Bigger or smaller. A real user report of the EP1.
It seems that everybody is going bigger nowadays. With the Sony A7 and the A7r announced, FF sensor is the in thing now. As for me, I went the other way. I went and look for M43 bodies. Yes sensor is smaller. But the bodies are cheaper as well! To whet your appetite, I got 2 bodies. An Ep1 and an Ep2. I have yet to play with the Ep2 but after spending the some time with it today, I like it!
Reviews and Pics of the camera can be found here. These are done by paid professional so I would not delve too deeply on it.
The test shot above was taken indoors, under fluorescent lighting. It was taken at 42mm and I think at MFD. Wonderful isn't it. Bear in mind that this was shot using a kit lens. But no matter to me. I now know that if I want some separation between subjects and background, this lens can do it.
The Feel
Oh man! Its metal. Its smooth, its hard, its rough where it needs to be. In other words, the hand feels comfortable holding it. My pinkie has a home and my thumb was caught stroking the back when I was not looking. Yes, its comfortable. It has some weight on it and and you know you are carrying something that can cause serious damage to another person, if you need it to be. More like a swiss knife, not there, unobtrusive but there if you need it.
The User Interface
Coming from an almost exclusively Sony upbringing, I find the menu confusing. Some of the icons are unfamiliar to me. I had spent almost 4 hours trying to figure out how to shoot RAW + Jpeg and how to fix the focussing point. I could have read the manual but, that won't be cool.
Efficiency
Once I had the fundamentals locked down, it get better every time I press the shutter. Bear in mind that this is the initial model. Once you lock focus and press shutter, the lcd will black out and reappear to show what you have taken. It's not as fast as I would like, but seriously, it does add to the excitement. The extra milliseconds you have to wait, makes you wanting to see your picture and analyse the picture more. You look at everything in that review. You look at composition, you look at colors and you look at that stupid guy in the black t-shirt who ruin the shot! Yup, it may not have as many dots as the latest camera, but you can notice all these. Maybe, a lack of a viewfinder could have cause one to be more trigger happy than one should.
Details
Smaller sensor, less details. Yes of course. It is physics. But sociologically, when is how much details is not enough? That is when one require the will to either run with the crowd or "be a man". (Russel Peters) One could be as proud as Adam holding the prawn that he caught which, in a few hours time would help to feed a family when one view the picture below. I think that that is enough details.
Again, bear in mind that this is taken using a kit lens, not a carl zeiss or leica or even a nikon prime. This is taken using a 14-42mm kit lens that comes with the camera. And also bear in mind that this is the EP1, not the OM-D 5 or 1 or whatever number that is the latest.
Colors
I read that the Ep1 would correct the shots no matter what mode you shoot in. Thus, in Jpeg and Raw, any distortion would be corrected. See the straight lines on the hole in the wall that leads into the kitches, are they not straight? Would one have a problem seeing that they are straight? I think NOT. Let it be that the EP1 correct the distortion unlike the big Canons and Nikons and whoever else. I think, for an end user, this is fantastic. You can shoot in Raw and have more control about the final image, yet have 1 less thing to worry about. Like I always say, there are more serious things to worry about.
Artfully Filter
I have never been so eager in using the filters in the camera. I think that that takes away the essence of making a picture. Pictures should be real, not realistic, it should be romanticised, not being romantic. That has been my stand, and I think it will always be. But then came Adam. He took the camera and shot off a few. And one of the few is shown below.
For the life of me, that is, until he wakes up tomorrow, I have no idea what he did. All I know was that he captured the day beautifully. It was a dreary day. But we have to move on. The pictures looks like one would dream off when one suffers the bite of the melacholic bug. Its just beautiful. Thus, in essence, this picture perfectly sums up what I have long since took to be true. Its not what you have, its what you make do with what you have.
There are many prawns in the ocean, not all prawns are great to be eaten. Each have its own variances. Just like camera gears. They are basically the same things. Just a little variances here and there. I like this EP1. If the AF could be faster, it will be better. If it has a viewfinder, it will be better. But it does not and will never have. But without it, shots of Adam and my family would not be possible at that moment, at that time. This is a piece of capable equiptment.
