noohoggin1
Mu-43 Regular
Registered: May 2012
Location: MN
Posts: 194
|
|
Review Date: Sun June 3, 2012
|
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $300.00
| Rating: 8
|
|
Pros:
|
tiny, light, pocketable with medium/large pockets, good image quality
|
|
Cons:
|
many functions are menu-driven, no viewfinder (can add EVF, however), noise only with high iso (1600 manageable with RAW), no grip
|
|
I'm a Canon DSLR user (5D, 7D), but realized I needed something smaller for casual/street photography while in Vietnam on a recent trip. This is where I finally looked to micro 4/3rds.... I wasn't concerned about outstanding image quality as my first priority--I have it with my DSLRs. My priority was all about size, with at least SOME decent image quality. The E-PM1 was the smallest you can get (at the moment) with a hotshoe, so after I found a great deal on refurbished unit, I jumped on it as my introduction into micro 4/3rds. Same sensor/image quality as its bigger siblings (E-P3 and E-PL3), but in a smaller/cheaper package. The big difference (that even had me concerned) was the lack of external buttons and direct controls. But my concerns were alleviated after I found out that you can somewhat customize your set up to be much more efficient than the factory's default settings (where you have to dig quite a bit more to get at your desired function, wasting time).
I recommmend:
-Enabling the Super Control Panel so that your access to the most important functions are just a click away
-My "video record" button is set as the one-click photo delete button
-my right click on the wheel dial is my direct ISO access
Really, after spending a day with this, it's so quick and easy to access controls (often in two clicks only) that I don't miss external extra buttons at all.
I pimped my E-PM1 out with a Asahi lizard skin and a Flipbac G4 grip. Also added a Gordy's wrist strap. Now it looks like a mini-pro camera that's easy to hold!
I highly recommend this gem of a deal. Now I don't have an excuse NOT to have a camera with me all the time.
------------------------------
http://TomNguyenStudio.com
Gear: Oly OMD-EM5 and E-PL5. Various lenses.
|
|
larrytxeast
Mu-43 Rookie
Registered: September 2012
Posts: 12
|
|
Review Date: Mon September 24, 2012
|
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $269.00
| Rating: 9
|
|
Pros:
|
Quick, small-light, customizable, hot shoe, 35 AF points, jog dial
|
|
Cons:
|
Need to tweak JPEG settings for best results, flash not built-in, "letterbox" LCD, hard to see active AF point when composing
|
|
I bought this from Cameta with the 14-42mm II R, it was an update to my E-PL1 in September 2012. It arrived on the day the E-PM2 was announced--go figure!
I loved my E-PL1 overall, especially for landscapes, but I had issues at times with how it seemed to want to focus on the background instead of my child when I took shots of my child, even though I was clearly selecting an AF box that was overlaid over my child's face on the LCD. Everyone told me the E-PM1 would do better, and that its autofocus was quicker & more reliable. Its smaller size also appealed to me.
It has done well so far. I'm fixing to nit-pick, but don't let that fool--overall, I love this thing. It certainly autofocuses faster than my E-PL1 did and is far less prone to mistakenly focusing on the background by mistake when taking photos of my child; having 35 AF points vs 11 makes it easier to deal with, and having a "jog dial" that works a lot like the "click wheel" you see on more advanced Canon DSLRs (7D etc) is nice. It is MUCH quicker to change f-stop/shutter speed, active AF point, and other things with that jog dial vs up-down-left-right.
I also like how you can customize it in terms of re-mapping buttons; for instance, I almost never change the flash mode or "drive" mode. I'm able to re-map flash (right arrow) to WB (as the Panasonics do) and down to ISO. I also re-map movie record to "magnify" because I like to use that for (a) manual focusing precision and (b) ability to specify a very small AF point.
As the prior user stated, activate the Super Control Panel (SCP)--speaking of which, I like how you can use the jog dial for scrolling through the options for each parameter rather than having to press OK again & use the arrow keys (and OK again).
My main gripe about the camera is that the out-of-box settings are not ideal. Most important, the JPEG processing out-of-box isn't ideal. Turn down sharpening to -1, do so both in the SCP and in the Picture Controls in the menus. Within the menus, once you've selected "custom" & specified the -1 sharpening, you than have to re-select "Custom" with OK from the initial Picture Controls menu before it will "register." (Near the right during live-view the LCD should now say "C" vs "3."
