E-P1 is godsend. A review after a 5 day trip

I was a few months Canon 40D user and later sold it off due to big size. I never use it for a trip. I don't think its for anyone who want to travel light anyway. And so, I was waiting for the ultimate Point and Shoot. Of course, anyone who looking for a camera will not overlook LX3 which is being raved about anywhere. In Malaysia, the price stay at RM1600 even after almost one year of launch. My friend Soo Sean must be glad that she bought it at the same price and and never drop since. Such happening are rare in Point & Shoot camera as electronic stuff always drop price (ever since Fuji F31fd).

Anyway, my eyes have set on Olympus E-P1 since the day of launch. I caught my eyes with its pleasing retro design. I especially mesmerized with its white color body. Since its launch in Malaysia, I only see Silver body. After two months of launching, and coincide with my trip to Thailand, I rush to buy one for the trip. I decided on the single lens because I'm waiting for Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens. (by the way, I did consider G1 but it has no video recording. As for GF1, I can't wait any longer for it to launch. Further more, I'm more interested in IBIS).

To my surprise, the camera that I order is white body. I'm very excited. I took home and admired its beauty. It looks so good that it can be display piece in a cabinet when its not in used. Coupled with white neck or wrist strap, i-phone, white clothing, I'll be a prince charming in White... lol..

Anyway, I start to shoot with E-P1 on the first day. It's easy to operate. But menu system is quite confusing. I really don't understand what certain menu for unless I go read the manual. Some even I don't understand after reading the manual. Only recently I realise shadow highlight function is called Auto-Degradation. Shooting with kit lens 14-42mm is quite fun. Its quite compact after retracted and macro is quite near. But I still find it quite limited in aperture and zoom.

Then when new firmware is release, I try to upgrade it. But unfortunately, the upgrade failed and I bricked the lens. Rushed to Minolta service center in Penang and they promptly send it to KL to service. Its already Wednesday and two days later on Friday, I need to go Thailand. Without lens, I can't shoot any photo. I go to a camera shop and try out Nikon lens (28mm f/3.5) with adapter. It's fun to use manual focus lens. But I find its heavy and no zoom but the size is same as the kitlens. Not something in my mind.

So I went online to see if anyone selling micro four third lens. Of course I failed to find any shop selling. But using google, I managed to find someone selling the Olympus pancake 17mm f/2.8 lens. I'm very happy to find it and give a call to the person. Yay, finally I'll able to shoot in Thailand. He send it to my friend in KL and my friend will bring it to me to Thailand. To my surprised also, the Minolta call me to say that the KL service center able to fix it and send to me to Penang on Friday. So this trip, I'll be able to use 2 lens.

Review in Thailand

I've tried two lens in Thailand. One is 14-42mm and another is 17mm pancake. For versatility, I vouch for 14-42mm but by not much because the zoom is quite limited. For real versatility, I think I need 14-200mm. But I'm sure the size will be a killer for travel lens.

The real winner in travel lens in 17mm f/2.8 pancake. I slap this to the body and walk around hanging on my neck for 5 days and I did not feel any heft. I totally think that this is the ultimate walk around camera. Then I swapped this to 14-42mm and I find its bulky, clunky and heavy. The other problem with 14-42mm is that I need to extend its lens before shooting. Else, I'll get "Check your lens" message. With 17mm, I just need to turn on the camera and shoot.

Furthermore, I can get professional looking thin DOF with 17mm lens. Since its brighter, taking photo in a cave while I was in Thailand is a big plus. It's really a fate for me getting 17mm since if I did not screw up my kit lens, I will never thought of getting the pancake lens. I shoot a lot of food in Thailand and it come out very nice and bright. My love for 17mm f/2.8 cannot be expressed in word. Its really godsend.

Conclusion:

E-P1 + 17mm f/2.8 is the ultimate traveller lens. I now understand why people can use DP1 and DP2 without complaining even though its fixed focal lens. However, in terms of user friendliness and ability to change lens, I will prefer E-P1. Furthermore, with body stabilizer, I'm very comfortable shooting at arms length. Now I just hope that Olympus will improve AF in low light because I find low light AF still have a lot to improve. And of course, we need more lens especially ultra wide angle prime and tele. Both by Panasonic is quite bulky.

Rating: 4 star out of 5