hazzah! I won the trip to Hamburg!

[Barney]

Just had an email dialogue with Andre from Oly who's organising it and he said that 10 people were chosen from the first 100 people across the whole of Europe - not just the UK! I thought it was for 10 people from each country...

Blimey. Seeing as Europe are (at least) an hour ahead of us you were lucky to get in at all!

[ricster]

Definitely - I think it's the only time I've been happy to be woken up at 5.30 by my kids! Ordinarily I don't check my email 'til gone 9 when I'm at my desk ...

[ricster]

Well, after last Friday with the E-P1 I can definitely say that the hype is justified.

Of the 10 people in the group at least 6 were going to purchase an E-P1 on their return and the others are going to wait for the second body released later this year (me included).

The E-P1 is a great size: perhaps a tiny bit smaller than my 35RD. Certainly not pocketable but very discrete. We used them with the half leather jacket and the strap. We each had a kit lens and there were a variety of other lenses to try including the 17mm pancake & a range of the 4/3 lenses (7-14 etc...) as well as an OM adaptor.

The new menu on the E-P1 works very well and is quick to adjust the settings you want - there are the categories listed vertically on the right and the options for each category along the bottom with live still still on in the background. Toggle up and down to change category and left and right to change the options. A couple of the chaps had E series bodies so they used the traditional E-series interface that is also available.

I shot for the day on program or aperture priority but with various metering modes. The thumb wheel is actually great: it looks like it would be easy to adjust accidentally but it does take a conscious action to turn it.

The metering was pretty much as expected and if you are observant you won't have any problems. I did find that where the highlights had blown in the JPG, there were details in the ORF.

Focussing was the biggest issue I had and it took me an hour or so to find what worked best for me:

I found that for architecture / landscapes / patient groups the standard autofocus was fine. The manual override was fiddly as it automatically zooms in to 7x or 10x to aid focussing which requires you to press a button to get back to the normal view to ensure your composition is still correct: if your finger slips off the shutter it autofocusses again...

My preferred method was to set the FN button to Manual Focus. I left the camera in Auto Focus and as soon as things got interesting I autofocussed to the required distance and immediately pressed the FN button which leaves the camera in Manual Focus & hence 'snap' mode with no focus lag. I was very pleased with the results after that.

There are no distance marks of the lens or in any of the menus so no easy setting of hyperfocal distances or to a preset distance (this is going in my feedback to Olympus). I had a play with my dad's G9 when I got back & the 'manual' focus indicator that offers would be ideal.

OM Adaptor - focussing this was a doddle: it zooms to either 7x or 10x magnification and then a press of a button it goes back to standard view. I used my Zuiko 55mm f1.2 and managed to focuss that accurately wide open (although as you would imagine the results are SOFT when wide open - far better stopped down). Also the metering was fine with a manual lens. I don't think that I would actually use this lens: a 50mm f1.8 would be far better as it is so much smaller and lighter and hence balances better (and you have to stop down a little so nothing is really lost at the bright end).

I started with the kit lens (14-42) and I was itching to get my hands on the pancake with the viewfinder. To cut a long story short I think I took about 4 shots with the finder and the rest with the LCD. The LCD is perfectly fine. Very viewable in direct sunlight (to my eyes) and has a great angle of view (although a tilt LCD would have been better).

The 14-42 lens was absolutely fine. Not amazing, not terrible. Small & light when in 'sleep' mode... but when you twist it to bring it to the correct length it really changes the appearance of the camera. Interestingly the camera recognises the lens and applies correction for geometric distortion to the JPG's (but not to the ORF's you'll be glad to hear).

The 17mm is a great lens: I got on very well with it and it would probably be my lens of choice (although when the Pana 20 f1.7 comes out I think I'll change my mind!). It does have an amount of distortion though (which is only visible if you compare ORF to JPG).

And finally the detail in the images is amazing: extremely impressive. And even more finally I did take some video, it works with any lens and seems fine: nice as a bonus but if it were taken away I wouldn't miss it.

One of the chaps I was with (Marc Dezemery) took all his shots in 6x6 format in B&W (the E-P1 also offers 4x3, 3x2, 16x9 & 6x6). He did a tiny bit of batch contrast adjustment & added a tiny bit of vignetting and his best shots of the day are here:

http://mdezemery.zenfolio.com/p1018430367

I'm in one of his shots with the 55 f1.2 attached to the E-P1...

I'm still playing with mine in order for them not to look terrible compared to Marc's (Marc has an E3 and an E620).

When I get mine processed I'll put a link to them here.

Cheers,
Alaric

[Damien_Demolder]

Sounds like you had a great time! And that's quite a test you've written there. If you are looking for a job...

Is that you with the accordion?

Our E-P1 test (written by Mr Barney Britton) will be out in the 18 July issue (on sale Tuesday 14th)

[Photocracy]

Thanks for taking the trouble to write all about the new Pen. I really enjoyed reading about your experience. Yesterday I saw someone using one at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and it looked really cool.

[Zou]

Those are a great set of photos, again showing just how much quality there is in the E-P1's sensor.

