i wish they did.
 
Lumix GF1

Lumix GF1

35mmdelux said:
Any strongly held opinions on the Olympus E-P1? Im thinking of getting one to have some digi capture ability. Something small to go along with my Leica M7.

Thanks - Paul
Click to expand...

Paul,

to make matters more complicated, Panasonic announced their Lumix GF1, which is similar in many but not all aspects. Have a look:

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/PanasonicGF1/
http://fourthirds-user.com/2009/09/panasonic_lumix_dmcgf1_hands_on_preview.php
http://fourthirds-user.com/2009/09/sample_images_and_video_from_the_new_panasonic_dmcgf1.php
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/DMCGF1/DMCGF1A.HTM

Many people are attracted by the flash and the f/1.7 lens. 🙂 Though no in camera stabiliser 🙁
 
I also have a strong opinion (in the nicest possible way). I love it. I use it mostly with legacy lens but when the time comes I can hand it to my mother and she can take a good snap just on the auto settings (something I can't do with my R-D1).

Not that I spend too much time with my mother 🙂 but she took some ok photos with it at a ceremony last week.

I also like the fact it is an Olympus. I know this has nothing to do with how good the camera may be, but I have always had an OM1 and OM2 and it just seems right to support and enjoy an Olympus again. Maybe I just too sentimental 🙂


Still learning to take advantage of all it's capabilities and in body IS make s big difference when you have never had it before.

John
 
I really like my EP1. I use it almost exclusively with a vioglander 25mm f4 manual lens. (With adapter.) I zone focus basically or go through the annoying settings to allow me to focus on screen. It’s very, very neat and portable and I love it. It's everything the M8 never was for me. Ouch I know that’s sacrilege, I know that the M8 is better blah blah blah, but it was so damned unreliable. As I cannot afford the rather glorious M9, (Well I hope its going to be truly glorious) then I am sticking with this baby till I can.

I now it has it’s limitations, I know it’s not a range finder, I know, I know, I know.. But boy is it fun and the results are well beyond what I’d expect from this sort of camera. Well done Olympus.
 
35mmdelux said:
Any strongly held opinions on the Olympus E-P1? Im thinking of getting one to have some digi capture ability. Something small to go along with my Leica M7.

Thanks - Paul
Click to expand...

I owned one very briefly but was very disappointed with the autofocus performance with the 17mm f/2.8 lens. It was like this: see subject in street, raise camera, press shutter, [time passes... seemed like a full second] and then the shutter would fire, by which time the subject was basically in a different position and thus gone. I do not know if the lag was a full second, but it was very significant, more than you are used to in a camera that costs $900.

Clearly, you can obviate that problem by using the eye-level finder, which comes with the 17mm kit, and zone focusing. And with manual lenses like Leica M lenses, you can zone focus, too. I did not expect I would have to zone focus even lenses that were designed for the micro-4/3 cameras.

I concluded that I would stick with my Panasonic G1 instead:

1. It has better AF performance with its own lenses than the Olympus. (Why, I am not sure, but it does.) I have gotten superb street-shooting results with this camera, in autofocus mode. You see something, and bang. That's more like it.

2. Although it is not as lovely as the E-P1, it is pretty small and easy to have with you.

3. Its eye-level finder makes it easy to actually focus Leica M mount lenses. This really matters when you are shooting with fast lenses, eh? Yes, you can focus on the LCD on the back of the E-P1, but why would you want to do that when you can use an eye-level viewfinder?

I think the forthcoming Panasonic GF-1 looks even better. I wish it had in-camera image stabilization, I guess, although if you are a rangefinder shooter with an M7 you probably already own a fast lens or two and will not miss that feature too terribly. I'd rather have fast autofocusing and good manual focusing if I have to choose.

I do think the E-P1 is beautiful and that Olympus is to be commended for producing such an exciting machine. It's up there with some of their best in that department. I sincerely hope the rumors are true that they are coming out with a second, more "professional" model. We'll see.

I think the forthcoming Leica X1 looks like a wonderful street-shooting camera and am interested in trying one out. Its image quality may be a bit better. However, I agree with those who say you will not be disappointed by what a 4/3 sensor can do in a good camera with good lenses. If you are not cropping you can make 13x19 inch prints that probably would be hard to distinguish from images made with a bigger sensor. I can see why Leica did the X1 the way they did, rather than being a 4/3 also-ran selling rebadged Panasonic bodies, but it remains to be seen how much better the X1 images will really be.

Tom
 
What I like on the E-P1 is the very good color rendition of the JPG-engine.

If you set the camara on JPG-SF (Superfine) in the advanced tool menu you get very good JPGs out of cam.

I think this is one point where the Pen could be better than the new Leica X1 APS-C compact.

The slow AF on the Pen ist a lot quicker, when you exchange the Oly Kit zoom for a Panasonic 14-45.
 
Last edited:
Thomas,
After the FW upgrade, I see a big difference in the AF with my 17.
Of course I want to see it so that helps.

I am disapointed that the Panny 20 does not have a dedicated finder.
That makes it useless for me.....
The 17 is great tho....

The jpeg engine is great, best I've seen.
I do raw so I don't use it.
Raw & jpeg is way to slow...

Shooter
 
Last edited:
M4streetshooter said:
Thomas,
After the FW upgrade, I see a big difference in the AF with my 17.
Of course I want to see it so that helps.

I am disapointed that the Panny 20 does not have a dedicated finder.
That makes it useless for me.....
The 17 is great tho....

The jpeg engine is great, best I've seen.
I do raw so I don't use it.
Raw & jpeg is way to slow...

Shooter
Click to expand...

Yeah, the original AF speed was unbelievable, so I can believe it's improvable.

As for the Panasonic 20, how about a nice CV 40mm finder? But really, that's a pretty good argument for an electronic VF in my opinion. Olympus would be wise to build one into a future Pen EP.

Tom
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom