Olympus PEN E-PL1 digital camera resource

Last update: Feb. 2nd, 2012 Feb. 2nd: Lenses section updated

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Technical data and reference manuals

• Olympus E-PL1 complete specifications
• Software for the E-PL1 can be downloaded here.
• The complete reference manual can be downloaded here.
• See here the FAQs of Olympus America.
• Here are the Q&A of Olympus Japan.
  

Reviews and previews

• digitalcamerainfo have one of the best reviews of the E-PL1 with tons of detailed tests and comparisons to other cameras
  
• Imaging Resource have a detailed review of the Olympus E-PL1 with lots of data and tests.
• John Foster wrote a very interesting review of the Olympus E-PL1. Not so many tests, mostly a detailed report from a user's point of view.
• See dpreview's in-depth review of the E-PL1.
• DCResource have an interesting and detailed review of the Olympus E-PL1 with many images and tests.
• Steve's Digicams have a detailed multipage review of the E-PL1.
• ephotozine have a interesting review of the E-PL1 with many tests.
• PhotographyBlog have a detailed multipage review of the E-PL1.
• uwphotographyguide have a review of the Olympus E-PL1 with many tests and an evaluation about  how suitable it is  for underwater photography
  
• digitalcamerareview have a multipage review of the E-PL1 with many tests.
• infosyncworld.com have a one page review with some interesting videos and sample images taken at various settings.
  
• amateurphotographer have a multipage review of the E-PL1.
  
• Photoxels have a multi-page review of the E-PL1 with some tests.
• Trustedreviews have a multi-page review of the E-PL1.
• Photographybay have a nice review of the E-PL1 with many high res image samples
  
• Engadget have a simple one-page review of the E-PL1.
• Techradar.com have a short review of the E-PL1.

Sample images

• Photographyblog have a page with 40 high resolution JPEG samples and 12 RAW samples of the E-PL1.
• Steve's Digicams has 33 full resolution samples taken at various settings.
• dpinterface have a page with 11 high res samples taken at different ISO settings.
• DCResource have a page with 20 high resolution samples taken at different ISOs and different lenses.
• photographyreview have a page with a page with six samples from ISO 100 to ISO 3200.
• dpreview have a gallery with 48 high res samples of the E-PL1 taken at different ISO settings and with different lenses.
• Imaging resource have a page with a large number of full resolution test images (studio and outdoors) taken at different ISOs and camera settings. Outdoor images and many indoor studio test images.
• ephotozine show here high resolution samples at various ISO settings.
• See the high resolution samples of digitalcamerareview.com taken at different ISO settings (outdoor and studio images)
• More high res samples at different ISO settings on the pages of infosyncworld.com and photographybay.com

RAW file format

• Adobe Photoshop (from CS5 on) with the latest camera camera RAW plugin (6.3, but also 6.2) supports now E-PL1 RAW files.
• If you have an earlier version of Photoshop you can always convert the ORF files to DNG and process the DNG files.
• Lightroom and Photoshop Elements can also be used - check if your version supports E-PL1 RAW files.
• Dave Coffin is listing on his dcraw page every RAW image processing software which either is using his decoder or use the decoder as documentation (scroll down to "Other Raw Photo Decoders").
  
• Some of these packages are free, some are not.
  
• Even Irfanview can decode E-PL1 RAW files, thanks to the dcraw code.
  

Memory cards

• The E-PL1 takes SD and SDHC memory cards.
• xD and Compact Flash cards cannot be used.

Batteries

• The EPL-1 uses the BLS-1 lithium battery, which holds a good charge, one will last for an entire day of underwater shooting even if the flash is always on.

Firmware

• Firmware update v1.1:
• Improved auto focus speed.
• Improved operation so menus and images can be displayed on the rear LCD monitor when using the electronic viewfinder VF-2.
  
• Firmware updates released so far (can be downloaded here).
  

Questions ? Comments ? Put them in the Olympus E-PL1 user group

Chromatic aberrations / Purple fringing

• To remove chromatic aberrations you can process the RAW image with the Adobe Photohop RAW plugin or with the PTlens filter.
  
• To remove chromatic aberrations with an image editor (desaturation of the magentas):
• It is very simple to remove chromatic aberrations from an image. Simply use a photo editor and set the saturation level of magenta (also green where this makes sense) to the minimum. In some images you might have to set the saturation level of red to the minimum. It might also make sense to limit the processing to the affected area (i.e. select the affected image area and only process that).

Accessories

• See here all accessories for the Olympus E-PL1.
  
• The VF-2 electronic viewfinder can be attached to the E-PL1, which otherwise has no viewfinder.
  
• See here a liist of external flashes compatible with the E-PL1.

