This past holiday week-end I made the decision not to take my Nikon DSLR with me on a 3 day road trip to Minneapolis. The majority of my time was spent wandering the Mall of America, and the E-P1 was an absolute delight the entire time.

This little camera makes me smile each time I use it!

If you don't care to word a long, winding review let me summarize it. The E-P1 doesn't have to make any apologies for being petite, its a full fledged camera on its own merit.

Positives
* Great photo quality!
* Built in image stabilization (works pretty well too)
* Customizable and responsive interface/buttons
* HD movie mode with autofocus
* Low profile, doesn't get you noticed
* Quiet. I'd say quieter than my old rangefinders and way more quiet than my DSLR's

Could be better
* Battery life
* Perhaps almost too customizable (pretty good learning curve). Keep the manual handy!

I'm not a people shooter and certainly not a "street" shooter but my week-end was spent at the Mall of America, which is enormous but all in doors. It was an interesting challenge. I found that although I fumbled with the interface and settings a bit, it became very engrossing and almost mesmerizing to shoot publicly with the E-P1. It never drew attention, not once, where as I saw people clearing out from the obvious DSLR guys like fish around a barracuda in the reef.

Lens: My only lens is the 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6, which doesn't sound too exciting. However in practice it has been a great general utility lens that has rendered quite nicely, showing nice resolution and sharpness. I can only anticipate what the E-P1 will do with a quality, wide aperture prime. I'm up in the air about my next move, but the 50mm f/2 sure looks tempting. But then again it would be great to try OM mount too! Arg....

Auto-Focus: I've read some questions about the auto-focus performance of this camera, but in normal operation haven't see an issue yet. Granted I haven't tried to shoot a basketball game or dance recital yet so take this with a grain of salt. For my people shooting in the mall the AF performance has been wonderful and spot on. When I've gone to outdoor settings or even just trying to snap something quick from my car, I've found that the autofocus is quite a ways behind my D90. I think it is real world quick, but it is probably a step slower to focus than any DSLR on the market. Not saying that's a bad thing, some worth knowing.

Sensor: The sharpness I see from this camera is well beyond what I expected, so there may be something to the talk that Olympus removed the strong anti-alias filtering most DSLR's are plagued with. The jpg results thus far haven't required any post process sharpening and the Olympus color engine is a breath of fresh air in my opinion.

Handling: Coming form a DSLR will make you take a little time to get used to the difference. Getting used to shooting with a LiveView display will also take some getting used to. There isn't a front/rear two wheel control system as I'm used to with the D90, but there are two primary controls for manual shooting and they can both be worked while shooting one handed. Very nice design! The buttons and functions are all fully customizable but expect to be nestled up with the manual a wee bit to do it. All in all composing from the LiveView LCD became very natural and fluid after a day. High marks to Olympus in designing such a usable system. The only thing I still have to figure out is a button to disable auto-focus so I can go fully manual.

Results: The bottom line to any camera is what it can produce. The E-P1 is not a D700, A900 or 5DII. Those are different kinds of cameras that excel at higher ISO and extreme resolutions. What the E-P1 is to me is a system capable of going toe-to-toe with any DX sensor system on the market in terms of deliverable results. No it doesn't shoot 8 frames per second. Again not that kind of camera.

This is a practical camera whose size and form factor make it usable in places that larger cameras wouldn't work as well or possibly not at all. I'm seeing very detailed and sharp results up to ISO 1,250. After years of shooting 35mm, DSLR and even large format I'd have to say this is the most fun I've had with any camera I've owned. Its a camera guy's camera that the beginner can use as well.

First a little background. I have a couple of other SLRs and was mainly looking for something to give me close to SLR quality files but in a considerably smaller physical package. A couple of downsides you should already be aware of from the product description.:

1. There is no pop-up flash. Not a problem for me, I don't ever use them anyway (your mileage may vary).
2. There is no viewfinder. Again not a problem for me, got used to that very quickly.

Now some observations from having used the camera:

- The sensor image quality is excellent. Dynamic range is at SLR quality. Noise levels up to and including ISO 800 is very clean. ISO 1600 has a bit more noise than the Rebel XSI (also 12mp)with the noise increasing relative to competitors from there.
- The user interface is intuitive. I used mostly Aperture Priority and Manual and found it easy to use. Stuff in the menus were also easily found. Changing the settings were at times challenging (like ISO) because of the smaller buttons, but given the camera's small size its something I could forgive
- Its heavy, almost as heavy as a basic, entry level DSLR. Now the lens is light as a feather, however I feel a lot of heaviness comes because of the build quality of the camera, which is superb
- The RAW processing software that comes with the camera is useless. The interface is horrible and the stability even worse. Wait for your favorite RAW processing software to add support and use that.


