Which micro 4/3rds?

I'm leaning toward PEN 2. Who owns, uses, or knows about the Olympus and Panasonic hybrids? Enlighten me, please.

I use a Panasonic G1. I got it as it has a good viewfinder and that is important to me. I also like its folding LCD, I have always liked using waist level viewfinders. I use it for a specific use. B+W street work and some casual stuff. I can print large enough (16X20) up to 800 ISO (I have not gone above that yet) if I ADD some grain/noise. It was discontinued and a great great price to boot.

The kit lens 14-45 is very responsive and is my favorite. I also have the 20 (which I bought in a GF-1 kit as I got the kit with extra battery/charger, backup body for not much more than a lens and battery would cost me [that is my justification and I am sticking to it]). That lens is a great focal length for me. It does focus slower though.

I also have some old (junky) lenses kicking around here from film days and some work well enough but not as good as the Panasonic lenses. The 35 summicron is Ok the 90 tele-elmarit is quite soft until 5.6. The 35 will be a good portrait lens but that is not the main use for the camera. Manual focus is great with this camera.


I am not so crazy about the GF-1. It just does not operate as smoothly for me. I may just be more used to the G1. The GF-1 is a fair bit smaller so it will have it's uses with the 20 and 35.

Don't know about the Olympus but if the image stabilization works then that may be nice for legacy equipment. I certainly would not buy Leica lenses to use on these camera, they just are not a good match to get the best from the lenses but if you already have them that would be a consideration.

I like my EP-2 a lot, with the EVF and my canon FD converter. I am sad that I need to add to my Canon EF lens collection and have to sell it all. =(

The new small Sony system is interesting too.

Pen 1L seems to have the best IQ and the lowest price for the kit zoom lens combo.
User interface is very much like a point and shoot though.
Not sure if there is any difference between the Pen 1 and 2 in IQ.
Btwn the GF1 and the Pens, I recall in RAW no real difference but Oly has better JPEG processing if you are gonna shoot in RAW.
But Panny's AF faster though.

I have an E-P1. Some differences between Panasonic and Oly are:

Pen has in body IS. Panny doesn't, but their lenses have IS. Panny lenses are generally bigger as a result.

Panny has a flash. The E-P2 does not, although the E-PL1 does. The E-PL1 does not have two wheel control though, it's has buttons like a point and shoot as mentioned above. And E-PL1 has one stop lower max shutter speed, 1/2000 i think.

Panny has quicker AF. Oly AF is a bit slower, but the gap has definitely narrowed with the latest Oly firmware upgrade. To me it's a non-issue, I don't expect dslr AF speed from these cameras.

Panny has AF assist light, Oly does not.

Oly EVF is supposedly better, I've never tried either.

Oly high ISO and jpeg output are supposedly better. I find ISO 3200 is usable on the E-P1, and I like the jpeg output.

At the end of the day I like the Pen because of the in body IS - I use this system because it's smaller, so I want smaller lenses, which in body IS allows. The IS is also great if you want to use manual lenses, the Voigtlander 50/1.5 is like a 100/1.5 with IS on the Pen. I also like the high ISO performance, and the AF hasn't been an issue for me, even in low light.

Good luck, I think m43 is a nice format.

Thanks, dfatty. I like that I can get a converter and use my rather nice collection of FD lenses, as well. It would be nice to have an effective 100mm f1.4, or a 200-600!

I read at The Online Photographer that the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 is pretty good, too, and fits the Oly.

I tried both the E-P1 and the E-PL1 at the shop. I like the feel of the "squarer" PL1.

Prefer a real DSLR though and love my E-420 - so it's hard to justify paying more for a m-4/3 system and yet another lens format.

FD lenses with in body IS sounds fun. I have the 20mm and it's a nice lens (I read TOP too). I like the Oly 17mm (it looks more proportional because it's a smaller diameter) but the extra 1.5 stops of the 20mm is nice. Oly just released a 9-18mm that I've seen some very good informal reviews for.

A lot of people like the GF1 and I'm sure that's a good camera as well. The way I look at it you can't go wrong either way, as long as you set your expectations right and don't expect it to have AF as good as a DSLR. The new Sonys are another option, but I'm not sure the user interface is good for people who want to manually adjust settings, as TOP notes it seems to be made more for point and shooters.

FWIW, Costco has the E-P1 kit for $499. While it would be nice to have EVF capability, to me the EVF of the E-P2 is so big that it kind of defeats the small size idea.

Just wanted to add that you should try one in a brick and mortar store if you can. The Pens are small but they're not tiny, they're somewhat similar in size to the G series. There's currently a discussion on rangefinder forum about the Pen being too big for some folks. I can fit the Pen with the 20mm in a cargo pocket so it's fine for me.

Mosca wrote in post #10224051
Thanks, dfatty. I like that I can get a converter and use my rather nice collection of FD lenses, as well. It would be nice to have an effective 100mm f1.4, or a 200-600!

I read at The Online Photographer that the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 is pretty good, too, and fits the Oly.

I just ordered an E-P1 after looking around at other options.

I chose Olympus over Panasonic because the PEN's are cuter, and because I don't want/need a flash on this sort of camera. In every other respect, I'd say they're about even.

I chose the E-P1 over the E-P2 because I'm not shooting video and none of the other improvements in the E-P2 matter to me. Also because I couldn't justify the extra cost.

E-PL1 didn't rate a mention because it's basically a feature-crippled E-P1, especially in the manual control department.

Hope that helps.

Thanks more! I am definitely planning on trying it out at Dan's Camera in Allentown PA. The prices are close to the online prices, I will most likely just buy it if I like it. About G sized is what I was hoping they would be. As far as lenses, I would go with the 17, and maybe get the Oly 25; that way I'd have effectively a 35, a 50, and my FDs for everything else, waiting for the budget to rebuild before thinking about the 9-18.

I chose the E-PL1 because of the on camera flash and dedicated video button. However, the lack of dedicated buttons is a con. I would have liked to see a dedicated set of buttons for iso, etc. At $550 (Best Buy) its only $100-150 more than a G11.