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Positioning the E-P1
Measuring 120mm wide, 70mm in height and 36mm thick and then weighing in at 334 gm, the steel and aluminium-panelled E-P1 may not be as small or feather-light as the phenomenal XA but it’s more than half the weight of the original Pen, almost 27% lighter than the E-450 and a whopping 250% the weight of the E-3 magnesium-alloy body.* Compared to the E-420 – currently still the world’s smallest DSLR – width has been reduced to 8.5mm, height by about 20mm and thickness by around 18mm. All these, summed up, constitute a reduction in volume by approximately 58%, which is quite considerable. In fact let’s see how it stacks up against some of the interesting Olympus family members stretching fifty odd years here:
* Although the weight does not take into account the 17mm lens 1959 Olympus Pen (Original) | Half-frame film format Rangefinder type camera Fixed lens 5.6 x 4.1 x 3.2" 142 x 104 x 81mm 725g | 1963 Olympus Pen-F | Half-frame film format SLR type camera Interchangeable lens 5 x 2.74 x 2.5" 127 x 69 x 62mm 600g (Body Only) | 1972 Olympus OM-1 | Full-frame film format SLR type camera Interchangeable lens 5.4 x 3.3 x 3.4" 136 x 83 x 86mm 510g (Body Only) | 1980 Olympus XA | Full-frame film format Rangefinder type camera Fixed Lens 2.6 x 4.12 x 1.6" 105 x 66 x 41mm 221g (Without attachable flash) | 2007 Olympus E-3 | Four-Thirds digital format SLR type camera Interchangeable lens 5.6 x 4.6 x 3" 142 x 117 x 76mm 890g (Body Only) | 2009 Olympus E-450 | Four-Thirds digital format SLR type camera Interchangeable lens 5.1 x 3.6 x 2.1" 129 x 91 x 53mm 425g (Body Only) | 2009 Olympus Pen E-P1 | Micro Four-Thirds digital format LiveView type camera Interchangeable lens 4.7 x 2.75 x 1.43" 120.6 x 69.9 x 36.4mm 335g (Body Only) 4.7 x 2.75 x 2.3" 120.6 x 69.9 x 58mm 405g (With M.Zuiko Digital 17mm F2.8) 4.7 x 2.75 x 3.1" 120.6 x 69.9 x 79mm 484g (With M.Zuiko 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 closed) 4.7 x 2.75 x 4.4" 120.6 x 69.9 x 111mm 484g (With M.Zuiko 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 open) |
Comparison of sizes and weights of selected Olympus cameras from 1959 to 2009 including E-P1 Information supplied by Olympus Imaging Corporation 2009. All Rights Reserved.
The E-P1 represents Olympus’ first foray into the Micro Four-Thirds market segment almost nine months after Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-G1 was first seen. With three models in the market today, expect more to come. As it is, Panasonic is preparing to launch a new model equally as compact as the E-P1. Olympus on the other hand is developing an EVF-version, promising even higher performance for December this year.
According to Olympus’ Product Planning Manager (SLR section), Akira Watanabe, it is likely that the company will be building on the E-P1 in two directions. Other than the two new Micro Four-Thirds models expected before the end of the year, this means developing the digital Pen range to cover consumer- and prosumer-grade models that may possibly encroach into the Four-Thirds DSLR lineup.
It will be interesting to see what actually transpires of the system itself. Although cameras are what excite the market, industry observers will be keenly following both Olympus’ and Panasonic’s roadmap for lenses and major accessories. It is in this area that we will be able to see how strong a future Micro Four-Thirds has but as always, Olympus has their distinct way to define market viability.
With the E-P1 now having done its job and out of the way, Olympus will concentrate on exploring the growth of the digital Pen in these two directions, expanding the concept in almost exactly the same way as Maitani did with the original Pen range. While Maitani produced 38 variants on the Pen theme over a space of 25 years, Watanabe isn’t likely to do so many or cover the same length of time. However the idea is the same – create models that will fully exploit Micro Four-Thirds’ capabilities, appeal and advantages; all of which have so far taken the world by surprise.
