Olympus PEN E-PL5 Review: Nigel & Kel Li's Wedding

Important Notes:

1. This is a user experience based review.

2. All images were post-processed, and NOT straight out of the camera.

3. All images were published with kind permission from Nigel and Kel Li. 

4. General camera settings (before post-processing):  Noise Filter = OFF, Contrast/Saturation/sharpness = 0, White Balance = Auto (with an option maintain warm color = OFF), Gradation = Normal

Special thanks to Nigel Sia and Kel Li for allowing the photographs in this blog to be used for my Olympus PEN E-PL5 review. Nigel Sia is no stranger in local wedding/videography industry here in Malaysia, he is one of my most respected videographer, and it was an unexpectedly great honor to be selected as his official wedding photographer. 
Nigel has been very understanding and cooperative with me using a PEN for his wedding shoot. 
Therefore, please, do take some time to visit Nigel Sia's website, and prepare to be amazed by his work there. I have always been impressed by Nigel's artistic direction and talent. 

The location of the wedding and shoot was Hotel Maya, Kuala Lumpur. The wedding ceremony and reception took place at the 13th floor, Sky Lounge, overlooking the Kuala Lumpur City Center with the prominent two landmarks of the city: Petronas Twin Towers and KL Tower. 

Update 1/10/2012 (1.26am): Comment on AF with Panasonic 20mm F1.7 added. It is not as fast as my descriptions which were meant for the other three M.Zuiko lenses. 

Olympus PEN E-PL5 is the latest Micro 4/3 camera release from Olympus, and the one sure important remark about this camera, not to be overlooked is the inclusion of similar image sensor and processing engine from the now highly regarded Olympus OM-D E-M5, which is considered the best micro 4/3 camera body at this time, and on par with even the best APS-C DSLRs out there. Do not be misled by that small body and shiny, stylish exterior, what is inside this newest PEN E-PL5 is not to be underestimated.  Olympus Malaysia was very kind to loan me the PEN E-PL5 for my blog review purposes. However, I was having a difficult time deciding what to do for my review for this E-PL5, as the image quality is the same with OM-D, going through the high ISO and dynamic range tests would be boringly redundant. We know now without a shadow of a doubt how capable and fast the micro 4/3 autofocus is, and trying to prove something that I have proven before twice since the E-P3 last year, and recently the OM-D, is not something I want to do. On the other hand, I was also struggling to come up with fresh ideas. I know all of you must have thought, "Oh come on Robin, not Butterfly Park again?". I know I must have overused the Butterfly Park, and not to mention that Pudu Wet Market. I think it is about time we look for fresher subjects, and new ways to review this camera, without compromising my "user experience" based approach. 

It was probably a coincidence, but more importantly having the good faith, trust and understanding of beautiful friends Nigel and Kel Li to allow me to kill two birds with one stone for this weekend: using the Olympus PEN E-PL5 to shoot their wedding, as well as for my blog review. This particular wedding shoot was also extra-ordinarily challenging, because Nigel Sia is no stranger to wedding industry, himself being an established and highly regarded wedding videographer. Thus, expectations from my photography work was high, since I was not a full time photographer. I only took in paid assignment (mostly weddings and events) sporadically to finance my gear upgrade, and maybe buy that really cool expensive looking piece of watch. Well, we can see it as a thousand excuses not to get things done (I can tell Olympus Malaysia that I was booked this weekend and I can't do their review), or I can step up my game, and accept the challenge. That also meant I had to work double hard, being able to fulfill the high wedding photography expectations, and at the same time prepare this review for Olympus PEN E-PL5. What I saw was an opportunity to test the Olympus PEN E-PL5 in a more serious shooting environment, different from what I have done all this time. Using a camera in a paid assignment posed a long list of doubts and uncertainties which would surely not be the first choice of most sane photographers. 

So now, I have shot a full day wedding with the Olympus PEN E-PL5. Did the PEN deliver?

Wedding Location, Wedding Favors and that awesome fabric infused Custom Designed shoes to go along with the beautiful bride's evening dress. 

Wedding Details 

Self-made paper flowers. 

Behind the scene: Setting up the venue

Before we dive in too far, allow me to clarify a few items. This review will be written from a photography-enthusiast’s point of view, This will be a user experience based review, sharing on what I think and feel as I use the Olympus PEN E-PL5 in real paid assignment shooting. Therefore, this is not a technical review as there will not be elaborative technical explanations, which can be easily accessible on many professional review websites such as DPreview and DXOmark. In addition to that, I will not be doing direct side by side image and performance comparisons between E-PL5 and any other cameras. 

