decay # 35 ~ come on, Olympus, get on with it
Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 11:21AM 
Tomato paste, lemon, & corks • click to embiggenAfter but a few short hours with the EP-1 I have come to several conclusions about the thing.
First and foremost, it makes an absolutely first-class picture - noticeably superior in every way to those made by the E-3 or any other Olympus DSLR. According to a number of reviews, the sensor in the EP-1:
The Olympus E-P1's technology compares quite well to other similarly priced digital SLRs, and also to some that are more expensive and higher resolution ... the point here is that the Olympus E-P1 virtually eliminates the advantage that APS-C has had over Four Thirds ...
Now, to be certain, I have never been very concerned with "the advantage that APS-C has had over Four Thirds" simply because, for my picture making purposes, the pictures produced by my various Oly DSLRs (and my prodigious Photoshop / printing skills) have been much more than adequate, thank you very much. As anyone who follows The Landscapist knows, I am not known to wax poetic about the technical quality of a picture. What matters for me and what I do wax poetic about is the poetic qualities to be found in a picture.
It should be noted that, when I state that the image files from the EP-1 are "noticeably superior in every way to those made by the E-3 or any other Olympus DSLR", what I mean is that although the average non-photographer viewer of my pictures will never, ever notice a difference between my E-3 prints and those from the EP-1, the EP-1 image files themselves are much easier to work with than the E-3 files are in order to obtain the printed results than I want.
Although, that said, I am now faced with a tempest-in-a-teapot dilemma of sorts. Without question , the E-3 is the far superior piece of equipment but the EP-1 produces image files that are "better".
So, now what?
The EP-1 is, quite simply, not an E-3 / E-30 replacement. As an example, I can't even imagine putting my 50-200mm lens on the EP-1 - not unless I can attach the camera strap to the lens because otherwise I would worry that the weight of the lens would rip the lens right off the camera body. And, example # 2, whereas the E-3 is weather-sealed, the EP-1 is not.
At this point in time I can only imagine the EP-1 as an ultimate walking-around camera - with the 17mm pancake or the 20mm pancake attached it is a terrific picturing making machine.
So, now what?
I guess I am condemned to waiting for Olympus to just slap the new sensor into an existing E-3 / E-30 body. What could be more simple or make more sense than that, right? Which means that it probably won't happen - no, Olympus (not unlike every other camera maker on the planet) will most likely dick around for the next year or so developing a new marketing-driven body to house the new sensor.
decay
Reader Comments (5)
While you are waiting, will you shovel the driveway?
Glad you are enjoying it. I agree on all points. The E-P2 is a delight to use (I find the EVF much easier to use for manual focus than the LCD) and my E30 sits idle most of the time, and more and more it falls further into disfavor. But unless Olympus also loses interest in the DSLR the m4/3s R&D will some day make it into the next Olympus DSLR cameras. But even with that, m4/3s still has so much untapped potential.
Coming up on my 10 year anniversary I've learned that there are times when one must listen to the significant other and do as we're told. "Yes, dear."
The sensor is in fact the exact same sensor as the E-30, E-620, and the Panasonic G1 and GF1. What Olympus has done is two things:
1. Copied Panasonic in using a much weaker Anti-aliasing filter which means that images need less sharpening. This is the biggest difference between the E-P1 and the E-30/E-620 which share the same basic sensor.
2. Used an updated processing engine (TruPic V). This is primarily the source of the lower noise at high ISO's, unfortunately the new processing engine is a little weak at base ISO which means more shadow noise at low ISO compared to the Panasonics.
Overall, lower-ISO image quality is very similar to the E-30 or E-620 but the files require less sharpening (An issue which is somewhat offset by the fact neither of the Oly m43 lenses can deliver what the HG-series zooms can). At higher ISO's (say anything over ISO 640) the E-P1 definitely does better than the DSLR's.
Personally, I have the G1 rather than the E-30 (but I do have the 17). I find the G1 delivers better IQ overall but the colour from my E-30 is nicer. I'd really like to see Olympus deliver a camera akin to the G1 (An E-P1 with an integrated EVF, flip/twist LCD, ergonomic grip and faster AF).
Teh first sentence in the last paragraph of my previous post should read: Personally, I have the G1 rather than the E-P1.
I would worry that the weight of the lens would rip the lens right off the camera body
Surely the mount is pretty much the same, so there shouldn't be an issue.