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Olympus PEN E-P1 12.3 MP Micro Four Thirds Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera (Body Only)
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By Olympus
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 (75 Reviews)
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Our Price: $199.95
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Availability:
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Available for immediate delivery.
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Manufacturer:
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Olympus
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews:
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 PEN writes a good beginning..., October 10, 2014
By Go real.
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Okay, why am I reviewing a first-generation micro four thirds camera in late 2014? I must be behind the times, right? Be that as it may, this camera still bears attention.
When Olympus got into the M4/3 game, they were behind Panasonic, who focused on making easy-to-use, somewhat minimalistic cameras with very good image quality. Olympus decided to go one better and basically pioneer the new emphasis on retro design, by emulating their old PEN line of small film cameras. All of Fuji's beautiful mirrorless cameras, the retro-styled compacts, Nikon's DF, all are the children of a movement spearheaded by Olympus's first "Digital PEN."
So, it's got history. But what makes it worth using in this day and age? For one thing, this camera's first-generation 12MP sensor has an ISO 100 (lowest available sensitivity) that is extremely clean, free of almost any digital grain or noise at all. Even though my Panasonic GX1 has a far larger range of acceptable ISO, even up to 3200, it has more noise at it's lowest setting (160) than this one does. For daylight landscapes, the files are just beautiful at ISO 100 with this camera. Add to that, Olympus jpeg files tend to be known for pleasing, highly saturated colors, and this one's no exception.
I bought this camera as part of a kit, with the 17mm f2.8 lens and VF1 optical viewfinder, which sits on the camera's hotshoe. Together, this kit becomes a fast, fine-handling street photo machine, with a 35mm-equivalent wide-standard lens and a brightly lit viewfinder for framing. Obviously you don't get to see any of the exposure characteristics in the viewfinder, so in challenging situations you will need to watch your actual exposure carefully. Unfortunately, the LCD screen isn't a great one for detail, being lowish in pixel count and very grainy when the light dims. For this reason, I can't recommend it for manually focusing at all, but in good light, with an autofocus lens, it can be really fun to use the VF to frame while keeping an eye on the histogram to keep exposure in order.
I would probably never make this my only camera, or even my only M4/3 camera, but for what it is it's a joy to use in the right situations.
5 of 5 people found the above review helpful.
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 Five Stars, October 08, 2014
By P. Gore
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Love the camera
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Dood camera for the price, October 06, 2014
By Roger L. Wiseman
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This is an older model camera, but still capable of great shots. It is beautifully made and the price was excellent
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Beautiful "Classic" Camera in Digital Era, September 16, 2014
By Shawn C.
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This is 2009 camera and first digital Pen camera from Olympus. I recently picked it up with 17mm f/2.8 pancake lens. I actually bought this camera for the lens and was planning to sell it. I used it and now I AM KEEPING IT. Yes, the camera is bit behind the times. The display isn't as high resolutioned as the newer one, but it isn't that bad at all. The handling and control has everything that I need in places I want them to be. I actually like the handling and control of this camera to the newer ones. The image quality is GREAT. Straight out of the camera JPG images are beautiful. I have the newest P5. I thought that camera would blow this camera out of waters in image quality. Well, it can't. It's really hard to distinguish the images from both cameras especially if you are not pixel peeping. I really like the images from the P1. Yes, it doesn't have touch screen that swivels or lightning fast auto focus, but slightly less speed makes it feel more "classic". It's hard to describe it. I just LOVE using this camera and that slow 17mm f/2.8 lens. It just "feels" right. The build quality of having all metal body is AWESOME. This camera is built like a tank! (I have the silver one and it looks beautiful.) I think I will keep this camera for a long time which I seldom do. Also, having a very low resale value will ensure that I keep it. ;-)
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Easy for beginners to use and does all the fancy ..., September 11, 2014
By wishiwereemo
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Stellar. Bought one for work and one for home. Can not say enough. Easy for beginners to use and does all the fancy stuff too. Very impressed.
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good camera, June 14, 2014
By drbob
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I currently have in my bag a Nikon D7000, a panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ2, a Olympus E-P1, a Canon SX50HS and a Sony DSC-HX9V. Each camera has it's purpose and the Olympus E-P1 is my dedicated sunrise/sunset camera. Of all of the cameras I own it is the Olympus that captures the subtle color shades of the sunrise/sunsets that make my photographs stand out and lucrative. The downside is that photographing into the sun burns out the sensor after a while and the camera only lasts a year (3 months out of warranty the last one). Now that the camera's are obsolete they are less expensive than cheap point and shoot cameras so I just bought two. This should last me for a couple years.
3 of 4 people found the above review helpful.
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