Also, you will want to activate the advanced menus which are disabled out-of box (I forget where you do that). From there, you will want to turn the noise filter (tab G) from "standard" to either "low" or "off." Also, out of box the jog dial goes UP in the menus when you rotate it clock-wise, which is backwards to me, change that as well.
Also, you may want to activate "Quick Erase" which will allow you to quickly delete an image in playback simply by pressing the "red dot" button, since there is no dedicated trash-can button; be careful, though, it deletes it immediately without asking. Also change the jog dial behavior during playback; by default, scroll navigates the images, left-right zooms in-out. I find the reverse behavior more logical.
Also, the 3" LCD wastes quite a bit of space on the sides because the screen isn't 4:3 (as the images are usually) so you lose quite a bit of space. Also, as the flash is no longer built-in, you have to remember to pack it in your case, and hope you don't lose it. However, I rarely use flash myself (I mostly do landscapes with mine). I do appreciate the hot-shoe, too, as I like to use a hot-shoe "spirit level" (again, landscapes).
While I appreciate having a non-cluttered viewing experience, I wish the active AF point was highlighted clearly, not with that faint black outline, when viewing--it's hard to see. When you view in "magnify" mode, then it's much more obvious--but then, you have to press OK to exit that before you can then press OK to access the SCP or many of the other hot buttons to change any of those settings--then re-enter "magnify" mode. Fortunately, you can still change f-stop/shutter speed with the jog dial without having to exit "magnify" mode.
I wish they would make OFF/ON a sliding switch like Panasonic. I also wish IBIS off/on was mappable to a button, since many people recommend turning it off when you don't need it. Also, the camera needs a grip, I've ordered the G2 from "flipbac," but it sure takes a while to get here.
If it sounds like I'm nit-picking--well, I am. But it's still a good improvement vs my E-PL1--using the jog dial to change f-stops/shutter speeds and exposure compensation is much better than only having up-down-left-right for that. I get to have hot buttons for ISO and WB. And here's the thing--how great is it that you can get this level of quality, a 2x crop sensor no less, in such a small package? The advantage of that cannot be overstated. It has transformed my shooting, landscape shooting especially. While a DSLR is still best, compared to typical APS-C DSLRs, these little guys come awful close, and they're always with you.
As with my E-PL1, once you get the JPEG settings good to go, you really don't need RAW as much, unless you want a RAW file just in case to fall back on. Out of camera, the JPEGs look great, and it really is great to be spared much of that "grunt work" from RAW processing.
All in all, it's a good camera. Good times are here for those of us who like to take nice photos but without using a chintzy camera phone or Powershot/Cybershot.
|
|
ibbbo
Mu-43 Rookie
Registered: February 2013
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
Posts: 13
|
|
Review Date: Fri March 1, 2013
|
Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $279.00
| Rating: 8
|
|
Pros:
|
Light, but not too many, compact, metal body, very customizable, fast AF in most of the time, good response time
|
|
Cons:
|
No built in ViewFinder ( you can buy, but it's the same price almost...,), no grip, almost all settings're in the menu
|
|
Hi! I purchased the product before a month ago. I can say that it surprises me good. I had Sony HX-1, so this is my first camera with interchangeable lenses. I bought it mainly of compact design, and fast response. I wanted something easy to bring, and not too heavy like a standart DSLR. First time is hard to customize it, and make it work the way you want, but after that is almost a pleasure to take a shoots :) The menu is a little hard for use and the most settings are in it, but you can bring it out and show it at the screen with one button! Than you can access the most important settings such as brightness, contrast, iso, WB, sharpness, colour and etc... The other thing, that I didn't like the first time, is that some settings, that of my opinion is worse to be activated, are activated by default - such as warming WB, noise reduction, noise filter.... But after some reading in internet I fix all this problems, and is really a pleasure to work with this camera. As I said - it responses quickly, the AF focus is very fast,when you add your own grip it becomes very comfortable :) The kit lenses is surprisely good at all. So for begginer, like me, is excellent, and for advanced user of course I guess. There's a lot of adapters in the internet, so almost every kind of lenses can be used with this camera.
I reccommend it!!! 
|
|
Micro Four Thirds User Forum
