Olympus EP1

nilhg

Well after all the leaks the Olympus EP1 has been officially announced, and while there is some surprise over the lack of a built in flash or viewfinder many folks who have had an early look at the camera seem quite excited.

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2009/06/olympus-e-p1-digital-pen-officially-announced.html

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/olympusep1/

Essentially it seems to be a E620 (with upgraded sensor and imaging pipeline) crammed into a tiny body, and some smashing styling.


Anybody fancy one?

DaireQuinlan

It's pretty pricey for a P&S though. I think the prices I've seen quoted are $700 for the body, $850 with the zoom or $900 with the prime. Given our normal stupid pricing I presume they'll translate directly into euro values give or take a bit. Originally I was thinking this'd be cool with an F-mount adapter because I could jam all my nikon primes onto a tiny body, but in reality its vastly more expensive than I'd pay for the privilege. Plus the sensor is even smaller than an APS sized sensor. 2x crop factor IIRC.

So all told I'm going to go out on a limb and say FAIL :rolleyes:

Fajitas!

I think it's lovely.

I'd really like a (Even rangefinder style) viewfinder though.

DaireQuinlan

Fajitas! wrote: »

I think it's lovely.
I'd really like a (Even rangefinder style) viewfinder though.

Less useful with an interchangeable lens camera. They're aiming this squarely at the P&S crowd, they probably figured they'd get all confused if their viewfinder had framing lines and other complications. It certainly would have been neater with a pen-f/t style EVF though.

And yes, it does LOOK nice, I'll give it that. Probably not as nice as the original Pen-FT though.

nilhg

Fajitas! wrote: »

I think it's lovely.

I'd really like a (Even rangefinder style) viewfinder though.

Well, AFAIF the prime comes supplied with its own hot-shoe mounted viewfinder.

Kintarō Hattori

If I was in the market for a P&S and I was flush with cash I'd certainly consider this. As it is however for what you get it's essentially an overpriced P&S. Shame really as it does look damn cool.

Fajitas!

nilhg wrote: »

Well, AFAIF the prime comes supplied with its own hot-shoe mounted viewfinder.

Ah, but it's no good for focusing with

Also, it *can* take adapters, so far, only a further Oly mounted one has been mentioned, so it can take the (non macro) Oly mount DSLR lenses (And retain auto stopdown & autofocus), so surely more are on the way. A nice 35mm 1.4 would go down lovely on it. Or a few more of the pancake lenses...

nilhg

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

If I was in the market for a P&S and I was flush with cash I'd certainly consider this. As it is however for what you get it's essentially an overpriced P&S. Shame really as it does look damn cool.

Not wanting to be a rep for Olympus or anything, but what you are getting is the entire imaging system (less the mirror and viewfinder) of a DSLR including IS squeezed into a compact body, and it does HD video if thats any use to you.

Fajitas! wrote: »

Ah, but it's no good for focusing with

Also, it *can* take adapters, so far, only a further Oly mounted one has been mentioned, so it can take the (non macro) Oly mount DSLR lenses (And retain auto stopdown & autofocus), so surely more are on the way. A nice 35mm 1.4 would go down lovely on it. Or a few more of the pancake lenses...

There are already quite a few adaptors floating around for various makes of lenses to suit the Panny G1 which has the same lens mount so it shouldn't be long before you can find one to suit whatever you need.

More primes are indeed on the way, when is the question.

DaireQuinlan

nilhg wrote: »

Not wanting to be a rep for Olympus or anything, but what you are getting is the entire imaging system (less the mirror and viewfinder) of a DSLR including IS squeezed into a compact body, and it does HD video if thats any use to you.

Yeah but now we're into a sort of 'what distinguishes a DSLR from a P&S' conversation. I'd say this has decisively stepped over the line. Its only USP from a P&S point of view is its interchangeable lenses. Thats a big value add. OTOH its contrast based AF only, and SLOWWWW according to dpreview, so that's a huge minus point on a system without any other way of establishing focus.

cnocbui

f3.5 kit lens ? - no thanks.

There are a lot of people who want the image quality of DSLR cameras, without the size and bulk. These people are going to love it. The people who are not going to be impressed are photo enthusiasts who don't mind the size and bulk of a DSLR and already have one. It's not aimed at these people.

It should at least have an f2.8 lens at that price, because many of the social situations where a DSLR can't be lugged and where this would come into it's own, are low light situations.

nilhg

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

Yeah but now we're into a sort of 'what distinguishes a DSLR from a P&S' conversation. I'd say this has decisively stepped over the line. Its only USP from a P&S point of view is its interchangeable lenses. Thats a big value add. OTOH its contrast based AF only, and SLOWWWW according to dpreview, so that's a huge minus point on a system without any other way of establishing focus.

I would have thought it's a whole new market segment, which will no doubt be targeted by all the various makers as time goes on. Anyway my opinion is that as long as the image quality and general responsiveness is close to the DSLR's then it'll be a winner whatever category the marketeers slot it into, and as you say DPReview have doubts about the autofocus speed, though they have stressed that was with a non final firmware.

Time will tell I suppose.