Olympus Pen E-P1 with 17mm f/2.8 lens (34mm effective) attached and optional optical viewfinder on top
“It’s not a compact. It’s not an SLR. It’s a Pen.” That’s the slogan Olympus are using for the official announcement of the Olympus Pen E-P1 camera. It’s not a compact because you can change lenses on it. It’s not an SLR because SLRs use a mirror to reflect the image to a viewfinder whereas the E-P1 has no mirror (the Micro Four Thirds standard is designed to get rid of the mirror box, thus reducing the lens-to-sensor distance, which in turn enables smaller cameras and lenses). This is a whole new category of camera, and frankly one that is way overdue–a small camera with a large sensor, that can also take a variety of lenses. Oh, and it records 720p video also. Veruh nass.
In the effort to pay homage to the styling of the classic Pen F and keep the E-P1 as small as possible, Olympus have made some unfortunate compromises. No built-in flash (I couldn’t care less, but it might make it less attractive to buyers stepping up from point & shoot compacts) and no viewfinder (not happy about that, personally) are among the biggest ones IMO. Also because it’s mirrorless it has to focus directly at the sensor instead of with a dedicated autofocus module like SLRs have, so autofocus speed and accuracy remains to be seen.
There are compromises and potential problems with the E-P1, but no product is perfect, and I think Olympus have done a stellar job designing a beautiful camera that also carves out a new niche in the camera market. I’m really excited about the E-P1 as well as the Pentax K-7 (smallest DSLR with rugged build and weatherproofing, along with a host of other pro-level features) and will be keeping a close eye on early reports on both. That is, if I can stop myself from preordering one or both of them!
I’ve been looking for a smaller camera and lenses to have with me all the time vs. the chunky 5D and L lenses, which I love to use but aren’t always practical, and suddenly I have 2 great options at least on paper. These are exciting times. If the Panasonic LX3 hadn’t mysteriously developed a chronic stock shortage I might already own one, but thankfully I couldn’t ever find one in stock for a reasonable price and thus don’t have to deal with the compromise of a tiny sensor and the extra image noise that comes with that. The E-P1 has a Four Thirds sensor (2x crop factor) and thus is smaller than the 5D sensor (“full frame”–1x) or Pentax K-7 (APS-C 1.5x crop factor), but early sample shots at high ISO are promising. Looks like it could be usable (to me) up to ISO 1600 and 3200 in a pinch, although 6400 is a blurry mess as you’d expect.
1001 Noisy Cameras has done a great job of compiling a comprehensive list of E-P1 preview articles by respected camera review sites, samples photos and videos, user reactions, etc., so I won’t repeat that effort here. There’s a lot of info out there, and we’re all learning about the E-P1 as we go, so go and explore.