The 14-42 kit is in stock at B&H for now. I ordered one and will hopefully have it on Friday; getting it sent to my vacation home, so hopefully they don't screw up the shipping. I have all of next week off to play with it.

I pre-ordered my E-P1 with 17/2.8 & finder from Henry's in Toronto. It looks like the Canadian release date is mid-July.

The 17mm version has a July ship date for the US as well.

I also pre-ordered from Henry's; release date was said to be July 17th, but I think they will come in earlier than that.

Looks like B&H is out now. Amazon is back ordered.

I'm personally waiting for the 17mm kit.

edit; looks like a bunch of the usual big online retailers have the zoom kits in stock.

I've learned my lesson. I'm going to give it six months just to let the bugs settle out and to see if the cam is useable. I don't mean in the IQ sense, I'm sure it will be decent in that respect but in the ergonomic sense. There is such a thing as too small and the slightly less retro but better size wise (from an ergonomic point of view) Panasonic G1 is fabulous but I find it too limiting often for shooting the way I am accustomed to. I want to see how responsive it is and how well all those buttons work out. I sure do wish Oly luck though and hope to have nothing but superlatives so I can get one after the rush wears off.

The thing I have noticed is that Olympus uses a heavy anti-alias filter. The panasonic is far superior in that sense (and the M8 marvelous). It's what I care about in IQ - not iso 3200 performance.

You early adopters ... keep us posted!

Pavel wrote:

The thing I have noticed is that Olympus uses a heavy anti-alias filter. The panasonic is far superior in that sense (and the M8 marvelous). It's what I care about in IQ - not iso 3200 performance.

You early adopters ... keep us posted!


A weaker anti-alias filter is one of the major changes with the E-P1. Previous to this camera, I agree with you about that but Olympus has really made some advances in the per pixel/IQ area with the E-P1 and I would expect we will see these advances in future Olympus cameras as well. Waiting is a good idea though if you don't need the camera today.

Pavel wrote:
You early adopters ... keep us posted!

I am also a little hesitant to buy the E-P1 brand new, as I allways bought my DSLRs used and well after all the @#@#(%*%%&@ has been loudly stated by new users
However, having sold my D700 and whole DSLR kit, and going to a huge festival in August, I need a new kit and this is as close to what I would like as there is right now. Probably in the future, a more pro-oriented body will be my next move, but right now I am looking forward to the E-P1 with all the frustrations that may come with it.

I will certainly put some pics up as I make them with it.
cheers, George

Tariq .... I did not know that they've modified their approach. That is very welcome news. I was an early adopter of 4/3 with the E-1, and though I did not live up to my expectations I believe that this system is where it is at for Olympus.
I am cautiously very optimistic. They need primes, I think. Even the little zoom is a bit over-large on the EP-1 judging my the pictures of the combo. Primes! yeah. A three or four, medium fast ( f2.8 .... and perhaps f 4.0 for wides) which sit well and keep the handling simple and quick .... I think Olympus may start a whole new market segment.

If this takes off it will in future years really show the tragedy of the first of this kind. The Foveon sensor in the DP1 and DP2 is/was tragically close. They just put it in a body which had the details thought out by marketing people - not photographers. So close .... yet so far. And now the ball sits with Olympus and Panasonic. It looks good so far. I hope the EP-1 or it's successor make this a third base hit at least. Bout' time .... eh?

Posted by Richard elsewhere but anyone interested in seeing just how far Olympus has come with regard to image quality in the E-P1, take a look at the bottom of this page:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/EP1/EP1A.HTM

This camera compares quite favorably to even Canon's larger (size and MP) sensor.

A note on their upcoming OM testing:

"OM mount. We now have the OM mount in house, and here's the 50mm f/1.8 from my OM-1 mounted and ready to go out for test shots. Tune in next week..."

First impressions of how this will work out for them can be found here: http://forum.manualfocus.org/viewtopic.php?id=14484

Not what I was hoping for, re: MF.

The E-P1 can magnify live view to 10X during focusing; I would have thought that to be sufficient for MF with fast glass.
Also, I am not sure about the 2mm tolerance of the LCD MF that Rich is talking about; if he is suggesting actual subject position, 2mm is way less than my body will sway handholding a camera anyway.
I have a CANON FL 58 1.2 I have been wanting to use on the E-P1. I wonder how that will work with this LCD.

After using live view focusing on my 40D, I can honestly say that I will use it for about 10% of my shooting. For everything else, there is just no replacement for a good VF. I can't even imagine being "stuck with it" all the time, especially if 10x is required to focus every time (goodbye composition and spontaneity), which is why I am definitely taking a pass on the EP-1.

I think Rich meant that he can turn the focus ring about 2mm without anything changing on the LCD. Sounds about as accurate as a stock Canon focusing screen. Yuck!

It is a cute little camera, but a MFer's dream it is not.

Live view and manual focus works decently with an articulated lcd screen, at least it does on the older Olympus 330 but that cameras is still thought to have one of the best live view implementations . Live view without an articulated lcd screen would be an issue for fast, hand held shooting I would think and some sort of additional viewfinder would be needed.

