Olympus E-PL1 Mirrorless

This camera is the entry point to Olympus' respected PEN series. Even with the arrival of the E-PL3 and the further miniaturized E-PM1, this model provides almost all the features for those on a budget. The only real weakness it has over the newer models is slower focusing.

The picture quality of the E series is as good as entry-level and sometimes mid-range DSLRs. This is due to the Micro Four-Thirds sensor, which is more than 9 times the area of most point & shoot cameras. This allows it to capture far more light. The quality of pictures at 1600 ISO in indoor light is a very pleasant surprise. The pictures of most Point & Shoots are unusable at 400 ISO and higher.

Due to good quality at high ISOs, you can use slower lenses. The kit 14-42 f/3.5-5.6 gets most of the work done very well. Add a 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 telephoto, and you have an excellent choice for portrait and wildlife photography. The large sensor allows shallow depth of field for background defocus for portraits. This is not a very good camera for sports or wedding photography though, due to the slower focusing, and difficulty focusing in low light. The manual focus assist helps attain sharp focus in such conditions, but that obviously cannot be used for sports (unless you're covering a chess tournament :).

The main issue with non Canon-Nikon cameras is the unavailability of many accessories. If you wish to extend the system with lenses, flashes, cable releases etc, you'll mostly have to buy Olympus gear, with little other choice. The Panasonic G series lenses are also Micro Four-Thirds and are being used very successfully on this camera, but are not available officially in India yet. Third-party mounts allow installation of Canon, Nikon, Pentax and other lenses. But you lose autofocus and auto-aperture ability. For planned shots like portraits and still life, it is not a big hassle, but it is for general photography. The Nikon 50mm f/1.8D makes an excellent low-light portrait lens on this, since the lens has both focus and aperture rings and gives very sharp pictures. The Olympus m.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 is the official portrait lens, which also gives excellent quality and autofocuses, but is much more expensive. This lens is also much newer and the camera cannot make full use of its speed (E-PL3 and E-PM1 can).

Another nice feature is the small onboard articulating flash. It can be pointed up at the ceiling for good bounced light without washing out the subject.

Overall, you cannot get this image quality in any camera at this price point. This is not very compact and cannot be put in your jeans pocket (can be put in jacket). But it is much much smaller than a DSLR. Even with the 40-150mm lens on, the length of this camera is shorter than 550D or D5100 with the 18-55mm, and of course much lighter and overall less bulky. The four-thirds sensor has a 2x crop factor, so the kit lens gives 28-84mm view, while 40-150 gives 80-300mm. It's enough for most purposes. Wide-angles are available from both Olympus and Panasonic, but the latter will have to be ordered from abroad.

In conclusion, this camera is a good choice if you are willing to sacrifice compact camera portability for DSLR image quality, without as much bulk and initial cost. Total system cost will end up being high if you acquire many more lenses and accessories.

The two earlier reviewers have done a great job summarising many points. Point 2 in Pankaj's review is very true. You need to spend some time with this cam to know the ins and outs.

There is a book called Olympus PEN E-PL1 for dummies to help you out.

I purchased this cam as a twin lens kit that is, E-PL1 body + Micro 4/3 14-42 kit lens + 4/3 (mind you not m4/3 but 4/3) 40-150 mm lens + 4/3-to-m4/3 adapter for the latter lens (without this adapter you cannot mount this telephoto lens to this cam) for nearly 26K in Chennai.

What I don't like about the cam:
1. Slow focusing and lot of searching in dim light.
2. Over-saturated colours in AUTO mode esp reds.
3. No Autofocus Assist light/beam (I was shocked not to find it)
4. Very few buttons on the back for a DSLR like (mind you this is not a DSLR but a DSLR like camera) camera.
5. Video is very jumpy. But if you mount the cam on a tripod and do not move the camera, then the video is quite good.
6. My first few days with the cam were very frustrating because this is my first DSLR like cam and the AF in this cam was slightly slower than my previous point and shoot (Fuji S5700 S700) so I lost the timing on a lot of pics esp wildlife. But later as time went on I started to master the cam and right now I am very comfortable with the performance of this cam.
7. Native lenses are expensive and hard to come by, esp wide angle and fast lenses.
8. No view finder so you cannot tuck in your arms. That means you lose control on shake. But with time, things will improve and you will get used to clicking photos with the cam away from your body. Nowadays most P&S cams have lost their VFs so not a big deal.
9. My cam sensor seems to have a constantly lit pixel. In dark images, there is a red spot smack in the middle and it is quite obvious. Don't know what to do with it.

