One can look at this question in a few different ways. Most basic scenario is, should I sell my existing E-P2 and then "upgrade" to the new E-PL2. It could also happen that a person says he or she likes the E-P2 and only like to upgrade the kit lens to the new 14 - 42mm MKII lens. I think the new MKII lens is good, apart from only looking at the image quality the lens deliver, I think it has some interesting features with the added macro and wide angle options. Personally I will not be surprised if the first kit lens ends up the better when tested, what makes the new interesting is its design plus the options one can add.

That said I decided to take the E-P2 with me on a recent business travel. The lenses I took with was the 14 - 150 mm super zoom plus the new 14 - 42 kit lens. During the moments I had free I took a few pictures and I was pleasantly surprised.

The E-P1 was the first PEN series camera and it still today is an excellent camera. I recently saw them in a shop selling at really low prices new. I think if people knew what they can get with this camera then no regular compact will leave the shop, especially at the prices the E-P1 is selling at.

With the E-P2 Olympus added a number of advanced features plus they tweaked the image quality. Having had the chance to see the E-PL2 pictures for myself and having had a closer look at those I took over the last few days with the E-P2 the differences seem small, if any, to me. In fact I start to think its mainly the handling on the latter plus the flexibility it offers that makes the latter the better choice for the advanced creative person.

From a pure photographic point of view the E-P2 has all the advanced technology like iEnhance included, it only has less adjustments available to the user. On the other hand it has other functions plus filters that again does not appear in the E-PL2. One is the image automatically rotate, the water level function, the "silent" shutter and a view more.

Getting to the question, should I upgrade? Personally I would advice wait for the next one, or if you a very creative type and you like to have the advanced creative freedom offered by the E-PL2 then yes it worth the upgrade.

The instruction manual for the XZ-1 is over 80 pages long and there is no way all the features and controls can be described here, so I’ll just highlight a few of the things that I like, or in some cases dislike.

When you pick up the XZ-1 it feels quite solid and well made. Some people may find it a little small in the hand - but what do you expect from a compact camera! Your clothing preferences may determine how you feel about its portability. It fits in a trouser pocket unless you wear tight jeans. Its a little bit bulky for a shirt pocket, but it fits easily into my coat pocket.

Pressing the ‘on’ switch causes the lens to extend and the rear monitor to come on. A useful, if inadvertent feature, is that if you have forgotten to take the lens cap off, the lens pushes it off as it extends! It is retained by a string so you won’t lose it. I know that some people don’t like the detachable lens cap on this camera or the Panasonic LX series, because it falls off too easily, but I actually prefer it. The only problems I have had with my other compact digital cameras have been with the automatic lens caps failing to open or close. The manual lens cap, assuming you use the retaining string so you can’t lose it, cannot go wrong. What would be nice is a bayonet or screw fitting for the lens cap, because it is very easy to accidentally knock it off. However this would also require an ‘on’ switch that couldn’t be operated if the lens cap was in place. A lockable on/off switch would also be an improvement so that you couldn’t accidentally switch the camera on in a case or pocket.

The layout of the XZ-1 is quite simple and the most frequently used functions have either direct control buttons or a simple dial or ring. You don’t need to access menus all the time. For example, if you need to work quickly, without thinking too much, turn the mode dial to ‘iMODE’, compose and shoot. Its easy. This applies to still or cine photography, the only difference being that for the latter you press the dedicated movie record button instead of the shutter release. More often than not you will get a useable result. The camera may even be smarter and quicker than you!

A very useful feature in iMODE is the ‘Live Guide’ interface, which allows rapid adjustments to exposure, saturation, colour temperature, and background blur as well as giving some shooting tips for different situations. Although intended for novices even experienced users will find the ability to make rapid adjustments to these settings very convenient.

On the front of the camera is a very useful and ergonomic ring around the lens which allows you to change settings according to which mode you are in. For example, say you want to control depth of field or the way motion is captured. Turn the mode dial on the top of the camera to aperture or shutter priority as appropriate, rotate the lens ring with your left hand until the desired setting appears on the monitor, adjust composition and shoot. In shutter priority the lens ring controls the shutter speed, in aperture priority it controls the aperture. In program mode the lens ring changes the ISO setting.

The wide angle lens and iMODE make snapshots like this easy. (This is not the Geneva Motor Show!)

Using the built in flash involves a deliberate act. You need to switch it on to extend it ready for use. This is another feature that I like because it means that I can leave the flash set on ‘auto’ on the menu but with the flash safely stowed so that I don’t need to worry about it firing when I don’t want it to, unlike other cameras I have owned where you have to remember to set the flash to ‘off’ as the default.

When you first unpack the camera you will find it set to the manufacturers ‘default’ settings. If you change these default settings the camera remembers so you don’t have to make changes each time that you switch the camera on. So for example, the image stabiliser is normally ‘on’. If you want to use the camera on a tripod it is necessary to turn it off. Once turned off it stays off until you deliberately reset it. Also the ‘default’ JPEG compression setting is not the highest quality one. My first landscape shots were a little blurry in the details and disappointing until I noticed this and reset the camera to ‘fine’ compression rate instead of ‘normal’. The effective difference according to the manual is 10 compared to 7.7 megapixels.

