Thinking of E-PL2.... Questions?

[DekHog]

Hi guys.....

Back again! No E-PL2 forum, so this will have to do....

I'm seriously thinking of selling all my D-SLR kit and buying the following:

Olympus E-PL2
The two new kit lenses
Panasonic 20mm F1.7
VF-2

Pros:
The E-PL2 appears to cover all the bases for me in it's current form; adequate AEB; USB remote release; great picture quality; size/weight..... plus the all-important decent optional EVF! No viewfinder = no sale for me, as I just can't do the monkey-arm bit peering at the LCD screen at arms length.

Cons:
Kit lenses are very slow (aperture-wise), and there's unlikely to be anything faster on the way, and if there ever is, it'll be at the expense of size, which defeats the purpose of it all. To me, this means that you'll be using them wide open a fair amount of the time - anyone got comments on the image quality wide open?

I can't get my hands on the VF-2 locally to try it out, but it seems to be the best of the current bunch according to reviews - is it decent enough? What's it like in low-ish light? I have tried the EVF on the Panasonc GH1 and never liked it at all....

Basically the D-SLR kit has just got too big and heavy, with the result that it very rarely goes anywhere that isn't planned in advance. The E-PL2 appears to be the perfect compromise of price/performance/size and I'm very tempted by it at the moment.... I still have reservations regarding the speed of the kit lenses, but think I could adapt to this.

Any thoughts or comments most welcome.

[Ian]

Re: Thinking of E-PL2.... Questions?

I've now set up an E-PL2 board and moved this thread there

In answer to your question about the VF-2, it's pretty good and much much better than EVFs you may have experienced on compact and bridge cameras. The frame rate does gradually decrease in low light and that's when you start to notice flicker, and at the extreme end of the light range the view becomes black and white. But you have remember that the EVF does see more in low light than an optical finder, so it's all relative.

Ian

[DekHog]

Re: Thinking of E-PL2.... Questions?

Thanks, Ian - I read the thread regarding the twin lens kit being shipped with the older 40-150mm with adapter. As I'll probably be buying online, and won't be able to view beforehand, how can I distinguish between the two lenses? Different model number, filter size, etc?

Ideally I'd like to be able to contact whoever I'm buying from beforehand to check which model it is for the 40-150mm.... I know most of them just shift boxes and aren't too concerned with the specifics, so having some way of identification to give them would be good....

EDIT: I'm guessing it's ok as the thread in question was referring to the E-PL1 twin lens kit....

[StephenL]

Re: Thinking of E-PL2.... Questions?

Hi Derek - you'll find the EVF on the Pens to be very good. Same goes for the Pens themselves, with the exception being that they're not so brilliant at action shots.

Re- the regular 4/3 40-150. The Mk2 works quite well, the Mk1 less so due to the focussing not being set up for contrast detection. The Mk2 is the slower of the 2 lenses, whereas the older one is f3.5, the Mk2 is f4 (I think).

Where m4/3 cameras in general score really well, especially with an EVF, is older manual focus lenses. The EVF makes them so easy to focus!

[gwpics]

Re: Thinking of E-PL2.... Questions?

I have done almost what you are planning. I have dumped my heavy Nikon gear and gone for the E-PL2 and the Panasonic GH2. I think

[Ian]

Re: Thinking of E-PL2.... Questions?

I have done almost what you are planning. I have dumped my heavy Nikon gear and gone for the E-PL2 and the Panasonic GH2. I think

You will find that the VF2 is a very similar IQ experience to the GH2's EVF, although it is more versatile because you can tilt it up on the Pen (then again the Pen doesn't have the articulating screen of the GH2).

A small annoyance with the VF2 is that if you wear glasses like I do, the VF2 can be pulled out of position in its tilt by contact with your glasses.

Ian

Ian

[DekHog]

Re: Thinking of E-PL2.... Questions?

Hi Derek - you'll find the EVF on the Pens to be very good. Same goes for the Pens themselves, with the exception being that they're not so brilliant at action shots.

Re- the regular 4/3 40-150. The Mk2 works quite well, the Mk1 less so due to the focussing not being set up for contrast detection. The Mk2 is the slower of the 2 lenses, whereas the older one is f3.5, the Mk2 is f4 (I think).

Where m4/3 cameras in general score really well, especially with an EVF, is older manual focus lenses. The EVF makes them so easy to focus!

Hi Stephen....