The deal breakers:

- The kit lens is slow. Really slow. So slow in fact that I found the system to not be very useful when the light levels got low or you were indoors. Now this could easily be fixed by having a series of fast pancake lenses, which I believe are coming, but sadly they aren't here yet.
- The auto focus is slow and unreliable, especially indoors. I found the AF to be very slow and borderline frustrating. Again, this was mostly indoors and in low light levels, so a faster lens may alleviate the issue.

Overall, this is a fantastic start for Olympus and once the system is fleshed out a bit more (with lots of those fast pancake primes at various focal lengths) I may consider it again. However with the limited lens selection available today, its not for me. You need to figure out if you can live with the kit lens (or the 17mm f/2.8 prime) while waiting for more lenses to come out for yourself.

I had been considering replacing my Leica d-lux 3 with the d-lux 4 when the EP-1 news came out. I immediately sold the d-lux 3 and ordered my EP-1. It is a little larger than I was hoping, but out of the box, the first results were incredible, RAW format on a par with my nikon d-90 RAW, requiring very little post-production. Feels good in the hand, responsive and fast auto-focus and much more satisfying to use than the leica - which I loved. Initial results in RAW much better than the leica, which was always just a little noisy.

This is a top notch camera, that I hope will continue to deliver results. The only current drawback for me is that photoshop CS4 doesn't recognizethe Olympus Raw Format (ORF). I have to go through Olympus software to convert, which severely disrupts my work flow, and the software is slow and clunky. Shooting JPGs alongside Raw in case I need the results faster.

If they get the plugin updated soon, I'll be over the moon.

Very happy with this purchase.

Yes, this would be the camera I would use to take photos of heaven.

I have had this camera for just over a week now and it is perfect for me - it just has the ideal balance of size, weight, features without sacrificing in DSLR standard IQ quality. If fact, it beats the IQ of my three previous DSLRs!!! (Canon Rebel XT, Olympus E-420 and E-620). I have heard from real users that the high-ISO comes close to the excellent Nikon D90).

The design and build-quality is stunning. When you hold it in your hands you just cannot help but admire it from all angles - it is a beauty! The ergonomics, although having that quality dense feel, is comfortable to hold even with one hand. Combined with the *really does work* IS and you can try a new-style of spontaneous shooting with one just hand (try doing that with a DSLR!).

Image quality is superb - sharp and with good colour. Olympus in-camera jpeg-engine is noted for being one of the best on the market for DSLRs. The sensor is the best from any Olympus camera to date. Although I think much of this is down to the latest Truepic V processor.

AF is similar speed to compact cameras. It is slower than the AF of the Panasonic G1/GH1 series, but much faster than the LiveView of current Olympus DSLRs. Speed will also improve with faster lenses. For me, it is nippy and is fast enough for me. If you want to take fast action shots or fast children, then you probably would be better off buying a DSLR. At least give it a try to find out if it suits your photographic style.

I have not missed the E-P1 in having no flash at all. I prefer more natural looking photos without flash and this camera is very good with shooting at ISO 1600. Even ISO 3200 in rare cases. Usually I would keep to ISO 400, but would not hesitate to shoot higher now.

Movie mode seems good (with HD and SD sizes), but have not explored that much yet. The audio sounds great! I have heard that Olympus has used their latest dictaphone technology in this, and you can tell. I think IS needs to be turned off though during movie mode. Also, it is great that it can take SD cards - they are so cheap.

LCD is large and bright, and refresh update is fast. Even though it is not as high-resolution as other cameras, I think it functions very well. Some have mentioned of low-battery life. I have not experienced that at all. Never during a day's worth of shooting have I run out of battery. There is a dedicated button that you can assign to switch off the LCD when not in use, but the camera is on standby-by and activates again by pressing any button. With this method and switching it off when not in use, you can save valuable battery life. It is just a matter of being prudent when using it.

Overall, this camera is a game-changer. By being able to carry it wherever, whenever, my photographic experience is taken to a new-level. Knowing I have a camera with DSLR IQ in my bag all the time without the bulk is a great feeling of freedom.

I would place my bets that this *gem* of a camera will win many design awards and, dare I predict, be crowned `Camera of the Year'.

I was looking for a camera which was as small as possible, yet capable of professional quality image capture.
I travel extensively and cannot be weighted down with a huge D-SLR. As of July 2009, this was the most compact & feature-rich camera made with such image quality!