GEAR SETUP

For this particular assignment, my main gear setup was:

Main Camera Body: 

Olympus PEN E-PL5 with two BLS-5 batteries and one BLS-1 battery.

Main Lenses: 

1) M.ZD 12mm F2

2) Panasonic 20mm F1.7

3) M.ZD 45mm F1.8

4) M.ZD 75mm F1.8

All above gear was loaned by Olympus Malaysia, except the Panasonic 20mm, which I borrowed from a dear friend, Kelvin Ng, one of my shutter therapy buddies. Thanks Kelvin !!

External Flash:

Olympus FL-50R

Backup Camera system

Olympus DSLR E-5 and all my lovely Zuiko lenses. 

I worked with only one body, the PEN E-PL5 for 99% of the time. I am a lens changer, and fairly comfortable with changing lenses very quickly and effectively. I acknowledge many photographers prefer using two or three camera bodies with different lenses attached, but it is my preference and style to work with one body and changing lenses. I worked with two lenses primarily: the 12mm F2 and 45mm F1.8 for 80% of the shots. I have a good coverage of wide angle from 12mm to a medium tele-photo of 75mm. To be honest I did not really need the 75mm lens, but it was a great lens to have in handy. I have a neckstrap (original Olympus strap) so that when I need to change lens I can leave the camera hanging around my neck and I have two free hands.  I have the flash FL-50R mounted on the E-PL5 full time. I carry a small sling bag (ohhhhh how SMALL and LIGHT Micro 4/3 system lenses are) with three other lenses which were not on the body. 

I brought along my own trusty E-5 and Zuiko lenses, just in case for whatever unforeseen circumstances, I can still shoot. One of the most important rules in photography: during and after shoot: having adequate backup. No excuses !!

MAIN CAMERA SETTINGS

I shot in full manual mode, setting to shutter speed, varying from 1/25sec to 1/125sec. Aperture was mostly wide open, unless it was a group shot, I would stop it down to F4 or F5.6. ISO setting was set at around 640 to 1000, shooting mostly at 800, to gather more ambient light into my shot, and to blend better with my external flash firing coverage. I used external flash for ALL the shots you see in this blog entry. Flash head was tilted upward to a high ceiling bounce, and the objective of the previous-mentioned camera settings was to achieve a balanced lighting between the available ambient light and the flash fill. Flash was important to me to maintain good skin tone, even frame exposure, and overall color balance. Of course, from shot to shot, the settings were readjusted and fine-tuned as necessary. 

For composition, I used the live view at all times. I disabled the touch shutter release to avoid any accidental triggers or unwanted operations (we do not want that to happen, do we?)

The superbly pretty gown and the matching shoes

Lovely bridesmaids helping Kel Li getting ready. 

Bridesmaid is ready !! Have some time to smell the flowers. 

The wedding march. 

The Ceremony begins

The exchange

Shooting from high angle. Gotta love the tiltable LCD screen. 

Unveiling 

The seal

IMAGE QUALITY

Lets get the first discussion out of the way: the image quality. Considering the E-PL5 is using the same image sensor and processing engine as the OM-D E-M5, I shall not repeat my tests on the image quality of the camera, thus if you need to, kindly visit my image quality review of OM-D E-M5 here (click).  As we can expect from OM-D, and as I have verified through my shooting, the image quality from E-PL5 was just as equally as stunning, with very impressive high ISO performance and very workable dynamic range. I was shooting at ISO800 on the average, to maintain good balance between available light and blending with the flash fill. Image came out clean and almost free of noise, as expected. At the same time, you get what makes Olympus so loveable in the first place: the true to life, vibrant color rendition, and pleasingly natural looking skin tones. Sharpness and resolution? I do not think the bride and groom would be pleased if I did what I usually do with the 100% crop on their faces, but lets just say, they were outstandingly impressive, I might need to pay attention and blur away some details in my final delivery. 

