Olympus PEN E-P1: "Micro Four Thirds System" Retrolicious SLR goodness in a compact point and shoot body
The first Micro Four Thirds camera from Olympus, the E-P1 ($750-$900) offers compact, retro style with DSLR-like image quality and HD video recording with "depth of field and Art Filter effects familiar from still photography." The 12.3-megapixel interchangeable lens camera features in-body image stabilization, a 3-inch HyperCrystal LCD with Live View function, a dust reduction system, and compatibility with a selection of interchangeable lenses. Key features (from dpreview.com) The E-P1 is, essentially, an Olympus E-620 (and by extension an E-30 in most respects) crowbarred into a compact, rangefinder-style body. Aside from the changes necessitated by the removal of the mirror and optical viewfinder - and a slight firmware upgrade (for new live view features, improved image processing) it is as fully fledged as any mid-range SLR. This is quite an achievement. Interestingly Olympus hasn't just popped the sensor from the E-30 into a smaller body; they've been working hard under the hood too, and the 12.3 MP sensor has had a bit of an upgrade to increase resolution and sharpness - plus a few fixes that show they've been listening to reviewers and users (such as adding the option to apply Art Filters to raw files in-camera). The image quality boost been achieved by the use of a lighter low pass filter and a powerful new processor (the TruePic V), which offers better moiré removal and improved high ISO performance - plus of course the ability to capture HD movie clips. Otherwise the key feature list is pretty similar to Olympus's latest DLSR offerings.
Olympus PEN E-P1
