#1: Olympus PEN E-PL1 12.3MP Live MOS Micro Four Thirds Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens (Slate Blue) Reviews!
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Review of the Olympus E PL1 vs. canon G10:
I'm a 54 year enthusiast and over the years I've owned a Canon Ftbn 35mm with a Hoya 35-105 zoom, a Ricoh point & shoot 35mm, and in the digital era I owned the original Sony Mavica, a Toshiba 2mp camera, and then a series of Fuji's culminating in an F30, F40 fd, F200 EXR, a Lumix FZ28 (clearly inferior picture quality to my F40FD). Frankly and a testimony to my mediocre skills, despite having great cameras the best pics I've ever shot were with the Fuji F30, remarkable low light, fantastic battery life, just impeccable. A few years later I bought a Nikon D40 and then after beginning to date a fellow enthusiast who already owned a G10, I finally realized that her pictures were invariably better (could she just be more talented?) and bought a G10 myself. I, like many enthusiasts, am always in pursuit of the ideal camera and I like the idea of a larger sensor. So I ran into some $$, sold my F30 and F200 and just bought a black Olympus E PL1 with the 14-42 kit lens.
I got it yesterday, and I have shot 100 pics on it, mostly backyard stuff, some close up flowers, and then today went down to Casco bay and took a bunch of late afternoon sunset shots with both camera. I tried to take identical shots with identical settings - wide landscapes with auto, program, and landscape settings, a few closeups, played with some of the variables but each time I took a shot, I tried to match the program, focal length, white balance, etc as best as I could.
There is no question that the Canon is the far more versatile camera. I won't get into fit, finish, and feel, although I am in love with the Canon for those reasons. The Olympus is nicely styled and feels great too. But you can do things with the Canon you can't with the Oly. For example, you can pretty much do "closeup" with almost any program on the G10. On the Olym, if you want to take a closeup, you go to the Scene setting, pick Macro and that is your closeup setting. You can't vary things like white balance when you do that. Similarly, if you pick an art filter like "pop art" you can't put it on a close up setting, bracket it, or change metering. I emailed Olympus and they couldn't/wouldn't tell me how close you could focus, so I have no idea whether you can get a good closeup with that setting. The amount that you can tweak various programs is much better with the Canon, going away....No comparison. On the easy mode settings on the Olympus - Scene, Art, and auto, you pretty much get what the default settings are.
The EPL1 interface takes some getting used to. The pick lists aren't as confusing as some say; it is pretty typical computer type interface and it wasn't that tough to learn. The Epl1 is definitely more of a point and shoot. It doesn't seem nearly as versatile. The kit lens feels a little shaky, physically, but of course the G10 is a fixed zoom, so to speak, not interchangeable, so it is not apples to apples. My Nikon has a Tamron zoom which feels like a rock. So I can't really comment on other lenses for the Olympus. It has the equivalent of a 28-84 zoom on a 35mm. Limited, pretty similar to the kit lens on the Nikon D40, whereas the Canon G10 is a 5:1 zoom.
The basic pictures were comparable. I took a few landscapes then blew up various parts. I could see my car in the lot a hundred feet away, and when I put the pics side by side and zoomed them, the Canon was clearly sharper. I don't know if that is good or bad, knowing that "noise" can make things appear sharper. But I was surprised, considering the fact that you can fit what - 2-3 of the Canon sensors in the Olympus? Now, as a caveat, I can't tell you whether they were on identical focal lengths, although the pictures were similar. And there were a few pics where the Olympus was definitely sharper, including a close up.
These are zooms, Olympus on left, canon on right.
The originals are below. Maybe it is me; I think the Canon is sharper. Materially? I can't tell.
Olympus
Canon
Here's another where the Oly has a slight edge:
Olympus Canon
Olympus Canon
Slight edge to Olympus, although I realize this isn't quite apples to apples. And BTW, I made sure both were on highest pixel and fineness settings. If you blow this up even more, there is just loads of noise on the canon, and the roof and lines on the Olympus blow it away.
