Olympus Pen E-PL1 available to pre-order

Olympus Pen E-PL1 Amazon.co.uk: £522.91

The Olympus Pen E-PL1 — the brand’s first micro 4/3 camera designed for the non-specialist consumer market — is now available to pre-order. The price is in line with the RRP originally cited, which is incredibly competitive for this type of camera. This almost certainly explains the swiftly announced price cut to the Panasonic G10, positioning it at a lower price that the Olympus in spite of its swivel screen and (admittedly quite poor) built-in electronic viewfinder.

Since the official announcement of its launch, we’ve managed take a quick look at an Olympus E-PL1. Compared with the brand’s previous micro 4/3 cameras, the E-P1 and E-P2, we noticed the following main differences:

• This camera has a more lightweight design, with plastic rather than metal surfaces.
• At last, there’s now a built-in flash. It may be less stylish than the flash on Panasonic's rival GF1, but at least it’s there!
• A video recording button.
• Scroll wheels for adjusting the settings have been removed. The E-PL1 has an interface similar to that of a compact camera.
• A new interface for adjusting settings in shoot mode.

Olympus' new camera has been specifically designed for users with no previous technical experience. This makes it quite different to the previous models, aimed at more experienced photographers. On the screen, for example, simplified logos for brightness, colour, sharpness etc. have replaced traditional settings such as exposure, white balance and aperture.

The E-PL1 will be available at a much lower price than the E-P2, although the latter model is supplied with the excellent VF-2 viewfinder, available separately for the E-PL1. Instead, it’ll be around the same price as the E-P1, the first compact digital camera to boast interchangeable lenses. The E-P1 is better-made and has an interface that’s more suitable for experienced users, although it does lack a built-in flash.

The E-PL1 is likely to face competition from the Panasonic GF1, a camera which comes at a lower price when bought without a lens, but which ends up more expensive when purchased in a kit. The GF1’s iA mode and the Panasonic interface are good and well-designed, even for beginners. In fact, competition is set be tough between the two manufacturers.

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