Harley Ogier tests the retro-chic EP-1
Look and Feel

Camera manufacturers exist in a flurried blur of technological change, so it’s nice to see someone tip their hat to tradition. The new E-P1 pays homage to Olympus’s Pen SLR, released 50 years ago and a camera famed for its pocketable size, phenomenal popularity and chic styling.

But for all that it bears a physical resemblance to a camera five decades old, under the hood the E-P1 is all 21st century. By subscribing to the new Micro Four Thirds standard, the E-P1 does away with the mirror and pentaprism of traditional SLR cameras. Instead of an optical viewfinder, the camera features a large 3.0-inch LCD monitor, making the E-P1 the lightest interchangeable-lens digital camera I’ve worked with.

Despite its light weight, the E-P1 sports a gorgeous all-metal body with leather handgrip. From the front it looks very much like a compact film camera; only when viewing the controls and monitor on the rear does the E-P1 resemble the piece of modern technology it really is.

Usability

Following traditional digital compact camera designs, almost all of the E-P1’s controls are located on the right-hand side of the camera; most shooting and playback functions can be operated one-handed.

The mode dial is recessed into the top of the body, accessible only via an exposed plastic wheel on the back of the camera. This definitely prevents flipping between modes accidentally, but also makes intentional mode changes a little difficult. Switching from one mode to the next is easy, but it’s not possible to quickly spin the dial to reach a mode on the opposite side.

Two scroll wheels are provided on the back: a vertical wheel near the top and an iPod-style mechanical click wheel below it. The click wheel also serves as a four-way directional pad with an ‘OK’ button in the centre. The directional pad is the best option for navigating menus, while the scroll wheels work well as traditional controllers of exposure, aperture and similar settings.

Image Quality

The E-P1 produces high-quality images with a lot of fine detail. I had some issues with image noise while shooting in the fully automatic mode, but was able to limit it to very reasonable levels using the camera’s noise reduction feature. The automatic mode also gives slightly oversaturated images, and over-exposes at night: the manual shooting modes can produce noticeably better results. The pre-programmed scene modes are a decent compromise for those not wishing to venture into full manual territory.

Being a fan of long exposures, I was delighted to find the E-P1 supports up to 60-second timed exposures in Shutter Priority mode. Most cameras don’t allow exposures nearly as long without going to Bulb, and it makes for some great fun if you’re dealing with night-time traffic, aircraft, starry skies or cats chasing laser pointers. At the shorter end of the scale, simple night landscapes are a breeze — the E-P1 gave some of the best performance I’ve seen to date on my Auckland City view.

Optical image stabilisation does a good job of eliminating camera shake; I found that my night shots came out perfectly sharp even without the two-second self timer. Shooting freehand in daylight is no problem —I don’t think I encountered a single case of motion blur, even though I did my test shooting on the go.

Performance

Like the Live View mode of most dSLRs, the E-P1 suffers from slow contrast-detect autofocus. Unlike a dSLR, however, there’s no option to switch back to the viewfinder and letting the much faster phase-detect autofocus do the work instead.

Panasonic’s Lumix G1, the first Micro Four Thirds camera to hit the market, didn’t suffer so obviously from this problem, and its autofocus performance was more in line with the average entry-level dSLR. Olympus doesn’t seem to have quite such a good implementation of contrast-detect at this stage.

If you carefully frame your shots and aren’t the quick-fire type, this isn’t likely to be a huge problem. The E-P1 has so much else going for it that slow autofocus shouldn’t be a deal breaker. However, expect to be a little disappointed if you’re after dSLR shooting speed.

Lens Compatibility

The E-P1 is available with either or both of two kit lenses: the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f2.8 and the M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6.

The 17mm (equivalent to 34mm in 35mm film terms) is a wide-angle pancake lens with a length of just 22mm and a weight of 71g. This makes it the perfect travelling companion for the E-P1 if you can do without a zoom. Alternatively, it allows you to carry the camera ready to shoot while your larger lenses are packed away.

The 14-42mm (28-84mm equivalent) is a compact and lightweight zoom lens designed specifically for the E-P1. In keeping with the camera’s concise design, the lens is collapsible to just 43.5mm, around half of its fully extended length.

Personally, I would have to stash a 200mm lens somewhere for those long-distance opportunities. Fortunately, there’s a small but growing number of Micro Four Thirds lenses on the market. Olympus also offers an adapter ring that allows the E-P1 to mount standard Four Thirds format lenses.

Finding the View

I can see why Olympus has omitted an electronic viewfinder from the E-P1; it would have taken up valuable space both inside the camera and on the back where the large LCD monitor is located. However, all it takes is one day of shooting in bright sunlight to realise that it can be a major disadvantage.

A snap-on viewfinder is available to match the 17mm kit lens, but this is useless once you start working with zoom lenses. The snap-on also lacks any kind of heads-up information, depth of field preview, and other such features one would expect of an in-camera viewfinder.

Conclusion

The E-P1 is a brilliant addition to the Micro Four Thirds range, especially for those wanting dSLR quality in a small form factor. Slow autofocus and the lack of a viewfinder may be problematic for some users, but others will love the high image quality and point-and-shoot ease of use.

OLYMPUS E-P1 – SPECS

Manufacturer: Olympus
Model: E-P1
Effective Pixels: 12.3 million
Image Sensor: 17.3 x 13.0mm MOS
Viewfinder: None
LCD Monitor: 3.0-inch, 230,000 dot LCD, 176 degrees viewing angle
Shutter: 1/4000 to 60 seconds, bulb
ISO: 200-6400 in steps of 1/3 or 1 EV
Exposure Metering: Digital ESP metering (324-area multi-pattern metering), centre-weighted, spot
Media: SD/SDHC
File Format: RAW (12-bit), JPEG, AVI
Interface: USB 2.0, composite video out, HDMI video out
Batteries: Rechargeable lithium-ion, approx 300 shots
Dimensions: 120.5 x 70 x 35mm
Weight: 335g (body only, without battery or memory card)

CONTACT

www.olympus.com

PROS

• Excellent image quality
• Point-and-shoot ease of use

CONS

• Slow autofocus
• No viewfinder

Design                      19
Performance             17
Features                   17
Image Quality           18
Value for money       17

TOTAL     88/100

This article is from D-Photo 32.

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