I've used a lot of cameras over the last 40 years, the most recent being the Nikon D70s and the Ricoh GX200. The Ricoh I've especially liked and it has encouraged me to take it with me everywhere I go, and to challenge the way I see things and compose images. It's a wonderful camera with the best ergonomics and interface I've ever used. I was able to operate the controls in the dark on the first time I took it out, they are that intuitive.
The problems are the small sensor with its horrible resolution at anything above ISO 400, the slow focus time, and the terrible low light capabilities.
I like my D70s and 18-200 VR zoom lens, but it's big and bulky and I've never been comfortable with the Nikon DSLR interface. My earlier manual film SLR FM2 was great, but I still much preferred the even earlier Pentax MX, the entire kit having been stolen.
So I'm looking for something with the lightness, compactness, and unobtrusiveness of my Ricoh GX200 and the responsiveness, image quality, and selection of lenses of my D70s. I've narrowed it down to the Pentax E-P2, the Lumix GF1, and the Pentax K-7. The K-7 is fantastic, being full sensor, weatherproof, and boasting a bewildering array of features, but is heavy and big and requires a considerable investment. The GF1 seems to have the highest quality feature set, but with no in-body vibration control it has limited lenses and also requires a considerable investment. The E-P2 seems to answer most of my needs, is a good size, has a HUGE following here in Japan, and has a fantastic array of lens choices (beyond the specifically designed Olympus 43 lenses… with an adaptor I can even use my old Nikon lenses. I'm not sure I like the interface that much. And I'm worried that it will make my Ricoh obsolete. Ryan Jordan commented in another thread that he didn't like either the Panasonics or Olympuses, mainly because of image quality in the 43 sensors. Perhaps after the Ricoh most things will look better, but will it be enough for me when taking high quality images and needing good performance in low light?
I'm a firm believer in the ability to see things and compose them well as being far more important than the camera… I've taken lots of great images using my tiny and limited cell phone camera three years ago… but I've spent enough time out in the field with digital cameras now to know the limitations and desirables so that I can actually take the images that I imagine. Just wondering if the E-P2 can live up to what I ask.