On the whole, there really is nothing to complain about the image quality, but everything to praise for. The OM-D, and now the E-PL5, are a huge leap up from what I could do with my old DSLR E-5. It was awkward, but true, and I have to admit it, everything this little PEN E-PL5 can deliver in terms of image quality is ruining hoops around my old E-5 now. In real practical shooting conditions, we do need to go above ISO200 or 400, and may reach the borders of ISO1600 or beyond, when the situation dictates. Having the flexibility to produce very usable and manageable high ISO results up to ISO3200 on the OM-D and E-PL5, the flexibility and possibilities of what you can do with the camera have been stretched further. The highest of ISO setting I went for this shoot was ISO1600, which was no biggie for E-PL5. In terms of delivering image quality, micro 4/3 system is surely fully capable in most situations now, and I have even more faith shooting with the PEN E-PL5, in comparison to my E-5. Having a huge and heavy camera as professional equipment may just be a stubborn mentality-based perception, that could one day be phased out. 

HANDLING AND SHOOTING EXPERIENCE

How did the Olympus PEN E-PL5 handle for a paid assignment? In this particular condition, it was very different from my usual review sessions, that usually lasted about 2-3 hours per street shooting session, or a visit to the Butterfly Park. The wedding assignment which I used the E-PL5 placed more importance in practicality of the camera ergonomics, and comfort of use for long hours, because the shoot started at 10.30am, until almost 10.30pm, hence it was a 12hours almost non-stop shooting, having the camera on me the whole time. If the camera has bad balance, and does not feel right in hand, it won't last a day without wrist pains or pains at some other parts of the body (shoulder, neck, guys with gigantic cameras and lenses, anything familiar here?)

I actually liked the smaller size, and lighter weight

Lets start with the good stuff. The camera, E-PL5, mounted with the lenses that I used most often, either the 12mm F2 or 45mm F1.8, together with the over-sized FL50R flash on the hot-shoe mount, was quite an interesting combination. First glance will give you the odd initial impression that the handling will be very bad, because the flash looks out of balance, and there is no substantial enough grip for proper hand-gripping. In this scenario, I shall introduce you to a friend: the "neck strap". For the times I was not shooting, I simply let the camera hang by the strap around my neck. The combination was surprisingly light that it did not feel like there was much or any strain at all to my neck. The supplied grip on the E-PL5 (rather small) could probably be better, but the thing that really baked the cake was that feather light weight. Even with the flash attached, the whole thing felt so darn light !! Well, I came from long usage of DSLR E-5 and not so small zuiko lenses, hence having something much, much lesser than 50% of what I usually manage in full day shoot, was suddenly a blessing !! We will talk about balance and handling issues later, but because the whole setup was very light, it was easy to adjust myself, and shooting long hours with lighter gear was a definite welcome. 

Yes, beefier and more substantial grip could be better, but....

Did the setup of gigantic flash on top of the E-PL5 felt balanced? Honestly? No. I would advise to use either smaller flashes like FL-36R or FL-600R. My money is on the FL-600R, because it takes in 4 AA batteries (as opposed to FL-36R that takes only 2AA batteries) and the FL-600R has three times faster recharge rate in comparison to the FL-36R. However, as imbalanced at the combination may feel, I did not have wrist pains or any other pains at all after the long day of shoot, which was unexpected. I was predicting to report the discomfort I would feel while I was shooting with something smaller, with less grip, but I was completely proven wrong here: I actually enjoyed myself, and much preferred the lighter weight equipment now. Yes, I agree more substantial grip with have been more helpful, which the OM-D and the additional hand-grip add-ons helped a lot. Nonetheless, I strongly believed the engineers/planners for Olympus did not intend for us to use this PEN E-PL5 for an actual serious paid shooting environment, so I should really not complain so much, since this issue has been solved in the OM-D E-M5. 

Electronic Viewfinder

One main complain I have, would be not having the built in Electronic Viewfinder. I borrowed the external Electronic Viewfinder VF-2 from Olympus, but I soon realized that was not a wise thing, because I could not even use it. I needed my external flash (the lighting in the sky lounge was excessively dim) and there is no way I can shoot without it. A compromise was made, I had to use the live view at all times. This was the first wedding that I shot entirely with live view, and yes, I wish it could have been done with the electronic viewfinder. Again, I am repeating myself, this problem has been foreseen by Olympus, and their answer to this was the OM-D, which has Olympus' latest built in EVF, that I thought was very good and practical. 

Nonetheless, I am a fairly flexible person, and I adjust myself to accommodate to change very quick. It was not half that bad shooting through live view, and I did need the live view for difficult angle compositions, such as low angle and high angle shots. The E-PL5 has tiltable screen that goes up and down, that eased my shooting a lot. 

An example of a group shot I have taken, out of uncountable many for the night. Note to self: step back further to minimize perspective distortion. 

