gavinlg
Veteran
The following are some shots with my e-p1 and 17mm f2.8 lens from my Japan trip, which ended last friday. Thought some of you might be interested in how it did!
Japan with e-p1 + thoughts
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gavinlg
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shadowfox
Darkroom printing lives
Gavin,
I think these photographs are well seen, executed, and thought out.
The fact that Olympus' delicious color balance is at work, is a nice bonus.
The 17mm Oly got some criticism, but from this set, I can only attribute those complaints on what those critics ate the night before. 🙂
I think these photographs are well seen, executed, and thought out.
The fact that Olympus' delicious color balance is at work, is a nice bonus.
The 17mm Oly got some criticism, but from this set, I can only attribute those complaints on what those critics ate the night before. 🙂
gavinlg
Veteran
E-p1 Detailed Impressions:
For this trip I took my 5d + a few lenses and the e-p1 and olympus 17mm pancake as a backup/compact. I ended up using the e-p1 a lot more than I thought I would, as it is just so damn nice to use! Shots ended up being about half 5d and half e-p1, with some medium format film ones to top it off, and I can honestly say that I am extremely impressed with the performance and overall handling of the E-p1.
My set-up was as follows:
E-p1
zuiko 17mm
Optical VF
Aki-Asahi style leatherette
Artisan and artist brown leather strap
middle single point AF, beep when AF is achieved
Auto ISO, 200-2000
fn button to "lcd off"
After all the reports of bad/slow AF I stayed away from the camera for a long time fearing it would be unusable for candid playful shots or when the sun goes down. Nothing could be further from the truth! The camera focusses wonderfully, and accurately every single time. I haven't had a frame missed yet due to inability of AF to lock or inaccuracy, and I was shooting at iso 1600, f2.8, 1/5th of a second sometimes. I would rate AF speed slightly slower than my 5d but just as consistent in low light. Using the 17mm OVF I can approximate where the focus point is (dead center) and recompose once focussed. To give an example, I find AF speed to lock faster than a grd III or canon g11 I played with.
The handling is also wonderful, the camera has some amount of heft to it, and really feels like a little film camera in your hands. The leatherette improves it again. Most of the time I had it set in aperture priority, with an exposure compensation setting of -0.7. These four thirds sensors have HEAPS of dynamic range in the shadows, so you can't be afraid of really cranking down that compensation to pull the highlights in. When exposed properly and in good light, the files are as good as current full frame and aps-c cameras. They hold heaps of detail, hold great contrast and most of the time I didn't do any post processing, even with the raw files. The metering is VERY accurate, significantly more so than my 5d, so having the auto ISO and aperture priority made shooting very easy.
The 17mm lens is much better than people say it is, it has relatively low distortion, and is consistently sharp edge to edge at any aperture. Bokeh is nice if you can get close enough to the subject. Moderate CA but can be fixed easily in photoshop or lightroom.
High ISO noise is very good, certainly as good as most a-psc cameras. I had no problems going up to 1600, even in poor light. In-body IS makes it even more useable in low light and works extremely well.
I only really bought the camera to use in Japan, I was originally going to sell it on return to Australia, but there's no way I'm going to now. I can chuck the Artisan and Artist strap on it, and walk around like there's nothing on, and still get the same quality pictures I would with a DSLR. It focusses really well, it looks fantastic, the lens is good, the image quality is great, I love the sound of the little snickety-snick shutter and the ergonomics work well. Complete winner of a camera for me!
The only problem now is that the girlfriend wants it - it's too cute to resist! Oh well - there's always the e-p2!
For this trip I took my 5d + a few lenses and the e-p1 and olympus 17mm pancake as a backup/compact. I ended up using the e-p1 a lot more than I thought I would, as it is just so damn nice to use! Shots ended up being about half 5d and half e-p1, with some medium format film ones to top it off, and I can honestly say that I am extremely impressed with the performance and overall handling of the E-p1.
My set-up was as follows:
E-p1
zuiko 17mm
Optical VF
Aki-Asahi style leatherette
Artisan and artist brown leather strap
middle single point AF, beep when AF is achieved
Auto ISO, 200-2000
fn button to "lcd off"
After all the reports of bad/slow AF I stayed away from the camera for a long time fearing it would be unusable for candid playful shots or when the sun goes down. Nothing could be further from the truth! The camera focusses wonderfully, and accurately every single time. I haven't had a frame missed yet due to inability of AF to lock or inaccuracy, and I was shooting at iso 1600, f2.8, 1/5th of a second sometimes. I would rate AF speed slightly slower than my 5d but just as consistent in low light. Using the 17mm OVF I can approximate where the focus point is (dead center) and recompose once focussed. To give an example, I find AF speed to lock faster than a grd III or canon g11 I played with.
The handling is also wonderful, the camera has some amount of heft to it, and really feels like a little film camera in your hands. The leatherette improves it again. Most of the time I had it set in aperture priority, with an exposure compensation setting of -0.7. These four thirds sensors have HEAPS of dynamic range in the shadows, so you can't be afraid of really cranking down that compensation to pull the highlights in. When exposed properly and in good light, the files are as good as current full frame and aps-c cameras. They hold heaps of detail, hold great contrast and most of the time I didn't do any post processing, even with the raw files. The metering is VERY accurate, significantly more so than my 5d, so having the auto ISO and aperture priority made shooting very easy.
The 17mm lens is much better than people say it is, it has relatively low distortion, and is consistently sharp edge to edge at any aperture. Bokeh is nice if you can get close enough to the subject. Moderate CA but can be fixed easily in photoshop or lightroom.
