Olympus PEN E-PL1 12.3 MP Digital Camera

A longtime warrior in the battle of the digital camera, Olympus has learned what it takes to enhance its products so that they work for the photographer no matter what the conditions, for example, if light is changing the automatic mode of the PEN E-PL1 12.3 Live MOS Micro 4.3 Interchangeable lens model makes this a point-and-click zoom camera that let's you shoot like a pro.

Maybe it is because Olympus has been in the digital camera wars for so long, the company has learned what photographers want and the PEN E-PL1 certainly exhibits that. Here's one feature that you will probably like, let's say you are framing a still in the 2.7-inch LCD in the rear when you see the kids that you had taken the time to line up so neatly found a football and were having a great time with it. Would you demand that they stop their game and their fun or would you go with it? We chose fun and pushed the shutter and the "red button" on the back and not only had a camera that kept the kids in focus, but when recorded the fun on their faces as they played their impromptu game of football.

The PEN E-PL1 is for the photographer who really doesn't want to get so involved in the hobby that all he or she is thinking is about F-stops (ISO levels) or zooming in. Instead, with the number of automatic modes built into the wide-ranging software in the PEN E-PL1, all you have to do is literally frame your picture and squeeze (never jerk) the shutter and you have a truly fine picture.

How can Olympus get away with this? Well, imagine you had the E3 or E620 Digital Single Lens Reflex and imaging that you took your mini-screwdriver and opened them up, what to you think you would find? Quite simply, you would find a Processor that is huge. You would expect something like this in a dSLR, however, in a point-and-shoot like the PEN E-PL1, you would find a Olympus' Tru Pic V Processor that is fully 8 times the size of any comparable point-and-shoot camera.

Having this type of firepower under your fingertip not only means that you do not have to be involved in the ultimate choices, although you might want to be, then there are slides on the back that allow you to range through the 19 modes available in the automatic settings. It also means that instead of putting an autostabliizer feature on the lens as many heavier dSLR systems do to keep their systems in focus with no blur at long zooms and with tricky light, the processor takes care of that for you.

Of course, the processor does give you a great deal of range. From F-100 to F3200 (IS0 100 t0 3200 for low-light situations), the processor will handle the work. And, if a flash is needed, a true flash pops up from the back (not one of those little strobes) that can work with other Olympus strobes wirelessly to take multi-strobe shots.

There's just so much built into this camera it's hard to know what to put in next. For example, you have the 19 automatic scene modes like Sunset and other modes, and if you don't like what you see, you can simply push the iA (instant Automatic) button which overrides the automated selections and reworks them for a better shot).

Of course, you have up to 8 face-recognition so that if you are concentrating on specific people in a crowd and they leave and comeback into the frame the PEN E-P1 the software automatically recognizes them and brings them back into focus.

The Olympus has so many modes, here are just of the few others we liked: Skin Tone Enhancement so that skin is smoothed; 19 Modes - Portrait to Sunset, Fireworks, Sunset, Kids, Macro Panorama; Panorama where the camera will automatically take three shots of a larger view and seamlessly paste them into one or if you hit the ib button you can have up to 10; Shooting Tips that works with the autofocus for best picture results; Interchangeable lenses, on a 4/3 format at 12.3 MP and the other a 14mm to 42 mm zoom from F/3.5-5.6; A built-in 3X optical zoom, as well; Autocontrol with the HDMI cable from your HDTV remote.