Side note rant- I wish they would have really put full digital voice recording capability into the E-P1 as shown in the clip. Olympus does make great voice recorders and they also implied in their marketing that the E-P1 had professional audio capabilities. Unfortunately, you appear to be limited to 30 second clips, not a very wide ranging, useful feature after all. I have found unlimited audio recording (limited only by the size of your memory card) a super handy feature to have on every small camera I have owned previously. Great for recording meetings, lectures and such. It has in fact become a buying criteria when shopping for small, take everywhere cameras for me. My Ricoh GRD had it, my Sigma DP-1 has it but it seems to be missing in action on the E-P1. Perhaps a simple firmware update by Olympus could fix it...or, perhaps they do not wish to cut into sales of their miniature digital recording market.
I bought one of these on July 3rd sadly I returned it for a full refund on July 5th. 3 Issues. It's LCD monitor is useless in bright outdoor light so it is very difficult to compose and focus with it. 2nd just the oposite. It is very poor to view in dim light. There are no autofocus assist beams again useless lets say in a dark wedding hall or party enviroment. It doesn't have a built in flash by yes it has available a add on mini flash/strobe again making it harder and less practical to have with you. Now had they included some sort of optical viewfinder so at least you could see what you wanted to frame it would have been really useful. As it is it's a wonderfully built solid camera that is almost useful. I wanted really to like the E-P1. Perhaps down the road they will address these issues.
adebartolo wrote:
...It is very poor to view in dim light. There are no autofocus assist beams again useless lets say in a dark wedding hall or party enviroment...
I asked this very question of Jeff who reviewed his E-P1 in this thread and got a different answer:
".... It (the LCD) does turn up the gain, but it doesn't get very grainy. I just gave it a shot. It depends on how you define low light, but the shot I just tried was f/3.5, 1/20s, ISO 1600, so pretty low light. I could see just a little grain on the LCD..."
I guess I'll see for myself when mine arrives. I just called the store I pre-ordered from and the zoom kits are in; waiting for the 17mm kit!
I just drove to Charlotte (my closest 'big' city)_ and tried out the EP-1 today. I loved the camera but it was pouring so couldn't try it out in sunlight. The salesperson said that someone had done just that this morning and came back in and said it was fine--so go figure.
I loved the camera overall, but bought the 17 f/2.8 for my G1. Looks like just the lens I'll use a lot with maybe a Hexanon 40 f/1.8 (MF)--small little kit, though I have plenty of lenses for the G1. It focused really quickly in a very dark room for me on the G1--and makes a very small package (not as slim as the EP-1 though) since it barely protrudes beyond the grip.
I coveted the EP-1 but couldn't justify 2 m4/3rds bodies with all the Canon gear I have--and I wouldn't trade it for the G1 though I love the form *smile*
However, the E-P1 is certainly the path that other brands (Canonet ?) will follow or enhance. I dream about a leica M8 and can't affort the body and lenses. Coming "in" the action, sharing moments with people in the city or report events will be certainly renewed using those high-def / hig-iso / hig-sharpness / small body size cameras...
I tried this camera at my local store. It is over priced for what it offers. As mentioned above, it is almost useless in bright light. People knock the Canon G10 viewfinder.....but it allows that camera to function where the Pen can't.
I personally can't understand what the thinking is with these companies......it is almost as if they get a great idea...then think of ways to frustrate the user. Think how easy it could have been to make the G10 a fabulous camera. Think how easy it must have been to make the Pen 'fit for purpose'.
The only way to stop this kind of behaviour by the companies is not to buy the products...or at least not at the inflated prices they want!
anthonygh wrote:
I tried this camera at my local store. It is over priced for what it offers. As mentioned above, it is almost useless in bright light. People knock the Canon G10 viewfinder.....but it allows that camera to function where the Pen can't.
I personally can't understand what the thinking is with these companies......it is almost as if they get a great idea...then think of ways to frustrate the user. Think how easy it could have been to make the G10 a fabulous camera. Think how easy it must have been to make the Pen 'fit for purpose'.
The only way to stop this kind of behaviour by the companies is not to buy the products...or at least not at the inflated prices they want!...Show more →
Different strokes, I suppose. If they had made the camera larger by including an optical viewfinder, I wouldn't be interested in it.
Clearly people have different standards. I find the screen to be easily usable in bright sun. Better than my G10 or any of my Canon DSLRs. I don't use the optical viewfinder on the G10--it's so small and crappy. I'm glad that Olympus didn't put one on the E-P1; it kept the camera smaller and you can mount one on the hot shoe if you want.
Great video. Everything I've seen so far about the E-P1 is consistent with what I'm hoping that it will provide. I just hope they soon start shipping in Canada.
CKrueger wrote:
Different strokes, I suppose. If they had made the camera larger by including an optical viewfinder, I wouldn't be interested in it.
+1. that is the PANA G1 -in terms of size and body design, it's a mini-DSLR.
Having owned the G10, I don't remember ever using the VF except once to actually see what it looks like. A prime with an external VF is what I need most, and the ability to focus manually -how easy the latter is, remains to be seen
I have come to the conclusion that there is only one perfect camera body for me, and I have not designed it yet
In the meantime, the list I have compiled of the most desirable features seems to point at the E-P1 so far.
