Olympus PEN E-P1

Shooting Modes

The E-P1 sticks with the basics, including the scene recognition-enabled auto mode that’s becoming increasingly popular in consumer SLRs. Having two control dials is useful here. In program mode, either dial can be used for program shift. In aperture-priority or shutter-priority mode, either dial changes the selected parameter and, in full manual mode, the main dial controls shutter speed, the sub dial adjusts aperture value.

The camera can be reset to factory defaults via the first shooting menu, but it can also be set to one of two stored configurations (called Reset 1 and Reset 2). It’s a useful way to quickly tailor the camera to your preferences for a particular type of shooting, though the way it’s handled is confusing: why not call these Custom Settings or Custom Modes and give them an appropriate menu slot, instead of burying them in the Reset section.

Equally bizarre is the My Mode function, which allows you to store two groups of settings as My Mode 1 and My Mode 2. To access these, you must first store the current camera settings as either My Mode 1 or My Mode 2, then choose whether you want to have My Mode 1 or My Mode 2 available, then have the Fn programmed to My Mode, and finally hold down the Fn button while pressing the shutter to invoke the settings. A good concept, but a baffling, overly complex implementation.

A more straightforward shooting option is anti-shock, which adds a delay of between 1/8 and 30 seconds between the moment you press the shutter and the time a photo is taken. This is valuable in shooting situations which demand an absolutely steady camera, such as microphotography or astronomical imaging.

Focus

Autofocus is a key area that separates the Panasonic Micro Four Thirds cameras from the Olympus E-P1. The Panasonics focus remarkably quickly, providing the first practical system for shooting moving subjects in Live View mode. The E-P1, like the Live View SLRs we’ve tested, takes its own sweet time achieving autofocus, and that’s a big problem. Attempting to shoot sports or active children with this camera is an exercise in futility.

Another area where we expected difficulties, though, turned out to be a non-issue. There is no autofocus assist lamp on the E-P1, so we assumed the worst. When we started shooting in our lab under minimal illumination levels, though, we found that the camera focused successfully down to just a few lux of illumination. Unless you’re planning to take pictures in pitch darkness, you should be just fine.

When shooting in All Target mode, the camera automatically chooses one of these 11 areas. When in Single Target AF mode, the user can position the one autofocus target to be used by moving an on-screen indicator with the four-way control (very simple) or combining the two control dials (one for horizontal movement, one for vertical and way too complicated). Changing the autofocus target is a pain , though, no matter how you approach the task. You can re-select single-target mode from one of the menus, then reposition the focus point, which is a slow procedure. Or you can turn off the direct-access function of the control dial (ISO, autofocus mode, white balance and drive mode) and use it solely to move the autofocus target, requiring you to muck around with menus every time you want to change a basic setting. On the Olympus E-620 and E-30 there’s a dedicated autofocus target button, simple and effective. Leaving it off the E-P1 was a mistake.

Oh, and there’s one autofocus-related option for that poor over-used programmable Fn button too. You can register a default autofocus position with a few clumsy button presses, which will be reset whenever you press Fn, if you’ve chosen that as the Fn button function.

Face detect adjusts focus and metering based on the subject the camera locks onto. There are several ways to access face detect mode, including the standard menu system, the Live Control menu, the Super Control panel and setting the programmable Fn button to face detect. The Fn option automatically changes additional settings when it launches face detect, setting metering to evaluative, gradation to auto, autofocus mode to single AF and autofocus area to multipoint.

Shooting with the kit lens, we found manual focus works very smoothly, with the ring sensitive enough to move quickly but geared well enough to maintain accuracy. And with the Live View display, the option to have a zoomed display pop up automatically when you move the focus dial in manual mode allows true precision.

Recording Options

The E-P1 supports several variations for medium and small image size settings when shooting in the native 4:3 aspect ratio.

There are four JPEG compression settings: Super Fine (compressed at 1/2.7), Fine (1/4), Normal (1/8) and Basic (1/12). RAW files are recorded at full 4032 × 3024 resolution no matter what the aspect ratio setting, with the aspect ratio selection saved along with the image.