Hi Amin, the TOP review was interesting - particularly that the reviewer had to modify the impression he gave that the AF was useless if you scroll a long way down through the comments. I think the most trustworthy comments I've seen are from Raist3d on the DPReview Sigma forum because he has owned and used both the DP2 and the E-P1. His summary was the Olympus AF was definitely better than the DP2 but still short of the G1 performance. One can hope that OLympus can rework their focus algorithyms and offer a firmware update. Be interested to read your experience when you get an example to try out. With some "reviews" out there I wonder if the authors think you just mash down your finger without pre-focusing and expect pro-DSLR response.

I shoot normally with a D700, backed up by an F100 for slides and various other Nikon film cameras. I have had the E-P1 for 10 days now and it is definitely a keeper. So far I have used it mainly for BW conversions from LF JPEGs. The IQ is fine and handling in generally s very convenient. My only major quibble is that it is most certainly difficult to use in sunlight, an EVF would be very useful outdoors. Otherwise the screen is fine, low res or not. It can be seen clearly form quite oblique angles and is pretty accurate colourwise. I like to use it i the street because it draws far less attention than my SLR plugged to my eyeball. Great little camera that fits easily into all of the shoulder bags i own. Cheers

Heya! I'm not an e-p1 owner, but I've had the opportunity to handle and do some shooting with one. I was pleased with the image results, however the camera body just feels a little awkward. If I can't pocket it, I might as well take my D90. If I want a lightweight camera, why not the GH1, and have an evf and video camera on hand?

I hope that the next iteration of the oly will be more compact, or at least include an evf. I really like it, but have trouble imagining it as a practical tool. Thanks!

I do not have the ep-1, but was/am tempting to buy one. However, since i do own a dp1 and I think the ep-1 should match that image quality, I am really looking forward to the shoot-out between the dp2 you are enjoying and the ep-1.

I have an E-P1 with the 17 mm lens (no viewfinder — it's up for sale on eBay). Moved up to the E-P1 from a Panasonic LX3 and a Ricoh GRD2. Other than the lack of a DOF scale on the LCD when focusing manually, I am very happy the E-P1. I use it for street photography, and was initially concerned that the shutter noise might attract attention (I turn off all noises on my other cameras), but have come to enjoy the satisfying clunk of the shutter (which isn't really that loud, anyway). Low light performance is great compared with the LX3 and GRD2, and the shot-to-shot times in RAW mode are fast enough to not be an obstacle.

I shoot with the camera prefocused at 2.5–3 m (replicating the "snap" feature of the GRD2), and there's no shutter lag to speak of. I have switched to "mode 3" in MF, which assigns the AEL/AFL button to autofocus. This enables me to use the autofocus to prefocus at the desired distance, or to quickly reset the focus for a particular shot. I hope that Olympus adds a focus scale in a firmware update, to compensate for the lack of markings on the lens. The face detect feature is intriguing, and I may try shooting in autofocus mode with face detect to see how that compares.

Just some thoughts after my first day of shooting with the PEN [quoted from my blog].

Pros:
- The looks. I like the design [retro or whatever] and the colors. I always owned black cameras, but maybe white is my new black.
- Solid feel. It’s not too big and it’s not too small. And it doesn’t feel as fragile as D-Lux or LX compacts.

Cons:
- Ineffective stabilization. Most shots taken with the 14-42 zoom lens set on 42 mm were blurry.
- Complicated menus and manual. I know I’m spoilt after using dead easy Leica/Panasonic cameras for a few years, but this is ridiculous. Several illogical menus, and reading the manual only makes things worse. It took me 20 minutes to figure out how to switch off the annoying beep sound while focusing.
- Talking about annoying sounds: the PEN has a very loud shutter sound, even at the lowest volume setting. Again, I’m spoilt with using [soundless] Leica/Panasonic cams, but even at a crowded beach the PEN shutter sound was still noticeable. Not good if you are into candid photography.
- LCD screen. I am quite used to shooting without a viewfinder, but the PEN LCD screen turns shooting into a kind of Russian roulette. At times the screen was so dark, I thought the camera wasn’t on yet [even when it was cloudy].

I recently got an E-P1 and just got back from vacation. I brought it and my Canon 5D with me. From that perspective I will have to say that I loved it. I used it about 90% of the time. The 5D never left the apartment actually. It performed admirably, and can't really pinpoint a situation where I would have preferred having the 5D on me.

I replaced my LX3 with E-P1, so I lost a little compactness with lens options. It is better than LX3, but I am surprised to see noise in shadows like LX3 in low ISO shots. It makes sense that the sensor is from same manufacturer. The focus is good enough for me even in low light and accurate with 14-42 and 45-200. I have mixed feelings with manual focusing with M42 lenses esp with 135mm f/2.5 and tele shooting on the long side since no viewfinder may dampen IS addition. Also the screen gets noisy eg with manual focus lenses at f/22 in daytime, but usually it was good enough eg f/16 for manual focusing or in a museum. Given the lens choices, there is not many options unless you go to bigger and expensive 4/3 Oly lenses which has autofocus with EP-1 or smaller manual M lenses, again with extra cost. The manual 35mm lenses add front weight and size after adding an adapter between so I am waiting for Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 to have comparable package to DP2 instead of Oly pancake. Also any lens option wider than 28mm will cost more than what I paid for a LX3. In comparison DP2 amazes me with the lens sharpness, dynamic range, colors after raw processing and bokeh, but autofocus accuracy at f/2.8 is the problem as you may have noticed. So I have more mixed feelings for Ep-1 vs what I expected from DP2. Color accuracy is very good with Olympus, but dynamic range is behind Sigma. Also the raw therapee and Corel Paintshop Pro X2 opens the EP-1 raw, but images look very dark or off color for whatever the reason. I didn't see any difference between ISO 1600 jpegs vs raw in Olympus program. So we have to wait for raw support as it took a while with LX3.