I received an Olympus E-PL1 yesterday along with the new 14-42mm kit lens, and a Panasonic 14-45mm for comparison. These are first impressions. Neither Lightroom nor Lightzone support its RAWs yet. I'll skip over points you can read on most full reviews.
Significantly cheaper than its big brothers E-P1 and E-P2 and the competing MFT from Panasonic, I was convinced there's nothing in the others which would justify their price. E-Px have slightly better stabilization (4 vs 3 stops) and there are some other minor differences. In return you get a built-in flash with the E-PL1. Panasonic doesn't have in-body stabilization so that was off of my shortlist for a compact camerea with interchangeable lenses.
The small form factor is perfect for me as I bought it for motorcycle trips. Like other identically sized PENs it won't fit in your pocket unless it's a large jacket and you use one of the pancake lenses. So you need a small carry case or at least a wrist strap. The grip is more pronounced than on the earlier PENs so you can hold on to it better. The form factor and lack of a viewfinder makes you look like just another tourist - this can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on if you want to blend in or look like a serious pro The camera feels very solid, no creaks, and it feels like a real camera in your hand. The battery charger is small and light, and has a very short 15cm cord which is perfect for travel.
The PEN UI has received praise, and rightly so. E-PL1 has a ridiculously loaded feature set, better than most prosumer Canons. There are numerous features to help upgraders from compacts, but it does A/S/M modes very well for those who're used to manual controls. The lenses I have work with AF, or you can just grab the focusing ring at any time and do it yourself - and it even zooms in for you automatically to aid focusing on the LCD if you set the option! It does 720p video which looks gorgeous, but audio is mono although you can attach an external mic.
Bulb mode goes up to thirty minutes and you can set it up to 60 seconds without needing a remote. You can bracket not only exposures (3 brackets), but white balance, ISO and flash! I wonder who's the first one to put them all behind one button, taking all the 64 possible combinations in one go for mother-of-all-brackets...
And I'm sure Michael is thrilled to hear there's a built-in mirror-lockup feature which is permanent
The only thing I'm missing is auto-rotation and full RGB histogram in live view. RGB histogram is available only while reviewing photos so you can still rescue most cases if only one channel is blown - given the limitations of in-camera histograms.
I really like kit lens for its collapsible design and low weight. Nevertheless I ordered the Panasonic 14-45mm as
DPReview's lens comparison suggested significant IQ improvement with it, even though their tests are done with different camera bodies. I was pleasantly surprised to see a thick canvas lens pouch and lens hood coming with the Panasonic lens, while the Olympus kit doesn't have either.
I put the E-PL1 on a tripod and shot at three focal lengths and 6 apertures. They all confirmed DPReview's findings: the Olympus kit lens has much poorer sharpness across the board, especially at the edges. The Panasonic is also quite a bit faster with AF which surprised me. Build quality for both lenses is very good, although the Oly is lighter due to more plastics used, and more compact.
Hopefully there will be a better selection of MFT primes, as at the moment there are just two (17mm Oly and 20mm Panny). There's an expensive wide angle Panasonic, and a wide angle Olympus lens is coming out in a month or so. There are also a few other zooms, and one can fit a wide variety of lenses with adapters - they are generally quite large and can result in
rather amusing combinations.
JPEG picture quality promises excellent RAWs. They are clean and very sharp (not overly so) with default settings and the panny lens. I did a quick walk-around the city during lunch and took some shots. Attached a Lightzone processed full-res
heavily cropped sample image taken with the Panasonic 14-45mm; 24mm (48mm FF equivalent), f/5.6, 1/60th, ISO 100, handheld, Image Stabilization on. Hopefully a proper RAW converter comes out soon - the camera comes with a CD for Olympus's own software which I haven't tried.
I'm very satisfied with the PEN. Despite its relatively low price it is built and feels like a premium product, and even overdelivers with its fully loaded feature set. If you want to squeeze everything out of the package, forgo the kit lens and get the Panasonic equivalent which works beautifully with the Olympus.
The format seems to be off to a good start with frequent camera body updates, and I feel confident in jumping in. The sensor is already "there" with quality, and lens selection is getting better. It's a good camera for someone like me who balks at the IQ of even the best true compacts, but who doesn't want to deal with the bulk and weight of a prosumer crop sensor dSLR, let alone their FF counterparts.
edit:
Two new RAWs converted with Lightzone 3.9. Both handheld, IS on.
First one is an ice carving artist, the 13x19" print looks quite good. Panasonic 14-45mm lens at 45mm, 1/125 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100.
The second is street performers. This one shows pretty severe magenta shift on the lady's white dress on her midsection. This is visible in the JPEG as well. What could be the reason - could it be moire? Panasonic 14-45mm lens at 45mm, 1/200 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100.
I'm unfamiliar with LZ and I oversharpened them a bit, otherwise very minor tweaks - toned down the shadows on the ice carver, added some contrast to highlights on the street performers. Grey balance from neutral tones in the photos.