My preliminary experiences with the EP-1

So, I got my EP-1 a couple of days ago and I wanted to post my impressions.

The thing feels like a tank. Very nicely built, no creak.

The EP-1-14-42 is too big for any but the largest of coat pockets or perhaps large cargo pants. I believe that the EP-1+17mm will be much more pocketable. My 17mm is coming Monday and I will post for sure then.

For a gadget geek, the setup of the camera is a lot of fun. Lots of customization options. One annoying thing.You can't use "My Modes" and "Custom WB" since both only work if they are assigned to the FN buttton. Perhaps a firmware update will allow one of them to be assigned to the AF button or they might add it to the super control panel page.

AF is not speedy, but for most of the types of pictures I take, it is certainly usable. My family has been out of town, but I will post next week after I try family shooting with it. I expect it to be fine, since my LX3 was perfectly usable for that, and it is as fast as the LX3.

A great case for just the EP-1+14-42+spare battery can be found here: http://products.lowepro.com/product/Terraclime-50,2114.htm

Now for some pictures:

This picture is exactly why I have been waiting and hoping for something like the EP-1. Nothing fancy, just a 1600ISO shot with very little noise:

This would have looked like a mess on my LX3. Take a look at the full sized shot on my Flickr page. It is very clean.

The 14-42 has a very short minimum focus range:

I am going to have fun with this.

The next two are just two shots I liked:

I like the Pop-Art filter.

Couldn't Focus fast enough, but I really like it, except for that damn red light from the car in front.

All in all, I am very happy with my purchase. It is certainly not going to replace my D700, but I wasn't getting the EP-1 to replace it. I can see I am going to get a lot of use out of it for times when I don't want to carry around a large kit.

Full sized version of the images can be found on my flickr page.

Regards, Michael

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelthek/