E-P1 as a Leica M8 alternative

<p>I travel a lot in my job, and currently carry a Leica M8 with the 28/35/50 vario lens, sometimes on its own, sometimes with a Hasselblad XPan if there'll be more time for photography. I ordered an E-P1 kit with the 17mm lens/viewfinder plus the zoom, hoping it might be a more versatile alternative to the M8.</p>

<p>Went to pick it up today. First problem, the two lens kit won't be available (at least not here in London) for another two weeks. So I bought the zoom lens kit instead.</p>

<p>The "screen only" approach will take some getting used, maybe not for younger photographers but I've been using a viewfinder or rangefinder for over thirty years and the reality of the screen was a big shock. I keep telling myself it's not that different to composing and focusing on the ground glass of a view camera, but...new tricks and old dogs! My major concern will be staying inconspicuous with the camera held out at arms length. Maybe the E-P1 just demands an "in your face" approach?</p>

<p>Hurray! A single language printed instruction book, and a fairly detailed one at that. Well done Olympus for providing something to read on the plane! Only down side, there's an awful lot to learn, Leica instruction books run to about four pages.</p>

<p>Hmm, strap lugs! Does the E-P1 really need straps? Olympus seem to think so, so I threaded them on...and found they want to flop over the viewing screen or obscure some tiny but critical button at an inconvenient moment. I'm sure there's some cat's cradle solution, but I haven't found it yet. Hey, it took me about five years of practise before I stopped putting thumbprints on the Leica's viewfinder window, so the E-P1 deserves a bit more application before I write it off for something trivial like this!</p>

<p>Likewise the zoom locking button is a bit of a dexterity test, but again "real photography" was similarly littered with these kinds of rites of passage. When I was a photography student the litmus test of your skills wasn't about picture taking, it was if you could load a Hasselblad film magazine with one hand!</p>

<p>Now, what functions to allocate to what buttons? The "roller" button in the top right hand corner feels like it's the key one, so what's the most critical control for a RAW only shooter? I'm leaning towards exposure compensation but some more homework with the manual is required.</p>

<p>Hope I get the camera set up soon and able to take a shot or two, despite the long summer evenings it'll be dark before long!</p>

<p> </p>

<p>The screen only approach which relegates you to chimping only, to me removes it as a serious camera option. And I'm a big Olympus lover. I'd want to use my OM glass on it and that'll probably be too uncomfortable, plus you'll stand out too much holding the thing at arm's length. I'll stick with my E-420 until I see other offerings that may be coming, either from Olympus or someone else.</p>

<p><em>plus you'll stand out too much holding the thing at arm's length.</em></p>

<p>Respectfully disagree. Holding a camera out at arm's length is precisely what will allow you to blend in with the tourists and Uncle Harrys. Any rent-a-cop worth his donut knows that serious or "pro" cameras have a lump on top and need to be held to the face.</p>

<p>We're talking about two different things. I'm saying you'll stand out, and you are seemingly agreeing but going further and saying the rent-a-cop will ignore you because you aren't holding a serious camera? First, who says reant-a-cops actually think and reason? Second- just how many 'serious' cameras do you see being used nowadays? It's all Point and Shoots or cellphone cameras.</p>

<p>George; Hugh has made a good point. In many public places an SLR will raise eybrows from the police or security guards. Often, many venues and locations do not want "professionals" taking pictures (Covent Garden in London is a notorious example - try walking around there with an "professional looking" SLR).</p>

<p>William, maybe splitting hairs a bit, but I'm not saying he didn't make a good point, just a different point than I was making. Mine was about being noticed. His was about being dismissed after being noticed, so it wasn't a disagreement as he stated. That's all I'm saying, that the guard's dismissal as someone being 'innocent' is still made after he noticed the photog. I just said I didn't want to stick out, period.</p>

<p>And the security guards are apparently way behind the times. Very good images are being made every day from lesser looking cameras, even- dare I say- cell phone cameras? Quite a few people have commented that my iphone made a surprisingly good photo that they would never have attributed to a cell phone.</p>

<p>A friend's new E-P1 arrived the other day; she invited me to meet her at the store so I could fondle it for a few moments and test some of my lenses on it. She bought it with the 14-42 zoom. I brought my Panasonic G1 plus Olympus ZD 25mm, adapted Olympus Pen F G.Zuiko 40mm f/1.4 and adapted Cosmicar 12.5mm f/1.4 lenses to play with. </p>

