Olympus PEN-F Micro Four Thirds camera

[grosun]

Wow, looks really nice (though very pricey initially). Kind of like an e-p5 with a built-in viewfinder, a few extra controls plus a slightly-upgraded sensor. I'll be happy with my e-p5 for quite a while, I think, but this will give me slight envy:

The mighty PEN: Hands-on with Olympus PEN-F

 

[fractionMan]

Looks very similar to my fuji xe-1

 

[grosun]

Looks very similar to my fuji xe-1

Yeah, they've clearly noticed that explicitly retro designs are very popular at the moment, & I guess leatherette makes for a nicely grippy camera body. It's a shame there seems to be no grip on the front whatsoever though.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

There's an optional grip apparently.

It does seem to be aiming for the Fuji market, or maybe a slightly more consumerish one. It seems basically like an OM-D with rangefinder styling—specs are pretty much the same from what I can see. Not that that makes a bad camera, but it shows that they're competing there rather than against e.g. the GX8. The style of the Olympus page - PEN-F - PEN - Digital Cameras | Olympus - does seem to bear that out, with lots of stuff about "vintage style" and accessories.

It's had relatively massive publicity, I've seen a dozen-odd reviews and previews and announcements all over the shop without even looking for them. Olympus does have a good PR department.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

for anyone too lazy to click through to any of the articles.

£1,000 as a body-only launch price is expensive even compared to other absurd camera launch prices.

 

[editor]

It looks nice enough - I'd be happy to have one, thanks - but it's quite a chunky thing. It's got some nice features but hard to justify the price.

Olympus dives into 60s cool to update the PEN-F snapper into a camera for now people!

 

[editor]

Summary of reviews:

Robin Wong : “Finding out that the image quality produced by the PEN-F is only slightly better than E-M10 Mark II on the whole basically toned down the level of excitement I was in when I was reviewing the camera.
The PEN-F has done so many things right such as the super fast AF and built in large and sharp EVF. This is the kind of camera that is made to lust for: beautiful design blended with great functions and shooting capabilities.”

Dpreview: “We do think that at the point of launch, the PEN-F is priced rather high. Ultimately, despite some concerns, the PEN-F is a nicely made, beautiful camera with some fun and unique features that’s a pleasure to use. ”

CameraLabs: “I remember the previous PEN flagship, the EP5 also coming-in at an ambitiously high price point and it would seem the PEN F is following the same strategy. It’s undoubtedly a nice camera to look at and to use too, but I feel the price is too high for the specification compared to rivals, including alternatives within the Olympus range.”

Mirrorlessons: “Think about the OM-D E-M5 mark II and you have a pretty good idea about how powerful this new camera will be. The company plans to give the camera a long lifespan with relevant firmware updates, something they already started doing with the E-M1 and E-M5 mark II.”

Ming Thein: “it is clearly targeted at the social media crowd, from the design to the huge number of in-camera processing options.”

Cameras.reviewed: “The Olympus OM-D E-M5 II and Panasonic Lumix GX8 both are similar to the PEN-F, with a few more features, and cost a bit less money. The GX8, in particular, is appealing if you’re interested in shooting high-quality 4K video. But in a market where basically every camera is “good enough,” choosing a camera is about more than just the spec sheet. Olympus has always understood this, as Yoshihisa Maitani’s original PEN-F was compact and capable, but a

 

[editor]

I don't think I like it that much. That art filter control on the front would never get used for starters.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I'm not really sure who it's supposed to be _for_. The marketing seems mostly about how cool it is; lots of people have said that the feature set seems biased towards social media users, with filter effects, in camera JPEG editing etc. But a grand's worth of camera is a lot for that when you can get, for example, an OM-D for less. Perhaps they're hoping it will be picked up by "influencers" in the social media photography world who will popularise it?

BTW it looks small in the ads but actually it isn't particularly (for mirrorless anyway). They seem to have used a model with big hands. Size-wise it's between the GX7 and the GX8—people have done overlay pictures.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I've decided that I prefer EVFs in this rangefinder style incidentally so that would be a selling point for me. Maybe I just have a big nose but I find I bump into the screen a lot less with them in that position, which is significant if you've got the touchscreen on.

 

[grosun]

I don't think I like it that much. That art filter control on the front would never get used for starters.

