Entry 197 : Review - Olympus PEN-F

Hey, hey! Long time no see.

God, I missed this place.

Heads up! For those of you who don't prefer reading and would rather get a more visual/audio experience of my review, I have produced a video just for you! Check it out here:

Well, today I'm back and here to bring you guys a review of the brand new, soon-to-be-sold:

Olympus PEN-F

Upon first look, you get the sense that this camera is somehow exciting (I know, I can't explain it too).  The way it looks just screams "photography" and you can't help but marvel at its simple-yet-sophisticated appearance.  It's the sort of feeling you get when looking at the cover of a Kinfolk magazine.  Indeed, the rectangular body and myriad of dials presumes a retro feel for the camera but Olympus has promised a modern take on the classic rangefinder body.  But have they really?

Olympus never seizes to pamper with all their magnificent lenses

The overall handling of the PEN-F is superb.  It is admittedly often hard for camera companies to achieve a comfortable grip without having to painstakingly mold some sort of frankenstein grippage on the front of the camera and I applaud Olympus for not even putting one on this camera.

A thumb rest is all it takes for a comfortable grip

Would've been a shame to tamper with such elegance

The size of the camera is also small enough to carry around in a backpack, but large enough to have a satisfactory feel in the hands while shooting.  The camera is in no way a lightweight but this is a good thing as it feels sturdy despite the lack of weather sealing.  I found myself not even needing a wrist strap or neck strap for the camera as it felt really nice in the hands.  The PEN-F was also a great size for shooting on the streets.  It displays an unobtrusive, almost friendly demeanor (so to speak) and I didn't have any negative reactions from pointing it in people's general direction.

Unguarded moments

One very welcomed new feature of the Olympus PEN series is the addition of an electronic viewfinder, which is quite small but has a large enough magnification to compensate.  I found it to be very responsive and had no lag whatsoever, even when half-pressing the shutter.  The EVF is a bit smaller than the one in the E-M5 MkII, but I personally didn't notice it.  The functionality of the viewfinder is similar to the previous ones found in preceding models from Olympus.

Also found on the camera are the mode dials, front and rear dials, and an exposure comp dial

But the looks of the PEN-F isn't the only new thing about it.  The PEN-F now utilizes a brand new 20MP MFT CMOS sensor, an upgrade from the previous 16MP.  This pretty much guarantees photos with much better detail and clarity.

Editorial - Adidas Tubular x Penny Skateboard (soon)

Vibrant and contrasty with beautiful skin tones and color gradation, this new sensor is definitely just as good if not better than the previous sensor that Olympus had used.  What's more, with an added 4MP, the HIGH-RES shot (in which the camera combines 8 different photos into one) now produces a 50MP JPEG instead of 40MP.  The difference between 20MP and 50MP is worlds apart and can really benefit people who love printing huge.

Crown, 20MP

Crown, 20MP at 100%

Crown, 50MP

Crown, 50MP at 100%

Some other new features of the camera include customizable color and monochrome profiles, with film presets included.  The PEN-F has a dedicated dial at the front of camera that allows the photographer to quickly change color profiles to suit the photographers' style or vision for certain scenes.

Can't help but feel like they could've used it for something more useful

A great innovation, but it does seem as if it would be more practical to put other functions on that dial.  Say, focus modes or ISO.  This is because these profiles only apply to the JPEG files.  Now, I do have to say that although I don't shoot JPEG as long as I can avoid it, I really enjoyed putting the camera in the Monochrome profile 2 with HIGH grain.  This profile is said to mimic Tri-X 400 film, which is my personal favorite film, and I found that the tones and thickness does emulate the film to some degree.