Very quick AF and camera response, just point and snap. 

The desert table, designed with a theme !!

The wedding cake. 

E-PL5 as a Workhorse? Seriously?

Ok maybe not. How do I rate the performance of the E-PL5 after shooting a full day wedding? Actually, I have very, very little complains, and generally very satisfied with what the camera could do. When I was shooting, I did not even wish for a moment to switch back to my old DSLR E-5. Yes, I have my minor complains of no Viewfinder and wanting a better grip, but what the E-PL5 could do, trumps all the complains I had. 

That Incredibly Fast AutoFocus

Remember the blazing fast Autofocus on both E-P3 and OM-D E-M5? I was expecting nothing less. Initial testings before the wedding day indicated the exact same performance (even if it was faster I could not tell, because it was already very, very fast). To me, of all the things of consideration for a camera system on a wedding assignment, such as image quality, handling, lens selection and autofocus performance, I actually would place the most importance on the AutoFocus performance. The reason is fairly straightforward, everything on the day is happening so fast you need a camera system that is sufficiently efficient to keep up with pace, and the photographer should not be waiting for the camera to respond in any circumstance at all. Even that one second of focusing hesitation, you will miss the critical moment. It is either you hit it, or miss it entirely. Thankfully, the E-PL5 did not fail me, in fact it exceeded my expectations. 

The autofocus on E-PL5 (much like the OM-D) was near instantaneous in response. I found myself in a lot of situation where I did not even have the time to half-press the shutter button for pre-focusing, hence I did a one time fully clicked shutter button snap for certain very critical and fast shots. The results? Almost ALL of those emergency sudden reaction shots came out in focus, and as I inspected the very few out of focus shots, it was not the camera to be blamed, but myself, for example for not setting the focusing box at the right places. The micro 4/3 system has become so reliable that, to my own surprise, my hit rate with the PEN was higher than my beloved DSLR E-5. To be fair, I did not exactly use the fastest lenses built for my E-5 (I use non-SWD lenses) but having a micro 4/3 system that you can fully trust to grab that shot without a slightest hesitation, what more can anyone ask for at this point? Of course some may argue how about the continuous focusing, how about the 3D tracking? Yes the micro 4/3 system is not quite there yet, but the advancement in technology when it comes to contrast detect focusing is something not to be underestimated. It will surpass (it has already surpassed in some areas) the traditional phase detect system fully, one day.

Additional Note on focusing with Panasonic 20mm F1.7
Unfortunately, no improvement was noticed on the slower focusing Panasonic 20mm F1.7 lens on the E-PL5. In fact, the lens seemed to hunt a little (very, very slight hunting, but still noticeable) and the locking speed was nowhere near what the other three M.Zuiko lenses could do. It was no surprise this was the lens I used least for the wedding shoot. Lets hope Panasonic can come up with an update for this lens, I think many micro 4/3 users would be glad to have the superior 20mm F1.7 optics but with much improved AF speed and reliability ! 

That Extremely Short Battery Life !!

When I was shooting with an E-5, I almost never needed to change battery, and the last record I remember was shooting 1500 frames before the battery started showing warning sign of dying. For a typcal wedding assignment, I would take average of more than 1000 shots. Now, this is the main problem shooting with a PEN, I brought along three batteries, two BLS-5 from Olympus and one BLS-1 of my own (from my E-PL1) and I killed all three by the end of the night. I shot about 1000 images, and that gave me an average of about 300 photos before the battery died, which was not a convincing number at all. I have complained since the PEN E-P3 review last year that the battery life is insufficient for most practical usage, especially full day shooting. Just make one battery that can last about 500-600 shots, I think the PEN users would be a lot happier. Bear in mind that I was not even using the electronic viewfinder, which would drain the battery even faster (I cannot image being able to take less than 200 shots in a single charge with the viewfinder). Surely, a better and higher capacity battery is necessary. Even if I did bring 4-5 batteries, I would not have the time to charge them all before the next day, if I have another assignment coming. Now, do not tell me to buy 3-4 chargers, that is just not a good enough excuse. 

That 75mm lens !!! I want one. 

Explosion of laughter, quick to react, or you will miss it altogether. 

An emotional speech. Believe me, it was that emotional, I shed a tear or two myself. 

How to kill a cake. 

Burst of joy. Another example of quick reaction shots, I did not even pre-focus this frame, just pressed the shutter button fully. 