The one difference when comparing past and present Pens is that Watanabe’s version is fully lens interchangeable. With Maitani, he only had the Pen-F series while the rest are fixed lens models. So what Olympus has here is an opportunity to encroach into the compact camera segment and push them upscale via Micro Four-Thirds. According to Watanabe, sales of compact cameras outstrip DSLRs by a factor of 10:1 where 20% of the market is more than twice the current number of DSLR cameras sold.
The traditional thinking in this industry when comparing the two market segments is that a DSLR sale is always more profitable because of repeat sales for additional lenses, flash units and other accessories. In other words the same customer who purchases a DSLR camera is likely to return and spend more money buying into a growing system. This doesn’t happen with compact camera sales. Other than spare batteries, a compact camera owner is essentially a one-off prospect that is, until a newer and flashier version arrives a few years later, which is why the compact camera market keeps on upping new models more often than the case with DSLRs.
Furthermore while there may be more compact camera users out there, it is the sheer profitability of the DSLR market segment that provides a manufacturer like Olympus with all the motivation to helm an expansive line-up. Sony and Samsung including Panasonic are three clear evidences of why pursuing the DSLR business model in addition to their electronic appliance businesses is worth the effort. With DSLR-related sales, manufacturers deal with the same customer by providing him with good enough reasons to keep expanding his system. Therefore the traditional idea is to move users from the compact market to embrace DSLR cameras. However with Micro Four-Thirds, Olympus’ viewpoint is a little different.
With this new platform, Olympus can straddle both markets, offering compact camera users a far easier and more convincing step-up because cameras like the E-P1 are small, easy to use and expandable. If the company can offer an attractive enough conduit for this user segment to move into a higher level of photography, that is what Micro Four-Thirds can do better as a platform than APS-C or anything similar.
Watanabe’s mention of developing Micro Four-Thirds in two directions is easy to understand. One direction is to offer the step-up to compact camera users. This is the Bridge Camera concept that Maitani pioneered decades ago but not many have succeeded in getting it to work in reality. Zoom compact cameras were and still are the closest thing but Micro Four-Thirds will close this gap finally. The other direction is to develop a complete system that will invoke strong memories of the Pen-F. Both directions make a lot of sense and both will attract strong businesses to Olympus. It’s a win-win situation for this tiny camera manufacturer.
Preparing Micro Four-Thirds as a comprehensive support system primarily means developing enough lenses and other major accessories to make it worthwhile for anyone to commit to. The prime selling point here will be the system’s promise of smallness echoing Maitani’s Pen-F. From the current twelve (12) accessories plus the two E-P1 body variants, Watanabe’s roadmap will have to be full of promising additions to come although he might not openly say so. Therefore other than the 17mm f2.8 and 14-42mm f3.5-5.6, what does Olympus has in store for the new Micro Four-Thirds system?
Here’s a guesstimate as to what might be in store for the E-P1 and its companion model come December this year:
| Camera Bodies | Zoom Lenses | Fixed Focal Length Lenses | Other Accessories | E-P1 (Current) Expect at least three more cameras from Olympus; one this December, two in 2010. Of these, at least two will be fairly serious high-performance prosumer models | 14-42mm (Current) A series of compact and moderate wide and tele zooms is presently under development. | 17mm (Current) 12mm 14mm 20mm 25mm 50mm 65mm 100mm | Another FL-series flash will appear and probably be seen in December together with Olympus' second Micro Four-Thirds model. Teleconverters and extension tubes will be available. Adaptors to extend Micro Four-Thirds to legacy film lenses will be offered by thrid-party providers. |
If Micro Four-Thirds needs to be seen as a definitive modern-day Pen-F, then lens range development focusing on an excellent lineup of primes is absolutely critical. Focal lengths covered will likely range from 12mm to 100mm (film equivalent: 24-200mm) and will be a mix of moderate to ‘reasonably’ high speed optics in order that compactness can be maintained. Zoom lenses are not likely to be as much in demand with Micro Four-Thirds because there’s only so much you can do to physically downsize them. If what we’re hearing from the market is correct, people are looking to Olympus to offer a very usable range of good quality primes that will promote Micro Four-Thirds as a perfect street camera.