So far, the PEN-F does seem like a winner, but believe me, there are many ways this camera falls short.  Firstly, the continuous autofocus is almost totally unusable.  And I say almost because I found that it does work in two particular cases:

1. When the subject remains in the same place.
2. When the subject remains in the same focal plane.

The camera is able to lock on to a subject that doesn't move around drastically

But once the subject moves from afar to nearby or vice versa, the camera struggles to keep up.  The mechanism in which it focuses is flawed, and this is especially apparent when I tried to use the C-AF Tracking.  That was 100% rubbish.  It couldn't tell which thing was the subject, even after I've pressed on it on the touchscreen or after moving the focus point onto the subject.  And then when it came to shooting, it didn't even try to lock on to anything and I ended up literally shooting blurs.

Now you may argue that this camera was never meant to be a sports camera or a wildlife camera, but it would be a damn pity to accept such a flaw in a camera that you might be pouring your life savings into.

Not only that, the camera delivers fairly decent high ISO performance.

ISO-1600

ISO-3200

ISO-6400

Although the high ISO performance is exceptionally better than most cameras I've tested, I feel that with the new sensor, I would have at least expected it to be a bit better than the E-M5 MkII.  I was very happy with how the E-M5 MkII performed when I pushed it up to ISO-8000 and above but the PEN-F tends to soften the details much earlier.  Even so, you'll be happy to know that the PEN-F is good at keeping noise at bay.

A lot of the other shortcomings of the PEN-F pertains towards video capability.  Similar to the E-M5 MkII, the PEN-F records at a maximum 1080p 60fps.  That's right, no 4K!  I want you to know that I'm not one of those 4K-nazis dwelling around the internet these days but I do acknowledge the need for a vision towards the future.  Most of the cameras released in the first quarter of 2016 have 4K resolution built-in, with more cameras predicted to do the same for the rest of the year.  Hell, even smartphones can shoot 4K now.  Is 4K an immediate necessity?  Not at all!  But does it offer a more future-proof option for videographers? HELL YES!

I personally loved the E-M5 MkII because it was so light and portable and easy to work with.  Eventhough I ripped on it for blacking out, not having good low-light AF and for being ultra slow with the processing (which the PEN-F is also guilty of), I absolutely missed it because it was such a fun camera to use and helped out a lot in the video department.  And now with the newer PEN-F, it would've been even better if the video specs were bumped up, as well.

Furthermore, the PEN-F sucks at taking timelapses.  Long story short, when I punched in settings to take a 5 minute timelapse, the camera always ended up taking 10-15 minutes!  Why? Well, one theory is that the processor is so slow that it needs to wait till the photo is read to the card before taking the next photo, even if that means the interval becomes more than one second.  This subsequently resulted in many skipped frames and an extremely fast paced video (much faster than I intended).

Plus, the worst thing about the video capability of the PEN-F is that you will have to rely on external audio recording and monitoring since the camera doesn't have a headphone or microphone jack.

But who can stay mad at this beauty?

In the end, you will have to look at this camera from the perspective it is built on: a versatile, portable, stylish camera that can take excellent stills with a great selection of lenses to choose from.  I concede that I did like shooting with the camera and that it was a great to joy to carry around everywhere.  I guess I had too high hopes for it and its looks was ultimately deceiving.

Would I recommend people to get one?  Not really.  But I can say that if you've already bought into the Olympus system and have been shooting anything before the E-M5 MkII (sans the E-M1), then I guess the PEN-F is a reasonable upgrade.  Even at almost RM5,000 ($1,199.00) for the body only, you will appreciate the craftsmanship, simplicity, and photo-taking power of the Olympus PEN-F.

And that's all I guess. Thanks for checking out this review. Take care!

For photos from this review and more, head over to my Flickr gallery here.
For more photos that I shot in Monochrome profile 2, check out my previous entry here.
For practical examples of video and timelapse quality, check out the video above or go here.

Huge appreciation goes to Olympus Malaysia for loaning me the PEN-F two days after its local release!
Special thanks also goes to the people at Softsrve for letting me shoot my product shots in their cafe.

DISCLAIMER: I do not represent Olympus, or any other brand that might be showcased in this review. This review is written for THE FEAR and is of no significance to any sort of argument that may or may not ensue. I deliver this with utmost honesty and sincerity.