Then about a year later Olympus changed the m4/3's game with the the E-P1. I think it is fair to say that all of us that work at Penn Camera were taken in some way by the E-P1. It may have won a few of my co-workers at the Tysons shop over.
One thing about Penn Camera is lots of us that have been into photography for a very long time. Even with my being with Penn Camera for just 10 years, I am the middle child in the family of Penn staff members. Though my experience goes way back to the 1970's.
But I digress... back to the E-P1. It was what lots of us old timers remembered what cameras used to be. Metal bodies and the like. And the look and feel was very much like the original Olympus PEN half frame film cameras; a camera that in my youth I lusted over. With July being my birthday month, and always treating myself to a new toy for my birthday, I bought an E-P1 with it just being in the shop just three days. I rationalized the purchase by saying that it would be a nicer fit in my sling bag.
A few days after getting the E-P1 I went to a pool party at a friends place. First, it was nice not lug around a big DSLR. I used a Tenba 10x10 camera wrap to protect in my sling bag. Second, NOT carrying a DSLR led to better pictures of my friends. More on that in my follow up posts. When I got home and looked at my shots, I was wowed by the colors from the pics I took. I had the pleasure to be the host for classes that we offer for free from some of our vendors this past winter. During a break, I was asked by someone why I made the switch...and I said it was the colors of the images. Soon 6-8 others chimed in saying the same thing!
In fact, that are a number of more serious photographers than me are touting the camera's jpeg images. More to come on this in my post next week.
You still have time to enter to win your own Olympus E-PL1 to see for yourself as to what makes this camera so special for many of us photographers. Just go to our website and upload your best great outdoor picture!
