Oly's New Pen

[nikkortorokkor]

Those that haven't, like me, been living under a rock, will have been aware of the Olympus E-P1 "Digital Pen."

I just found out about it and saw a picture:

Micro3/

Rather than repeat all the details, I'll just post the link to Photo.Net's quick field preview:
photo.net/equipment/olympus/ep1/preview/

My one and only Digital is an Oly C-750 UZ that I bought in China in '03. I'd gone into the shop for a Minolta, but the Oly's superior build and chunky, rangefinder like feel got me hooked. It has dreadful shutter lag and all the limitations of a 6 year old design in this rapidly changing world, but it does have much of the creative control of a "real" camera (I think that DP Review's description of "Compact - SLR like" is spot on. It's not just a P&S and its not a "prosumer" but it is a surprisingly capable camera for the enthusiast). BUT, that compact zoom vignetting is there for all to see, & while PS or the Gimp can deal with it, I know that the lens isn't Oly's finest effort.

What drew me to the C-750 UZ in the first place seems to be an Oly and, to some extent, Ricoh, speciality, and it's there in spades in the New Pen. Oly seem to know that some of us don't want to carry a huge black chunk of metal that screams "I'm a photographer!" around the streets.

I know that I've harped on this before, but an F5 seemed to have ditched about every advantage that 35mm offered street photographers of the classic C-B, f16 and be there tradition. They now resembled a Speed Graphic with a howitzer strapped to the front for stalking celebs. OK, I'm being unduly rude, thousands of sports and wildlife photogs have been fantastically well served by these cameras.

But why are the majority of DSLRs trying to look so much like a 1990s pro 35mm? As events in Iran are showing, a pro SLR in a hotel room is of precious little value compared to a cheesy cell phone camera where the action is. Discrete, quality cameras might tread a useful middle road between these extremes.

Over with the rant and back to the good news - the Pen will work with "micro four-thirds" lenses, and, via adaptors, with four-thirds lenses and OM lenses. Oly have learned from Konica Minoltas APS madness it seems. Stand alone systems from "the rest" of the camera makers are a recipe for disaster.

I'd been waiting and hoping that C V would make an "affordable" i.e. not Leitz priced) Digital Rangefinder. It looks like Oly might have sidestepped the problem in their typically quirky way.

I now have a case of see - want - must have!

[Deleted]

I cannot believe they would introduce a camera with those features AND NO VIEWFINDER EXCEPT AN LCD SCREEN THAT CAN'T BE SEEN ON A SUNNY DAY!!!!!!!--although it does apparently have a clip on viewfinder for the prime lens.

I will not own even a point and shoot that doesn't have a way of framing a picture other than an LCD screen .
$800 for a camera without a viewfinder? NOT!!!

[nikkortorokkor]

Wayne, I thought it had an electronic finder like my elderly UZ. It has just gone from hero to zero for me. On the bright side, it might be like the CV Bessa L - the start of better things to come.
(the two cameras do look remarkably similar despite the difference of capturing media).

[Andrew]

absolutely stunning camera, i want one and strangely i find the purple very appealing too...
how gorgeous is that smile ..


seriously though, i am liking more and more some of the cameras and or features/abilities becoming available lately, sure this camera has a couple of drawbacks but the good points probably outweigh the bad. i would like to see an exploded view of the camera, it would be interesting to see if a decent finder would even fit..using an assessory finder may be just the way to go, a different one for different lenses?

there are always things we want in a camera, none ever seem to be just right, i would like this to have weather sealing/splash proof but that may be asking too much just yet. the screen resolution from reports sound as though it could be better as well and probably the main concern, electronic finder if they could fit it in would be good too.

what i do like is Olympus taking these positive steps forward in trying to be somewhat innovative or at least offer something different and not follow the crowd and give us the same ol black boxes the other big names do.

i tried a canon G10 and didnt mind it too much for its features and usability (pretty ugly looking thing though, no offense to anyone that has one), this E-P1 has a sensor , hmm what, maybe 6 times bigger? sounds dam good! it definitely looks sleek and classy, i like the brushed metal (i would pay more for a metal camera, better than plastic) with the black leatherette trim.

i tried the Lumix G1 and it offers about everything i could expect for this type of camera, a bit like a mini DSLR, but again its not the prettiest of cameras to look at nor handle (i'm probably just spoilt from all those old cameras), not down right ugly but doesnt make me want to handle it other than the need to get the shot. and i think its so close as i may as well use a DSLR instead, albeit an olympus dslr for their compact size or just go the whole hog with the top canon or nikon offering

i really dont like digital point and shoot at all, just rubbish quality and results to me (again no offense to others, i realize they are popular, sold in their billions, so they suit many people), but even with a basic camera i like to have manual controls (a couple of old ones did bit the picture quality was horrid) although i appreciate their small size benefits of course...

