Quick thoughts on the E-P2

I never really did any kind of official review on past cameras I’ve owned, and I don’t think I’ll start now. For actual (bordering on scientific) reviews on any camera, I would suggest you point your browser to DPreview which usually dishes out more info than I’d care to digest on any given camera or lens.

But having said that, I’d like to share my thoughts on the Olympus E-P2 now that I’ve had a few weeks to play around with it and I’ve had the chance to try out almost all the features I figured I’d need from the camera. This is just a quick and dirty list of my likes and dislikes, so think of it what you will.

Likes:

• In-body image stabilization. This takes out one of the dilemma I faced when I was using Nikon – should I invest in the fast lens or settle for VR? Or do I need to upgrade to the new lens version with VR? And so on and so forth. Now I can have my cake and eat it too.
• Auto white balance. Prior to the E-P2, my past DSLR-level cameras were the Nikon D80 and then the D700. Both were fantastic cameras for sure, but sometimes they struggle to get the auto white balance (AWB) right, especially under fluorescent lighting. It might just be a placebo effect on my part, but I haven’t yet found myself having to change the WB setting to date unless I’m aiming for a particularly warm or cool look to my images.
• Superb JPEG output. This is probably like beating a dead horse, what with most reviews saying the same. But just to share my experience, I’ve only really had to use RAW when I was playing around with an IR filter.
• ADAPTABILITY! A major surprise (in a good sense) to me when I bought the E-P2 was its adaptability with other lens mounts which opens up a whole plethora of lens choices. Yes, limited to manual focus (MF) it may be, but that’s the next plus point!
• Easy manual focus. It’s obvious that the E-P2 has no optical viewfinder (OVF) and relies on an electronic viewfinder (EVF) instead or the back screen to help you in manual focusing. But that’s why it’s so good. The EVF/back screen can brighten or dim the image to simulate the exposure (similar to what prosumer bridge cameras do these days). And it can zoom in to an area if you need to ensure a spot-on focus. In comparison, the D80 had a hopelessly dim OVF for manual focusing unless you got a really fast lens, and the D700’s bright full-frame OVF can’t really match up to the added functionality of the E-P2’s EVF.
• Auto exposure metering with MF lenses. Despite no electrical contact from lens to body when it comes to most MF lenses, the camera can still calculate what shutter speed to use. Sometimes it’s a bit off, but then you can just dial in some exposure compensation.
• Portability. I’ve had the ‘pleasure’ of lugging around my D700 and a few lenses on trips across Europe. I can feel my back and shoulders start to ache every time I think back to it. On the other hand, I’ve bought a smallish bag for my E-P2 and I barely feel its weight as I carry it around with me everywhere I go these days.

Dislikes:

• Menu system. The menu sucks. End of story.
• Not enough dials. Coming from Nikon DSLRs, I miss the feel of Nikon’s front and back dials. Olympus’s solution isn’t half bad, but I find myself still yearning for Nikon’s control system at times.
• Kit lens’ focus by wire. The 17mm f/2.8 kit lens is the first “focus by wire” lens I’ve owned, look it up on the net if you don’t know what it means. Suffice to say, I don’t like it. It needs way too many twists just to adjust focus a little bit.
• Cramped buttons. It’s a necessary evil if you want to limit the need to enter the menu just to change some quick settings. Between the labyrinthine menu and the cramped buttons, I’ll take the buttons but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. There’s been too many annoying accidental-press occasions.
• No IS in movie mode. A minor gripe on my part since I don’t do movies often. To date, if you want image stabilization in movie-mode, it’s best you go for one of those Panasonic mFT lenses with built-in image stabilization.
• Few options for wide-angle lenses. Micro four-thirds is great for telephoto shots due to its 2x crop factor. A 300mm lens effectively has a field of view similar to a 600mm lens. On the other hand, this also means what would’ve been a wide-angle 25mm lens, for instance, will behave more like a standard 50mm lens. So the options for wide-angle lenses becomes very limited on the mFT system and your only real option now if you want to have ultra wide-angle images is to go for Panasonic’s 7-14mm zoom or the 9-18mm zoom offered by Olympus.
• It’s either the flash or the EVF. While pop-up flash are not really much use in brightening a room, they do have their uses as fill-flash on a pinch. The way the E-P2 was designed, if I wanted to use flash then I can’t use the EVF, and vice versa. I foresee a bright day where I need to use the EVF because the LCD screen is washed out, and at the same time I need to use flash to lighten up the shadows on my subject caused by the bright sunlight.
• Sensor performance. Coming from a D700, I’m so used to shooting at ISO 3200 or even 6400 and not have to worry about noise. Now I limit myself to ISO 800 but try not to go past 400 on most occasions. It’s a bit unfair comparing a full frame sensor vs. a mFT sensor, of course. It does perform marginally better than what I remember my D80 was capable of though.

That’s about all I can sum up based on my experiences so far. I’ll probably share a bit more as I get to know the E-P2 better. I realize as I typed this that there seems to be a lot of dislikes, but when all is said and done, I’m very happy with the camera and the reason is that I’ve already expected most of those issues from reading the reviews so it falls within my expectations when I got the E-P2. But I also find myself eagerly waiting to see Olympus come out with the next generation and what improvements it will bring with it. Plus I think I ‘need’ a second body. You know, for backup. Yeah.