High ISO noise is very good, certainly as good as most a-psc cameras. I had no problems going up to 1600, even in poor light. In-body IS makes it even more useable in low light and works extremely well.
I only really bought the camera to use in Japan, I was originally going to sell it on return to Australia, but there's no way I'm going to now. I can chuck the Artisan and Artist strap on it, and walk around like there's nothing on, and still get the same quality pictures I would with a DSLR. It focusses really well, it looks fantastic, the lens is good, the image quality is great, I love the sound of the little snickety-snick shutter and the ergonomics work well. Complete winner of a camera for me!
The only problem now is that the girlfriend wants it - it's too cute to resist! Oh well - there's always the e-p2!
gavinlg
Veteran
Thanks Will!
Indeed the Olympus's put out some really lovely color - I have to do so much less tweaking on e-p1 orf raw files than my Canon cr2 raw files.
The 17mm lens is great for what it is - the second shot from the top of the field was taken wide open and shows good consistent sharpness and contrast right to the edges. I have to say though, I have my eyes set on a panny 20mm f1.7 soon.
Last edited:
Warren T.
Well-known
must... resist...GAS....
Really nice shots! 🙂
Really nice shots! 🙂
gavinlg
Veteran
3 more:
Warren T.
Well-known
Gavin, you're killing me 🙂. I was wondering: Did you use the optical viewfinder most of the time, or did you also use the lcd? What will you do when you get the 20mm? What is the 35mm equivalent crop factor for 4/3? Is it 2x?
Thanks for the review and photos, very useful (but very dangerous GAS inducer).
--Warren
Thanks for the review and photos, very useful (but very dangerous GAS inducer).
--Warren
gavinlg
Veteran
Warren,
Thanks for the compliments! I used the optical VF all the time - it makes for a really nice package and I especially like not having to look at a digital screen. The comment was made here on another post that using the optical VF translates to "looking through to your subject" rather than looking at a screen which recreates the subject.
However, I don't have any problems using the screen - it's quite good even in daylight and it is nice to be able to judge exposure without guessing. When I used the VF generally I had the screen turned off (custom function, screen off set to fn button) although I would occasionally check through the playback to see how the photos were turning out. If an exposure was particularly tricky, you can preview the settings on the screen which works well.
The reason I'm eyeing off that 20mm is just because it's faster optically, no other reason. I like fast glass :angel: however I'll still keep the 17mm because I like the focal length and it's really a good match visually for the camera. Focal length on m4/3rds is basically a 2x crop, so 17mm is approx 35mm in real world terms, 20mm is 40mm. All m4/3rd lenses are designed for the sensors however, so even in the cheapest ones you get great optical performance.
nightfly
Well-known
Color look really rich and good. No desire for a digital but if I did, this would be the one. Maybe if the price drops when the EP-2 starts selling in volume.
djonesii
Well-known
Dear Gavin .....
I have shot a Bessa R, M6, and now a RD-1 .....
Can you give any thoughts on the rangefinder paradigm vs. the EP-1 shooting paradigm?
The way you have your EP-1 configured sounds like it fills the rangefinder niche quite nicely! It's the AF confirm beep that seems like it makes the whole thing work. VF to your eye, frame, half press, beep, full press capture .... Is that right?
Dave
I have shot a Bessa R, M6, and now a RD-1 .....
Can you give any thoughts on the rangefinder paradigm vs. the EP-1 shooting paradigm?
The way you have your EP-1 configured sounds like it fills the rangefinder niche quite nicely! It's the AF confirm beep that seems like it makes the whole thing work. VF to your eye, frame, half press, beep, full press capture .... Is that right?
Dave
Warren T.
Well-known
Gavin,
Thanks for the explanation. I was wondering if the optical viewfinder has a crosshatch, or something in it that indicates the focus point. My usual AF focus method is to prefocus on the point of interest, hold focus, then recompose. That's the trickiest part for me, if I don't have a good sense of where the camera is focusing, it drives me crazy 🙂.
Would you still use your 17mm viewfinder with the 20mm lens?
--Warren
Thanks for the explanation. I was wondering if the optical viewfinder has a crosshatch, or something in it that indicates the focus point. My usual AF focus method is to prefocus on the point of interest, hold focus, then recompose. That's the trickiest part for me, if I don't have a good sense of where the camera is focusing, it drives me crazy 🙂.
Would you still use your 17mm viewfinder with the 20mm lens?
--Warren
gavinlg
Veteran
Thankyou, I find the way to get the most out of 4/3rds sensors and glass is to expose for the highlights and PP for the shadows. This way, you get rich colors and film-like latitude.
Rangefinders and the e-p1 are still somewhat different. If you use the e-p1 like I do (VF to your eye, frame, half press, beep, full press capture - as you said), it becomes a near rangefinder-like experience. It's not quite the same though - I would describe it as merely "different". I personally have a lot of fun with the camera, more than I had with my old r-d1.
Warren, I use the same "prefocus on the point of interest, hold focus, then recompose" with the e-p1 and it works really well. The VF doesn't have any physical marking to indicate a center focus point, but I find it second nature to use it without that. The actual size of the focus point is quite large, so it's hard to miss what you're trying to focus on. I have heard of people using a permanent marker to place a dot in the middle of the OVF glass, and I'm sure that would work well too. For me - I don't really need it.
For the 20mm lens, I will probably use the 17mm OVF with it, as I've found it actually frames a little tight with the 17mm lens. It's probably very close to being perfect with a 20mm - just speculation of course. There's also always the voigtlander 40mm OVF!
Andy Kibber
Well-known
Thanks for sharing. It's nice to see a sane description of a camera based on actual usage!
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