You’re going to see a lot more about this camera here, including a “mini” Head-2-Head featuring this, the Nikon D5000 and the Canon Rebel T1i, but thanks to our buddies at EP Levine here in Boston*, we got a chance to fondle the camera and do some basic comparison tests - granted, not our usual exhaustive analysis, but you’ll see more posted as we get it. 

This, for now though, is our first glimpse… 

It may seem silly, but the camera is bigger than I expected.  Maybe it’s because I had a Pen EE back in the day, but I was expecting something around the size of that, not too far away from my G9.  The E-P1 is somewhere between the G9-G10 range and the D5000 and Rebel Xt.  I guess even we can get fooled by slick promotion photos occasionally. 
 

The lenses, though, are nice and compact.  You actually have three basic choices for lenses- you can use one of the two E-P1 lenses, the Micro Four Thirds Zuiko 17mm f2.8 or the 14mm-42mm f3.5-f5.6. or with the little  MMF-1 (Four Thirds Lens Adapter to Micro Four Thirds Lens Adapter you can use any E-mount Olympus lens.  You also have the option of using other Olympus lenses with the MF-2 OM Adapter or other brand lenses, including Canon and Nikon, with third-party adapters. 

The first thing I noticed when I took the lens off is the sweet little sensor sitting all out there in the open air…  inside the camera, of course, but there’s nothing between the sensor and the great big world.  There is an ultrasonic dust removal feature, yes, but if you get something on the sensor that is a little more persistent it’s going to be a fun job cleaning it.  First, it’s pretty small.  Second, it’s a pretty tight fit in there, so working a sensor swab will be a trick not for the feint of heart or shaky of hand. 

Shooting with the camera underscores the Micro Four-Thirds philosophy immediately, of course.  No viewfinder.  I prefer this, I equate shooting with an on-camera display to be like shooting with my old Hasselblad’s ground glass, except everything is not mirrored- or upside-down like with a 4x5.  I can view the photograph as a composition, rather than an scene through a little viewfinder.

 
This is going to be a big step for some people to get past, and there is a viewfinder adapter available for those on-camera-display-challenged.  Now, granted, it’s only for the pancake lens…  but it’s not too far removed from that vintage Voigtlander viewfinder I see people using on their Canon G10’s.
 

Of course, this is a result of the design of the camera.  By removing the mirror/prism assembly of a typical DSLR, Olympus is removing a huge amount of bulk and complexity.  You have a new class of camera- interchangeable lenses, but no “Single Lens Reflex” assembly.  Compact camera size.  Interesting.  Time will tell if the gamble to forsake the SLR part of DSLR in favor of camera-display viewing and size will be a step photographers are willing to take. 
 

There’s one feature I really liked.  It’s not unique to the E-P1 but it makes settings control a really fast, one-stop button.  Just pushing the OK button on the back gives you this screen- everything you need, on one display.

Naturally, it’s all about the file quality, and we’re crunching the tests now…  come back to check those results.  Olympus has never been stellar with noise and high-ISO, but we’re not saying anything until we see our samples.  Given that it’s a 12mp $700 range product, let’s assume it’s in the ballpark for now…  that said, it certainly has it’s place.  Exactly what that place is, we’re going to have to see.

It certainly is a new way to shoot- an untraditional tool- ironic, really, since Olympus is featuring it as a celebration of tradition- 50 years of Pen cameras.  It’s going to either find a fit with photographers, or it will be yet another curiosity along the history of cameras…  as is, arguably, the old, original, half-frame Olympus Pen series- a long-lived curiosity, but certainly a curiosity none the less...
 

http://www.olympus-global.com/en/corc/history/camera/pen.cfm

*…by the way- contact Mike Bard at EP Levine for details on a special deal for our readers that he mentioned to us while we were there.