Now the things that make this camera a pleasure for me to hold and use:
1. Lots of settings to tweak, as many as you can expect from a decent DSLR like camera.
2. I simply love the two lenses that came with the cam. That's a lot of focal length to cover at this price point. Nowhere else you will get it in this category. In 35 mm terms you get to cover from 28 mm to 300mm with these two lenses.
3. A big sensor when you compare to the point and shoot cameras. For more info, refer a website like snapsort.com and read about sensor sizes. The price point for this cam with respect to its sensor size is very very economical. You won't get a bigger sensor at this price. Sensor is CMOS which give slightly better performance in low light.
4. Coupled with a fast memory card (Class 10 i recommend) the burst mode is decent and you can make up for the slow focusing with the burst mode.
5. The more time one spends with this cam, the better they can get and the better the photos tend to get. (This applies to all cams I guess).
6. IS (Image stabilization) is built-in the body so you can use lenses that do not have a Vibration reduction or image stabilization system (like old lenses). Panasonic lenses are a great combo for this cam since those lenses all have IS.
7. The retro look is so cool and unlike the earlier reviewer I would not call this cam ugly. (Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?)
8. The package is pretty light. I have done some wildlife shoots remaining in one pose without moving much for 15-20 mins with the cam and telephoto lens attached. I cannot imagine doing the same with a full fledged DSLR with a bulky telephoto lens.
9. Combined with a fastest shutter speed of 1/2000 and decent results up to ISO 1600 and a built-in flash, this cam is awesome for most conditions except total darkness (No auto focus assist beam so no joy).

I have later added a 70-300mm (140-600mm in 35mm terms) 4/3 lens to my collection, and a lot of macro filters, UV filter, CPL filter and FL filter, and the package is pretty awesome now for me.

I love this package and I am currently looking to upgrade the body only to E-P3 since I have three lenses already.

I will recommend this cam and package only to those who are interested in learning the settings rather using the AUTO mode alone, those who are patient and take the time to learn the cam. For P&S like experience, look elsewhere. This cam will make you a good photographer if you go along and learn.

How you will find E-PL1 depends on which school of thought you are coming from.

1. Are you from that crowd which views camera as jewels. And that its important to get the latest and greatest cameras which come out every 3 months?

If yes then you better look else where. E-PL1 is the ugliest of the whole digital Pen series.

2. Are you from that crowd which values functionality over looks? And who stay with a camera to know its ins and outs so that it becomes a part of them and they can take pics effortlessly? If yes then you better check E-PL1. This camera does everything well. How far you go with this camera depends on how much skills you have rather than the camera capabilities itself.

Cons first:
1. Slow autofocus. This is a problem in low light scenes. But this can be overcome with the AF+MF settings. Let the autofocus lock on whatever little focus it can and then manually fine tune the focus.

2. The lens cap. I was never and will never be comfortable with this thing. Its a wonder I have not lost it till now.

3. A bit plasticy build. But will take abuse well.

Pros:
1. Very nice image quality.
2. Portable. Pair it with the small Olympus 17mm lens and you have a pocketable go anywhere combination.
3. Does not look very expensive, especially with 17mm lens on it, it passes off as a normal point and shoot. Invaluable for street shooters.
4. Flash!!! Something even high end EP series also did not have.
5. A weaker anti-aliasing filter. Sharper images.

In a nut shell, at this price point, its a Steal.

Go for it if you dont want to carry a big slr and on the other hand dont want to be limited by the P&S....this has full manual modes and the color reproduction is simply superb. The negetive points: firstly it takes ages to focus when lighting is not so good, so if you shoot mainly sports or kids, then think before going for this one, on the other hand this little gem satisfies all your other photographic interests. Anothe con is that the dedicated video button is positioned in such a way that sometime accidentally you may switch on the video (happended to me couple of times), other than the above points, i am completely happy with my purchase, and thanks to flipkart for the super quick delivery within 2 days of ordering.

What about compitable zoom lens to this camera? 40-140 mm or 42-450 mm etc. Any adapter available to connect between this camera and other zoom lenses?

What about compitable zoom lens to this camera? 40-140 mm or 42-450 mm etc. Any adapter available to connect between this camera and other zoom lenses?