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General layout and functions
Looking at the layout, the vertical line-up of buttons to the right of the LCD monitor appear neat and organised but it also makes sense because Olympus chose to place the AEL/AFL button at the top where the right thumb can reach it just as easily and effortlessly as the nearby Fn button.
Customary to Olympus practice with the consumer-grade E-series DSLRs, the navigation controls double up as interactive controls during capture mode. The up, down, left and right buttons therefore function as controls for setting the ISO, Drive, AF and WB. Everything is easy to get at, easy to understand and very straightforward to set and leave. While current E-series users will have no trouble acclimatising to the E-P1, my guess is that newcomers won’t either.
(Above) The E-P1’s exposure mode dial showing the movie mode © Copyright Olympus Imaging Corporation 2009. All Rights Reserved.
From the outset, the E-P1 appears to be a ‘glorified compact camera’ mainly because it doesn’t look busy as a typical DSLR camera. In fact while the Pen-F is exclusively a manual mode camera, the E-P1 is anything but. There are four main modes – P (Program), A (Aperture-AE), S (Shutter-AE) and M (Manual) – including B (Bulb) as well as 14 Program Scenes, 6 Creative Art filters and a new Intelligent-Auto (iAuto) mode – more of this later – not to mention the much talked about 720p HDMI video capture feature with fully active autofocusing and the ability to do still capture during movie recording.
Just in case we’ve forgotten, this is Olympus’ first camera with movie recording capability. In December, Olympus is expected to unveil a follow-up model with 1080p capability but whether or not they will feature this in any of their future E-series DSLR models remains to be seen.
From this perspective, the E-P1 is a mixed bag of the old and new, having borrowed certain technologies from the E-30/620 and having some of its own. There wasn’t any doubt that Olympus will continue to push the Creative Art filters; in fact we see an enormous future for these filters and in time, we are certain that these will gain even more ground as the company improve camera processing power with newer cameras just around the corner.
What is interesting about the E-P1’s Creative Art filters is that they can also be used during video recording. That suggests one thing to me – the E-P1’s image processing engine courtesy of not just TruePic but the separate Art engine must have been beefed up quite substantially. Other than the documented 2 Gigabyte limit for the 7-minute video recording, there is no word yet as to how greatly affected this will be if and when a processor-intensive Art filter is in use.
In addition to Creative Art filters, the E-P1 also sports in-camera or sensor-shifting image stabilisation. Like before, there are the usual three modes for dual-plane (IS.1), vertical plane (IS.2) and horizontal plane (IS.3) resolution up to a very useful 4 steps of correction; all of which will apply not only to its M.Zuiko Digital range of lenses but also any lens that is mounted even via adaptors such as the MMF-1 and MF-1. Manual focal length customisations from 8mm to 1000mm are available as well. (Clockwise from top left) M.Zuiko Digital 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 black version, M.Zuiko Digital 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 chrome version, M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f2.8 chrome, MMF-1 Four-Thirds lens adaptor, FL-14 TTL-Auto flash, VF-1 17mm optical viewfinder Not shown: PRF-D37 and PRF-D40.5 filters for 17mm and 14-42mm lenses respectively © Copyright Olympus Imaging Corporation 2009. All Rights Reserved.
The MMF-1 adaptor will allow you to mount any existing Four-Thirds based Zuiko Digital lens and still enjoy autofocusing and image stabilisation with the E-P1. At 83g, it is light but it does add some length to the E-P1’s overall thickness. If you mount the Zuiko Digital 50-200mm SWD lens to the E-P1, watch as the camera simply disappears from view! Be forewarned though – when you use the E-P1 with a Zuiko Digital lens that does not support Imager-AF operation, you’ll have to set the camera to S-AF+MF mode and make the necessary adjustments. This is however only a temporary thing – Olympus is scheduled to introduce firmware updates that will broaden the usability of Zuiko Digital lenses on Micro Four-Thirds cameras like the E-P1 and beyond.