Here's one for Canon:
Olympus Canon
OK, I realize that the exposure can affect "sharpness" and resolution etc. Look at the license plates on the zoomed images below:
Close. The Olympus is on the left, Canon on the right. The grill is a little clearer on the E PL1, the license plate #'s are clearer on the Canon. I guess I was expecting to be bowled over by the micro 4/3 sensor. Not. Overall, I think the exposure and color rendition was excellent on both; slight edge to Canon (the color of my car is more accurate on the Canon, although that could definitely be from my tweaking the color saturation on the Olympus on this pic.
Other "pluses" for the Canon, of course, are the flash - if on auto, it will go off as needed whereas you need to "pop" it on the Olympus. I think the Canon's art filters, Color Swap, Color Accent, and the manual dials give you not only more flexibility, but easier and more intuitive use. I haven't quite figured out some of the settings on the EPL1 yet, like after you take a shot, the pic stays on the screen until you depress the shutter button again, but I think that might change as I get to know it better. And I like the fact that it has interchangeable lenses. Canon has the viewfinder, a plus for it, and I do use it, although with the Fuji's I never missed it and am quite used to shooting just with the LCD. The Oly has the instant video button and HD, the Canon does not. Although I haven't used it, it seems the video capabilities, Image stabilization, and multiple exposure settings on the Olympus are nice pluses, perhaps better than the Canon. There are a few more settings, like more bracketing choices (focal length) on the Olympus. At this time, I think I understand the choices for bracketing and exposure control better with the Canon. The Canon's LCD is clearly superior to my eye than the Olympus'. A couple other things? Can't put a protective filter on the Canon, you can on the Olympus, and the grip is better on the Canon.
It is too early to tell, but I was clearly more impressed with the flexibility, build, versatility, and ease of use with the Canon. Initially I expected to be wowed with the picture quality of the Olympus, considering the sensor size and I was, but not when I compared them side to side. I knew much of this up front from reviews, but the reviews uniformly raved about the picture quality of the Olympus, comparing it favorably to the Panasonic GF1. I figured that was the bottom line, and if I was going to get better pics I'd be happy regardless of ergonomics and specs. Bottom line for me is picture quality. I'm not disappointed in the Olympus, just surprised how extraordinary the Canon is.
Right now, day 1, if I only had to pick one, I'd go with the Canon. Price was roughly the same - 0 for the Canon, 0 with kit lens for Olympus. Perhaps I will change my mind after using it, and after getting a replacement lens. Then it'll be interesting to see how it stacks up against my 6mp Nikon D 40. But if I could get over my affection for coolness, gadgetry, versatility, and heft, I'd probably kill to get a new in the box F30 again.
Olympus PEN E-PL1 12.3MP Live MOS Micro Four Thirds Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens (Slate Blue) Features
- 12.3-megapixel interchangeable lens digital camera; Micro Four Thirds format
- Includes 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 digital zoom lens; features built-in flash
- 2.7-inch HyperCrystal LCD with Live View function; Continuous Autofocus (C-AF) tracking system
- Capture HD video with high-quality audio; new "Direct Button" for easy recording
- New Live Guide interface simplifies great photography; capture images to SD/SDHC cards (not included)
Customer Reviews
Great P&S with changeable lenses - that guy with the camera -
Bought this camera as a secondary travel camera. The lenses are tiny and light, making this system ideal for getting around. It's also much more innocuous than a dSLR, so people don't get as nervous around it. The video is fine, though the MJPEG doesn't seem to transcode as well as h.264. But if not transcoding, the raw video is of good quality. The downside is also the upside. As others have noted before, the menu system is simple, like that of a point and shoot camera. The problem is coming from a dSLR, this is really annoying. The menu system takes a lot to get used to. The extra knobs and buttons on the E-P2 does not make up for the price differential, despite the convenience. The E-PL1 is inexpensive and functional. The large sensor and light lenses make great pictures for this super flexible system. Purchased Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6 Lumix G Vario MEGA OIS Zoom Micro Four Thirds Lens for Panasonic and Olympus Micro Four Thirds Cameras soon after and am amazed at the compact nature of the system. With an effective focal length of 400mm, the system gives me extra reach that the kit was unable to provide. The extra reach also brought up another problem with the focus points. While there are plenty of focus points, they're not that fine. Magnifying the display might help this problem, but I have yet to test this in the field. In summary, it's a great camera for the price. Just wish it was more dSLR'y with the controls because I find myself fumbling through the menu system.
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