Olympus just released its Micro Four Thirds camera the Olympus E-P1. It was Panasonic which introduced this concept by doing away with the Prism, thereby reducing the size of the camera and now Olympus is following suit.

Enough of technology, what does all this mean?

This means that you can have a small camera with inter-changeable lenses.

Whats I like about this camera:

  • 12 MP Camera
  • 3 inches LCD screen
  • High Definition video recording with stereo sound
  • Built in Image Stabilisation
  • HDMI port
  • Support for SD Memory, makes it easy to swap memory with other consumer devices. Thank god the xD format is gone 🙂
  • Adaptor for four third and older Olympus lenses, so you can use your existing lenses
  • Support upto 30 min exposure for those long exposures
  • Metalic Body
  • Good quality lenses
  • Dust reduction system
  • Audio recording to have your notes narrations
  • Art Filter for more creativity
  • Better compatibility with other 4/3rd lenses.

What I don’t like:

No Viewfinder? Come on Olympus, you know photographers better than anyone else. I like using the LCD but in certain conditions, such as when there is too much light, the LCD can’t be seen and thats when the viewfinder comes to your rescue.

However there is an optional viewfinder available if you must.

No Built In Flash. Which means you can’t use it for indoor evening parties. You do have optional flashes at additional costs. However you can’t use flash and optical finder at same time, as they both sit into the same slot.

Comparison with Panasonic GH1

Olympus Advantage

  • Image Stabilisation
  • Metalic Body

Panasonic Advantage

  • Electronic View Finder
  • Built in Flash
  • Faster Auto Focus
  • Vari-angle LCD, which means the LCD can be moved around to take the difficult shots.
  • 1080p video recording vs 720p of Olympus

Here is more stuff from DPReview.

43rumors was the first to report this camera, and has lots of more information.