Olympus PEN-F Review Part 1

Important Notes:

1. I am an Olympus Malaysia employee. 

2. This is a user experience based review, based on my personal opinion which can be subjective.

3. All images were shot in RAW and converted directly to JPEG (High Quality) via Olympus Viewer 3 Version 2 (unreleased at this moment)

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

5. Minimal post-processing applied to the images, with slight brightness/contrast balance tweak. All images were almost as good as straight out of camera, with minimal cropping for better presentation.

Olympus releases the latest PEN series camera today, the Olympus PEN-F. This new PEN-F is not a successor to the previous PEN E-P5, and is a unique PEN in it's own category. The classic design of the camera styling was inspired by the original Olympus PEN F 35mm Film camera of 1963. Despite the retro and nostalgic camera appearance, the new Olympus PEN-F houses a new 20MP image sensor, 5-Axis Image Stabilization, and all the latest imaging technology Olympus Micro Four Thirds system has to offer. 

Immediately after shooting and reviewing the M.Zuiko 300mm F4 IS PRO lens last weekend, I started shooting with the Olympus PEN-F for the remaining weekend, torturing the camera in real life shooting conditions. Based on that shooting experience and tonnes of images I have collected and scrutinized, this is my user experience review of the new Olympus PEN-F. 

I was glad to hear the new name convention for the Olympus PEN series being a simple, and straightforward PEN-F. Honestly I think the naming and numbering conventions of the cameras are rather bad, we do not need a mouthful of words and numbers to name a camera. For example, why did we not just call it Olympus OMD 1, instead of Olympus OM-D E-M1? Olympus PEN-F makes so much sense, it is short, sweet and hits the message home: the camera's DNA is similar to the original PEN F from 1963 bearing striking resemblance in camera looks and concepts. 

The following are the key highlights of the new PEN:

1) New 20MP Live Mos Image Sensor

This is the first camera from Olympus to feature a new 20MP image sensor to replace the older 16MP image sensor which was used since OM-D E-M5 in 2012. My main focus of this review is to test and find out the performance of the new 20MP image sensor output. 

2) 5-Axis Image Stabilization

Olympus claims to have the most advanced and powerful image stabilization system for consumer camera market. Having used the OM-D series with built in 5-Axis IS over the years, I am expecting the PEN-F to deliver similar image stabilization performance. 

3) First Olympus PEN to have a built in Electronic Viewfinder (EVF). 

After all the complains on not having an integrated, built in EVF, finally, the new PEN-F has one built right at the top-left corner of the camera. This is also the first time the position of the EVF is not in line with the center of the lens, as per the requests from popular crowd feedback. The EVF panel  is OLED and has 2.36 Million Dot rated at 0.62x magnification.  

4) Monochrome and Colour Profile Control

There is a knob placed directly in front of the camera, next to the lens that allows quick access and control to Monochrome and Colour Profiles. This feature is NOT explored in this part of review, and will be tested and blogged in my coming PEN-F Review Extension. 

5) Other Notable PEN-F Features:

Fully articulated variangle LCD screen

50MP High Resolution Shot - same sensor shift method to create multiple shots, merged to produce super high resolution 50MP image, an improvement from the 40MP found in E-M5 Mark II

First Electronic Curtain and Silent Shutter - to mitigate shutter shock, and allow for silent camera operation

ISO Low is now at equivalent ISO 80, instead of ISO100

Highlight and Shadow control now has a new "midtone" control. 

AF Target Spot Metering - AF target area is now linked with metering area. Previously Spot Metering were always fixed at the center of the frame. Now, you can choose to have the spot metering to follow the AF area selected. 

There is no built in flash, but the bundled add on flash is the same flash for E-M5 Mark II, the new FL-LM3 which has bounce capabilities. 

Full compatibility with 5-Axis Sync IS when M.Zuiko 300mm F4 IS PRO lens is used. Therefore, both in camera 5-Axis IS and Lens IS can be fully optimized. 

Live View Boost 2, first introduced in E-M5 Mark II to aid in boosting the live view to be visible in almost no light situation, is also available in PEN-F. 

Lens information for lenses without electronic contacts can be registered and recorded in Exif info of recorded images (i.e. information such as lens name, focal length, and aperture value)

For full specifications, kindly refer to the official Olympus product page (here). 

CAMERA DESIGN - WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DO NOT

The overall appearance is closely resembling the PEN F of 1963, which has been beautifully crafted. Those who love retro looking cameras will instantly fall in love with the new PEN-F. Personally, I do think the PEN-F design is simply elegant and strikingly attractive. It is the kind of camera that once taken out from the bag, attention will be driven to it. To me, this is the best looking PEN camera from Olympus up to date. 

