Olympus E-PL1 Compact System Camera - Champagne (14-42mm Silver Lens Kit)

I seriously love this camera. I had been using super-zooms (Panasonic Lumix TZ and Canon Powershots) before this so it was definitely a step up from those but i can't compare with DSL-Rs.

+ Great photo quality
+ quite portable with the standard lens
+ Excellent video capture
+ good battery life
+ excellent build quality

- UI not too easy to get the hang of - I had to consult the manual just to figure out how to change to manual focus mode.
- The lens cap is easy to misplace (just happened to me) as there is no string etc. to attach it to the lens. A new one will cost around 11 pounds.

Like many others and perhaps like the reader of this review, I agonised over buying either a Sony NEX3 or 5 or a Lumix etc etc and went as far as to go and hold all of them, before choosing the Olympus. I am a professional photographer, so need a camera I can adjust and meddle with, I also own some other quality equipment, so the results a camera produces are important to me.
Well I can honestly say I am delighted with this camera. The quality out of the camera is very very good, it holds well in the hand, it is small enough to cart around and flexible enough to expand system wise.
The downside of all thse new formats is the price of the lenses, and its what swayed me away from the Sony in the end, as the Sony telephoto is almost £1000 and that is an often neglected fact which is a killer as far as most will be concerned, apart from the fact that the NEX range is not at all small with anything other than the pancake lens on it.
So there we are for a system camera flexible enough for the enthusiast, small enough to be carried, good enough to leave the big SLR's around ...... buy an Olympus PL1, don't take my word for it read DP review they like it to.

Having relied on basic compacts for many years, I discovered (or should I say "rediscovered", as I once had an SLR) an interest in photography after I started using my daughter's Canon G10. I wanted something with interchangeable lenses that could cover the full spectrum of creative photography without the bulk of a DSLR. Frankly, I would be embarrassed to be seen carrying about some of the monster kit that you see these days, particularly when much of it is only used for family snaps. The beauty of the E-PL1 is that gives virtually nothing away to mid-priced DSLR's in terms of image quality (read the review on "DP Review"), but it is understated and much easier to carry. The price is well within a "reasonable" budget for sensible amateurs, and upgrading can be achieved by tapping into the full range of Olympus lenses, although I will probably stick with the (currently somewhat limited) micro four-thirds range.

Compared to a full-size DSLR you sacrifice some convenience as many of the functions can only be accessed through the menu system, but everything is there if you need it. One thing I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND is to purchase a copy of "Olympus PEN E-PL1 for Dummies". This marvellous book has helped me to get comfortable will all the camera's features and to set it up to suit my preferences.

After three months getting familiar with the camera's functionality, I am now starting to shoot in RAW and have recently downloaded the free Olympus Viewer 2 software to do the processing. Compared to the E-PL1's excellent built-in JPEG processing, shooting in RAW delivers small but worthwhile improvements.

My next purchase will be the VF2 electronic viewfinder, which I have heard so many good things about.