That Old 2 Axis Image Stabilization

Also there are MANY other things that make Olympus camera system great, which also made their way into the E-PL5, and one of the thing worth mentioning is the Image Stabilization. I have raved about how revolutionary the new 5-axis Image Stabilization on the OM-D E-M5 is, and surely many would have anticipated this to be adopted into the E-PL5 or any Olympus future micro 4/3 bodies. However, Olympus decided to use their older Image Stabilization system similar to E-P3 or E-PL3/E-PM1, the 2-Axis IS. Is this necessarily a bad thing? The ideal wish for everyone would be having that awesome new 5 Axis IS, but after using this E-PL5 for the whole day and night shooting the wedding, frankly the 2 Axis IS was no slouch either. There was not that many instances I employed slower shutter speed, but when I did, I slowed it down to 1/25sec (shots at the balcony overlooking KL skyline) to capture more ambient light. NONE of my shots (I have a thousand over) came out blurred, and that was very impressive. Using the OM-D's 5-Axis IS would allow you to push the limit and go slower in the shutter speed, providing that extra insurance, but for most practical shooting and watching the rules of thumb for minimum shutter speed = 1/focal length, I believe the old 2 Axis IS on the E-PL5 does its job very well. 

I have had almost all the items in my review covered for this Part 1 of my E-PL5 review: image quality is similar to OM-D, handling was good for a light-weight and small sized camera but I did wish for larger grip, autofocus was blazingly fast and super reliable. 

Wedding Shoot 

If you are a wedding professional photographer, or you have done several wedding assignment before, perhaps you can skip this session, because you probably know more about wedding photography than I do. A typical wedding shoot demands a lot both from the photographer and the camera system. The photographer must plan ahead, know every detail of the programme and timed himself perfectly before critical moments happen, in order not to miss any important shots of the day. Some shots happen only once in a lifetime, and if the photographer misses it, he screws up. The camera system must be efficient to respond to the photographer's needs. It does not matter what system you choose to use, but the system must at least provide reliable and fast autofocus and decent image quality. Selection of lenses is also a very big factor in determining your outcome of the day. An extra wide (not necessarily ultra wide, anything at 24mm or wider on 35mm format), normal lens and a medium tele-photo lens should be able to cover everything in a wedding shoot. Of course, some would go extra adventurous and go with fisheye lenses, or tilt-shift. Some prefer zooms, some can only live by prime lenses. I can use both zoom lenses or prime lenses, and a mix of both. I think a very defining quality that a wedding photographer should have is the ability to adapt to changes, and know what to do when things are not going as planned. Being flexible, having back-up plans and quick response will help you make it, simply put otherwise, break it. 

This was an especially challenging assignment for me, because I was not feeling well. If you have read my previous blog entry, I was actually sick the day before the wedding shoot, and I was still recovering from my cough and flu. Staying positive and keeping the spirits up, being focused on the job was no easy feat for me at that time. It was especially difficult for me to stop myself from coughing (would have been very bad manners) and at the same time, have to produce my warmest smile I can force myself to make happen, though I was very, very exhausted. I guess now I fully understand how IMPORTANT it is to have a VERY light and small system to use. I think by God's grace I did pull through, and my deep appreciation goes to Nigel and Kel Li for being very understanding and kind at all times. I was pressured because I do not exactly have a strong portfolio to back myself up, and I am not a full time wedding photographer or a working professional photographer of any sort. 95% of the time I spent on photography was purely for myself only. It was the faith that was placed in me in the first place that pushed myself to take up the challenge, and go for it. 

Overlooking KL night skyline. Blending flash exposure with available light, so that the KL skyline did not completely disappear into sea of blackness. 

That KLCC. Shot at ISO1000, hand-held. Now you do not expect me to slowly set up my tripod and do the long exposure shot while the bride and groom were busy entertaining their guests and expected me to be ready anytime they needed photographs taken with them, right?

KL Tower side

Another hand-held shot. ISO1600

Another example of blending flash and ambient light. 

Nigel + Kel Li

To Nigel and Kel Li, thanks so much for having me as your official photographer, your faith and trust in me meant a lot to me. Congratulations to both of you, and may your lives be always filled with much joy and abundant blessings !!

This is not the end of my review for Olympus PEN E-PL5. I shall be bringing the E-PL5 for my usual street shooting "shutter therapy" sessions. I do have a few more things to say, but lets save it for Part 2. 

If you have any feedback or questions, kindly comment below, or email me at hamish7ian@gmail.com