As much as I do agree and admire the beauty of a stylish classic camera design, which the PEN-F flawlessly delivers, I prioritize function-ability more than just mere looks of the camera.

The stand-out characteristic of the camera at a glance, is the abundant use and placements of manual dials and knobs all over the camera. At the top plate of the camera, there are five separate dials, the usual Camera Function Dial (switching around P, A, S, M and Custom shooting modes), the twin control dials for quick adjustments of exposure parameters (usually aperture and shutter speed), a new dedicated Exposure Compensation dial at the far extreme right of the camera and strangely, even the camera On-Off switch is made into a rotary dial. Going to the front of the camera, there is the sixth and final dial to quickly access Art Filters, Colour Creator and the new feature for PEN-F: Monochrome and Color Profile. 

My goodness, I would think 6 dials in a camera is an overkill. 

I Prefer On-Off Switch, Not Dial

I do not like the On and Off button being a round dial, I would have preferred it t be a "switch" like previously in E-M1, or E-M5. It just makes no sense to have a dial which is difficult for the fingers to "feel" the position for quick turning on and off of the camera without having to look at the dial. 

Exposure Compensation Dial Too Stiff

The Exposure Compensation dial was unnecessary to me. For previous cameras I am used to using the twin control dials, one of them dedicated for direct control of the exposure compensation. Furthermore, that exposure compensation dial on PEN-F was uncomfortably stiff, perhaps purposefully made that way to prevent accidental rotating motion due to unwanted bumps or movement in camera bags. However, that stiffness gets in the way of the overall shooting experience, as I do adjust my exposure compensation a lot while composing my shots. It was so stiff that at times I needed to use TWO fingers instead of one just to turn the exposure compensation dial.  In the end, I decided to customize the dial functions to disable the exposure compensation dial, so that I can adjust the exposure compensation from the front control dial. 

Poor Positioning of Front Knob

Lastly, that front dial next to the lens to control monochrome, color profile, Art filters and Colour creator may be a brilliant idea and can be genuinely useful, but the positioning is quite poor. The knob has rather harsh edge around the outer dial texture, and that harsh edge brushes against the side of my finger as I was gripping the camera. This problem was first highlighted to me by fellow photographer/blogger Ming Thein, and I fully agree with him after a full day of extensive shooting with the PEN-F. This particular problem can be easily understood after viewing subsequent photographs shown below. The position of the knob was placed too close to the hand-gripping area, and the fingers need more room to breathe. 

The harsh texture around the front knob brushes the finger, which can be quite uncomfortable. 

I have slender fingers. I can imagine this problem could be worse for those with larger fingers. 

I think this is my first time writing so lengthily about camera design. While the camera does look sexy, I do think the amount of dials can be lesser by a few and overall function-ability will benefit from better thought-out dials positioning.

SHOOTING WITH THE OLYMPUS PEN-F

I have about two days to shoot with the PEN-F and gather sufficient photographs to compose this blog entry. I have spent the entire two days out shooting, and as much as I tried my best I could, I did not manage to cover all the items I wanted to do. 

In this blog entry (Part 1), I shall be exploring:

1) How does the new 20MP Live Mos Image Sensor perform? In terms of both image sharpness and high ISO performance.

2) Camera ergonomics and handling, with and without the ECG-4 additional grip.
3) General comments on the camera performance: Autofocus, battery life, EVF, etc. 

Items which are NOT covered in this blog entry, but to be included in my subsequent extension review (Part 2):

1) 50MP High Resolution Shot

2) Monochrome & Colour Profile - NEW Feature for PEN-F

I have armed myself with a plethora of M.Zuiko lenses - 12mm F2, 25mm F1.8, 45mm F1.8, 60mm F2.8 Macro. and 75mm F1.8. I have brought the PEN-F to shoot on Kuala Lumpur streets, did some insect macro shots and covered a live gig on a dimly lit stage.

I strongly believe that most people who are interested in this new PEN-F have one burning question to ask - how much better is the new 20MP image sensor in comparison to the older 16MP version? Is the 4MP increase of resolution making a difference in final image output? We shall explore the high ISO performance extensively at the later part of this blog entry.

