Olympus Pen E-Pl1 12.3mp Live Mos Micro Four Thirds Mirrorless Digital Camera With 14-42mm F/3.5-5.6
Olympus PEN E-PL1 12.3MP Live MOS Micro Four Thirds Mirrorless Digital Camera with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens (Black)
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- New Live Guide interface simplifies great photography; capture images to SD/SDHC cards (not included)
- Capture HD video with high-quality audio; new \"Direct Button\" for easy recording
- Includes 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 digital zoom lens; features built-in flash
- 12.3-megapixel interchangeable lens digital camera; Micro Four Thirds format
- 2.7-inch HyperCrystal LCD with Live View function; Continuous Autofocus (C-AF) tracking system
- 12.3-megapixel interchangeable lens digital camera; Micro Four Thirds format
- Includes 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 digital zoom lens; features built-in flash
Brand : OLYMPUS
Category : Electronics,Camera & Photo,Digital Cameras,Mirrorless Cameras
Rating : 4.3
Review Count : 309
Olympus PEN E-PL1 12.3MP Live MOS Micro Four Thirds Mirrorless Digital Camera with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens (Black)
- First, I should mention that I usually take pictures with my cell phone, and they are crappy, grainy, noisy, and or blurry 95% of the time. I\'ve also owned 3 or 4 cheapo point-n-shoot cameras over the last few years that have also taken (for the most part) crappy pictures. Why? Because I really only take pictures of my kids and they really don\'t like to sit still. I\'ve broken every one of those P&S cameras, too, which is why I often resort to the cell phone. Do you know how frustrating it is that all of your fancy-pants mom friends on facebook are able to post beautiful pictures of their kids every stinking day because they have their fancy DLSR\'s, while your only able to post a crap cell phone picture once or twice a month because you can never get a good one! It\'s frustrating.Why did I decide to buy the Olympus E-PL1? Because I\'ve wanted a DLSR for years, but never could afford a decent one, and didn\'t want to spend all that money on a mediocre one either. I also don\'t know the first thing about photography. Not to mention... have you seen the size of those monsters? Sheesh. I\'m already carrying a baby, a daiper bag, and a purse everywhere I go. I don\'t need a camera the size of a small dog, too. I first discovered Compact Interchangeable Lens System cameras several months ago and have been reading reviews and watching prices ever since. I finally got a great deal on the E-PL1 from Amazon Warehouse Deals and went for it. I\'ve had the camera for a few days now and I LOVE IT!For those of you who are used to taking pictures of wild, fast moving kids with cell phones or crappy P&S\'s and are upgrading for the first time, this review is for you!!!1. Quality: Pictures are crystal clear. Even the pictures of fast moving kids and animals are clear as day. I\'ve been primarily using Auto Mode in my house at night where the lighting isn\'t that great. Out of the few hundred I\'ve taken so far, only a small handful have been a litte blurry. I consider that a success, and there is no doubt in my mind that the blurry ones are a result of user error. After an adjustment or two, the next pictures are clear again. MUCH BETTER QUALITY THAN A P&S!2. Ease of use: I find that this is just as easy, if not easier, to operate than a regular P&S. I can\'t compare it to DLSR\'s becuase I\'ve never used one before. I\'ve read some reviews on here about the camera lacking a dial. The E-PL1 definitely has a dial, so I think those poeple are reviewing the wrong camera. To me, the digital menu is easy to use also. Plus it has shortcut buttons that take you right the menu\'s you\'d use the most (at last the ones I\'ve been using the most). And you can create your own custom menu. After reading the manual once and messing around with it, I\'m not