I agree. I am concerned more about accuracy than speed though. I will take my time with a fast 50, and use the kit 17mm for fast work which works well for me since 35mm is my favourite FL.

Honestly, I don't expect the E-P1 to be a do-all-be-all camera, just my shoot-from-the-hip camera the LX-3 and G10 I hoped were, but were not.

Tariq, given the E-P1's mini HDMI-out and video-out, I wonder if it would be hard to produce a pluggable hot-shoe EVF !?! If the camera can shoot tethered, it should be possible no?...even though it would probably cost $400!

dasrocket wrote:
Tariq, given the E-P1's mini HDMI-out and video-out, I wonder if it would be hard to produce a pluggable hot-shoe EVF !?! If the camera can shoot tethered, it should be possible no?...even though it would probably cost $400!

I imagine such a contraption, if possible, would sort of negate whatever size/handling advantage the E-P1 might have over the Panasonic G1 or the upcoming E-P2 with built in evf. Seems like I have read that Olympus was considering an accessory evf for the E-P1.

cogitech wrote:
After using live view focusing on my 40D, I can honestly say that I will use it for about 10% of my shooting. For everything else, there is just no replacement for a good VF. I can't even imagine being "stuck with it" all the time, especially if 10x is required to focus every time (goodbye composition and spontaneity), which is why I am definitely taking a pass on the EP-1.

I think Rich meant that he can turn the focus ring about 2mm without anything changing on the LCD. Sounds about as accurate as a stock Canon focusing screen. Yuck!

It is a cute little camera, but a MFer's dream it is not.

Two little notes on that:

The 40D is kind of awkward to use in LV mode. The G1 and E-P1 are significantly nicer to work with off the rear LCD because the handling is designed more for rear LCD use.

The focus ring on all non-SWD Zuiko Digital lenses is speed sensitive. A given focus ring movement will have different effects on actual focus change depending on how fast you turn the ring. That said, the E-P1 shares one of the 40D's deficiencies for Live View work, the low-resolution LCD. The G1's definitely easier to focus accurately without the MF assist zoom due to the higher resolution display.

Adam, he was using a manual lens (CV 58/1.4), and noted that moving the focus ring 2mm had no effect on the LCD image, rendering the LCD basically useless for precise, fast MF.

People keep mentioning the LV-zoom being very precise. Do people really want to take photos that way?

cogitech wrote:
Adam, he was using a manual lens (CV 58/1.4), and noted that moving the focus ring 2mm had no effect on the LCD image, rendering the LCD basically useless for precise, fast MF.

People keep mentioning the LV-zoom being very precise. Do people really want to take photos that way?

If it was the CV 58, that really surprises me. I just tested that on my G1 with the 58 wide open and 2mm turn gives a change is easily visible at closer focus distances. At long distances it may not be due to DoF covering that amount of shift, but by long distances I mean 15' or more (I can see the change at 10', but it's not obvious on the rear LCD at 20'). It may just be the lack of resolution on the E-P1's LCD.

The LV zoom is great, if you're working on a tripod or have stopped down and are trying to nail critical focus. I rarely use it in general shooting, relying on unzoomed focusing at wide apertures and shooting hyperfocal at small apertures on the G1. It's actually not hard to use even handheld with a normal-range lens, but does require some time and fiddling.

I totally agree re: live view zoom on a tripod, as I do find it handy on my 40D. I just never imagined using a camera like the E-P1 this way. Again, if I have my tripod out, I might as well have my 5D or 40D on top of it.

As far as very small cameras go, I suspect the G1 is more up my alley. Your confidence in it speaks volumes compared to Rich's experience with the E-P1.

Just a heads up folks, Tony at PopFlash has the 17mm f2.8 lens in stock, or at least he did as of this afternoon when I ordered mine.

According to PopFlashPhoto they had 2 of the 17mm lenses,both gone in less than 3 hours...

Tariq Gibran wrote:
dasrocket wrote:
Tariq, given the E-P1's mini HDMI-out and video-out, I wonder if it would be hard to produce a pluggable hot-shoe EVF !?! If the camera can shoot tethered, it should be possible no?...even though it would probably cost $400!

I imagine such a contraption, if possible, would sort of negate whatever size/handling advantage the E-P1 might have over the Panasonic G1 or the upcoming E-P2 with built in evf. Seems like I have read that Olympus was considering an accessory evf for the E-P1.


It would be useful as an accessory to use with certain lenses that require more than the rear LCD can offer. I think it would be an overkill, and am certain if the m4/3 proves to be the success it now seems it will, a variety of models will come out offering everything but the kitchen sink.

cogitech wrote:
...People keep mentioning the LV-zoom being very precise. Do people really want to take photos that way?

I agree. I am not interested in using LV as a standard shooting method, and would much rather use an OVF-hence the 17mm kit option. I like the idea of my eye directly attached to the camera
Having said that, and having gone though too many DSLRs, I am willing to give up some options right now for a really small AND IQ competent camera. Maybe the next m4/3 models will be able to incorporate a good EVF in the size of the E-P1 rather than the G1.