And whats makes it sweeter, the camera, not the shrimps, is that I bought the camera at SGD$80. Happy Shrimping..
Slim.
It seems that everybody is going bigger nowadays. With the Sony A7 and the A7r announced, FF sensor is the in thing now. As for me, I went the other way. I went and look for M43 bodies. Yes sensor is smaller. But the bodies are cheaper as well! To whet your appetite, I got 2 bodies. An Ep1 and an Ep2. I have yet to play with the Ep2 but after spending the some time with it today, I like it!
Reviews and Pics of the camera can be found here. These are done by paid professional so I would not delve too deeply on it.
 |
| Test shot, Red Ball |
The Feel
Oh man! Its metal. Its smooth, its hard, its rough where it needs to be. In other words, the hand feels comfortable holding it. My pinkie has a home and my thumb was caught stroking the back when I was not looking. Yes, its comfortable. It has some weight on it and and you know you are carrying something that can cause serious damage to another person, if you need it to be. More like a swiss knife, not there, unobtrusive but there if you need it.
The User Interface
Coming from an almost exclusively Sony upbringing, I find the menu confusing. Some of the icons are unfamiliar to me. I had spent almost 4 hours trying to figure out how to shoot RAW + Jpeg and how to fix the focussing point. I could have read the manual but, that won't be cool.
 |
| Test shot, Prawning |
Once I had the fundamentals locked down, it get better every time I press the shutter. Bear in mind that this is the initial model. Once you lock focus and press shutter, the lcd will black out and reappear to show what you have taken. It's not as fast as I would like, but seriously, it does add to the excitement. The extra milliseconds you have to wait, makes you wanting to see your picture and analyse the picture more. You look at everything in that review. You look at composition, you look at colors and you look at that stupid guy in the black t-shirt who ruin the shot! Yup, it may not have as many dots as the latest camera, but you can notice all these. Maybe, a lack of a viewfinder could have cause one to be more trigger happy than one should.
 |
| Test shot, I caught a Prawn |
Smaller sensor, less details. Yes of course. It is physics. But sociologically, when is how much details is not enough? That is when one require the will to either run with the crowd or "be a man". (Russel Peters) One could be as proud as Adam holding the prawn that he caught which, in a few hours time would help to feed a family when one view the picture below. I think that that is enough details.
 |
| Test Shot, Details. Dehooking a worm. |
Again, bear in mind that this is taken using a kit lens, not a carl zeiss or leica or even a nikon prime. This is taken using a 14-42mm kit lens that comes with the camera. And also bear in mind that this is the EP1, not the OM-D 5 or 1 or whatever number that is the latest.
 |
| Test shot, Colors and Distortion |
Colors
I read that the Ep1 would correct the shots no matter what mode you shoot in. Thus, in Jpeg and Raw, any distortion would be corrected. See the straight lines on the hole in the wall that leads into the kitches, are they not straight? Would one have a problem seeing that they are straight? I think NOT. Let it be that the EP1 correct the distortion unlike the big Canons and Nikons and whoever else. I think, for an end user, this is fantastic. You can shoot in Raw and have more control about the final image, yet have 1 less thing to worry about. Like I always say, there are more serious things to worry about.
Artfully Filter
I have never been so eager in using the filters in the camera. I think that that takes away the essence of making a picture. Pictures should be real, not realistic, it should be romanticised, not being romantic. That has been my stand, and I think it will always be. But then came Adam. He took the camera and shot off a few. And one of the few is shown below.
 |
| Test Shot, Art Filter |
There are many prawns in the ocean, not all prawns are great to be eaten. Each have its own variances. Just like camera gears. They are basically the same things. Just a little variances here and there. I like this EP1. If the AF could be faster, it will be better. If it has a viewfinder, it will be better. But it does not and will never have. But without it, shots of Adam and my family would not be possible at that moment, at that time. This is a piece of capable equiptment.
And whats makes it sweeter, the camera, not the shrimps, is that I bought the camera at SGD$80. Happy Shrimping..
Slim.
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