so in that regard this Pen (which is pretty apt hey, considering it is half 35mm frame size) i could get along with using as though it was a P&S, but still has that versitality to be more. it works in manual, it can take OM lenses as well as apparently most other old lenses as well with adaptors forthcoming, its real nice looking..

still though its dimensions are very similar to my OM-1's etc and my OM cameras are full frame ..i think it will still be quite some time before these digital's will make me pack up my film cameras (cold dead hands) but Olympus is getting there bit by bit with this, cant wait to see what the next Pen model might have, now lets see some of that flair and finish on their Dslrs (or anyone else's, dont show me the white pentax, it hurts my eyes)

[nikkortorokkor]

I know I've got a Braun Paxette 50/90/135 accessory shoe finder with parallax correction somewhere - it'd be just the thing for the Pen .

The white K2000? Bleugh!
Andrew, I envy your OMs. I always hoped I'd scoop an OM kit when an old photog went digital. It never happened, and I've ended up in the Minolta camp quite by accident. Not that I'm complaining - Every quiet "kersnick" and silky wind that the XE-1 produces reminds me what a sleeper it is even when compared to more commercially successful bodies. Still, an OM body with a 24mm Zuiko tilt shift is an object of perpetual desire.

[PeterW]

Andrew,
Thanks for posting that publicity pic of the new Oly. I find it very interesting as a picture. Whoever took it knew what he or she was doing. All the eye lines in the picture, the steps, the rail, the triangular shape of the group of photographers, all lead your eye to where it's supposed to go ... to the girl and the camera. More to the girl in fact. She's very attractive, but the picture seems to be promoting that much over-used word lifestyle rather than promoting the camera. This extract from the Olypus press release is an indication of how Olympus thnking is going: "Built for today’s visual generation who lead active lives online and offline, the E-P1 will make you rethink what you can do with a camera."


One thing for me stood out in this picture, only one of the photographers is using what you might call the classic way of holding a camera, left hand supporting the camera and ready to focus, right hand ready to press the release, elbows well braced to avoid shake.

All the others seem to be using the LCD screen to compose the picture with the camera held away from them and just the steadiness (?) of their arms to hold it still.

I do hope all their cameras had image stabilisation built in!

I agree with Wayne that a camera with only an LCD screen and no built-in eye-level finder seems a retrograde step, almost back to the old days of plate cameras when you set the camera up on a tripod and viewed the picture on a ground-glasss screen with fold-out flaps to shield the screen from sunlight, the main difference being that with a gound-glass screen the picture was upside down and reversed left-right.

I suppose you can use auxiliary finders on top of the camera if you don't mind the slight parallax, but what about when you use the zoom lens? Do you have to carry a collection of finders, look at the LCD screen and choose a finder that gives you near-enough the same view? By that time Cartier-Bresson's Decisive Moment will be long gone.

Even my 'ancient' Epson fixed zoom lens digi has a built-in eye-level finder in which the view changes automatically according to where you zoom the lens.

Surely it's not beyond the wit of Olympus designers to have done something similar - or even more advanced like having the view in the finder change automatically when you fit a lens with a different focal length or different zoom range?

I wonder if Olympus has taken two steps forward and one step back with this camera in an attempt to make it over user friendly? Maybe the Mk 2 or Mk 3 will be different?



PeterW

[Andrew]

Yeah Peter, one of the first things (well not the first thing ;D ) i noticed in that picture was that some of those guys looked like they were struggling, ill at ease or looked somehow awkward...whatever it is I got the impression that they are more used to spending a 'trade day' trailing dslr's and no doubt being in the photographic game they primarily shoot with those anyway, this camera i amusingly imagined took them out of their comfort zone

i hadnt seen or read much of the advertising garb, but that quote you mentioned would seem spot on the demographic i thought they were targeting with this. i think i did noticed at one point they were after people that would use P&S (and perhaps would like a step up) and the last part of the quote "... the E-P1 will make you rethink what you can do with a camera" may well be very apt, it just might give a whole new outlook or photographic inspiration to some people that simply point a camera, or dare i say camera phone nowadays.

it is curious that there isnt a viewfinder of any type (built in) because i do recall some mock ups presented early on by Olympus and i thought they did have a built in viewfinder, perhaps they will be in Mrk 2 or 3, who knows.

