Olympus E-PL1

[John West]

Does anyone else here own the E-PL1? I just picked one up for a nice price, and am looking forward to being able to put it to use.
I have never used anything more than a point-and-shoot, but wanted more control without going to the full size of a DSLR. I love taking pictures so I figured it was a worthwhile to get a "real" camera.

[Ismail Faruqi]

John please have a look at my hiking albums,,, almost all of them were shot by E-PL1…

http://www.facebook.com/ismailfaruqi?sk=photos

edit: it has very nice result, but controls are pita imo..

[Ben W.]

You won't be disapointed. I have an E-PL2. Just like you, I recently switched over to M43 from P&S. It's a steep learning curve but just take your time. I used auto for the first few days and then switched to aperature and shutter priority thereafter. At a certain point the auto settings started holding me back and I took the plunge to full manual. There are a lot of online resources as you probably know, but two that helped me were a Lynda.com tutorial video and and series of videos on youtube.

http://www.lynda.com/Digital-Photography-tutorials/foundations-of-photography-exposure/71923-2.html

[David Noll]

John,
I picked one up in November and am having a lot of fun with it. This site has a lot of info in setting it up. http://homepages.tig.com.au/~parsog/olyepl1/02-epl1-comments.html
I also picked up the book "PEN EPL-1 for Dummies".

[Anonymous]

Hi,
I have an EPL1 and have really grown to like it. Yes, the controls were a PITA to learn (i.e. it takes awhile before you can do everything “without thinking”), but I feel pretty fast with the system now. The jpegs are great. I always shoot RAW plus jpeg but find I almost never actually use the RAW images for anything.

A few extra purchases really help the EPL1 operate at its full potential, IMO.

I recently bought the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens and, holy cow, I haven’t been this excited about photography in a while. I didn’t realize how limited I had been with the slow kit lens in low light. The 20/1.7 is downright fun, and also super sharp.
I think for backpacking this summer I’ll only take the Panasonic 20/1.7.

Although a bit heavy for a long backpacking trip, I’ve also rediscovered my old OM legacy lenses. My old 50/1.8 glass (with adapter) is awesome on the EPL1! I really enjoy the mechanical/manual focusing and aperture ring too, although that may not be for everybody. Again, with the 2x crop factor of m43, a 50mm gives you the 35mm equivalent of a 100mm lens.

I also have the impressive little VF-2 electronic viewfinder. Although a little pricey, I’ve never regretted the purchase. In fact, I consider it mandatory gear here in the Southwest during sunny days. It also makes manual focusing a snap. I also just enjoy having a viewfinder again.

A few other things I’d recommend:
I disabled the big red movie record button on the back. I was accidentally pressing it too often. If I want video I simply put the dial in movie mode and press the shutter.
The other thing I use a lot is the ability to make the size of the autofocus box smaller. You press the “zoom” button, then “info", then change the 7x to either 10x or 14x, then “OK”. This makes autofocus much more accurate.

Best, Dan

[John West]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I've been messing around with the camera and have really grown to like it. Like Dan said, it can be a pain to learn all the controls, but you learn them, its a really nice camera. I picked mine up for $230 off of eBay pretty much brand new, so its also an affordable choice.
Heres a few examples I've taken over the last couple months. I'm still learning, but its been really fun.

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