finding it difficult to use at all.3. Shutter Speed and Auto Focus: Several reviewers have commented about slow shutterspeed and issues with autofocus. Notice that they are downgrading from expsive DLSR\'s? As far as I\'m concerened, both shutterspeed and autofocus are pretty darn fast! It takes a picture the instant I push the shutter button. And it autofucses really quickly, even in low light (like inside a house at night). As one reviewer mentioned, if it\'s really, really dim, it won\'t focus and therefore won\'t allow you to take a picture, even if the flash is turned on. This has happened once, but I didn\'t find it to be a big deal. The camera probably just saved me from taking a crappy, dark picture I\'d delete anyway! The autofocus on this camera is great for moving kids because it keeps adjusting as your kids are moving. I\'ve been getting seriously great shots. It also has a continuous shutter mode, which will keep taking pictures as long as the shutter button is depressed. I\'ve gotten some great shots of the baby using that feature. Another reviewer mentioned that this camera takes forever to write pictures to the SD card (which would obviously hold you up from taking your next picture right away... if that were true). I\'m calling bull-crap on that. First of all, memory cards each have their own write speeds. If you buy a cheapo memory card with a 15 MB write speed, its going to be slow! If you suck it up and get a memory card with 35 MB write speed, it\'ll be much faster. Trust me, it makes a difference no matter what camera you use and is totally worth the extra money. I\'ve been using a 16 GB card with 35 MB write speed, and it\'s fast as lightning. I dont notice a lag at all before I can take my next picture.4. Cool Features: The camera has a bunch of Art settings that allow you to take photo\'s with different effects. I have a jet black cat with yellow eyes, and for 8 years, I have never gotten a good picture of her. She\'s so black, she just looks like a featurelss blob with yellow eyes. I used the Sepia effect and have gotten THE MOST AMAZING pictures of her. I can see every hair! There are also 20+ different modes for settings like taking pictures of fireworks, or pictures on the beach. I haven\'t gotten a chance to play with those yet but I intend to over the winter and then I\'ll update this review at some point.5. Flash/Lack of Viewfinder/LCD Screen: The pop-up flash is great! I haven\'t noticed any issues with the LCD nor have I missed having a view finder. If it\'s ever so bright that this becomes an issue, I\'ll probably just buy the electriconic viewfinder attachment. I\'ve seen good deals on Amazon already, they aren\'t that expensive anymore.6. Size: It\'s bigger than a P&S and smaller than DLSR. If you have big hands and a habit of dropping small electronics, such as cameras and cell phones, you will definitely appreciate the larger size and neck strap. It looks and feels very old school and seems to be of solid construction. It wont fit in your pocket, and with the lense attached, probably not your purse either. I bought a small camera bag for it and I\'m going to upgrade to a neoprene neck strap because when I\'m out and about, that\'s where I\'ll want it so I can take pictures whenever I feel like it. Although its bigger than most cameras, it is still portable enough to be taken and used everywhere without being cumbersome.I am also going to buy the E-PL1 for Dummies manual so that I can try to learn more about the custom settings and functions. The user manual that comes with the camera is helpful, but since I\'m not a photographer, I don\'t understand half of it. All in all, I\'m having fun learning with this camera, and maybe one day, when I get a couple grand to burn, I might invest in a nice DLSR, but until then, this totally suits my needs! I LOVE IT! And in case your wondering, I\'ve been burning up facebook with all my fancy photographs! Next stop, learning how to use photoshop (for Dummies, ha ha)!
