Now charging the battery and reading the manual. It's almost 11:00PM here and am too tired to play... Not sure what to say about the build quality.. "borderline solid" -- in a way. Anyway -- I think I will get used to it. In any case I ordered it as a simple digital back for my macro lenses that would be capable of producing some high-quality exposures -- and it qualifies on that criteria very well. If it lasts me two years I'm happy. One thing though -- what's that loud noise everytime I trip the shutter? Can that not be turned off? Geez, I had just started rejoicing that I am finally liberated from mirror slap? I'm planning to get the Kirk PZ-130 arca-style body plate -- am curious if anyone around here uses it?
Hmm, I guess the sound reminds me of my old OM-1 a bit so it makes me smile. My first impression visually of the E-PL1 - having come from the E-P2 - was that I didn't love the way it looked, but as in most relationships looks soon pale in comparison to experiences day in and day out. I hope you'll find the same holds true for you, if not I'm sure you'll be able to find a happy buyer. You might want to start a new thread in the Accessories forum regarding the body plate where more eyes will see it. Looking forward to hearing more from you, naturecloseups and seeing some shots, too.
I just put the Kirk plate on mine (which I just got on friday!). Like the GF1, it fits perfectly (there are 3 slots build into the plate so that it doesn't affect use of the battery/card door). edit: On the subject of 'mirror slap' it is only the shutter in the case of m4/3, but is something that will be around for at least a few years (from what I understand at least Panasonic is working on it). Given your stated 2 years of expected usage, that will likely be good timing!
I had the same feelings after using the e-pl1, loud shutter noise and unimpressed by build quality. However everything works quite well and the thing I'm enjoying the most coming from an e-330 is the weak anti-aliasing filter. I took some close up of my kids and their eyelashes were as sharp as I never seen them before. Jpeg is great but I tend to shoot raw+jpeg anyway. The camera seem to have an underpowered CPU so anything that requires processing takes time even with a super fast SD card (class 10).
I am green... I had hoped to be charging batteries this afternoon so I too could play this evening but the universe is conspiring hope to have things to comment on tomorrow evening...
Thanks for the responses everyone. I just ordered the Kirk PZ-130, thanks pxpaulx for the input. Woke up this morning and held it in my hand -- it didn't feel as plasticky as it did last night. I think it's actually the bundled lens that's kind of.. um.. "too light". The rest of the camera feels (just) OK. I also ordered an RJ Camera Nikon F --> m4/3 adapter. The Nikon 602.8 AFD Micro and Tokina 90/2.5 ATX Macro are the ones I'm going to try first. I already have the Canon FD --> m4/3 adapter attached to my 200/4 FD Macro, using that lens should be fun because of the tripod collar. Can't wait for the weekend! BBW, I'll definitely keep you all posted!
Quick question re legacy lenses on E-PL1 It is as easy as attaching the lens via adapter and strating to shoot -- is that correct? I mean -- my friend's G1 has a setting "Shoot w/o lens" that must be enabled first, but there's no such setting on the PENs right?
