Olympus EP-1

[silverbullet]

Nice photos, Bernd.

Andy, thanks a lot!
Yes, Istanbul with it's friendly folks has megatons of impressions for visitors and/or photographers.

 

[shadowfox]

The shots from this book is from E-P2.
On the streets, this camera disappears from your concerns. You can concentrate in your shooting.

The compact size, reliability and durability earns this camera a top award in my mind.

 

[freeranger]

After buying the EP1 I experienced a touch of buyer's regret, that I did not hold out for the EP2 and the electronic viewfinder. Weirdly, I am now not too bothered - using the EP1 and manual focus lenses has forced me to take a slower and more considered approach - one which I probably would not have experienced had I had the option of the EVF. Both are beautifully solid cameras and, once you get used to them, a pleasure to own.

 

[silverbullet]

The shots from this book is from E-P2.
On the streets, this camera disappears from your concerns. You can concentrate in your shooting.

The compact size, reliability and durability earns this camera a top award in my mind.

the pics I see in this book are not bad but I would shoot them with a D3x due to the lack of faces seen by the cam......😀

But you are right, the Pen or GF1 or, or are not so easy to spot by people.

And when, it's too late (for them)...😀

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36573929@N00/5093735121/in/set-72157625031362422/

The Pens, GFs and the Ricoh GRD have the same size as ordinary P&S cams and this irritates people who are not so familiar with different types of cameras.

 

[traveler_101]

E-P1 over E-P2

E-P1 over E-P2

To add a little contrast:

I find manually focusing with the E-P1 (without EVF, and with a display resolving "only" 200k dots) quite doable. If you activate the magnification loupe, the whole display will be filled with a 7x or 10x magnified view, helping you to evaluate sharpness. Granted, it takes a little longer than just focusing via a high-resolving viewfinder, but it works, and once you get used to it, quite quickly indeed. What I do is pre-focus using the normal view, and then activate the magnification only to fine-tune. I get pictures tack sharp even with my 50/1.5 Nokton.

I have the E-P1 and concur with what efix says about manual focusing on the LCD screen. Yes, there are some conditions, e.g. bright direct light where you might run into problems, but generally it is workable. I love the camera--the build quality, handling and the excellent jpgs it produces. And I don't regret not buying the E-P2. Here's why.

I think it is important to consider what you want to do with the camera and what the camera was originally designed for. I wished to use it--with wide-normal lenses (the Panasonic 20mm/f.1.7 and the Voigtlander 15mm/f.4), often set in hyperfocal mode--as a street camera, or to take cityscape/landscape shots. I didn't have a RF camera then and as I understood it that's what the camera was really designed for. Trying to stretch it into a general purpose DSLR is problematic; yes, there are many things you can do with it (use it with a OM 50mm/f.1.8 for portraits, for example!) and you can go long, but if that's what you're really after I don't think it's the right camera.

This becomes apparent when you have a look at what becomes of the E-P2 when the electronic viewfinder is attached. It turns a handsome camera into a monstrous thing--not only much larger than intended but ungainly in appearance; it becomes clear that the electronic viewfinder was an afterthought to meet the demand for a very different sort of camera.

I realize that this sounds terribly opinionated and I apologize for that. My advice, for what it's worth, is to buy an inexpensive E-P1 before they disappear, if it matches your needs, and look down the line for the new "pro" Pen which will integrate the EVF into the camera.