In general, it's as spectacular as everyone says, but I do have a few problems:

1. The battery technology is quite disappointing.
UPDATE: This battery works great and only $5! Make sure to buy 1 or 2 extra:
Generic BLS-1 Replacement Battery

2. As mentioned, the auto-focus is pretty slow and fails in low-light.
UPDATE: Even with 1.1 Firmware upgrade (lens and body), there is no obvious improvement. Still I have found that I am not missing shots *too* often because of the AF. If AF performance is a showstopper for you, consider the Panasonic GF1.

3. Camera has an amazing list of settings, but I still find that the feature I want is often buried deep inside he menus (even with the *super* menu, etc). There are a number of useless settings (disabling menu items and buttons) as well and strange limitations as to what options are available for each button. Why?

4. No Photoshop plugin for Olympus Raw (.ORF) files.
UPDATE: I am doing fine with Olympus Software and Freeware tools like DC Raw.

5. Lenses: As this is my first interchangeable lens camera, I was disappointed to learn about how few Micro Four-Thirds lenses there are. Seems this will change over the next year or so (looking forward to the 20mm f/1.7 Pancake in October). There are *many* good "classic" (manual focus) lenses available (if one is willing to buy the fairly pricey adapters).
There are even ways to "hack" your own adapters, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that.


Overall experience after 7 weeks:
I hoped I would still be using this camera in like 8+ years, but it seems that this is more of a 4-6 year investment.
This is still the best camera I have ever owned and a joy to use.

I have owned this camera for almost a month now. There have been some disappointments but overall I have been pleased. I also own two Olympus DSLRs so I bought the adapter that allows me to use those regular 4/3 lenses. My main interest in the camera was the compact size and the styling. My other Olympus cameras going back to a 1970's OM-2n have been extremely reliable so I had no hesitation in that regard. My impressions (pro and con) so far are: Pros: 1) excellent image quality even with the kit lense. 2) nice to have both standard and hi def video capability, 3) better noise reduction at high ISO settings than other Olympus cameras, 4) excellent build quality, 5) The "cool factor" is very high. Cons: 1) I wish it had a built in flash for fill in use although I have used my Olympus FL-36 flash on it with no problems, 2) I wish it has some sort of viewfinder and hope a third party electronic viewfinder will become available soon, 3) it is pricey and will likely be a niche product, 4) The kit lenses are not "fast" which does present some low light/action issues, 5) accessories are expensive. Overall, while there are some significant drawbacks I don't regret the purchase. For someone who doesn't want to lug a camera bag everywhere this is a great "walk around" camera with image quality that far surpasses point and shoot models. If they can get the price down and make more lenses available it could be a winner for Olympus.

I own a couple of high end DSLR's (Canon) with L glass but have always preferred to travel with small, light gear. I have Panny , 2 Richos, plus Fuji. And as much as I have liked aspects of these cameras, bottom line is I've always been disappointed with the final output as compared to the DSLR's. Bought the EP-1 on a whim just before a vacation - I had thought of waiting to see what Panasonic would bring out since I was concerned about the lack of viewfinder and the universally acknowledged slow focus. I couldn't be happier. The focus is not any slower than my other compacts. Yes, I would prefer a viewfinder. But everything else about this camera is fantastic. I was very pleasantly surprised about the the kit zoom - it's really quite good. This camera is just plain fun to use. IQ is really great - better than anything small out there. It's not tiny but for me it handles better than the pocket cameras. I am now an Oly convert! I just ordered an adaptor to use all sorts of lenses I accumulated during my film days. And they are going to be image stabilized!

I was so excited about this camera that I bought it as soon as I could. I've had the camera now for a couple of months, and after quite a bit of exploring with it, I have finally come to some conclusions about it.

I should say that I am a long-time film shooter. My favorite camera I've ever owned was a Contax G2 rangefinder, which I foolishly sold a few years ago to fund my growing, and inevitably disappointing, digital camera collection. I had hoped the E-P1 would be, finally, a digital equivalent of my old Contax G2, a camera that was lightweight, beautifully built, and took the most reliably gorgeous photographs I've ever seen, regardless of light. Sadly, it's not.

The Olympus E-P1 is frustrating to use for a couple of reasons: the LCD is rather awful and the focus is difficult. I know most of the complaints about the E-P1's focus have been about the auto focus speed. Honestly that's not important to me. More important is the accuracy of the focus and ease of manual focus. On both counts the E-P1 is disappointing.

Because the LCD is not very high resolution, manual focus in low light is difficult. I am an available light photographer. I never use a flash. For this reason, though, I've always relied on either a viewfinder in the film days, or accurate auto focus in a digital camera. The E-P1's auto focus is completely great in good light. It will find focus quickly enough for me and the images are sharp. But when the light is dimmer, particularly inside, even during the day, the camera shows its limitations. I appreciate that there is a menu option to have auto focus plus manual focus, but unfortunately the LCD zoom that accompanies the manual focus is just too fuzzy to help at all. It's quite frustrating.

