Olympus E-PL1 ISO and Image Samples

Olympus E-PL1 ISO and Image Samples

We’re wrapping up our review of the Olympus E-PL1, but as we type out our final thoughts, I thought we’d share the juicy bits of the review, specifically ISO and image samples. Our general thoughts are that like the E-P1 and E-P2, the E-PL1 takes very appealing files that have a nice punch to them. As to its low-light abilities, the E-PL1 can reliably pull of ISO 1600, and likely ISO 3200 as well depending on your tastes. In those regards, the E-PL1 may indeed appeal to enthusiasts looking for a more affordable, but compact alternative to the E-P2 and Panasonic GF1. Overall build quality isn’t up to those levels, and the E-PL1 lacks some of the enthusiast level controls of those cameras as well, but it does make it fairly easy to access various camera settings.

Olympus PEN E-PL1 Digital Camera (black, blue, champagne) at B&H Photo Get the Olympus PEN E-PL1 Digital Camera (black, blue, champagne) and support this site at the same time, by making your purchase through the link above at B&H Photo Video.

Olympus PEN E-PL1 Digital Camera Body (Black) at B&H Photo Get the Olympus PEN E-PL1 Digital Camera Body (Black) and support this site at the same time, by making your purchase through the link above at B&H Photo Video.

ISO Samples

We used our standard low light setup to provide the following ISO samples. As usual, the camera was set to f/8 in aperture priority (+1 exposure compensation), with the lens set to 25mm, a 35mm equivalent of 50mm. We shot the samples in both RAW and JPEG. For the RAW files, all noise reduction options are turned off, as are any dynamic range boosters. For the JPEG, the noise reduction is left at its default settings. As you can see below, JPEGs offer plenty of sharpness, but fine details are removed by the noise reduction, even at ISO 100. The best detail can be found in the RAW files, but even at ISO 200, some peppered noise begins to appear, though certainly nothing to effect overall image quality. To my eye, ISO 1600 looks entirely usable, and even ISO 3200 has plenty of potential.

Use the image below to orient yourself to the crop positions. Click each thumbnail for a 100% view of each crop, RAWs are on the left, JPEGs on the right. The full size samples for RAW can be had here, while the JPEGs can be examined here.

Crop 1

ISO 100 (RAW)	ISO 100 (JPEG)
ISO 200 (RAW)	ISO 200 (JPEG)
ISO 400 (RAW)	ISO 400 (JPEG)
ISO 800 (RAW)	ISO 800 (JPEG)
ISO 1600 (RAW)	ISO 1600 (JPEG)
ISO 3200 (RAW)	ISO 3200 (JPEG)

Crop 2

ISO 100 (RAW)	ISO 100 (JPEG)
ISO 200 (RAW)	ISO 200 (JPEG)
ISO 400 (RAW)	ISO 400 (JPEG)
ISO 800 (RAW)	ISO 800 (JPEG)
ISO 1600 (RAW)	ISO 1600 (JPEG)
ISO 3200 (RAW)	ISO 3200 (JPEG)

Crop 3

ISO 100 (RAW)	ISO 100 (JPEG)
ISO 200 (RAW)	ISO 200 (JPEG)
ISO 400 (RAW)	ISO 400 (JPEG)
ISO 800 (RAW)	ISO 800 (JPEG)
ISO 1600 (RAW)	ISO 1600 (JPEG)
ISO 3200 (RAW)	ISO 3200 (JPEG)

Image Samples

We’ve put together a slideshow of 33 photographs taken with the Olympus E-PL1. As we’ve come to expect from the E-P2 and E-P1, the E-PL1 takes pictures with a pretty nice punch, thanks to a nice contrasty curve being applied in-camera. Image noise from the four thirds sized sensor is apparent even at ISO 200, (less so in JPEG), but as noted above in the ISO discussion, ISO 1600 is easily usable for most purposes. All in all, nice looking files right out of camera, and pretty friendly to post-processing as well.

We definitely recommend taking the slide show fullscreen, and even better, having a look at the original size files via the appropriate links. As always, feel free to download any files for your own personal use only.

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