(L-R) The EP-1 with the Zuiko 50mm f1.4 coupled to the MF-1 adaptor (left) and the Four-Thirds based 40-150mm f4-5.6 ED via the MMF-1 adaptor © Copyright Olympus Imaging Corporation 2009. All Rights Reserved.
The 78g MF-1 adaptor is something many have been hoping that Olympus would provide and now that it’s here, OM-philes can enjoy using the E-P1 with classic beauties from the Zuiko line-up albeit with the camera set to MF for manual focusing. Still you get the full four steps of image stabilisation regardless of whether you’re using the Zuiko 50mm f1.4, 100mm f2.8, 40mm f2, or the beautiful 90mm f2.
Over and above the MMF-1 and MF-1, third-party adaptors – although not promoted by Olympus (but not discouraged either) – will pave the way for E-P1 owners to delve into a far wider pool of gorgeous lenses from other makes that will include Voigtländer, Leica and Zeiss. The mind boggles at the possibilities here!
Besides the mechanical image stabilisation mechanism, the E-P1 also possesses Digital-IS (D-IS), which kicks into action during video recording to provide added motion damping. The rationale is simple – the usual I.S. doesn’t work in video mode.
From the E-30, the E-P1 inherits the highly useful Digital Leveller, offering two resolving axes via the LCD monitor. It works in exactly the same manner and the display is the same. There are also selectable aspect ratios other than the native 4:3 although not the full range. With the E-P1, the ratios include 3:2, 6:6 and 16:9. Multi-exposure with Auto Gain for two exposures – like the E-620 – is also standard.
Exposure management
Like any Olympus DSLR, the E-P1 has a slew of metering systems to compliment its mode offerings. In and amongst the usual palette – Centre-Average, Spot, Spot-Highlight and Spot-Shadow – there is in store a new Digital-ESP featuring an 18x18 grid. Unlike the previous 7x7 implementation, the new version now offers 324 measuring segments for greater predictive metering precision.
The E-P1 also sports a few fresh ideas from the company’s stable of compact digital cameras such as Intelligent-Auto (iAuto) and e-Portrait as well as Face Detection and Perfect Shot Preview technologies. All of these obviously pay homage to technophobic compact camera users wanting to make the upgrade to a ‘more serious’ camera.
According to Olympus blurb, Intelligent-Auto (iAuto) “identifies your shooting intent and adjusts the settings accordingly to achieve the best results. Replacing the previous AUTO mode that Olympus has been offering with their DSLR models, it will select the optimum scene setting from six possibilities – Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports, Night Scene and Night Scene & Portrait. This is obviously driven by the E-P1’s new-generation Digital-ESP and a more capable TruePic processor, both of which allow for greater (more accurate) evaluation of the subject relative to its surroundings and the direction and intensity of available light.
e-Portrait is in a way a form of Creative Art filter (although not labelled as such) since there’s some post-processing going on here. As the name suggests, you use this mode for portrait work and Olympus likes to assume that when you do, you’d want your images to flatter the subject. What it does is to attempt to smoothen the skin texture, which in effect removes wrinkles and other forms of visible skin blemishes so that it looks more ‘acceptable’ to your subject when she sees it.
The E-P1’s Face Detection technology is borrowed from the E-series and is no different here. Capable of distinguishing up to 8 forward-facing faces, Olympus combines its power with iAuto to produce a fuss-free solution for users coming into Micro Four-Thirds from the compact camera ranks. When used together, the E-P1 will move to adjust exposure settings for the ideal shutter speed (action-based intent) and/or aperture (depth of field), utilise the Gradation control as well as the ideal ISO selection to create the best matched settings.
I’m not sure why but the E-P1’s exposure compensation latitude is strangely kerbed. Compared to the ±5EV enjoyed by users of every E-series DSLR, you only have ±3EV here in 1/3EV steps. For most users, that might be enough but nonetheless it remains odd.