With the emergence of the new M.Zuiko* Digital lenses, Four-Thirds’ E-System will continue to flourish. Both systems will co-exist and despite the obvious overlaps, one doesn’t make the other redundant. Instead what we see in Micro Four-Thirds is the potential to deliver the penultimate Eugene Smith-style street solution with its discrete low-key dimensions and Olympus’ apparent talent in creating lenses that are small but dynamically outstanding.
* We’ve had enquiries about what ‘M’ is for and it isn’t short for Maitani and it does not represent the alpha-numeric equivalent for lens element count. ‘M’ instead stands for Micro Four-Thirds. Apologies to Maitani fans for the disappointment.
Visual impressions
So looking at the freshly minted E-P1, there are obviously some clear similarities with the Pen-F half-frame film SLR camera. The stepped look, the position of the Olympus nameplate, the instep top panel, the pair of strap eyelets are all in line with the Pen-F. Even the E-P’1 exposure mode dial is exactly where the Pen-F’s film rewind crank lever is.
The E-P1’s design is understated, discrete and at least in my humble view, timeless. Labelling is kept to a minimum so that it is unobtrusive. Olympus has tried remarkably hard to make sure that all the lines of the E-P1 are kept clean, uncluttered and unobstructed. To that end, it has done a fine job – the two microphones to the sides of the Olympus front nameplate are made to appear like two screw or rivet mounts. The same goes with the self-timer LED. Even the lens release lock button looks elegantly understated.
Olympus has also gone to some length to ensure that the E-P1’s styling finesse is maintained. Never in recent times has there been the one same lens – not camera body – available in two different colours. In this case, we’re referring to the 14-42mm, which is offered in black and chrome so that users can pick and choose how to colour coordinate their versions of the E-P1! The new meets the old – the Pen-based digital E-P1 and the original half-frame Pen-F SLR © Copyright Olympus Imaging Corporation 2009. All Rights Reserved.
In my hands, the E-P1 felt like a solid little rock. Part of this, I’m sure, has to do with the full steel-cum-aluminium jacket it wears. In contrast, DSLR cameras in the E-System (except the E-1 and E-3) use plastic body panels. The E-P1’s adoption of aluminium for the top and bottom panels as well as side and rear panels made from stainless steel draws it close to the original Pen experience, which was precisely what Watanabe had in mind when developing its brief. Weighing in at 405g with the 17mm lens attached, the E-P1 is still lighter than the E-450 body alone and yet it feels like it was hewn from a granite boulder.
You’ve probably read it elsewhere and I’ll repeat it here – even as I was aware, I was still a little taken aback by the lack of an optical viewfinder. The instinctive thing to do is to put the camera straight to the eye but of course, the eyepiece is missing and I found myself spending a few minutes coming to terms with not having one to rely on. The difficulty with a viewfinder-less camera like the E-P1 is that glass wearers like us may find it challenging. For me it’s all arm’s length photography again – I had to have the E-P1 about 14 inches away from my eyes so that I can still wear my glasses and view the LCD monitor. With dioptre-adjustable viewfinders, viewing is far simpler.
While the front view is a dead giveaway to its Pen-F association, the back is a design all of its own with nothing borrowed from the past perhaps with the exception of the black exposure mode wheel and the odd-looking chrome cylindrical thumbwheel. Both look decidedly classical – the mode wheel reminds me of the Pen and Trip 35’s film advance wheel actually. The E-P1’s combined use of chrome and black – or the white and beige scheme – offers an excellent overall balance of blending modern functionality with a neo-classical style. It really looks different enough and you simply cannot mistake it for any other camera in the market right now.
The close look at the beige version’s rear panel appearance and what the body cases and straps look like © Copyright Olympus Imaging Corporation 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Olympus did not just stop at swapping black for beige and left everything as they were. Unlike the beige version where the buttons are dull silver, the black variant has all of them in black. Where there is chrome in the black edition, white takes over in the other. The white panelled version appears to look a little like bakelite during the sixties when this material was in vogue. I’m not sure if either surface will be very resistant to scratches; somehow I doubt they will be.
