Olympus PEN E-P1

Speed and Timing

Olympus promises a continuous shooting rate of approximately 3 frames per second, and our testing proved them right on the money at 2.98 fps. Unfortunately, we score on performance rather than honesty, and 3 frames per second is nothing to brag about in today’s SLR market, as shown in the comparison chart below.

There is a single burst mode, at a promised 3 shots per second. While there is no hard limit to how many photos you can take in a row, the speed slows drastically after about a dozen shots, both for JPEGs and RAW images.

There are two self-timer modes: 2 second and 12 second. Strangely, both are silent, without the comforting ‘beep, beep, beep’ that lets you know the shutter’s been pressed and the camera’s on the job. Also missing: the option to use a wireless remote control with the E-P1 (there is a compatible cabled USB remote, priced at $57).

Focus Speed

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.