Not much seems to have changed other than it's $200 cheaper. Stinks for those who bought an E-P1 what, a year ago? But great for the rest of us. Much more in line with what it should cost.
Even better? It looks like it now is available in black. Way more classy, IMO. I also like the look of the new grip.
Otherwise; - 12.3-megapixel sensor
- 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 zoom lens
- Inbuilt pop-up flash
- HD video recording (though as what resolution, Olympus hasn't said).
- 19 Scene-Select Modes
- Face Detection
- In-Camera Panorama
- ISO range of 100 - ISO 3200
My hope is they've changed the video codec from motion-JPEG to something more modern (like the Panny's AVCHD Lite) and improved the AF, but if all they did is take $200 off and spruce up the looks that's fine with me, too.
cgiff wrote:
Not much seems to have changed other than it's $200 cheaper. Stinks for those who bought an E-P1 what, a year ago? But great for the rest of us. Much more in line with what it should cost.
It's not a 3rd version of the E-Px line, it's a new line. You could regard the L in E-PL to be E-P "Lite". The featureset is very pared down and simplified, with greater importance levied on scene modes, etc. Note that there are actually no scroll wheels at all which will inevitably make it a bit more awkward to change aperture, etc. This is clearly an entry-level model made for people who are current P&S shooters, but want something with better quality, performance, etc.
I doubt that it's a camera that will appeal to many people here, but this is exactly the sort of camera that MFT needs to appeal to the masses, so I hope they're very successful with it.
Interesting, I take back my post title and some excitement. There are no photos of the back and I admittedly didn't scour the whole press release, but no rear scroll wheel is a big bummer. I was excited to see a top dial, but if that's at the expense of other manual controls it's no good.
I agree completely about the appealing to the masses part. For people that ask me what camera they should get that's "more like mine," but they dont want to spend much money, this might be my replacement suggestion instead of a D60 and 35/1.8.
i agree this would have been exactly what i wanted if it provided the basic inputs for manual control. is there a top picture anywhere that shows what is on that mode dial? i guess it still might be good for manual lenses since they have their own aperture ring.
douglasf13 wrote:
This camera is one control wheel away from being my first m 4/3 camera. Small, has M mode and IBIS. Simple....but I need at least one wheel. wtf?
For the price, it should sell well.... especially if it has a built in flash and is more compact than the EP1 or EP2.
I am more interested in the 9-18mm f4-5.6 that's supposedly less than 2" long (compact is good) and 14-150mm lenses that were also announced. I am hoping the 9-18mm sells for a more favorable $450-$500 rather than the $700 list MSRP
sebboh wrote:
i agree this would have been exactly what i wanted if it provided the basic inputs for manual control. is there a top picture anywhere that shows what is on that mode dial? i guess it still might be good for manual lenses since they have their own aperture ring.
Some views show a dial similar to what's on the E-P1. PASM, Scene, etc. Looks like there's probably an integrated drive mode dial a la the GF1.
Good to see the price on these sort of cams coming down. The make or break features for me are:
- High resolution LCD?
- SLR speed AF like the Panasonic cams?
andrewd01 wrote:
Good to see the price on these sort of cams coming down. The make or break features for me are:
- High resolution LCD?
- SLR speed AF like the Panasonic cams?
Both are doubtful. Again, this camera is unlikely to please anyone in this forum since it is clearly not aimed at enthusiasts.
The most important thing about this introduction isn't the spec sheet, it's the price and how Olympus plans to position it. $600 is getting reasonable - if they can get these in every Best Buy, Target and Sears in the US it could be a real game changer, regardless of how the Panasonic's stack up.
Yeh... I'm still working on getting the EP-2 this week regardless. This seems like it is a good entry level camera in the 4/3 realm... However with lack of a control wheel anything but Auto mode would be a pain to use.
brainiac wrote:
Where does it say it has IBIS? Surely Olympus wants to differentiate it from the more expensive model.