Perhaps between the two, the white-beige edition might be a better bet. The black-chrome edition has a more industrial Pen-F style look to it – and silly impractical men like us might prefer that. However the finely brushed aluminium style surface will likely be prone to wear over time. I bet that women, being far more level-headed, will head sensibly for the white-beige version.
There is a slight cylindrical-shaped bulge to the right edge at the back that acts as a surface grip. In conforming to the clean and straight lines of the design theme, the contours that we are accustomed to with any of the E-System DSLR cameras are all entirely missing. The pronounced fingergrip at the front is nowhere to be found and the concaved grip at the rear for the thumb is similarly missing.
(Clockwise from top left) Overview of the E-P1’s rear placement of controls and layout, closer-up look at the rear controls to the right of the LCD monitor, the exposure dial wheel slot to the left of the hotshoe, a complete layout view of the rear controls © Copyright Olympus Imaging Corporation 2009. All Rights Reserved.
To the side of the E-P1, you see actual mounting screws. These are not there for visual effect – they are real – and in keeping with the nostalgia, these are not the modern flat/flush screws but the older fashioned bulbous-head types. The strap eyelets stick out like little winglets in exactly the same style as the Pen-F. Another departure from standard corporate practice is the missing Olympus – or Hypercrystal – label where the LCD monitor is. Like I said, the company has gone to some length in evolving a design for the E-P1 that is extremely clean, understated (austere even) and axonometric. Some might even say it looks exclusive.
(Above) Top panel layout with closeup view on the right (right) © Copyright Olympus Imaging Corporation 2009. All Rights Reserved.
To the right of the hotshoe, the E-P1’s top panel sits on a slightly indented deck (see above), looking very 1960-ish. Here you will see only four things – the now familiar tiny blue SSWF LED, a ring-illuminated (green) power button, shutter release and the exposure compensation button. From the top view, you’ll also notice two interesting visual cues – the slightly protruding finger grip next to the lens and the extended rear girth that allowed Olympus to do some branding exercise with the Pen moniker.*
* The part that says, “Olympus PEN Since 1959” was added at a later stage to seek greater mileage from the Pen-F association”
To put the E-P1’s general body design into perspective is to place it right next to Panasonic’s DMC-G1. Compared to the G1, the digital Pen looks smaller but that’s because it actually is. It is 5mm narrower, 14mm shorter (20mm if compared to the GH1) and 9mm thinner. The E-P1 also weighs 26g lighter than the G1 or almost twice that to the GH1.
Besides the numeric advantage, the E-P1 does something that both the G1 and GH1 aren’t able to and that is to appear friendly and easy to use. While the Panasonic twins look somewhat intimidating in their black business suits, lumpy grips and faux pentaprism humps, the E-P1 comes off looking breezier and cheerier, which clearly suggests that Olympus is on to a slightly different market segment than its partner-in-crime; one that puts as much emphasis on image quality as on lifestyle and whatever appearance cues that infers.
Looking at Olympus’ marketing strategies for the E-P1 basically proves this point, reminding us very vividly how Yoshihisa Maitani (below), father of the Pen series, chose to strategically position certain Pen-based models to target women customers. Wisely this part of history didn’t seem to have been lost to Olympus today by the looks of it.
(Above) Playing off Maitani’s classic Pen-F (left) on the new E-P1 digital Pen (right) © Copyright Olympus Imaging Europa GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) 2009. All Rights Reserved.  (Above) Olympus Europe’s strong focus on the blogging lifestyle that includes women as the ubiquitous digital Pen user doesn’t necessarily make the E-P1 an effeminate choice but it definitely broadens its market appeal in spectacular fashion.© Copyright Olympus Imaging Europa GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Clever marketing here shows Olympus positioning the E-P1 to underscore its versatility, ease of use, image quality and lifestyle, targeting the younger generation and women in particular. |
