If you've been reading this blog for a while you know that a lot of the focus so far has been documenting my experiences with the new Olympus Pen E-P1 camera. I've been doing this as it's a brand new camera in a brand new category and I believe will be a real game changer for many photographers. Having DSLR quality and interchangable lenses in a package just slightly larger than most point and shoot systems is a real winner in my book. To date I've been quite impressed with the system and while I'm not ready to go sell all my Canon gear on eBay I am more than happy to leave it at home when going out to shoot or especially when doing some travel.
But the new system is not perfect. The major complaints so far voiced on many opinion pages have centered around the camera's very average auto-focus time, the lack of a built in flash and the lack of a built in viewfinder. Olympus has already been working on the auto-focus issue a bit as new firmware was recently released to help with that issue. Honestly, given the way I'm using the camera (i.e. I'm not trying to capture sports or fast moving action) I've really not had much issue with it. It's way slower than my top of the line Canon "L" lenses but about on par with the consumer grade Tamron's and Sigma's (and even Canon kit) lenses. I'd say not perfect, but certainly in the "acceptable" range. As to the issue of no built in flash, that's just a non-issue to me. When I bought the camera I also ponied up an extra $100 for the FL-14 external flash. It's very sleek, very small and looks great on the camera. I also get better results with it than I would expect out of any "pop up" flash. And truthfully I don't usually like to use flash anyways. I'm much happier with my photography when it's done in natural light. (I also don't mind carrying the little flash unit in my bag, but that is because I'll usually have all the gear in a small bag so I can also take the extra lenses. If not I'll just pop the flash on the camera before I head out if I think there's a chance I might need it.) End of story. No big deal.
But the missing viewfinder. Hmmm.... When I was purchaing with my Canon G10 and G9 before it (which the Pen replaced) one of the selling features was the fact that both of those cameras had a built in finder while still being very small and pocketable in size. In reality I found that I rarely would use it though. The field of view through the finder didn't match what the camera took (I think it might have been 93% or 94%) and it was really quite small and a little tough to see through. So I usually just got used to framing up shots using the LCD. So when the Pen came out without a finder I thought "no big deal". Maybe it was because the Canon's (especially the G10) have a superior LCD on the back but I've now been in a number of situations where I was simply guessing at composition with the Pen. In bright sunlight it just becomes a complete crapshoot as to what you'll get. Olympus let us down a bit with the quality of the LCD which can wash out so much that it becomes almost unusable. I'll bet when the next version of this camera comes out that is one of the major upgrades. But in the mean time how to deal with this problem? I've found a pretty good solution in the Hoodman HoopLoupe 3.0. (Please note that I have no affiliation with Hoodman and purchased my equipment myself.) The HoodLoupe is basically a loupe that you can hold up against an LCD screen of up to 3" in size and peer through it's viewfinder to get a magnified view of the display. It's also has a +/- 3 diopter to allow adjustments for up with less than perfect eyesight. With the Pen in bright sunlight it's a pretty good solution. The loupe comes with a lanyard to hang it around your neck when you're not using it or you can buy some optional (and way overpriced) rubber bungie cords and fasten it to the camera. I have the cords but don't know yet if that's the best way to use it or not. But in bright sunlight it does allow you to bring the camera up to your eye just light a DSLR and compose a proper shot and review it all without too many issues. The loupe and bungies together cost about $100. Probably overpriced but it is effective and I think I'll be happy I made the purchase. I'll post some actual pictures of my Pen and HoodLoupe a little later when I get a chance to shoot them.
Enjoy!
Tom Laux
September 21, 2009
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