It is coming to 2 months since I purchased my PEN E-P1, and to date, I have taken over 1,000 pictures. Here’s sharing my purchase and user experience on the Olympus PEN E-P1.

Purchase Experience

A little background before I begin. This is my first interchangeable lens digital camera, as well as my first time really playing around with the manual settings of a camera. I previously owned a Nikon Coolpix 5400 prosumer (but I mostly used the auto and scene modes) and a Nikon Coolpix S8 point & shoot. I have always wanted to get myself an entry-level DSLR, but didn’t like the idea of lugging a bulky camera wherever I go. Nevertheless, I started the hunt for my first D-SLR.

Q: What were the other cameras I looked at?

• Nikon D5000
• Canon EOS 500D

Q: Where did I go to read reviews and comparisons?

A great site to go to is dpreview.com. What is good as well is that they provided a detailed review of the PEN E-P1 and compared it to several other cameras, which included the Nikon D5000 and Canon EOS 500D. One thing to note though is that the E-P1 is neither a point & shoot, nor a digital SLR. But at that time, there wasn’t the Panasonic DMC-GF1 to compare with; now you can.

Of course, for me, going to dpreview.com is not enough. I went on to google for comparisons, seek opinions from friends who are into photography, read forums… I have to admit that I went back to dpreview.com and reading every comment I can find on the E-P1 before deciding on my purchase.

Q: Why did I choose the E-P1?

Prices for these 3 models were pretty much similar, so it didn’t really matter much. One clear reason was the size of the E-P1 vs. the other 2 choices. The E-P1 produces fantastic JPEG images and since I hardly ever shoot in Raw, comments on the E-P1 not doing great in Raw format didn’t bother me much. Not having an in-built flash was a concern initially, but because I am not a big fan of using flash, I settled with it. At the end of the day, aesthetically from the design point of view, I was attracted by the E-P1′s retro chic look.

User Experience

Did I regret my purchase? Nope! But, I am sure when I read more on the Panasonic GF1, I’d probably start thinking to myself, “Dang it, I should have waited for the GF1!” Even so, there will be pros and cons when comparing the E-P1 and GF1. Read a preview of GF1 from dpreview.com here. Anyway, I ended up buying the external flash and a Manfrotto 7322YB tripod.

I bring along my E-P1 everywhere I go, which is good (considering that I didn’t carry around the Coolpix 5400 a lot when I had it). The external flash comes in handy on occasions and it is not much trouble to pack it in as well. There were moments where I thought to myself, “This would be a good time to have a viewfinder”, but then again, most point & shoot cameras do not have one these days. Get an extra battery for times you will be out the whole day and end up snapping A LOT! I have no issues with recording of HD videos to date.

Controls: It took me a while to figure out the menu settings, and referring to the user manual does help. But once you customize the various buttons to your preferred function, and also store your own settings, you’ll find it a breeze. It is similar to switching from a Sony Ericsson to Nokia or vice versa, you’ll need to learn the controls. I have yet to store my own settings though.

Image Quality: I am very happy with the images produced by the E-P1 to date. Little or no Photoshop edits required. It does really well for day shots, and also does a good job with night shots even without the flash – but you will need to have very stable hands or use a tripod, and your subjects must try and keep still. E-P1’s image quality at high ISO is comparable to most digital SLR cameras with bigger APS-C sensors.

Auto Focus: I do not think that the slow AF is an issue for me (so far), because it is already faster than the cameras I used to own. Of course, there are moments I hoped it’d be faster. A test was done using the Lumix 14-140mm lens, and the AF speed was indeed faster, so I guess I’ll be saving up for new lens. You can view them here – Olympus 14-42 mm lens and Panasonic 14-140 mm lens.

Art Filter: This is a cool and neat, nice to have feature, but it does takes quite a while for the cam to process and record the image taken. However, I have read that this can be improved by getting a higher class SDHC card.

All these being said, this is just based my experience and feel. At the end of the day, everything depends on your preference, taste, priorities, and choice. : )

My next 2 items to buy, a classic leather case for my E-P1 from aki-asahi.com and better lens for the Oly!

Anyway, here’s sharing some pictures. Feel free to give me tips on how to improve. [svgallery name="pen-review"]