My Olympus PEN E-PL1 and the Lenses I Use

My camera is an Olympus PEN E-PL1. As if I needed to say, I am an amateur photographer. I mostly shoot pictures of nature in the woods near our house, and of places we visit on vacation trips.

When I bought my camera just over a year ago, my shopping criteria were:

• Small enough to operate with one hand (I'm often shooting while walking the dogs, with my other hand holding leashes).
• Relatively inexpensive.
• A step above the (very basic) point and shoot camera I used before.

I bought it used for $130 with the standard lens (14-42 mm, described below). It's no longer available new, but you can buy the latest version, which is the E-PL8.

The Olympus PEN series cameras are "Micro Four Thirds" format. They are smaller than DSLRs and lack the mirror and viewfinder, but you can change the lens. The image sensor (which plays a role in image quality) is larger than those found on most "point and shoot" cameras, but smaller compared to a DSLR. It has the capability to shoot in full manual mode (i.e. you control shutter speed, aperture, focus and ISO) . Panasonic has cameras using the same format, and Sony and other manufacturers produce similar cameras.

Shortly after purchasing it, I began shopping for additional lenses. I found this article to be a very helpful guide.

Here are the lenses I use.

14-42 mm zoom (Olympus)

40-150 zoom

This is the lens that typically comes with the camera body (shown in the picture above). It's fine for general snapshots of people and scenery. On manual focus mode, I can get a bit closer to the subject when I want to do a macro shot.

40-150 mm zoom (Olympus)
This one gets me a little closer to the action. It's not really powerful enough for much wildlife photography, but I use it a lot to capture butterflies and other insects. I can stand a few feet away (maybe three to five) and zoom in to get close with less risk of scaring away the subject. As with the previous lens, I can move in a bit closer when I switch to manual focus mode. Its small size makes it easy to carry and handle. I bought it used for about $100.

70-300 mm 

70-300 mm zoom (Olympus)
My biggest lens, just powerful enough to do a bit of wildlife photography if conditions are just right. It's also very useful for "tele-macro" photography of insects. This lens is made for an Olympus DSLR format camera. Thus, I had to buy an adapter to get it to fit on my camera, but all of the auto focus and exposure functions work fine since it's the same brand as my camera. Again, manual focus mode lets you get a bit closer to the subject. I bought this as a manufacturer refurbished lens on Ebay for $300, plus $50 for the adapter. It's big and bulky.

50 mm macro (Pentax)
This Pentax lens is on loan from my dad, and requires an adapter to fit my camera. Since it's a different brand, and not designed for micro four thirds format, it is strictly a manual mode lens (focus and aperture).

Macro

I also picked up a couple of "legacy" lenses from e-bay, designed for old 35 mm film cameras (thus requiring an adapter for my camera). It was a good learning experience, and I think you can get some good quality lenses this way. However, at the time I was not wanting to spend much money and I got what I paid for.

For comparison, below are example shots of the same scene taken from the same position with my various lenses at maximum zoom.

First, the 14-42 zoom:

Here is the 40-150 zoom:

Next is the 70-300 zoom: 

Finally, for another point of reference, here's the same scene taken with my point and shoot at max zoom (a Nikon Coolpix L610 with a 16X zoom):

For anyone looking for a micro four-thirds camera, the Olympus PEN is a solid and economical option. Using it has dramatically boosted my photography skills and motivated me to learn more of the technical aspects. For me, the best features include a large sensor, full manual options, and RAW format image shooting.

However, were I shopping today, I might consider a camera in the "bridge" category (these, for example). These cameras tend to include the aforementioned features, only lacking the ability to change lenses. However, many of them come with a long zoom, so they are quite versatile.

But of course, I wholeheartedly subscribe to the notion that the best camera is the one you have with you, whether that be a fancy DSLR, an inexpensive point and shoot, or the camera on your phone. Happy shooting!