Olympus PEN E-PL1 Review

The Olympus PEN E-PL1 is a bit of an odd camera compared with the others on our list. It uses a Four Thirds, or Live MOS, image sensor, a relatively new technology in the digital-camera world. Reviewers and users have mixed feelings about this model. On the one hand, CNET praises the camera in an Olympus PEN E-PL1 review for its great build quality and good photos, as does an enthusiastic reviewer at DigitalCameraReview. However, both of those Olympus PEN E-PL1 reviews also complain that the camera's autofocus is way too slow. The camera's performance in general seems to be slow, according to CNET. In Olympus PEN E-PL1 reviews at Newegg, users also comment on the camera's slow autofocus, although they are taken with the camera's photo quality, even when using the automatic settings.

The PEN E-PL1 has a resolution of 12.3 megapixels. The camera has no optical viewfinder, so you have to use live view by default to compose your photos. The E-PL1 has shutter speeds from 1/2000 of a second to 60 seconds and ISO settings from 200 to 3200. The camera has a continuous shooting rate of three frames per second and saves images to an SD card.

The slow performance of the Olympus PEN E-PL1 concerns us. If you have to wait more than half a second from the time you initiate a camera's autofocus until the autofocus kicks in, there's a good chance you're going to miss your shot. The camera does take very good photos, according to reviews, but if you'd rather shoot fast-moving action than bowls of fruit, the PEN E-PL1 will disappoint you.