I think it is fair to assume that loyal Olympus users, who stay faithful to the system do expect a new image sensor to replace the older 16MP version which has been used in all the incarnations of Olympus OM-D and PEN cameras since the original E-M5 back in 2012. The 16MP image sensor in E-M5 was a huge step up from its predecessor and was a game-changer, matching and even surpassing some of the best APS-C image sensor DSLR cameras available at that time. That 16MP, though aged now, was a revolution and successfully changed the crowd perception toward Micro Four Thirds that small image sensor can be a good thing. Not much has changed ever since, and after 3 years, finally a new image sensor is introduced in PEN-F, the first camera from Olympus to feature the 20MP Live Mos sensor. 

IMAGE QUALITY: SHARPNESS

How much more image details can we squeeze out of a 25% increase in pixel quantity? Practically, I am not expecting the 4MP increase of resolution to dramatically improve the overall image output. Nonetheless, I acknowledge the advantage of having more pixels, even slight increase in pixel count can add more headroom for cropping and straightening adjustments (keystone/perspective corrections). 

I generally find the image output from the PEN-F to be excellent in overall sharpness, exhibiting good tonal clarity, contrast and high amount of fine details. 

All images from this point onward were taken with Olympus PEN-F

F1.8, 1/200sec, ISO200, 25mm F1.8 lens

First shots with the PEN-F were portraits of a friend, Carmen. 

F1.8, 1/1250sec, ISO200, 45mm F1.8 lens

F5.6, 1/1250sec, ISO200, 12mm F2 lens

F7.1, 1/3200sec, ISO200, 12mm F2

Crop from previous image

F1.8, 1/640sec, ISO200, 45mm F1.8 lens

F2.2, 1/125sec, ISO200, 45mm F1.8 lens

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F2.5, 1/250sec, ISO200, 45mm F1.8 lens

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F1.8, 1/125sec, ISO200, 45mm F1.8 lens

F3.2, 1/50sec, ISO200, 45mm F1.8 lens

F1.8, 1/2000sec, ISO200 45mm F1.8 lens

F5, 1/320sec, ISO200, 45mm F1.8 lens

F2.5, 1/250sec, ISO200, 45mm F1.8 lens

F1.8, 1/2500sec, ISO200, 45mm F1.8 lens

As shown in many sample images above, and observing the close up crops of the samples, I am very pleased with the sharpness of the image output from the Olympus PEN-F. 

I do not see a great jump in terms of image clarity or sharpness from the older OM-D or PEN cameras. I may not have side by side comparisons to show, but I have sufficient shooting experience to conclude that the image output from the new PEN-F is in fact, rather similar to what you can expect to obtain from OM-D E-M5 Mark II/E-M10 Mark II/E-M1, with perhaps minor improvements. Considering the fact that the image processing engine is still the same, Truepic 7, the image characteristics are quite similar. 

One rather obvious improvement scrutinizing at the extreme crops of human eye, is that the new image sensor has less "JPEG Sharpening Artifacts" and the fine details do not look exaggerated. One common trait of the 16MP Image Sensor (in older E-M10 Mark II, E-M1, etc) is the over-sharpened look straight out of camera, and it is no secret that Olympus JPEG engine does apply aggressive sharpening. While I do believe the level of sharpening in the PEN-F is quite high as well, the final outcome of the images looked more natural and less "strained". This can be clearly seen in the eyelashes and eye brows of the few close up portraits above. I believe that the additional pixels do help in creating the overall more natural and cleaner looking output, but I want to think that the new 20MP image sensor fares better in producing natural looking sharp images. 

I know that some of you may ask me how the dynamic range is with the new 20MP, I shall not comment much here and patiently wait for better qualified technical review sites to churn out meaningful tests/data/charts. From my shooting experience under hot Malaysian sun, the PEN-F handled the high contrast scenes very well, and is less likely to have highlight clipping than the older 16MP image sensor. Honestly the improvement is not marginally huge, but the difference is still  noticeable. 

CAMERA ERGONOMICS AND HANDLING

To test the camera handling, as usual, the best way possible I could think of, is to do Insect Macro Shooting. 

For those of you who are not familiar with my insect macro shooting techniques, kindly read here. 

Basically, to perform my insect macro shooting, I am hand-holding the PEN-F with the M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens attached single-handedly with my right hand, and the external flash on my left. The flash is fired wirelessly off camera. The insect macro shooting session lasted about 2 hours. 