i hope sooner or later we get to see how these are put together to tell how feasible it is (or would have been!) to fit a finder in there, i wouldn't really care for a puny little finder though and would end up using the screen anyway, perhaps they thought the same. the auxiliary finders on top for fixed focal length lenses appears a reasonable solution to me (though by no means my own personal favourite method-its one thing i dont like about some rangefinder cameras -but i am often on my own there), obviously its no good with zoom lenses, in that case you just use the screen (its a backlit lifestyle hehe), but for the person that likes to use prime/fixed focal length, and that would be someone wanting more than just P&S, the finder on top is quite workable. just as you dont find people with Rangefinder cameras using zooms, but they are in the habit of placing auxiliary finders on top for various fixed focal lengths.

i dont take this camera too seriously, if i approach this camera from a P&S perspective (i didnt take the film Pens seriously either, less than i do this digital version anyway-half 35mm frame, egads 35mm is small enough for me! ;D ) then i am pleasantly surprised because of all the features it does have. if i come at it from the direction of a higher end dslr or Leica M8 or epson RD1 then i can be critical. i reserve my very critical judgement until i get to try it out and i will no doubt have some, but perhaps because i come at it from the lesser angle i quite like it atm..imagine if it did have a quality finder built in..it might just make some people wonder why bother spending multi thousands on an M8! eek! maybe it can be a poor mans Leica haha

oh btw not that i read much about the ol CB but i do remember at one point he said he liked shooting from the hip (more or less-not looking through the finder)..hehe you dont need a finder at all for that moment

[Andrew]

Thanks Michael, i do like my OM's ,of course there are plenty of other nice shooters out there nowadays but this is what i got so thats what i am stuck with for better or worse (i'm not complaining though). i hadnt used them for many years, and found one aluminum case foam lined with a kit in it a long time back now, i remember I had it set aside for my astro photography when i had my telescope up and going, and not very long ago i found a whole box full of OM's and lenses i had forgotten all about...digging around for gear for my daughter to use. they are very sweet in the hand and i have enjoyed a renewed friendship with them lately, shooting some 35mm lately which i thought i was pretty much done with, but they are incredibly nice to use so i cant resist giving them a go, being so small there are different places i can take them that MF is not as comfortable--its fun anyway

[Deleted]

I wonder how much shutter lag it has? That's one of the things that seperates the p&s from other digital cameras.

[mickeyobe]

I really don't think it matters whether it has a viewfinder or not nor if the lag time is excessive.

It is going to look very elegant hanging around the neck of a delightful damsel in purple.

And if the price tag is left dangling it will look even more impressive.

Mickey

[PeterW]

Another thing I've just noticed about the Oympus publicity pic. The delightful damsel in purple doesn't have the camera hanging round her neck. The strap is round her body. Maybe she didn't want to upset her hairstyle.

Also, the way she's holding the camera, the strap lugs seem to be at the bottom.

Now I know what Olympus meant by "rethink what you can do with a camera"

You can hold it upside down!!

PeterW

PS
And, with the strap where it is she couldn't lift the camera up to eye level to look at the screen, so she'd have to shoot from the hip, or rather from the ... oh, never mind.

Could this herald the birth of a digital form of Lomography?

PW

[Andrew]

well if that doesn't put a grin on your face...

[nikkortorokkor]

Canon Responds!

Realizing that they were in danger of being upstaged by upstart Oly, and spotting the Oly engineer's obvious gaff with the lack of viewfinder, King Canon has unveiled its own "retro" digital rangefinder. Like the Pen, it trades on fond memories of photgraphers of a certain age by reviving a "design classic." Dubbed the Canonet Quick Digital, or QD for short, the newest 24 megapixal offering from the Japanese giant features a blindingly fast 15mm f1.2 lens! Canon were planning to launch the Canonet QD on April 1 2010, but pushed the launch forward to meet the needs of the demanding crowd at Camera Collector

Any likeness to a hastily gimped pic of my $10 QL19 is purely coincidental.

[Andrew]

you know that reminds me,

i remember seeing in one of my photography magazines, many years ago now but they had a working digital unit you could place in a 35mm film camera, it took up the film chambers (kinda like a kodak 126 cartridge/bigger) and was green from memory. they were raving how it would take off and sell...then it was gone, never heard another word about it..at the time i figured kodak or someone bought it out and quashed it like a conspiracy...nowadays i am not sure if it would of been even possible...but it was there, advertised in the magazine in the new products to be released

[nikkortorokkor]

Andrew, I was very excited about the digital cartridge, which proves how little I knew about the technology involved. I remember a magazine article on the demise of the company "developing" the product. There were technological problems with the concept that made it as likely to see the light of day as a perpetual motion machine. Those pretty plastic carts were nothing but preproduction mock-ups. No-one was allowed near them at photography shows and no one ever actually handled a camera with one fitted - or so my memory goes. You're probably better off waiting for the Canonet QD!