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Olympus E-P1 Digital Camera

(4 out of 5)

A retro-designed interchangeable lens camera with great photo quality, though action shooters will be disappointed with its performance.

Review by Jeff Keller | Aug 7, 2009 | + Share

The E-P1 does so many things very well: it takes great pictures, has plenty of features for both the point-and-shoot and enthusiast crowds, and can record HD movies. And let's not forget the incredible retro styling. The trade-offs are many: the autofocus is painfully slow, there's no viewfinder or flash (and those accessories have their own issues), and highlight clipping is a problem -- just to name a few things. The E-P1's biggest issue is the first one I mentioned: the AF performance. If you're taking photos of things that aren't moving (or aren't moving very fast), then you should be able to deal with it. But if you're shooting sports or trying to capture an active toddler in action, forget about it.

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Pros	Cons
Very good photo quality -- better high ISO performance than previous Olympus D-SLRs Compact, retro-styled, well-built body Sensor-shift image stabilization 3-inch LCD with decent outdoor and low light visibility Live view with face detection, frame enlargement, horizontal and pitch levels, and the handy Perfect Shot Preview feature Dust reduction system Full manual controls, with four types of bracketing RAW image format supported, with good editor included Decent amount of buffer memory allows for long continuous shooting sequences Fun art filter and multiple exposure options Records movies at 720p with sound and continuous AF Support for classic Four Thirds, OM, and Leica lenses via optional adapters Well-equipped playback mode HDMI port	Very slow autofocus performance makes action shots nearly impossible Clips highlights more than I'd like No onboard flash -- optional FL-14 flash is pricey, not terribly powerful, doesn't bounce and causes redeye No built-in viewfinder -- optional viewfinder only works with 17 mm pancake lens and takes up the hot shoe, so you can't use a flash at the same time Some corner blurring with 14 - 42 mm lens Movie mode issues: limited recording time, no IS available, noisy continuous AF Can't access memory card while camera is on a tripod Higher resolution LCD would've been nice No AC adapter available Doesn't support remote control from a computer, unlike Olympus D-SLRs

Pros

Cons

Very good photo quality -- better high ISO performance than previous Olympus D-SLRs
Compact, retro-styled, well-built body
Sensor-shift image stabilization
3-inch LCD with decent outdoor and low light visibility
Live view with face detection, frame enlargement, horizontal and pitch levels, and the handy Perfect Shot Preview feature
Dust reduction system
Full manual controls, with four types of bracketing
RAW image format supported, with good editor included
Decent amount of buffer memory allows for long continuous shooting sequences
Fun art filter and multiple exposure options
Records movies at 720p with sound and continuous AF
Support for classic Four Thirds, OM, and Leica lenses via optional adapters
Well-equipped playback mode
HDMI port

Very slow autofocus performance makes action shots nearly impossible
Clips highlights more than I'd like
No onboard flash -- optional FL-14 flash is pricey, not terribly powerful, doesn't bounce and causes redeye
No built-in viewfinder -- optional viewfinder only works with 17 mm pancake lens and takes up the hot shoe, so you can't use a flash at the same time
Some corner blurring with 14 - 42 mm lens
Movie mode issues: limited recording time, no IS available, noisy continuous AF
Can't access memory card while camera is on a tripod
Higher resolution LCD would've been nice
No AC adapter available
Doesn't support remote control from a computer, unlike Olympus D-SLRs