[parisian]

No, no, no! it simply shows what a very good photographer can do with ANY camera.
Half the problem we face lies in statements like that. The poor punters assume that they can buy the camera and produce work like that straight out of the box.
That guy has a shedload of images under his belt and obviously knows how to expose and compose.

[ricster]

No, no, no! it simply shows what a very good photographer can do with ANY camera.
Half the problem we face lies in statements like that. The poor punters assume that they can buy the camera and produce work like that straight out of the box.
That guy has a shedload of images under his belt and obviously knows how to expose and compose.

I included the link to these photos as they are virtually straight from the camera: the only PP was a slight contrast boost and a tiny bit of vignetting which were both added to all the photos in batch processing. The point is that the 'look and feel' of these B&W shots (including the 6x6 crop) essentially came from the camera which makes it extremely user friendly. Agreed that the camera is no help when it comes to composition but it does everything else extremely well.

One feature I forgot to mention which helps with evaluating exposure is a clever EV comp view where you get 4 live images on the screen: one at '0', and the other three at '+' and '-' 1/3 EV stops so you can see on the fly the effect of EV comp. The shutter is still available so you can scroll through EV adjustments with a live result of the change and you can also see live what further adjustments would bring and snap away to your hearts content.

So this means that while Marc's photo's are undoubtedly the result of his compositional skill, the camera makes everything else far simpler for the novice & great fun for the experienced.

[ricster]

Sounds like you had a great time! And that's quite a test you've written there. If you are looking for a job...

I'm always open to offers!! I you want to send me to other cities with cameras to play with my fees are very reasonable

[parisian]

Agreed that the camera is no help when it comes to composition but it does everything else extremely well.

If, and only if, the photographer knows enough to tell it what to do. The Camera cannot guess it can only output based on the input from the snapper.

[ricster]

Thanks for taking the trouble to write all about the new Pen. I really enjoyed reading about your experience. Yesterday I saw someone using one at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and it looked really cool.

Thanks! It was a great experience: I'll definitely enter more competitions in the future!

The E-P1 is a cool camera: it looks very special & it feels solid and metal, like cameras used to feel back in the 60's & 70's! When I played with the Pana G1 it felt plasticky and throw-away by comparison (which is annoying as everything else about it is great . . . apart from the price).

[ricster]

Agreed that the camera is no help when it comes to composition but it does everything else extremely well.

If, and only if, the photographer knows enough to tell it what to do. The Camera cannot guess it can only output based on the input from the snapper.

Quite - if a camera could do that it would take all fun out of our hobby!

[Zou]

No, no, no! it simply shows what a very good photographer can do with ANY camera.
Half the problem we face lies in statements like that. The poor punters assume that they can buy the camera and produce work like that straight out of the box.
That guy has a shedload of images under his belt and obviously knows how to expose and compose.

I was referring to IQ rather than artistic aspects. 4/3 has long been dismissed by many as noisy and not up to the standard of APS/FX etc. It is good to see that the heart and soul of this camera is well up to comparison with DSLR images.

A cynic might think that the reason Oly offers a 'grainy B&W' mode is because they can't cope with fine gradation in B&W conversions, but clearly this isn't the case. Well done to Olympus and well done to the photographer - a set of images like that says more to me about the potential of the product than DPR style pages and pages of reviews with damning condemnation of CA in the corners under 2000000% magnification (etc).

[Photocracy]

...Well done to Olympus and well done to the photographer - a set of images like that says more to me about the potential of the product than DPR style pages and pages of reviews with damning condemnation of CA in the corners under 2000000% magnification (etc).

Yes, a valid point. Besides, I don't think the average 'punter' really believes he/she can achieve photographic brilliance without some work, however good the camera might be. The pictures referred to, as you say, show the potential of the EP1 very well. What any buyer wants to know is, can it deliver the goods with application?

[parisian]

I don't think the average 'punter' really believes he/she can achieve photographic brilliance without some work,

You have to be joking - have you read half the posts on here?
Go and work in Photo retail for a month or two and then revisit that statement.
The most frequent comment from the punter holding the 5 MP compact is "why won't
this camera take pictures like the ones in the magazines - is it broken? If it is can you show me one that will take pictures like this."
The honest answer that, 'yes the camera can take pictures like that - once you learn how to use it' is not taken in the best spirit usually.

[Zou]

I don't think the average 'punter' really believes he/she can achieve photographic brilliance without some work,

You have to be joking - have you read half the posts on here?
Go and work in Photo retail for a month or two and then revisit that statement.
The most frequent comment from the punter holding the 5 MP compact is "why won't
this camera take pictures like the ones in the magazines - is it broken? If it is can you show me one that will take pictures like this."
The honest answer that, 'yes the camera can take pictures like that - once you learn how to use it' is not taken in the best spirit usually.

Fair point, but I don't think that there will be many of that type of punter willing to splash £700 on a non-DSLR camera. There'll be a few fashionistas for sure, but the majority of people buying into this product will already have SLRs, DSLRs, and possibly rangefinders, so are a more discerning customer. When they bring out a lower range model there'll be more risk of the eejits wondering why their pictures aren't as good as the samples they've seen.