Old Dog Photography

The wait is over…

Olympus finally announced the little gadget that has been leaking all over the internet the past few days, a digital homage to the old Pen-F camera. I’m a bit iffy on some of the stylistic choices (the whole white camera thing seems like an invitation to scruffy looking gear), but like a whole lot about this camera. Namely…

• The Micro Four-Thirds lens mount allows for a much smaller body without loss of image quality (but you do have to give up the optical view finder).
• It’s good to see an Olympus digital SLR (essentially) with video — you can take better stills (vs. a point-and-shoot) and video with one “thing” in your pocket.
• It’s really good to see Olympus finally drop xD cards and switch to SDHC.

Given it’s the size of a point-and shoot and does what an E-30 can (and then some), quite an impressive little package! A number of variants (painted / not, salmon / tan / black trim, lens choice) of E-P1 are now available for pre-order on Amazon (ship in July). Personally, I’m going to wait for prices to settle a bit before I seriously have to think about buying one in brushed stainless.

For more info on E-P1 specs and historical background of the Olympus Pen camera series, you might want to check out these links:

• 1001 Noisy Cameras — best place to start, lots of links

• Zone 10 — really good historical perspective

• Digital Photography Review has a full hands-on review

• Four Thirds Photo also goes into depth