<p>It's a delightful camera: a handy size, excellent controls and features, beautiful features. I am well versed in using both eye level viewfinders and LCD screens for focusing and framing ... Neither of us had any difficulty focusing and framing with the E-P1's LCD. The G1's eye-level EVF will naturally be superior in some circumstances of use. And likewise, a clip-on optical viewfinder for the 17 and 40 mm lenses will make their use more facile in certain circumstances. Overall, however, I find the gnashing of teeth over the "lack" of an eye level viewfinder just so much ado over nothing. And LCD setup like this is a perfectly fine viewfinder system, it's just different from what many of us traditionalists are used to.</p>

<p>I like the E-P1 quite a lot and applaud Olympus for its brilliant design and superb finish, feel and usability. Soon as I get some of these anachronistic atavisms I'm storing in my equipment cabinet sold, I'll be ordering one. With the 17mm lens and OVF, however: I simply have no need whatever for another slow 14-42mm zoom lens. </p>

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<p>I simply have no need whatever for another slow 14-42mm zoom lens.</p>

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<p>This zoom lens can be usable for making video.</p>

<p>For me, the absence of a VF is a problem. My eyesight is pretty bad: I have the typical older persons problem of not being able to see things close-up, but having excellent long-distance vision. For me, 'long-distance' starts at about 3 ft, so even at arms-length I can't see what's on an LCD screen properly. Obviously I wear spectacles for reading, but only for reading; when I'm out & about I don't wear them (though I do carry them). So trying to use a camera with just an LCD screen involves a continual 'glasses on, glasses off; glasses on, glasses off' sequence. Occasionally punctuated with 'glasses dropped; bend down, pick up glasses, clunk camera on the ground; glasses on, examine camera' events.</p>

<p>I've tried LCD-only cameras in-store, e.g. the Panasonic LX3 and the Canon G7/9/10, and I just can't use them successfully. I'm very attracted to the micro-4/3s concept, but at the moment it's the Panasonic G1 that comes closest to what I want. The Olympus EP-1 with separate VF would be very close, but having to change not only the lens but also the VF would quickly become a pain.</p>

<p>I currently use a Nikon D80 DSLR, and of course I find the SLR VF ideal. But the outfit is so big & heavy! - even with a D80. I also have an M6TTL (bought just 18 months ago) with the classic trio of lenses - 35, 50 & 90 - and that Leica viewfinder is a joy to use. I do have a strong feeling that the Micro4/3 approach will eventually give me the camera I want, but it hasn't - quite - yet.</p>

<p>As ususual, one has to wait for Olympus to come out with a camera that will hit a niche against the M8 rival. I think they missed the target. It's the older generation of photographers still using the M8. Heck, Leica came out with the M8 digital with a VF and that was their market strategy, aimed at the older generation who like the feel of the rangefinder and still have digital.<br>

One of my gripes of late is that Olympus has yet to compete with the pro models of Canon and Nikon. Sure the E-3 and E-30 are well designed, but there is a few things they lack against the competition... and that is higher pixel count (15mp or better) better resolution in low light conditions; less noise, and higher ISO. <br>

The features of the E-3 are great, but I'm stuck between 100-400 ISO to get any half-way decent photos. Any higher ISO, and I'm looking at a noise problem.</p>

 

<p><em>..."This zoom lens can be usable for making video." ...</em> <br /><br /> True, but I already have the excellent Lumix G Vario 14-45/3.5-5.6 ASPH OIS, which is at least as good for that purpose.</p>

<p>Tom, </p>

<p>I wear progressive glasses. With my regular pair of glasses, I had the split between close and far vision positioned to ease camera usage while still being excellent for normal use. So I can see close up and far away, use the eye-level finder on my cameras, or the LCD, etc. without having to do any 'glasses dance'. ;-)</p>

<p>Hey, about that clip on OVF. How bad is the nose-print-on-LCD-panel problem? Is there enough eye relief?</p>

<p>Can the function of the two control dials be reversed so the top roller can control shutter speeds? Is changing shutter speed or aperture in manual mode shown as darkening or lightening of the screen image?</p>

<p>Sanford: The E-P1 manual is on-line and downloadable from <br /><br /> <a href="http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/support/imsg/digicamera/download/manual/pen/man_ep1_e.pdf" target="new2">http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/support/imsg/digicamera/download/manual/pen/man_ep1_e.pdf </a> <br /><br /> I haven't looked specifically at these things as yet.</p>

<p>A friend was picking up her M.Zuiko 17mm lens this morning so I popped up to K&S to see it and visit with her again. <br /> <br /> I was early, she was running late, but while I waited I unloaded my bag full of goodies onto the counter and nabbed the demo E-P1 from the shelf and played with it. Terry arrived, we had a bit of refreshment and yakked about the little beast at the cafe across the street until I had to run off to do some work for a client. <br /> <br /> My morning testing revealed:<br /> <br /> - E-P1 focuses both the 11-22 and 35 Macro perfectly.<br /> - It focuses the 35 Macro with the EC14 behind it perfectly. <br /> - The Voigtländer Viewfinder 75mm works well with the 35 Macro (and my 40/1.4 as well). <br /> - Both the M.Zuiko 17mm and 14-42mm lenses work very nicely on the G1. <br /> - The Cosmicar 12.5mm f/1.4 works nicely on the E-P1 too. <br /> - Terry's G Vario 7-14/4 is a delight. <br /> - Terry's Summilux-M 50/1.4 fitted to the E-P1 is a thing of beauty. <br /> <br /> A couple of pictures of the E-P1 with 35 Macro and OVF as well as next to my Olympus Pen EE, for size and shape comparison: <br /> <br /> <img src="http://homepage.mac.com/godders/OlyE-P1_ZD35Macro.jpg" alt="" /><br /> <br /> <img src="http://homepage.mac.com/godders/OlyE-P1_PenEE.jpg" alt="" /><br /> <br /> Darn nice camera. ;-)</p>

<p>Thanks Godfrey - I'll read up on it. The problem with small towns is that, although we have several nice camera stores, no one wants to stock much Olympus, Panasonic, or even Pentax for that matter. We have a nearby Best Buy but it's like a mini version of the big city stores. We got Leica very well covered though.</p>

<p>Yes, on page 98 of the manual it would appear that can switch the functions of the two control dials in PASM modes and the direction they turn in order to change aperture and shutter speed. I couldn't find and answer to my other question but I didn't closely read all 163 pages.</p>

<p>It gets more interesting all the time. It will be a while before we see one to touch here, maybe in a month or so. I am enthusiastic about what I have read so far. The kit with 17 mm and finder sounds like where I would start. And very next, I imagine, buy an adapter for FD lenses to fool around with.</p>

<p>Should it not rather look like this?<br>

<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/e_p1/imgs/b/a/baa1a871.jpg" target="_blank"><strong>http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/e_p1/imgs/b/a/baa1a871.jpg<br /></strong></a><br>

:-)</p>

 

<p>I'd rather they left the useless popup flash out, kept the shoe mount on the optical axis, and not put a third thumbwheel on upper-back, but it's a good start. Not enough space for a G1-size EVF in that design, however. </p>

<p>I am thinking it was a tight squeeze all around. They say the tripod screw is not under the lens. Not a killer, but it demonstrates the shoehorn skill of the designers. Everyone has been looking, as long as I can recall, for something to call the "poor man's Leica." Someone dubbed the Camedia C 5050 a'poor man's Leica.' Not even close. I believe this EP-1 camera gets pretty close. Not close enough to the standard bearer of quality rangefinder equipment as Leica and top of the line Zeiss and Schneider optics, but not half bad at all from what I can see on line.. and at 1/5 or so the price.</p>

<p>It looks like a great camera...but I still want a VF to augment the LCD because I have yet to see a LCD that works well in the sun. I might change my mind if I handled one. ;- )</p>

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<p><em>I'm saying you'll stand out, and you are seemingly agreeing but going further and saying the rent-a-cop will ignore you because you aren't holding a serious camera?</em></p>

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<p>No, I am absolutely disagreeing with you, as I already said. Everyone else takes pictures with their cameras held out in front of them. So if you are also holding your camera out in front of you, you blend in with them. Sounds logical? If not, then someone else had better explain it.</p>

 

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<p><em>First, who says reant-a-cops actually think and reason? Second- just how many 'serious' cameras do you see being used nowadays? It's all Point and Shoots or cellphone cameras.</em></p>

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<p>As long as they don't single you out to mess with, who cares?</p>

 

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<p><em>I just said I didn't want to stick out, period.</em></p>

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<p>Well, until the Einsteins of the industry figure out how to implant a camera inside the human skull that can take pictures with the mere wink of an eye, the only way to not stick out is to not take pictures at all. Or maybe you'll still get arrested for excessive winking, who knows. I'm just poking sarcastic fun at your much ado over nothing. I personally prefer a viewfinder of some sort, just feels more natural to me. But I'm not going to let something so trivial cloud my view of the E-P1. In fact, I'm likely to buy one once some fast primes come out. Yo, Panasonic, where's that 20/1.7?</p>

<p>Personally, I think viewfinders are way over rated. I never use the viewfinder on my Canon G10. Why squint through a little peep-hole when you can view the image with both eyes in a manner similar to viewing a print? <br />Olympus' bold decision to save weight and space by losing the viewfinder is brilliant.<br>

<br />JMHO.</p>