Equally frustrating has been the LCD outdoors when I'm shooting manual exposure. The LCD tends to show the image as being overexposed. When I take the shot and look at it afterward it is okay, which means the meter is accurate: a good thing. The bad thing is that sometimes I want to purposely underexpose or overexpose, and this becomes more difficult to see what the results will be because the LCD isn't giving me an accurate preview while I'm metering. Of course, there is no 'preview' at all when you shoot film -- you have to go just by what you know of your camera. But I don't understand digital nearly as well (though I'm trying to learn), so I need the preview to know what I'm going to get. In digital cameras, the white balance and color are so completely different than in film (and seem rather unpredictable to me -- the light changes and everything changes!) and, frankly, I don't want to do a lot of post-processing, so I'd like to be able to see what I'm going to get and make adjustments as I need to.

I have just recently tried shooting video, and as many others have pointed out, the kit zoom lens has trouble finding focus and is really, really loud about it. I haven't tried this camera with a fixed focal length lens, so perhaps the problem could be solved that way. I have noticed, though, that just as it is with still images, the lens has trouble focusing in lower light (afternoon, indoors, for instance) even when using manual focus and this is just a shame.

But it's not all bad. I have been pleasantly surprised by some of the night photographs I've taken with E-P1, even though I'm shooting with the kit lens. The in-camera image stabilization is a double, triple plus. I have shot hand held in the dark, with ISO no higher than 400, and produced sharp, interesting pictures. The camera seems to be better able to find focus in the dark than in dim indoor light; perhaps because it uses a contrast detection system.

As well as the meter being very accurate, the automatic white balance is pretty good in most situations. When the subject has less color or contrast, the white balance gets quite tricky. Fortunately, you can customize the white balance quite a bit. (Unfortunately, you're having to do it with that same inadequate LCD.)

Are all of my frustrations the result of the lousy kit zoom? It's possible. I've never had any love for the kit zooms I've owned, either in my film days (I shot Nikon as well as Contax, and the Nikon came with a lousy lens) or now in digital (I owned a Nikon D80 and the kit zoom was so awful I put it back in the box after a couple days of shooting). From what I've read, the E-P1 can accept nearly any lens and therefore could really shine with a better lens.

There are so many things I love about digital photography: the fact that you can see what you shot immediately and share them or print them immediately too, and the fact that many digital cameras can also shoot video (wow!). But it is also frustrating. I suspect that some of my frustrations with the E-P1 would disappear if I had a better lens -- perhaps the new Panasonic 20mm pancake. But I'm hesitant to buy another lens, let alone an adapter plus a lens, because I'm not sure I want to keep this camera because of the LCD. A couple of years ago I bought a Nikon D80 and sold it within a year because it was too heavy and bulky, so I rarely brought it with me. This, of course, is not the problem with the E-P1. It is easy to bring with me. Instead, it is the frustration that I find when using the E-P1 that gives me pause. Perhaps if I spend more time learning about the camera, and get a better lens, I will learn to love it. Right now, though, I'm considering giving it to my husband to use in the field (he's an archaeologist), where he will only shoot in daylight. There the camera will perform beautifully.

This camera has an awesome feel to it and is a pleasure to hold and take photos with. I have a Canon DSLR and the photos from the Olympus have a quality that is almost equivalent with the Canon. If you are looking for a small camera that takes great photos this is your best bet the only down side is the lack of an internal flash making night photos difficult. There is a choice of an external flash but if your looking for a camera this small chances are you dont want to screw around with another device. All in all great camera hoping to see in the next model an internal flash!

This camera is just fantastic, a little beauty. Amazing, excellent, really fun. Superb optics, great feel, cute and portable. I was getting bored with my Nikon D-80, ready for a move up. Considered getting the D-90, but then the Pentax K-7 was released with HDR built-in. Wanted t get back to Olympus, and considered the E-30, and the 620, but I left my decision for so long that the PEN was released. Glad I waited. The PEN is so much fun, its great to have a new toy. The price is just right for an everyday camera, and is size is so much better compared to carefully backpacking around a big d-SLR.

And the results .... the pics are superb! Just amazing. Face detection works like a charm. The video is stunning, just brilliant. The shutter is so quick, really responsive, no lag time. The art scenes are so fun to use. Funny little shutter noise. And I still haven't take it off Auto yet! Nice to have some fun exploring.