Thanks for your thoughts on it - was in Jessops today and handled the camera along with new 14-42mm and loved it.... I could probably forgo the 40-150mm, for the moment at least, as it's not a range I tend to use very much at all, but still nice to have around.... don't think I could live without the Panny pancake lens though!

I have done almost what you are planning. I have dumped my heavy Nikon gear and gone for the E-PL2 and the Panasonic GH2. I think

Thanks for your input - yup, 'point and shoot and hope you get what you want' is no use to me at all, so even if the EVF wasn't brilliant, it would be considerably better than that scenario.... cameraworld

[DekHog]

Re: Thinking of E-PL2.... Questions?

One thing I'm quite unsure about is the AEB; the manual states.....

AE BKT (AE bracketing)
The camera varies exposure by 0.3 EV, 0.7 EV, or 1.0 EV over three shots.
In single-frame shooting mode, one photograph is taken each time the shutter
button is pressed all the way down, while in sequential shooting mode the camera
continues to take shots in the following order while the shutter button is pressed all
the way down: no modification, negative, positive. Number of shots: 2, 3, 5, or 7

So what exactly is the maximum bracketing on this? 3 stops at 1EV? 7 stops a 1EV or 0.3EV?

[Ian]

Re: Thinking of E-PL2.... Questions?

One thing I'm quite unsure about is the AEB; the manual states.....

AE BKT (AE bracketing)
The camera varies exposure by 0.3 EV, 0.7 EV, or 1.0 EV over three shots.
In single-frame shooting mode, one photograph is taken each time the shutter
button is pressed all the way down, while in sequential shooting mode the camera
continues to take shots in the following order while the shutter button is pressed all
the way down: no modification, negative, positive. Number of shots: 2, 3, 5, or 7

So what exactly is the maximum bracketing on this? 3 stops at 1EV? 7 stops a 1EV or 0.3EV?

The E-PL2 is quite generous - you can have 2, 3, 5, or 7 frames in the sequence, with each shot varying exposure by 0.3, 0.7, or 1EV, except if you use the 7 shot option, where you are restricted to 0.7EV changes max. And of course if you use exposure compensation, you can bias the 'middle' of the range.

So if you used the 5 shot option set to 1EV changes you get two shots at -1 and -2 EV and two shots at +1 and +2 EV and one at 0 change, or a 5EV variation in total.

With 7 shots at 0.7 EV (basically two thirds EV I believe, you get the same as three lots of 2/3rds adds up to 2 wholes either side of the 0 EV shot.

Ian

[StephenL]

Re: Thinking of E-PL2.... Questions?

True. Very disconcerting the first time it happens! And I found that the dioptre compensation was easily changed by accident when in a bag.

Although I've not had the two at the same time, I'd say, if I had to choose, that the Olympus EVF is marginally better than even the GH2, which in turn is better than the G2.

A small annoyance with the VF2 is that if you wear glasses like I do, the VF2 can be pulled out of position in its tilt by contact with your glasses.

Ian

[gwpics]

Re: Thinking of E-PL2.... Questions?

I have tried the EVF at a trade show and was very impressed, which is why I want one.

I guess the AE bracketing may be useful for HDR if you are that way inclined.

Gerry

[Greytop]

Re: Thinking of E-PL2.... Questions?

I recently purchased exactly the same kit... E-PL2 twin lens kit, 20mm and a VF-2. It really is a great little package with the emphasis on 'little' certainly compared to my E-5 and lenses.
I'm finding that with the hot weather that we are currently having the E-PL2 gets first choice over the E-5 for longish country walks (not very much weight verses something approaching 10Kg).

There is also the novelty of such a small kit being able to produce really high quality images. Today for example I just used the 20mm for all shots, there were a couple where I should have really popped on the 40-150 but I resisted the temptation

I find the 14-42 II and 40-150 to be very good optically particularly when stopped down a little. So far I haven't found the aperture limiting but that may change when autumn approaches. The 20mm of course is great if you need something a little brighter. I also like the look of the Panny 14mm (f/2.8), perhaps something for the future.

The VF-2 is on my camera almost 100% of the time, although the image is not really of OVF quality it is still really good, as Ian says, light years away from point and shoot EVFs. The bonus is being able to magnify quickly for accurate manual focussing as well as being able to get a very good idea for the exposure without consulting a histogram.

All in all I'm glad I made the purchase and I have to say it has easily exceeded my expectations.