From the press release for the new lenses:
When mounted on an Olympus PEN camera, the lenses are stabilized thanks to the camera’s in-body Image Stabilization system and offer effective shake compensation at all focal lengths.
From the press release of the E-PL1:
Since the PEN cameras are the world’s smallest interchangeable-lens cameras with image stabilization built inside the body, you can take the E-PL1 with you and capture great images, and it won’t weigh you down.
The first quote seems to indicate the IBIS will be in all Olympus MFT cameras, as core functionality.
There is plenty of differentiation between the E-PL1 and the E-P1/2 once you look past the specs and to how each camera will actually handle.
Sam Bennett wrote:
From the press release for the new lenses:
When mounted on an Olympus PEN camera, the lenses are stabilized thanks to the camera’s in-body Image Stabilization system and offer effective shake compensation at all focal lengths.
Has anyone with an E-PL1 noticed any difference between the in-use effectiveness of IBIS on this vs. the E-P1/2? Trawling the web seems to bring up conjecture only. Perhaps it's still too early.
FYI, Olympus claims up to 4 stops of IBIS for the E-P1/2, vs. 3 stops for this one.
lbloom wrote:
Has anyone with an E-PL1 noticed any difference between the in-use effectiveness of IBIS on this vs. the E-P1/2? Trawling the web seems to bring up conjecture only. Perhaps it's still too early.
FYI, Olympus claims up to 4 stops of IBIS for the E-P1/2, vs. 3 stops for this one.
I haven't used the E-P1 or E-P2, but the E-PL1's IBIS seems OK. I ran a quick test of the IBIS: Shooting with the kit lens at 42mm, the rule of thumb minimum shutter speed would be about 1/80s (taking into account the 2x crop factor), so the following shutter speeds will test the number of stops IBIS can handle by seeing how many sharp pics I get:
3 stops gain, 1/10s: 20% perfectly sharp, 40% adequately sharp, 20% blurry
4 stops gain, 1/5s: same as above
5 stops gain, 1/2.5s: all blurry
I'd say it can provide 4 stops in good conditions (taking my time to "feel" stable, breathing correctly, etc), but in real life I'd probably not go below 3 stops.
I'll be conducting more tests for Part 2 of my E-PL1 review. For the moment you can read Part 1.
This probably won't add much, but I was at Best Buy today and was able to hold one of these for a few minutes....DAMN this thing is small! I knew they were small, but this thing was tiny...
Yep...when I was playing with it at Best Buy, I put it next to the S90 for a size comparison. Really incredible. I'm seriously thinking of selling my S90 for one of these (or an E-P2). So tempting...
weezintrumpete wrote:
Yep...when I was playing with it at Best Buy, I put it next to the S90 for a size comparison. Really incredible. I'm seriously thinking of selling my S90 for one of these (or an E-P2). So tempting...
I decided on the Panasonic G1 version of Micro Four Thirds. Compared its build quality to the EP-L1. By comparison, the Olympus felt pretty toy-like ... very plastic ... though I'm sure it takes good pics. The Oly also needs the external (and costly) viewfinder. The Panasonic comes with an excellent EVF and even better LCD. Panasonic is small, too, but not quite as small as the Oly. I'm using mine with an adapter and some Nikon MF AIS lenses as well as Nikon's 28-105. Excellent results all around. Great camera.
I think I'd pick up a used E-P1 before buying the EP-L1 because of the build of the former. Still, the lens shown, 14-42mm failed me early. The "Parking Pawl" lock on the lens rounded off without any abuse and once it didn't lock firmly anymore the camera refused to work. That and the crummy feel of the 17mm lens got me feeling like I'd spent a good amount for cheaply made gear so I sold all of it in ebay.
I've got a G1 now with 20mm, 45-200mm, and 14-45mm and although my wife makes the most use of the little gear it does have a well made feel to it - much better quality.
That Canon S90 DOES look small. Is it smaller than an LX3?. Good looking little sucker...