F3.5, 1/30sec, ISO640, 60mm F2.8 Macro Lens, No Flash used

F8, 1/200sec, ISO200, 60mm F2.8 Macro Lens, Wireless Flash Used

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F3.5, 1/160sec, ISO250, 60mm F2.8 Macro Lens, No Flash Used

F10, 1/200sec, ISO200, 60mm F2.8 Macro Lens, Wireless Flash Used

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F10, 1/200sec, ISO200, 60mm F2.8 Macro Lens, Wireless Flash Used

This is the best case to illustrate the versatility and necessity of using wireless flash off camera for insect macro shooting. No other flash system mounted on camera can illuminate the spider between two leaves. 

F8, 1/125sec, ISO200, 60mm F2.8 Macro lens, Wireless Flash Used

F3.5, 1/60sec, ISO200, 60mm F2.8 Macro Lens, No Flash Used. 

Let me just cut right into the chase, if you want to get the Olympus PEN-F, you MUST get the External Grip ECG-4 as well. There is just no other way around it. 

The PEN-F does not have a proper hand-gripping area, which makes handling of larger lenses a little odd (eg 75mm F1.8). In fact, there is very little good thing to write about camera handling without the use of the ECG-4 grip. Unlike previous PEN cameras that have some sort of beefier hand-gripping area to aid in better hand-holding, this PEN-F is perfectly flat at the gripping side. 

The good news is, the handling improved significantly with the addition of the ECG-4 grip, and the problem is immediately solved. I was shooting at the park, hunting for insects for more than two hours, holding the camera and lens combination with just one hand. The camera was small and light enough that it did not strain my wrist or arm. The camera and lens were balanced (I have not tested anything larger than 75mm F1.8 at this point) and shooting experience was comfortable. 

The bad news is the need to use an Allen Key to attach the grip to the camera, which can be inconvenient. This is especially true for photographers who use multiple camera bags, you might tend to forget small things like the Allen Key. Nevertheless once the grip is attached, it does not get in the way of changing battery or memory card. Why can't the usual screw on method (as implemented in all previous Olympus camera grips) be used instead?

IMAGE QUALITY: HIGH ISO

Here comes the next big question, how does the new PEN-F fare in low light shooting conditions?

Since we now have a new image sensor in PEN-F, I think it is only fair to expect improvements. Now, it depends on how much improvement was being anticipated, and many of us, myself included, have been hoping for a miracle to happen with a new image sensor for Micro Four Thirds system. Perhaps having the high ISO performance to match a full frame system is too far a stretch, but hey, we surely want to be able to bridge that gap. 

I went to several dimly lit locations to test out the high ISO performance. 

F9, 1/100sec, ISO3200, 25mm F1.8 lens

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F1.8, 1/320sec, ISO3200, 75mm F1.8 lens

F1.8, 1/320sec, ISO3200, 75mm F1.8 lens

F9, 1/60sec, ISO6400, 25mm F1.8 lens

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F2.8, 1/8sec, ISO6400, 25mm F1.8 lens

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F8, 1/80sec, ISO6400, 25mm F1.8

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F2.2, 1/60sec, ISO640, 12mm F2 lens

F1.8, 1/200sec, ISO800, 45mm F1.8 lens

F1.8, 1/250sec, ISO2000, 75mm F1.8 lens

No, unfortunately, no miracles here. 

The high ISO noise control of Olympus PEN-F is very good, but there is nothing extra-ordinary observed from my shooting experience. 

In fact, just by crude observation, the images do look slightly better than what can be produced with older cameras, such as E-M1 or E-M5 Mark II.  High ISO noise is well controlled, there is little to no trace of chromatic noise (color dots), and at very high ISO the luminance noise (grains) can be intrusive, but not destructive to the image, and not a problem at all unless viewed at 100%. The most important point to take note is that good amount of details are well preserved, even shooting at ISO3200 and 6400. In addition, the color integrity is not compromised and on the whole the I would not recommend the use of ISO beyond 6400, unless absolutely necessary. 

Looking from another perspective, having very usable high ISO at 3200 and 6400 (the luminance noise can be further processed to be filtered off, and no trace of Chroma Noise straight out of camera), in combination of use of bright aperture prime lenses (M.Zuiko 17mm F1.8, 45mm F1.8) with the capabilities of the amazing 5-Axis Image Stabilization system, the Micro Four Thirds system is sufficient in handling most commonly encountered low light shooting situations. I fully understand that sometimes we do have "a black cat in a dark alley at night" sort of condition, which is rare, and I fully understand why more expensive full frame cameras are needed. For 99% of other commonly shot scenes, the Micro Four Thirds is more than sufficient to get the job well done. 