The megapixel count is also affected by the aspect ratio that you choose. Changing the aspect ratio is easily done by scrolling down to the ratio symbol on the right hand side of the screen and selecting the appropriate ratio with the left or right side of the rear control wheel. The camera offers 4:3 (default), 16:9, 3:2 and 6:6. Put another way the ratio of the short side to the long side of the frame is 1:1.33, 1:1.78, 1:1.5 or 1:1 respectively. JPEGS are cropped accordingly to files sizes of 10, 7.5, 8.8 and 7.5 megapixels, so if you want the most pixel real estate you should use 4:3 format. Also note that RAW files are not cropped, so if you shoot RAW you can choose the aspect ratio later.

These two pictures of Australia’s Old Parliament House illustrate the 16:9 and 6:6 ratios:

One question I have for all camera manufacturers is why not offer as the default a ratio of 1:1.414 (ie 1 to the square root of 2)? This is the basis of the A series of paper sizes, which for the benefit of those who don’t know, retain this ratio no matter what size A series paper you print on. (So, for example, if you fold an A3 piece of paper in half along the long side you get A4 size, and the ratio of the of the short side to the long side remains the same).

Until recently I have tended to regard movie modes on still cameras as a bit of a gimmick. However, on a couple of recent holidays I have succumbed to the temptation to film events when a still photo was not going to do the scene justice. My personal examples include such things as watching bungee jumpers in New Zealand, and Zulu dancers in South Africa. The XZ-1 makes it really easy to switch to movie mode because all you have to do to start shooting is press the dedicated movie record button. I presume the option of using high capacity SDHC and SDXC cards in the XZ-1 is there because of the memory needs of the movie mode. I personally prefer to use several smaller capacity SD cards rather than putting all my eggs in one basket. A single 2Gb SD card can capture 94 RAW+JPEG at the highest quality and largest aspect ratio settings, which is usually sufficient for my needs.

The rear of the camera is dominated by the large (approx. 7 x 5 cm) monitor. Like all cameras, this is often very difficult to see outdoors and frankly the electronic viewfinder is almost a necessity if you can afford it. I had to guess the composition for this shot as I could barely see the screen. I had to straighten the picture afterwards to get the flag poles vertical.

If you haven’t already set the monitor at the highest brightness you can make the screen temporarily brighter by pressing the ‘info’ button on the bottom right corner of the back and holding it down. It reverts to normal brightness about 10 seconds after you release the pressure.

I decided I needed the electronic viewfinder, which is the same as the one used on the Pen series (VF2). It looks a little ungainly perched on top of the camera but it solves the outdoor viewing problem extremely well. A better solution in the long term would be for Olympus to integrate the viewfinder into the camera. It has a diopter adjustment, and the full screen can be easily seen even if you wear glasses. It also tilts through 90 degrees which is handy if you are photographing something close to the ground. All the icons appear in the viewfinder, and their configuration can be changed by pressing the ‘info’ button on the back of the camera, just as you would for the rear monitor. When you switch the viewfinder on the rear monitor automatically switches off. I found it easy to change settings whilst looking through the viewfinder.


You don’t need to carry the manual around to use this camera. After a few days of use you will find it very easy to change settings quickly, and the camera provides a few reminders. For example, the mode dial is one of the most used controls. It has firm click stops and when you change the mode a message appears on the monitor screen to tell you what the selected mode does. The ‘info’ button changes how much information is shown on the monitor and allows you to easily get rid of all the symbols if you prefer a plain screen for composition.

Despite the outdoor viewing problem, my overall verdict on handling has to be that it is excellent. It soon becomes intuitive, but the camera also provides reminders about its various functions if you need them. You will rarely need to refer to the manual.

In the next installment I’ll deal with the quality of the results from the XZ-1, and play with some of the features like the art filters and ‘Live Guide’ settings.

As said above, I am more surprised the more I "test" this camera. Its small things as well as larger aspects like added functions that keep me selecting the E-PL2 and not the E-P2 when going for a walk. For example the dedicated record button makes a world of difference when using the camera to record movies. With the dedicated movie record button one can start a recording and while recording one can re-focus on a new or different subject in order to create different effects.

What I find even more significant is the additional flexibility or adjustments build into the E-PL2. This is the first camera I experienced with this level of control available to the user. On a later article I will give more detailed information, for now I will only list the key points:-

• On the fly one can adjust highlight / shadow adjustments using a curves type function and it works like a dream

• Most of the art filters are now adjustable.

• The E-PL2 has several focus options and some of them are so powerful

• In Picture Mode the E-PL2 has just so much more flexibility

• Olympus did not only meet expectation, they also exceeded it.

Siegfried