Olympus Pen E-P1

I want to spend the next few blog posts digging into the new Olympus Pen E-P1 four thirds system and give my experience and opinion from an enthusiast shooters point of view.

As I've previously stated, I'm not going into the technical specs of this system and cover every menu option and megapixel Olympus has given us. This will more server to document one shooter use, why I bought the camera, why I like the camera (which I very much do) and what I wish was different about the camera.

Why I spent my own hard earned dollars on the new Pen system?

My family loves to travel. My wife and I are getting to the "borderline" empty-nester stage of our lives with just one high school kid left in the house meaning we have freedom with our spare time that we never had before when the kids were young. And with that time we enjoy getting away, seeing new places and experiencing new things. And I love to capture it all on digital film (and often times publish it for ourselves in Shutterfly produced photo books). But I've found that I don't very often enjoy hauling around all of my Canon 40D gear, lenses, tripods, etc. on these trips. Too much weight and too much hassle (not to mention all the issues these days with trying to fly with a bunch of equipment). So in the last couple of years I've been on a journey to find the perfect travel camera. Point-and-shoots are fine for snapshots but I take my photography much more seriously than that and want better quality than can be delivered by the tiny sensor in even a good PS camera. A couple of years back I landed on a Canon G9. A very nice unit, a good size with full manual control and the ability to shoot RAW. It was a good move and a good start on this journey. About 18 months later Canon released the G10 with it's improvements over the G9 making it that much better for travel without gear. I'd taken many trips with the G10 and had fantastic results. But still the limitations of a fixed lens left me feeling like that unit was still a compromise, even though I was getting good results. Then this summer Olympus releases their Micro Four Thirds Pen E-P1 system with a full four thirds sensor and interchangeable lenses all in a package close to the same size as the G10. This sounds like another step towards travel photography nirvana. So the G10 gets sold on CraigsList (like the G9 before it) and now I'm shooting with the Pen.

My Outfit

Here is what the new kit I'm shooting with consists of:

• Olympus Pen E-P1 Micro Four Thirds Camera
• Olympus Zuiko 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 zoom lens
• Olympus Zuiko 17mm f2.8 pancake lens
• Olympus FL-14 flash gun
• Fixed optical viewfinder attachment (for use only with the 17mm pancake)
• Aftermarket travel wall charger and aftermarket spare battery
• Lowepro PhotoRunner camera bag
• Slik carbon fiber travel tripod with small Manfrotto ball head

The entire outfit in the bag weighs in at just under 4 pounds making travel and the tripod just a couple more. Just right for weekend trips, city travel and the like. (Obviously this is not the gear you're going to take for an African safari but I might consider it a backup for that given an addition long lens.)

That's all for this post. Next time I'll start delving into my experiences with the camera. Until then here are a few more shots taken with the Pen.

Enjoy!

Tom Laux

August 21, 2009

Blue Moon Photography

Welcome!

My name is Thomas Laux. By profession I am a software developer and small business owner of Blue Moon Development Company. I'm also an avid runner having completed close to 60 marathons (including three runs of the Boston Marathon). But this blog isn't about software or running, it's dedicated to my other love - photography. I publish my work under the name Blue Moon Photography and under the web site Blue Moon Imagination as well as on the BetterPhoto.com web site (http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/default.aspx?id=244415&mp=V2).

I'm primarily a Canon shooter with my main rig being a 40D complimented by an arsenal of "L" lenses. But I've recently added a new and very interesting option to my camera bag; the new Olympus Pen E-P1.

For a while I think I'll be discussing this new and very intriguing camera. I got my Pen just in time for a recent vacation to Hilton Head Island along with the two available lenses. There has already been plenty written about the specs and technical information on this camera so I'm not going to repeat any of that. I'm writing this to fill in some of the blanks that I haven't seen often and that's something about the usability of it and the actual photography and art that can be produced with it.

After my first couple of weeks my initial impressions are:

• The size of this camera, esp. for travel is just about perfect. My entire outfit (camera, two lenses, flash, optical viewfinder, travel wall charger and extra battery) all fit into a very small PhotoRunner waist pack.
• This is a professional feeling unit. It's solid, weighty and metal. And just beautiful. Even nice than in the pictures.
• Shooting speed is very usable. I upgraded to the Pen from a Canon G10, a very nice travel camera in its own right, and I believe the Pen is quicker to shoot (very minimal shutter lag) and immediately ready for the next shot. I wouldn't rely on it as a sports shooter but there's no frustration in missing a shot waiting on the camera.
• Image quality is nothing short of awesome. I've been shooting in RAW+jpeg mode but using the jpegs for now until Adobe Camera Raw gets updated to process these files. Using primarily Lightroom for post-processing of the jpegs has been a joy. I can't wait until ACR is updated to start using the raw files. (I'll post later about the Olympus raw software. Not very usable.)
• Art Filters are cool! Especially the soft focus. So far that's been my favorite.

There are other things I really like about the new system. There are also a few things I'm not so impressed with. I think I'll write an entire post about those. For now I think I'll just post some shots from the recent trip (including the image above).

Enjoy!

Tom Laux

August 20, 2009