Olympus E-P1 gathering @ Plaza Mont Kiara

Note: this is not an advertisement

Olympus Malaysia kindly put up an invite for Olympus consumers to attend an E-P1 launch at Plaza Mont Kiara recently.


And no.. it isn't the one where Kenny Sia [note he's a Nikon user] went where all the hot models were, unfortunately. We would have loved to be invited to one of those. (i would even advertise the event for free, but obviously my blog isn't famous enough to warrant this opportunity )



The E-420 is the smallest digital SLR to date. And with the E-p1, they've just squeezed whats good with the four thirds series into an even smaller package, which is pretty admirable.


They've also displayed a glass box full of existing olympus lenses and camera bodies. I value the contents of this glass enclosure to be approximately RM80,000.

Too bad its only for show and we can't try them out..


My good Kuching friend, Robin is ever ready to cover such events with his trusty 520.


Sanjit (the dude on the right) was the event photographer for the day. His glass (notably the 90-250 and 300 2.8s ) are sponsored by Olympus Malaysia.


You can mount any existing four thirds lenses (and a gazillion other Leica, Voightlander, OM lenses) on the E-P1 through the use of an adapter. Its seen here with an extremely coveted Panasonic - Leica 25mm f1.4 which retails about RM 3,200.

And no, i'm not getting one (the 25mm Leica). I'm currently setting my eyes on another gem. Patience is a virtue!


The venue, Marmalade Cafe provided some pretty good food for the event.


The carrot cupcake looks pretty interesting, though I prefer the strawberry ones on the left.


Although the event was geared towards the E-P1, lots of other users were busy exchanging their gear, especially lenses..


And for the fun of it, we actually put a 35-100 on an E-P1 to get a feeling of what it feels like.

Because there's no electronic viewfinder, we have to hold the E-P1 at arms' length to be able to use this product. Hopefully the pro Micro 43rds model will solve this issue soon.


By doing so, it did turn a few heads. The 35-100 is a wonderful piece of glass on its own.


I was able to try out mfahrur's 14-35 while the talk was going on...


And this lens is bloody sharp, even though the current fourthirds sensor has a stronger AA filter compared to say.. a Nikon D300, which results in decreased resolution and detail. I do not find this to be an issue, unless you are a hardcore landscape photographer or a pixel peeper.


So is the E-P1 for you? Well, only you can decide, and at a Rm 3,000 and above retail price, its definitely something to think hard about!