OTHER PEN-F OBSERVATIONS

Camera Autofocus was super fast, and extremely accurate. Focusing was also fairly quick in less than favorable lighting conditions. Olympus has optimized the Single-AF performance and I dare claim that for single point focusing, Olympus cameras take the top spot, rivaling even the most expensive of cameras in the market. I did not test the Continuous AF capability of the camera, because of two reasons: I do not use C-AF in my shooting much, and Olympus did not claim to have improved C-AF in PEN-F. 

5-Axis Image Stabilization works just as well as OM-D E-M5 Mark II. I shall explore the 5-Axis IS performance in my review extension. 

Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) looks exactly the same as the one used in Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II. I have been shooting E-M10 Mark II side by side with the PEN-F, hence I made comparisons. 

Battery life was decent, as expected from E-M5 Mark II or E-M1, lasting about 400 shots per charge. 

I particularly liked the 4 distinctive Custom Function modes placed directly on the Camera Mode Dial, next to P, A, S and M. Since I was shooting insect macro I have customized one for my macro settings, and I can imagine how useful that must be, as I assign one for night landscape/milky way, one for flash photography and one for street! No more excuses of not being able to set up the camera in time. 

I am also supplying direct side by side, crop comparisons between the new Olympus PEN-F and Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II. 

HIGH ISO COMPARISON PEN-F VS E-M10 MARK II

The original framing 

NOTE: Images on the left were from PEN-F and on the right, E-M10 Mark II

ISO 200

ISO 800

ISO 1600

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12800

ISO 25600

Based on the Green Arrow Lego comparison done above, the high ISO performance between the Olympus PEN-F and OM-D E-M10 Mark II is very close. In fact, in just a quick glance, they appear almost identical, and it takes further inspection to see any difference. The PEN-F does perform slightly better than the E-M10 Mark II, but the margin of difference is rather small. The high ISO grain pattern is the same for both cameras, but the new PEN-F has finer grain. 

I shall leave the conclusion open for your interpretations. I have also included ALL the green arrow original uncropped, full resolution images in the download session if anyone is interested to do their own comparisons. I shot these images in RAW and did NO further adjustments converting them to JPEG via Olympus Viewer 3. 

There is no point of me supplying the RAW files for you, at this moment you have no way to open the RAW files yet as it is from a new camera. I am currently using an unreleased Olympus Viewer 3 (version 2) to handle the RAW files from PEN-F. 

I have selected a total of 35 images from this blog for full resolution download:

PEN-F SAMPLE IMAGES DOWNLOAD

PART 1 REVIEW SUMMARY  

I am a little torn on what to write in the closing of Part 1 of my Olympus PEN-F review. 

On one hand, as an Olympus fanboy, I have high expectations in the new PEN-F, hoping that there would be a huge leap in the image quality from the new 20MP image sensor. I am sure I am not alone in this, and many Olympus loyal supporters are echoing my sentiments. Finding out that the image quality produced by the PEN-F is only slightly better than E-M10 Mark II on the whole basically toned down the level of excitement I was in when I was reviewing the camera. 

On the other hand, as a practical photographer, the performance and output of the Olympus PEN-F is more than adequate for the photography work that I do, and it was difficult to find fault with the camera (except for some strange, questionable design choices). Image quality straight out of the camera was rich in detail and pleasingly sharp, yet looking natural and clean at the same time. High ISO performance was not exactly stellar by today's standards, but sufficient for most photography work considering the availability of wide aperture prime lenses and the incredible 5-Axis Image Stabilization. The PEN-F has done so many things right such as the super fast AF and built in large and sharp EVF. This is the kind of camera that is made to lust for: beautiful design blended with great functions and shooting capabilities. 

COMING NEXT IN PART 2

I think I do want to test out more of the PEN-F's features before making a final conclusion on the camera in my review. I shall be shooting with PEN-F in this coming long weekend (for Kuala Lumpur), testing the 50MP high resolution shot, using longer and larger lenses, perhaps do some city landscape, and maybe a bit of slow shutter action to torture the 5-Axis IS. One important feature not to be missed out is the Monochrome and Colour Profile control. There was only so much I could cover in the span of less than 2 days, and I shall be looking into all these items that I have missed soon and blog about them in my Part 2 PEN-F review.

Until then, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. At the time this blog entry is published, I shall be busy with the product launch event in Malaysia, and will not be able to reply to your comments and emails immediately. If you do have requests do keep them coming, I will do what I can to fulfill them in the weekend shooting sessions with the PEN-F for my Part 2 review.

UPDATE: Part 2 Review is now live (click). 

Olympus PEN-F is available from B&H (click here). 
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