Go To Latest Video ReviewsOlympus Pen E-P1 Comments
| Author | Cliff Smith |
| Published | 25th Jul 2009 |
| Manufacturer | Olympus |
| Price | £607.83 (Exc VAT) |
| as reviewed | £699.00 (Inc VAT) |
| Latest Price |
| Build Quality |  |
| Features |  |
| Image Quality |  |
| Value |  |
| Overall | |
Comments for Olympus Pen E-P1
Wedge said on 25th July 2009
Thomas said on 25th July 2009
The shop was kind enough to let me have ago. i absoloutely love it :)
Noodles said on 25th July 2009
It might be expensive, but it appears to be selling by the bucketload, especially in Japan and the US. The only other alternative available is Panasonic's GH1, which sells for an eye watering £1200, has similar image quality to the E-P1, comes bundled with a lens with distortion problems and is also made of plastic. When you take this into account, and also the fact the EP-1 is marketed as a premium, niche object, like a Leica rangefinder, then I think it's not that badly priced.
smc8788 said on 26th July 2009
But then the GH1, while I agree is hideously expensive (as is this), is aimed at a different market as it's pretty much a hybrid camera/camcorder.
Splogbust said on 27th July 2009
Oh come on, guys, this is every bit as much a fashion accessory as the designer compacts - but in this case designed to impress other photographers 'in the know' - just as wearing a Nikon or Canon is far more impressive than wearing a Sony or Fuji. It isn't so long ago that SLRs where referred to as male jewelary...
Right, I'll duck the flack now.
farki80 said on 27th July 2009
dSLR are still fashion accessories. Walk around London and everyone's carrying them. Even when they do not have the slightest clue how to use them and have the setting set to auto.
Splogbust said on 1st August 2009
Confusion beginning to set in here - a quick whizz round other reviews puts image quality on par with DSLRs. Is your IQ rating of 8 as compared to compacts or DSLRs?
PeterB666 said on 2nd August 2009
I have to agree with Splogbust here. The high noise ISO results look pretty good. Compare the shots with the E-620 and they look pretty good. The E-620 earns a 7 in image quality and the E-P1 DOES score an 8, but then so does the E-420. The IQ is clearly superior to the E-420 (which also scores an 8)and so the E-P1 should be for the extra money.
The IQ rating system seems that it may be tied to price/performance rather an an objective rating. If so, the camera gets a double penalty to its overall rating by hamminging it (deservedly) with a poor value rating.
Cliff Smith said on 5th August 2009
As I've stated before, my review scores aren't tricorder readings, they're just numbers summarising my opinion, based on my experience of using this and hundreds of other cameras. This is one of the reasons I've never liked the whole idea of review scores, because you're never really comparing like with like, and to get an meaningful numerical representation you'd have to have hundreds of different scores for every aspect of the product's performance, which would be incredibly tedious both to write and to read. If you want to know what I think, don't compare numbers, read the text of the review.
There's a group called DIWA that has tried to suggest a standardised test sheet for camera review scores. You can find their standard test sheet at http://www.diwa-awards.com/press/testchart.html, but I don't think I'd want to meet the kind of person who would willingly fill in a 200-item checklist for every single camera, and I don't believe the TR's readers want to see that kind of review.
cheinyeanlim said on 1st September 2009
In fact, the major drawback of the E-P1 is its lack of speed. Start up takes around 1.7 seconds, while shutdown takes 0.9 seconds. Its shutter lag is better than that of a digital compact but slower than that of a DSLR. If you use Art Filters to shoot, the processing after a shoot takes around eight seconds.
http://www.pupuweb.com/blog/return-of-the-olympus-pen-e-p1/
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I've always been a fan of proper Olympus cameras and it's good to see them producing cameras in the vein of the Trip and OM-10 that I already have.
It looks like a lovely bit of kit and the price isn't offputting considering I paid more for my Canon EOS 350D + lens when new. The low light performance however is a bit of a disappointment and it would be interesting to see how the camera copes alongside a Canon G10 in real world use. If they came out with a revised version with a better sensor it would be extremely appealing.