Olympus PEN E-P1

Noise Reduction (5.04)

The noise levels at ISO 100 and 200 are about what we’ve seen with other Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds cameras, but the rapid escalation that starts at ISO 800 is more severe than competitive models we’ve tested.

We look at levels for each of the component parts of the overall noise: red, green, blue, yellow and luma (gray). If one of these components is significantly higher than the others it can create noticeable problems, but that’s not the case here.

Turning noise reduction off provides the highest level of detail ordinarily, though with the E-P1 the level of noise this produces will obscure whatever detail lurks among the speckles anyway. More on how we test noise.

This camera has considerable image noise issues, raising a red flag for anyone likely to make sizable enlargments or crop an image tightly. The good news is that the noise reduction system is effective up to ISO 800. However, at higher ISO settings it’s overwhelmed and, what’s more, clobbers image detail badly (see the Sample Photos section for side-by-side examples shot at each noise reduction level). Why Olympus decided to include an ISO 6400 level at all is a mystery, since the noise levels here make it all but unusable.

The other factor that affects the noise levels in Olympus cameras is the inability to turn off dynamic range enhancement, which Olympus calls ‘gradation’ adjustment. There are four settings for gradation, Auto, Normal, High Key and Low Key, but ‘Off’ isn’t on the menu, and digitally manipulating dynamic range inevitably adds noise to an image. We shot with the Normal setting, since this does the least damage.

Our noise reduction testing involves shooting the color chart under bright 3000 lux illumination at each standard ISO level and each available noise reduction setting, then running the test photos through Imatest to derive image noise scores.

ISO Options

Available ISOs range from 100-6400, which can be to set 1/3 EV or 1 EV increments. ISO bracketing is available, an unusual feature and one that comes in handy when shooting with a relatively noisy camera and trying to see how much sensitivity you can get away with. ISO bracketing saves three versions of a single exposure, one below the set value, one above, with increments of 0.3 EV, 0,7 EV or 1 EV.

There is an Auto ISO system which can be set with a default value (to be used if it allows an acceptable exposure) and an upper limit, so you can avoid overly high settings when shooting with Auto ISO.

Focus Performance

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.

Long Exposure (7.98)

We typically find cameras with smaller sensors score lower in our long exposure testing, since it takes into account both color accuracy and image noise, always an issue with Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds cameras. The E-P1 is no exception, with results that are in line with the Olympus E-620 and better than the Panasonic GH1, but below the standard set by the APS-C format Canon T1i and Nikon D5000.

Our long exposure test involves shooting the ColorChecker chart with low 20 lux illumination at five shutter speeds ranging from 1 second to 30 seconds, once with long exposure noise reduction turned off and once with it on. The test shots are analyzed using Imatest software for color accuracy and image noise. More on how we test long exposure.

Color error remains relatively low and consistent until we get to the 30 second exposure, with the noise reduction filter not affecting results in a significant way. As for noise levels, they start out high and skyrocket with noise reduction off at the 30 second mark, though at least the noise reduction system finally shows some effect at that point.

The E-P1 score here is nearly identical to the Olympus E-620, and notably higher than the Panasonic GH1, which suffered from huge color errors in this test.

Video: Low Light Sensitivity (1.67)

The low light sensitivity on the Olympus E-P1 wasn’t terrible, but its performance wasn’t anything special. The camera needed 20 lux of light to reach 50 IRE on our waveform monitor—a light level that is similar to what the Panasonic GH1 and Canon T1i required in the same test. The E-P1’s kit lens opens to a widest aperture setting of f/3.5, which isn’t very wide. Using a faster lens that allows for wider aperture settings would likely increase the camera’s low light sensitivity. This is one of the benefits of using a camera with an interchangeable lens system.

The E-P1 records all video using a 30p frame rate, so we didn’t have any alternate rates to try out in this test. The Panasonic GH1 offers three frame rate options (1080/24p, 1080/30p, 720/60p) and the Canon T1i offers two (1080/20p, 720/30p). The table below shows the low light sensitivities of these other DSLR cameras when using their alternate frame rates.