Here's Part 1 and Part II of the review, in case you've missed it.

Part III deals with the important aspect of image quality. I can confidently say right now that most photographers will not be disappointed with the E-P1.

All the images taken are shot using the Program mode unless otherwise indicated. This was done to see how well the E-P1's metering system fares and how the image processing engine handles jpeg images. Continue Reading

If you've missed the start of the Olympus E-P1 Digital PEN camera review, you can backtrack here and read about the physical attributes of the camera.

Part II of the review deals with the user interface and the actual hands-on experience of using the Olympus E-P1.

I'll deal with what I consider the biggest shortcoming of the E-P1 - the auto-focus system.

The conundrum of the E-P1 is it doesn't belong to any previous category of digital cameras. It's clearly not a portable fixed lens camera, it's not a pro-sumer fixed lens camera like the Panasonic LX-3, Canon G10, Sigma DP-1, nor even the Panasonic G1/GH-1, it's certainly not a DSLR, and most certainly not a digital rangefinder. That unique space that the E-P1 sits on makes it hard to evaluate which type of camera's AF system we should compare it to. Continue Reading

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Disclaimer: This will be a very photo/video intensive review, so I'll split this review into three parts. All the photos are available for viewing at full size in my flickrset.

Part I - Body and Lens

Part II - Focus, Video, User Interface

Part III - Image Quality, Noise, Verdict

Olympus has finally answered the call of many photographers who loved the form factor and looks of 1970s cameras. Whether they were rangefinders or SLRs, cameras in the 70s are much more compact and streamlined, with only the lens being a protrusion.

In late 1950's, Olympus introduced their line of half-frame rangefinder cameras known as the PEN series. The  PEN F became the first and only half-frame camera that offers interchangeable lenses. The PEN F was sleek, light, capable, and stylish.

Fast forward to the late 80s, rangefinders were dwindling in numbers and big, black SLR bodies were starting to emerge. The addition of electronic circuitry and pursuit of better ergonomics prompted manufacturers to build SLR camera bodies as we know of today.

Olympus digital SLR line is technically still supporting the half-frame approach with its 4/3 system, in which the sensor has a 4:3 aspect ratio compared to the more common 2:3 ratio of traditional 35mm film.  The small 4/3 system has a much smaller sensor which allows Olympus to build smaller mirror assemblies in their DSLR line, and as a result, Olympus generally has the smallest form factor DSLRs in the market.

Together with Panasonic, Olympus designed a new Micro 4/3 system that allows the camera to revolutionize the camera world just as the Pen F did 50 years ago.  The new Micro 4/3 system utilizes no mirror box assembly unlike a DSLR, the result are cameras that are a lot smaller than DSLR but still retain most of the advantage of having a much larger sensor than consumer digital cameras.  Panasonic released the first Micro 4/3 camera, the Panasonic DMC-GH1.

The Olympus E-P1 Digital PEN took it a step further and  offered interchangeable lenses with available adapters to use the Zuiko 4/3 digital lenses for Olympus DSLR and older manual focus OM mount lenses.

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There are quite a few things about film photography that still excites me to this day. The "faults" of a film image compared to the crisp/clean digital image, the sound of a roll winding, the process of loading film, etc. One different thing that the Olympus Stylus Epic offers me, however, is portability. Unlike my other film cameras that are still relatively bulky, Stylus Epic is one camera I always bring with me wherever I go, regardless of what other camera I may be bringing as a main camera.

Back in the mid 90's the Olympus design team came up with really slick, fashionable, and technically capable consumer pocket cameras for the casual shooters and the more serious photographer looking for a decent camera to fit in their pockets. Like in 2009, pocket cameras pretty much covers bulk of the inventory of camera stores and the competition is still. Even back then, big names such as Canon and Kodak pretty much dominates the sales chart, so it'll take Olympus quite a feat to unseat the big names.

Consistent with the rest of the Olympus Stylus line, the design of the Stylus Epic is very sleek. With a sliding clam shell protecting the front cover and acting as a main power switch, coupled with rounded and recessed buttons surrounding the exterior of the camera, you can slip any Olympus Stylus into your pocket without any troubles. Continue Reading

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The little, bright light tube that comes with a camera since the advent of automatic exposure has been one of the greatest mysteries for camera owners. Most know (or think they know) that the little flash unit is provided to provide light when the sun goes down.

While it used to be that simple during the days when intelligent metering was absent, today's camera and flash allow users to have much more control on how the flash works with the camera as an individual unit. You'll be surprised on how simple the concept really is, and I hope I can demystify the simple flash and improve your day-to-day photography.

Note that I won't be covering the topic in detail as mastering flash photography is an art by itself.

There are so many things you can do with a flash unit that you're limited only by your creativity. In addition, we're not covering issues like flash settings if you're using a manual flash unit or choose to control the flash without automated metering (i.e. ETTL, PTTL, etc.) I'll provide you with a simple primer that will shed light (pardon the pun) on the whole subject matter, especially if you're a beginner.

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