- I used to be an avid film photographer in high school and college, but dropped it years ago. Since then, I have had a series of adequate-to-downright disappointing point/shoots - the most recent is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ4. So I decided to treat myself to a new camera, and after much research, decided on the E-PL1 based on a combination of budget, capability, and quality. After a few days of use, I\'m very pleased with almost all aspects of this camera.PROS:-RAW mode - this is my first camera with this mode, so I can\'t really compare, but based on many of the reviews, the RAW images out of this camera have low-light/high-ISO noise levels that rival SLRs with larger sensors. I must say being able to shoot in RAW mode and edit in the included \"ib\" software* surpasses all my expectations. Being able to forget about white balance, exposure compensation, etc. and correct later takes a lot of the guesswork out of shooting - I\'ve taken several shots in mixed lighting conditions and made them pop simply by applying accurate compensation, where doing so to a JPG would provide suboptimal results. I\'ve done some full-pixel crops that don\'t look half bad, and I chalk it all up to being able to shoot in RAW mode.-Noise levels are very low. I\'ve taken many low-light shots at ISO 800 or 1600 that look very decent - what noise there is looks more like film grain when viewed at reduced size or printed out, rather than the artifacting I\'ve gotten out of my previous shooters. The Panny I\'m coming from for instance would introduce so much color noise in low-light shots anywhere above ISO 400 so as to make any shots unusable for anything but Facebook posts.-The video is incredible. I thought he HD video out of my smartphone looked good, but this looks amazing. Even though it\'s *only* 720p, on my 1080p 46\" flat-screen, it looks outstanding. I would even say that with a good (read: better than the kit) lens, this could be a credible (and super-cheap) starter camera for a film student or documentary maker (as long as you don\'t need to shoot a scene longer ~7 minutes due to the 2GB limitation). The auto-focus hunts a bit, but a light touch on the shutter button and judicious framing will minimize this, and you can always focus in manual mode if necessary (though you can\'t switch focus mode - or anything - while filming). I have a couple relatively minor complaints about video recording, addressed in the CONS section below, but both of which one can easily work around.-Size - this is a perfect size, heft, and shape, for me at least. I can even shoot for a while one-handed without much fatigue - there\'s a raised \"safety bump\" to prevent you from inadvertently hitting the Movie Mode button, and with my thumb braced just beneath this, I can get a pretty good balance for a few shots, something that was not very easy with my old Canon AE-1 and Pentax K1000. Even though it\'s got a plastic body, it\'s very well put together.-The built in flash is a convenience I\'d never had in an SLR before. And while, like any built in flash, it\'s only useful to a few feet away, the color balance is quite good, and it doesn\'t lead to blown highlights.CONS-The biggest con is the kit lens, although for such a great price I shouldn\'t complain, since it would be impossible to find a quality lens for the delta between the kit and body only prices. The optics seem decent enough, although soft around the corners when zoomed in, but the barrel has a bit of play both in wide-angle and telephoto positions. This means if you shoot at certain speeds between around 1/80 to 1/200, the shutter movement can rattle the lens, causing a slight blur, although if you shoot in the middle of the zoom range, this is less likely to happen, since the lens is retracted and has less play. . To be fair, this will only be noticable very close up, so for small prints and web sharing, it shouldn\'t be noticeable - if you want crystal-clear full-size prints, get better glass. Next big investment of mine will be some quality optics.-As mentioned above, there are a couple minor drawbacks with video recording. 1) The in-body microphone will pick up the zoom and auto-focus noises from the lens. This can be qutie distracting, and if you plan on doing a lot of recording, the Olympus SEMA-1 external mic adapter is highly recommended, as it should isolate the mic from the lens motor and solve this problem - this will be my next purchase**. 2) The video sizes in the Motion-jpeg/AVI format are HUUGE. A 3 minute-long video took almost 750 MB - at this rate, I will need a lot of SD cards. The good news is that the video compresses down quite nicely to more familiar and compatible formats without much loss in quality - I used Handbrake to compress this video from 750 down to 310 MB in size, with a negligible-to-nil difference in quality (h.264 format, High Profile with Constant Quality set to RF 15 and audio set to pass-through). I would highly recommend becoming familiar with Handbrake or similar transcoding tools if you plan on using this for video recording.-*While I love being able to edit RAW images, the provided software is a bit slow and cumbersome to use. This may simply be a limitation of editing RAW images since they are so large, but the interface could use some polish.-**The mic accessory attaches to the hot shoe, and blocks the connection, so you won\'t be able to use any other accessories like the optional viewfinder or a flash. Not a big issue for me, but if you plan to do a lot of mixed-mode shooting, go for a model with an external mic connector onboard.-The only other complaint I have is that some of the default settings on this camera are buried in the setup menus, and perhaps should have been covered upfront in the user guide. For instance, in Manual Focus mode, there is the option to zoom in to a magnified view as soon as you rotate the focus ring. This is quite handy, and *should* be the default setting, but it took a lot of hunting through the manual and a couple layers of menus to turn this on.
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