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I have been waiting to buy the Panasonic 14mm f2.5 pancake lens.  I was going to wait until next month before I pull the trigger, but an alert from The Online Photographer indicated there was a daily special on Amazon last Saturday, GF3 and the 14mm for $314!!!!   that's only $40 more than the lens alone!!  Since it's a one day sale, I went ahead and ordered it, and it was delivered in 3 days.  VERY FAST!!!

Didn't get to play with it too much, other than charging it up, and snapped a few shots.   One thing I noticed, it is small, and for some reason, it doesn't have any grip for my fingers, so it's a little slippery, maybe a gaffer tape will do the trick.


Group Photo - Top, Canon 5D
left, Olympus E-PL
right, Panasonic GF3
bottom, Panasonic LX5

E-PL1 in the Flesh

This is mandatory, right?  
Why the Nikon lens cap?   Well, I lost the original lens cap, and the replacement is $12 vs $5 for the Nikon.  Soooooooooooooooooooo.......


I got mine from Cameta Cameras, this is a demo unit, I think I paid $275 for the blue one.  At the time, the black one was $249. 

E-PL1 at Night

E-PL1 is not the best performer at night or low light situation.  The main reason I say that is because it lacks the focus assist light, so it hunts quite a bit in darker situations.  But the pictures below, although shot at night, there were plenty of lights from the building/street where E-PL1 had no issue with focus.  I used a tripod, or hold it against the wall to steady these shots. I know my limitations, my hands aren't steady enough to get anything worth keeping without helps!   The image stabalization won't help me at 2 second exposures...  :)

(Shot with E-PL1 with 14-42mm kit lens)


Rio in Macau

Downtown St. Pete, Florida

 I wish I get to go to St. Pete more frequently, it has a very lively downtown, plenty of great restaurants, shops, museums, and right on the water.  It's a nice downtown for a
stroll.
(all shot with Olympus E-PL1 w/ 14-42mm kit)

Early Saturday morning, restaurant is not open yet.

E-PL1 in China

On my last trip to China, I brought along the E-PL1 and my Nikon D80.  The reason I had both cameras is  because I had just purchased the used E-PL1 right before the trip, so I wasn' familiar how it will perform.

E-PL1 had the kit lens, and for D80, I had 28-105mm, 35mm f1.8, and 50mm f1.8.  Both of the 35 and 50mm are fairly light, with their plastic construction, however, the 28-105 is an older styler metal lens, and is quite hefty.  To be fair, if I had more lenses for the E-PL1, I would've carried additional lenses with me, and weigh myself down, but it will still be lighter package.  I used both equally, and went to the D80 when I needed an extra reach, but carrying the back pack full of camera gear was very tiring.  The E-PL1 was such a delight to have around on excursions.  

Bonsai!

All in a day

I think I have found the versatile camera system that I have been looking for - the micro 4/3.
I use Nikon, Pentax and Canon DSLRs, and I have travelled to many places with them.  Don't get me wrong, they are great, and I wouldn't trade them for anything.   But, I started to wonder if I really need to drag the heavy camera, and lenses with me everywere I go?  

I tried out the Panasonic LX5, nice camera, great pictures in daylight, and nice little camera to tote around town, but I always feel like I need to taking a DSLR with me on trips, "JUST IN CASE"...  

Then I came upon a super deal for the Olympus E-PL1 with 14-42mm kit lens, so I took a shot at it.  It's not a pocket camera, it's not the fastest, but image quality is superb.  Instead of lugging the heavier DSLRs in the future, I think I will be confident this camera will do just fine for my needs.

Looking back, the first digital camera I ever owned was an Olympus d520, 2 MP, SmartMedia, but it opened my eyes to the potential of Digital Cameras.  I guess it's full circle back to Olympus, :)

Here are some shots from today.


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