Yeah, having a dedicated control for something I'd never make use of, which (unusually for Olympus) can't be reconfigured to do something more useful would be pretty irritating, particularly given that it looks as though it might get in the way of the right hand.

 

[grosun]

BTW it looks small in the ads but actually it isn't particularly (for mirrorless anyway). They seem to have used a model with big hands. Size-wise it's between the GX7 and the GX8—people have done overlay pictures.

looks to be pretty similar in size to the GX7 from this Compact Camera Meter and that site's pretty accurate in my experience.

Yeah, the marketing pitch seems pretty odd, given the price of the thing. Surely there can't be that many casual users with huge wads of money burning holes in their pockets. Tbh it's mostly the art control filter which is annoying, as the rest of it could be written off as just promotional fluff on top of a basically competent camera, but to have that end-user image infect the functionality is offputting to me. A shame, as I agree about preferring to have the viewfinder offset, & I prefer Olympus bodies to Panasonic for a variety of reasons; mostly IBIS, ability to customise to a ridiculous degree, and if i'm honest a certain amount of emotional attachment thanks to loving my old OM film camera for a long time.

 

[Pingu]

got my sister one of these for christmas and shes loving it. she wanted something inbetween a "noob" camera and a ful on DSLR and this, apparently, fits the bill perfectly

 

[editor]

I'm still not convinced but Dpreview are feeling the love:

The PEN F takes the line a step forward: by further refining the design, both in terms of materials/construction and the addition of a built-in viewfinder. In short, the PEN F is a very capable camera jam-packed with features and tools to help shooters realize their vision. It offers impressive image quality, some of the best image stabilization available, acceptable video quality, direct controls and ample customization, all in one incredibly-handsome digital camera.
Of course if you care more about specs and abilities, and less about design, there are more technically capable cameras available for the money.

History Repeating: Olympus PEN-F Review

 

[Pingu]

my sister is starting to feel the effects of the compromise although she is still quite happy with the olympus.

we went to take some pics of the liverpool waterfront over the weekend and she found herself changing lenses a fair bit between the "pancake" one and the 150mm zoom. its a bit of an unfair comparison tbh but the difference between teh quality of teh images from my 40d and 5d compared to the olympus were quite stark.

having said this though she was carrying MUCH less kit than i was although it doesn't bother me as i just use a backpack. I think as a travel camera it has a lot to offer over a compact but if yo are looking for something "serious" then its too much of a compromise

 

[Pingu]

the camera group i belong to had an evening on Yns Mon hosted by olympus this week. tbf there are some stunning shots coming out of it. having said this there are some seriously good photographers involved too so they could probably get a decent shot using a box brownie

 

[editor]

my sister is starting to feel the effects of the compromise although she is still quite happy with the olympus.

we went to take some pics of the liverpool waterfront over the weekend and she found herself changing lenses a fair bit between the "pancake" one and the 150mm zoom. its a bit of an unfair comparison tbh but the difference between teh quality of teh images from my 40d and 5d compared to the olympus were quite stark.

having said this though she was carrying MUCH less kit than i was although it doesn't bother me as i just use a backpack. I think as a travel camera it has a lot to offer over a compact but if yo are looking for something "serious" then its too much of a compromise

The 150mm zoom isn't the greatest (and that's reflected by its price) but if you stick a decent prime lens, m43 can produce very high quality photos - that's why more profesionals are using them as travel cameras. My OM-D certainly produces far better images than my old Nikon D300.

 

[grosun]

The 150mm zoom isn't the greatest (and that's reflected by its price) but if you stick a decent prime lens, m43 can produce very high quality photos - that's why more profesionals are using them as travel cameras. My OM-D certainly produces far better images than my old Nikon D300.

Some examples of what you can get out with a really good lens. Amazing photos, but god that lens is expensive though!
Robin Wong: South Africa Wildlife Shooting with Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm F4 IS PRO Lens

 

[editor]

Some examples of what you can get out with a really good lens. Amazing photos, but god that lens is expensive though!
Robin Wong: South Africa Wildlife Shooting with Olympus M.Zuiko 300mm F4 IS PRO Lens

Amazing pics!

 

[editor]

Enthusiastic review of a s/hand Olympus Pen-F