I know there have been many threads on camera choice, but have you any actual experience of the Olympus Pen vs. DSLR choice that has been discussed in various threads before?

I recently looked at a Nikon D5100 in Jessops, and despite the fact that it is smaller than many DSLRs, I was surprised how big it still is (compared to my old Nikon FM, for example).

Despite this, I’d more or less resolved to buy the D5100, but now that a Pen EPL-3 is soon to be available with much faster focusing (so it is claimed), I’m dithering. Thoughts?

5thElefant to the forum please.

Pen advantages:

Small size, well specced

DSLR advantages:

Faster autofocus (despite claims, really) by design, optical viewfinder, possibly better ergonomics.

It all depends entirely what you want to do with it.

Btw if you want the smallest DSLR around, there are lots of refurbed Olympus E-450s going for about 200 euros at http://stores.ebay.com/olympusmarket which is the best value for money in the entire camera universe as far as I can tell.

Thanks for that.

I like the ergonomics of a DSLR, and although I’d like to spend some time on taking pictures for their own sake, I doubt I’ll ever really find the time. I like the size and ‘look’ of the Pen – it doesn’t appear like the massive overkill that DSLRs sometimes can…

So, I suppose it will be for high quality images of holidays, events, family etc. more than pure creative stuff, although I wouldn’t want to rule that out.

Focus speed is a key for me – I’ve missed too many pictures the kids charging around, playing sport etc. Olympus now claims the EP3 and EPL3 have the fastest autofocus of ‘any interchangeable lens camera’ – quite a claim!

5thElefant to the forum please.

You called?

What Molgrips said.

I’ve got a full frame dslr and a Pen e-p2.

When compared to a new generation dslr the big downsides of the Pen are:

– Slow focus speed (fixed with the 3 series by the looks of things)
– Poor dynamic range – although this is mostly apparent when you get exposure wrong and need to fix it in post rather than a problem with correctly exposed images in the first place
– Poor ISO performance – but with an f2.8 lens I’m happy with the light from a camp fire so it really does have to be dark or you’re shooting sports in poor light for it to be an issue
– Limited depth of field control, although not that much worse than an APS-C dslr.
– Lack of cheap fast primes
– Lack of cheap old used AF lenses

Plus sides are they’re almost as small as a compact and almost as good as a dslr.

I’m using my pen more than my dslr at the moment.

Thanks – Your last statement is very helpful and would almost certainly apply to me also if I had access to both, which is as good a way of thinking about it as any, I suppose…

Olympus is claiming better ISO performance now, so I’ll be waiting for EPL-3 reviews to confirm that as the right way to go (for me, obviously).

Buy an E-450 from that site – if you don’t like it sell it again for no loss 🙂

BTW high ISO isn’t really poor, just worse than many other DSLRs. And that’s cos it’s m4/3 not cos it’s a MILC. Sont Nex for instance do not have this problem.

also consider:

panasonic g3 (has built in EVF) and is shaped like more like a DSLR than some of the others

olympus e-p3

or wait another year and its all changed again 😆

theres some good deals flying around on the E-PL1 and E-P1 (199 squids) because those are reduced to sell now

Lack of cheap fast primes

native Panasonic 20mm F1.7 and legacy options via adapters?

native Panasonic 20mm F1.7 and legacy options via adapters?

Most dslrs have a selection of primes in the £80-£150 range. The Panasonic isn’t cheap.

Legacy lenses are available on dslrs too, so not a difference and MF lenses aren’t necessarily attractive to everyone. They are very nice to use with the EVF though I have 9 for my pen 😯

Ye the Canon 50mm is 80 quid.. but what other primes are that price

and are they as good as the Pana 20mm F1.7 which by many accounts is very good for the money despite it not being a rock bottom price

Sony 50mm f1.8, 35mm f1.8 and 30mm f2.8 all under £150. Sony 85mm f2.8 under £200.

All are excellent quality.

The panasonic is indeed a good lens but it carries a premium price. You can get a Sony 50mm f1.4 for the same price. Same applies to other brands.

You need to look at the new Leica f1.4 before you can compare to the premium lenses, but that’s even more expensive.

There’s no question there are some fast m4/3 primes available but they’re not cheap.

Check out the Sony SLT A55 – although it looks like a DSLR, it is a fair bit smaller, due to a translucent, rather than flip up mirror. It has an APSC sized sensor and only falls very, very slightly behind it’s traditional DSLR siblings at high ISO IQ. You’ll have to live with an EVF though.