My Trivial E-P1 Diary

[deepwhite]

I'm not a professional photographer or reviewer; I'm just someone that like to share.

That's why I say it's a "trivial" diary of me and the E-P1.

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[Point-and-Shoot]

I only bought the 17/2.8 lens. I mainly use RF cameras, so zoom and tele lenses are really not that necessary for me.

I thought this one would be a "compact DSLR". After spending one day with it, however, I was quite surprised to find that, most of the photos I shot with the E-P1 are very similar to those I would with the GRD2 or TC-1, small point-and-shoots.

- The AF speed is decent; yet I would like the powering-on time to be a bit shorter (as much as I know it's shaking off the dusts).

- 34mm equivalent is great for someone that's been using an RF like me.

- The settings are less convenient than my beloved GRD2, but after using it for awhile, it's not hard to make quick adjustments.

- It's easy to shoot successfully @ 1/8sec with the 17/2.8.

My only complaints would be that, when set to auto-iso, the E-P1 turns to high-iso (like 1250 or 1600) too easily: it does that even when the shutter speed is still as fast as 1/60sec! Considering I can shoot with comfort at 1/15sec, it really makes no sense for this camera to turn to high iso that easily.

(Of course you can set it up so that the camera would not go above iso640, but I just think that the camera does not believe in itself as much as I do....)



[ISO1600]

So how's ISO1600? I didn't shoot too many iso1600 on purpose, since I've been using the E-P1 instead of testing it. Here's one, JPG straight out of the camera:

I would say it's decent, if not bad. Yet playing with the curve in photoshop a little bit, it can still look ok:

[Born Under?]

After one day of shooting with the E-P1, I found that most of the JPGs looked under-exposed and not enough contrasy. Therefore I set the EV to +0.7 all the time (with the default metering mode), and the contrast setting in the camera menu to +2 (max).

Everything looks more "like it" after that.


- to be continued

 

[victoriapio]

Keep the progess reports coming. This is a very interesting camera with lots of flexibility. Have you tried the HD video yet?

 

[ItsReallyDarren]

Sounds like the E-P1 is a decent camera to use. It'll be great to hear your future experience with this camera. To speed up the power up times is there an option to turn off sensor cleaning?

 

[DRabbit]

I like my images contrasty too... I use the center-weighted metering and have colors set to vivid... they are quite contrasty that way, but I might even boost it to +1 contrast.

 

[Sam N]

A lot of shots come out underexposed... the averaged metering mode seems to work better for me for the most part.

You can set the maximum ISO for auto-ISO to whatever you want, but I do wish you could also set the shutter speed at which it bumps up.

 

[JonasYip]

Thanks for sharing your impressions, 深白色. Your diaries and their accompanying photos are always enjoyable.

I'm still waiting to get an E-P1... don't know when they'll make the 17mm kit available here though. I think it should be a good companion for the RD-1.

j

 

[deepwhite]

Keep the progess reports coming. This is a very interesting camera with lots of flexibility. Have you tried the HD video yet?

Yes. It's great. What surprises me the most is the built-in microphone. I'm in the record business, and I was really really pleased when I first heard the sound recorded with E-P1's HD video clips.

The sound is soft and comfortable to the ear, unlike most harsh and stiff sound from DVs, DCs or DSLRs. It even has a built-in compressor that keep the dynamics of the volume in control, so that you hardly ever hear any unpleasant dropouts.

Sounds like the E-P1 is a decent camera to use. It'll be great to hear your future experience with this camera. To speed up the power up times is there an option to turn off sensor cleaning?

Now you've mentioned it, I believe I've seen it somewhere in the menu. I'll check it out later.

Thanks for sharing your impressions, 深白色. Your diaries and their accompanying photos are always enjoyable.

I'm still waiting to get an E-P1... don't know when they'll make the 17mm kit available here though. I think it should be a good companion for the RD-1.

j

Hi Jonas, I would suggest that you get the 17/2.8 kit lens. It makes the E-P1 a high-end point-and-shoot, very convenient sometimes. The bokeh of this lens is ok, but nothing undesirable; the size is smaller than most of the lenses that people like us would want to mount onto the E-P1.

 

[deepwhite]

There was a very good day last week.

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I love RF. I love B/W. So it's inevitable that I'll abuse the ART5 Mode on the E-P1......

Then one night I mounted the Cosina Voigtlander Ultra Wide Heliar 12/5.6 on the E-P1. Also using the ART5 Mode.

 

[BillBingham2]

Very fun shots!

When you shot in Art-5 does it slow down saving? Do/can you get a RAW file at the same time?

Very cool.

B2 (;->

 

[rover]

Very fun shots!

When you shot in Art-5 does it slow down saving? Do/can you get a RAW file at the same time?

Very cool.

B2 (;->

Hey, I was going to ask those questions. 😀

 

[deepwhite]

Very fun shots!

When you shot in Art-5 does it slow down saving? Do/can you get a RAW file at the same time?

Very cool.

B2 (;->

Dear Bill & rover,

Yes the file saving is much slower @ ART5 Mode. @ ART3 it's as fast as normal shot though.

That becomes much more obvious when you shoot video in these modes. With ART3 you still got decent frame rate; with ART5 it's basically a "fast slideshow".

And yes, you can get a "clean" RAW file at the same time. What's more, even if you were not shooting in any Art Modes in the first place, you can still apply any of them to your RAW files within the Olympus Master 2 software.

(But if you ask me, I would say that, as convenient and useful as the Art5 Mode is, I still prefer Alien Skin's Exposure 2 for the job for more serious shots.)

 

[JonasYip]

Hi Jonas, I would suggest that you get the 17/2.8 kit lens. It makes the E-P1 a high-end point-and-shoot, very convenient sometimes. The bokeh of this lens is ok, but nothing undesirable; the size is smaller than most of the lenses that people like us would want to mount onto the E-P1.

I was planning on just getting the 17 kit, but looking at the prices of the kits I determined it was cheaper to a 14-42 kit (which is available here) and get the 17 later... on the assumption that I'd end up getting the zoom eventually anyway. Basically I'd save money on the viewfinder, which I don't need ... I'd use my VC minifinder.

Anyway.... so I've ordered a 14-42 kit and it should be arriving tomorrow. No idea when my M-u4/3 adapter will arrive though...

j

 

[deepwhite]

Continuing my trivial tests with various lenses.



[Kinoptik Fulgior 35mm f1.3]

I couldn't find any info about this lens. According to the seller it's a movie lens.

F1.3 / 1/250sec / ISO400 / JPG

1:1 crop

Not bad.



Testing custom white balance. F1.3 / 1/15sec / ISO640 / EV-1.0

Not bad either. Looks the same on E-P1's LCD and the computer's monitor.



Same scene / Different ISO:

[ISO1600]

[ISO3200]

[ISO6400]

Can't say I love high iso above 1600....



[BOKEH]

[ART3 Mode]

Some of us call the ART3 Mode the "Japanese Magazine Style". Just an impression.

Loving the E-P1 more and more.


- to be continued