Infrared photography with the Olympus E-PL1

• Echeng.com: Digital infrared photography - site devoted to digital infrared photography with image galleries, information about filters and equipment and links.
• Wrotniak's Infrared Photography page - excellent information resource devoted to infrared photography with Olympus cameras. Information about infrared filters, exposure settings, focus, post-processing, sample images and links.
• Also see the Infrared photography page of the Apogee magazine: this is an interesting general introduction to infrared photography with digital cameras.

Lenses

• Micro four thirds lenses are currently available from Olympus, Leica and Panasonic:

• Four thirds lenses are currently available from Olympus and Leica and can be used with the MMF-1, MMF-2 or DMW-MA1 adapters.
• See here which lenses are compatible with the MMF-1 adapter.

• Wide angle and Fisheye

External flash

• The Olympus E-PL1 has a standard flash hotshoe and can take standard external flashes (among others the FL-20, FL-36 and FL-50).
• Here is a list of external flashes compatible with the E-PL1.
• Try out the Metz flash units - cheap and reliable. Alternatively try the FL-36 or other Olympus flash units.
  
• See here for how to measure the trigger voltage of your flash.

Controlling the Olympus E-PL1 with a computer

• to be added
 

Underwater Photography

• Olympus is offering the PT-EP01 underwater housing for the E-PL1. Waterproof up to 40m, can use the UFL-2 underwater flash. To be used, the UFL-2 needs the Olympus sync cord connected to the housing's bulkhead, or a fiber optic cable connecting the UFL-2 slave sensor with the camera's built-in flash. Both TTL and manual exposure is supported.
  The PT-EP01 has a fix lens port and supports the use of the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 and the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 9-18mm 1:4.0-5.6. The PT-EP01 offers the use of a macro lens adapter (PMLA-EP01) to attach the macro lens (PTMC-01) for special macro photography.
• To be able to activate the zoom of the ED 14-42mm you need the PPZR-EP01 zoom gear.
• Here is the complete list of Olympus accessories for PEN underwater cases.
  
• Interesting forum for underwater photography: DigitalDiver.net

Data recovery

• Jpegdump, by Kurt Stege, is a free tool to recover deleted images from a memory card. Recommended, alough it involves more work an e tool of Convar.
  
• These software tools are not free, so since Convar's software is available for free, there is no real need to use them:
  
• Datarescue also has a software tool (Photorescue) for repairing damaged memory cards, although it's not free.
• Photorecovery is another tool. Price is $39.95.

Noise reduction

• In addition to the E-PL1's inbuilt noise reduction, you can post-process the images with NeatImage. This software package produces surprisingly good results.
• Here is a comparison of different noise reduction software tools.

Exposure information data (EXIF)

• The picture files of the Olympus E-PL1 contain the complete exposure information (aperture, exposure time, focal leng, white balance etc.).
• To read this data you can use these software tools:
• ExifReader, by Ryuuji Yoshimoto. Haven't tried the software myself, but it looks interesting. Freeware.
• Exif Image Viewer, by Michal Kowalski. This is the one I'm using. Quoting from his homepage:

"EXIF viewer is a simple image viewer application for photos taken with digital cameras. It's capable of reading EXIF information embedded in photos as well as little thumbnail. Because small thumbnail is already present in most photos displaying it is really fast.
EXIF viewer can also provide detailed information about photos (shutter speed, aperture, etc.) and conveniently list them for comparison purposes.
EXIF viewer also displays image histogram. It also features copying/moving and deleting of selected photos. Single photograph can be displayed in separate window or in a full screen mode."
• Exifer, by Friedemann Schmidt. I'm using this one too. It can rewrite EXIF data to images which lost it due to processing with a software package which doesn't support EXIF. Quoting from his site:

"Exifer is a nearly free software (you only should send me a postcard if you're using Exifer frequently) with which you can manage the metadata (EXIF/IPTC) of pictures taken by digital cameras. Because many image processing software destroys this metadata when saving such files, the idea was to create a backup of the metadata before editing it in any software, and then, after that to restore it back into the processed file. With Exifer you can do this very easily. "

Panorama shots

• Personally I can recommend PTGUI (which I have been using for years now): not free but an excellent piece of software.
  
• Some interesting links:
• http://www.skipwilliams.com/panos/panorama_links.htm
• http://www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~bernardk/tutorials/360/calibrate/
• http://www.johnhpanos.com/pttute.htm

Questions ? Comments ? Put them in the Olympus E-PL1 user group

Astrophotography with the Olympus E-PL1

• Here is an astrophotography forum for users of the Olympus DSLRs
  
• Astrophotography users's group here
• This may be also a good source.

Links

• MyOlympus.org photo sharing site: here Olympus E-PL1 users can upload images and give/get feedback
• Yahoo Olympus E-PL1 discussion group: a discussion group dedicated to e Olympus E-PL1 digital camera