Oly E-PM1 as a superior P&S

[KEH]

As you can see below, the E-PM1 with Lumix 20/1.7 is just slightly larger than the Lumix LX5. At only $449 (with a kit zoom and flash which I will probably never use) I thought it was worth a 'shot.'

So far I am very impressed. Very pocketable. Fast focus. Unobtrusive on the street. And image quality is really excellent (the second shot is with the Oly 45/1.8 shooting into the light at f3.5, straight out of Lightroom).

While the guts are essentially the same as the E-P3 (according to DPReview and others), I was worried about the 'beginner' interface. It turns out to be very nice. Once you have got it set up then the top button on the 4-way controller handles aperture / speed / program (depending on what mode you are in), as well as +/- exposure compensation. The bottom button handles drive mode.

The interface has two ingenious touches. First, the video button can be changed to do AEL (exposure lock) - but you also get to choose what metering mode AEL will use! Really a brilliant touch. Plus, if you hit the 'Info' button after hitting the top +/- button, you can independently adjust the exposure of hightlights and shadows.

All in all a great deal of fun to use. I am not really fond of composing using the back screen of a camera, but the whole idea is to be unobtrusive.

I will post a couple of more photos this week.

Regards,
Kirk

 

[kshapero]

Looks like a nice street rig. How is the LCD in bright sunshine?

 

[KEH]

The LCD in bright sunlight is only average for the genre. Usable, but difficult when there is direct sunlight from behind.

Kirk

 

[shadowfox]

Kirk,

Your review echoes my impression when I held an E-PM1.
The thing redefines the meaning of "sleek"

Although I do think that Olympus should have just two models the E-P* and the E-PM* and be done with the E-PL* line and use the design resources to improve the E-P* line (adding a built in EVF, for example 🙂 )

 

[KEH]

'Sleek' is the right word. Oly produces some very good bodies / lenses, but seems to have no strategy. Hope they survive the current turmoil and produce some great new stuff.

Another photo:

Shot with the Lumix 20/1.7 @f8. Funny how even a schoolyard looks spooky in the right light.

Kirk

 

[AncientCityPhoto]

I am been using the E-pm1 as my "pocket camera" as well with the 17mm 2.8. I prefer a 35mm fov vs the 40mm fov of the 20mm lens.

Aside from having the slickest body surface ive ever seen (gaffers tape fixed that quick), the E-pm1 has been great.

Agreed, the interface is not all that bad. Ide rather have less buttons than more...as long as I can program them for what I want. The E-pm1 seems fairly decent in this regard. I have the AEL button set to switch me to manual focus. That way I can recompose and shoot as many shots as I want. It also doesnt allow me to accidentally jump into manual focus mode when I hold the lens and keep getting a 10x view.

 

[btgc]

I wonder if they at Olympus haven't learned what basics of ergonomics are, I mean absence of grip of any size. They do grips on their cameras costing three times less than E-PM1 so they for sure know something. What is this? Stupid segmentation of models?

 

[stewmander]

Thanks for this post, a great idea... I am looking at the epl2 and if the epm1 is really just a ep3 without the dial I think I could deal with the menu. Originally wanted the LX5, but if u can get m4/3 in the same sized package fora similar price that'd be awesome.

How does the 14-42 ii kit lens affect the "pocketability"? I would get the epm1 with kit and buy the panny lens later. I have an XA I live for pocketability, and the epl2 is almost the same size ( I saw a photo line up in the m4/3 porn thread) so if the epm1 with kit it similar itd almost be like a digital XA with zoom 🙂

 

[Bar8barian]

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