Autofocusing
It’s important to note that full LiveView autofocusing is still at the beginning stages. Coming from the E-330 and moving on to the E-510, E-520 and then E-30 and E-620 and now the E-P1, Olympus has been steadily improving its performance. The company’s Imager-AF technology first saw the light of day with the E-520 and even then as compared to the E-P1, the differences are startling.
Obviously without the mirror box and hence no phase-correction autofocusing, there is no Sensor-AF mode with the E-P1. Therefore there is no ‘fallback’ plan. Olympus has to make sure that even as a first Micro Four-Thirds model off the rank, the E-P1’s autofocusing has to work well if not perfectly. To that end, LiveView autofocusing is by and large excellent at least in broad daylight. It snaps into focus very quickly with the 17mm lens and there was no difference changing to the new 14-42mm either.
When lighting conditions dim somewhat indoors with a lot more shadowed areas around, performance dipped but not too dramatically. At the stage of the E-P1, LiveView autofocusing remains one where too much subject motion is not tolerable. When that happens, the shutter locks hesitatingly and then fires only after the subject has left. In short, you won’t want to use the E-P1 for sports or full-action photography but then again, Olympus had never set out to design it for such purposes. In the area of street photography, a 17mm-equipped E-P1 asserts itself very positively and consistently and in that sense, its crisp AF performance is more than acceptable.
12.3-megapixel sensor and new fifth-generation TruePic
Utilising the same 12.3-megapixel Live MOS sensor as the E-30 and E-620 – including the coming evolutionary upgrade to the E-3 – you can expect the same image quality as well. However driving this sensor is a ‘next-generation’ TruePic now rated as version V. That’s a jump from III (or III+) to V. Exactly what happened to ‘IV’ is anyone’s guess.
TruePic V is touted to provide improved performance as well as system support for newer features that are built into the E-P1:
- 24-bit 96KHz HDMI video recording including Linear PCM stereo audio
- New recording formats such as AVI Motion JPEG
- Support for the use of SD/SDHC Class 6 memory cards
- Improved LiveView operability with Super Control Panel functioning with new Live Control technology (where both the image and the controls are available onscreen)
- Higher sensitivity rating at up to ISO 6400 with claimed cleaner noise management
- Improved Imager-AF contrast-detection autofocusing performance
- Intelligent-Auto (iAuto) and e-Portrait exposure management algorithms
- New 18x18 grid metering grid to give 384 measuring segments for Digital-ESP
- Additional lens-to-camera interface communications
At 4032x3024 pixels, the E-P1’s file size is 14MB in RAW and 8.4MB in JPEG with Super-Fine (1:2.7) compression selected. And like other E-series DSLRs, you can shoot both concurrently via its JPEG+RAW mode.
No more xD-Picture Card
Perhaps one of the biggest surprises with the E-P1 is Olympus’ quiet admission that the once-favoured xD-Picture Card is now on its way out. Unlike any other model in the E-System, the E-P1 is the first to jump to the SecureDigital (SD) format featuring support for the higher performing SDHC Class 6 standard. Naturally this opens the E-P1 to a phenomenal range of memory card brands as well as capacities beyond 2GB but more importantly, it was the digital Pen’s HDMI recording feature that proved the final nail in the xD format’s coffin.
Simply put, xD-Picture Card’s woeful performance wouldn’t have been able to cope with the E-P1’s movie making demands. At a maximum of 1280x720 pixels running at 30 frames per second together with high-quality 44.1KHz linear PCM stereo audio for up to 2 gigabytes non-stop – now that’s 7 minutes of solid HDMI performance that SD – preferably Class 6 or higher – can but xD-Picture Card haven’t a dim hope of dealing with.
