It's official, it is goin to be a digital Pen

Bigger than I expected. Not really poketable (except a coat pocket). Maybe hoping to sell the camera as "cool" as much as for a user? Probably not bad marketing. The low resolution LCD is a concern if you want to use adapted manual lenses - focusing the lenses could be a bear.

I think the make or break is going to hinge on image quality and af performance with it purpose made lenses. Styling is just styling.
 
I think the make or break is going to hinge on image quality and af performance with it purpose made lenses. Styling is just styling.
Click to expand...

Yup. Still looks like the 17mm kit might be a good solution for a digital adjunct to a film RF and a couple of lenses. 35/2.8 equiv with the kit, 30/4.5 equiv (not much point to that), 80/1.4 equiv, 150/2.5 equiv sounds like a nice set, especially if the noise at 1600 or 3200 is acceptable. I'm assuming 6400 won't be usable for me. The top rating never is.

Depends how well manual focus works, really.
 
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The only thing that bummed me out was the slower than expected AF. Everything else looks like a go for me..... after I read some real reviews.
 
Bite me!!!! Amazon has the flash listed for $200!!!!!! What does that thing do, other than not bounce?

There has to be a better option for half that price somewhere.
 
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0906/09061600watanabeinterview.asp?from=rss

The E-P1 has undoubtedly created quite a stir as the first genuinely compact interchangeable-lens digital camera, but what does Olympus have up its sleeve for Micro Four Thirds in the future? We caught up with Akira Watanabe, product planning manager of Olympus's SLR division at the E-P1 launch event in Berlin, and asked him about the company's plans for the system.
Click to expand...
 
Ralph, when do you use a flash -- really? 😀

The LCD resolution is a question mark for me since I want to use my OM and other MF lenses on it. It would need to have the focus magnification like the G1.

BTW, boys and girls, OM and M mount lenses have distance markings. 🙂
 
I am personally not disappointed at all - it's everything I was hoping for - gorgeous, totally functional, big camera quality in a small camera, purist and focussed (no crappy inbuilt flash or crappy straw finder ie canon g10), innovative, 2 control dials - one of which has firm quality detents for adjustment, the same features as the e-30, multi aspect ratios, pancake lens for kit, external VF, awesome ISO performance considering compact competition and even good against other sub $1500 dslrs.

The AF performance, if at first slow, will be continually upgraded through firmware - they've done this with the E-3 which had problems at first but is now quite good.
 
Side-by-side with an LX3:

Tiny!

EP1vslx3.jpg
 
"As I have noted many times on this forum, for me personally the Nikon F, and Nikon SP were the last "human" Japanese designs,"

The OM 1 was the last "human" Japanese design.
albeit , humans with tiny hands.🙂

This digital Pen is bit of a let down, but the good news is that it might spawn a whole series with the features people really want, just like the old Oly Pen.
 
Looks pretty exciting to me. Closest thing to the Digital Hexar AF I've always wanted. With Panasonic's 20mm f1.7 on, and assuming no focusing issues, I think we're there.
Thankfuly(?) I won't have money for anything like this for some months. That'll give time for things to settle down and maybe even for pany to come out with a rumored smaller m43rds.
 
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0906/09061600watanabeinterview.asp


The E-P1 will be the first of a range of Micro Four Thirds cameras from Olympus, says Mr Watanabe. Electronic viewfinders and more lenses (which could include more pancake primes) will be developed, he said, as he spoke to us about the company's plans and ambitions for Micro Four Thirds.

"We are now preparing for a future product with an EVF. But for this product [E-P1] we were concentrating on small size," he said. This, he explained, was because of how the company sees the market for Micro Four Thirds: "The idea of removing the mirror and shortening the distance back to the sensor dates back to 2002/01. The E-420 is the smallest DSLR in the world, it has good penetration into the young and the step-up [from compact camera] categories. We know that more than 20% of compact camera customers have thought about buying a DSLR but are put off by the size, weight and complicated operation."
 
The 1600 ISO shots on dpreview looks pretty good re: noise. Not spectacular, but certainly more than usable, and for the price pretty good. I'd like to see some side by sides with dslrs that cost about the same...
 
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