Picture and parameter settings on the E-P2

[awilder]

For those experienced with the E-P1 or 2, any suggestions on picture modes and parameter adjustments of sharpness, contrast, saturation and effect when shooting as JPEG? I typically come from shooting Velvia film. Does that mean use Vivid and pump up parameters to the max or is it overkill?

 

[M4streetshooter]

How do you process your images?
That determines your in camera settings.

 

[emerica]

i like referring to a guy named Wrotniak's reviews and tests on the E-620 and the E-30 as a base and adjust accordingly to taste on my E-PL1. his writings on those previous Olympus cams are a good start since they're reportedly the same sensor as in the E-PXX series and he gives details of his testing/shooting parameters. most importantly he explains what 'damage' is done to JPEG quality in regards to various adjustments and settings in camera and what may be needed in post after (mostly in regards to noise reduction and sharpening later).

i believe he mentions somewhere that the default settings for olympus cameras are already quite punchy and contrasty per the consumer's tastes in general though...

lately i've set my E-PL1 settings to use natural mode -1 sharpness and -1 contrast, noise filter set to low. but, it does matter what you plan to do in post afterwards - his method is for less post processing since he's not using RAW, and getting the best JPEG output possible (but of course according to his tastes). with the above settings i still have to make some minor adjustments in post, but there is more flexibility and detail retained with the resulting OOC image.

curious to know what you came up with for shooting parameters.

cheers

 

[awilder]

Thanks emerica, that's the sort of information I needed as a stating point since I wasn't planning to fiddle with raw. According to Olympus, their algorithms for JPEG are a bit better than their competition requiring less need for raw. According to DP review, the E-P1/L1/2 does much better than the Panasonic products in this respect so I guess there is some truth to their claim.