(Left) The bottom panel showing the memory card slot for two SDHC cards; (right) the right side view where the HDMI and USB interfaces are featured © Copyright Olympus Imaging Corporation 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Lenses
(Above) Olympus chose to build the E-P1’s lenses at the legendary Tatsuno plant famous for its quality © Copyright Olympus Imaging Corporation 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Just as much of a star as the E-P1 body are the two lenses – the M.Zuiko 17mm f2.8 and 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 – which form the starting point for Olympus’ Micro Four-Thirds range. There is no doubt that by the time the company’s second camera body arrives for Santa to fill your sock this year, a few more will be launched. For now the 14-42mm especially comes in two colours – black and chrome but even more unusual is that it has a sliding lock so that when not in use, the lens will be in its retracted position…which also prevents the E-P1 from operating. When unlocked, the 14-42mm increases from 79mm to 111mm in extension…and looking bizarre with its anteater-style snoot.
The M.Zuiko 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 is a heavily reworked variant of the Four-Thirds based version. Compared to the latter, the ‘M’ version is some 40g lighter again (150g), having one less optical element (9 against 10) in the same number of groups although sharing the same number of ED and aspheric lenses and 7 circular diaphragm blades. Owing to its industry-first retractable design, Olympus has managed to make it 65% smaller with a compact 43.5mm extension, which explains the 40.5mm filter size as opposed to 58mm for the Four-Thirds version.
Here are the comparisons between the two:
| | M.Zuiko Digital 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 ED | Zuiko Digital 14-42 f3.5-5.6 ED | Equivalent 35mm focal lengths | 28-84mm | 28-84mm | Lens construction | 9 elements in 8 groups, 1x ED, 1x HR and 2x aspheric elements | 10 elements in 8 groups, 1x ED and 2x aspheric elements | | Focusing system | Internal | Internal | | Angle of view | 750 (14mm) to 290 (42mm) | 750 (14mm) to 290 (42mm) | | Minimum focusing distance | 25 cm | 25 cm | | Maximum image magnification | 0.24x | 0.19x | | Diaphragm blades | 7 in total (circular aperture) | 7 in total (circular aperture) | | Filter size | 40.5mm | 58mm | | Dimensions | 62mm x 43.5mm | 65.5mm x 61mm | | Weight | 150g | 190g | | Plant Source | Tatsuno Plant, Olympus | Olympus | | | | |
The M.Zuiko 17mm f2.8 is Olympus’ second pancake lens to wear the Digital nameplate; the first being the Four-Thirds based 25mm f2.8. With the 35mm equivalent focal length of 34mm (close enough to 35mm), this is considered a ‘standard wideangle’ lens for normal photography, harking back to the days of film rangefinder cameras where it is not uncommon to find this lens type in popular use. Probably the best known photographer who popularised its use was the late Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Lens architectures of the Tatsuno-built M.Zuiko 14-42mm ED f3.5-5.6 and 17mm f2.8 © Copyright Olympus Imaging Corporation 2008. All Rights Reserved.
Compared to the 25mm pancake, the 17mm obviously has a wider field of view but when it comes to lens extension, both are almost equally as slim except that the latter is diameter-wise smaller. On the weighing scale, the 17mm is 33% lighter and part of this weight saving comes from having lesser diaphragm blades and a slightly more generous use of high-quality optical plastics as well as a narrower barrel.
| | M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f2.8 | Zuiko Digital 25mm f2.8 | | Equivalent 35mm focal length | 34mm | 50mm | | Lens construction | 6 elements in 4 groups, 1x aspheric element | 5 elements in 4 groups, 1x aspheric element | | Angle of view | 650 | 470 | | Minimum focusing distance | 20 cm | 20 cm | | Maximum image magnification | 0.11x | 0.19x | | Diaphragm blades | 5 in total (circular aperture) | 7 in total (circular aperture) | | Aperture range | f2.8 to f22 | f2.8 to f22 | | Filter size | 37mm | 43mm | | Dimensions | 57x22mm | 64x23.5mm | | Weight | 71g | 95g | | Plant source | Tatsuno Plant, Olympus | Tatsuno Plant, Olympus |
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