My camera stocks are deep and capable. I can handle weather, speed, multiple angles, video, high resolution, super quiet, super quick, basically lots of things.
One camera stands out as the most beautifully made, but unfortunately least practical of the lot.
The Pen F, a collectors item now as Olympus has officially stopped making them, is a camera that has had its chances, it’s even travelled and has taken some of my favourite images, but it fails to get a run more than once or twice a year. Probably a good thing for an item so precious, but troubling in a world where nothing stands still and I am no collector for it’s sake alone.
Why does it get ignored?
Focussing is assured, but it lacks tracking, so in many ways it is just an updated EM5 mk1. One benefit of this is the sensor creates very sharp and detailed images, I think because there are no phase detect pixels on it.
The shutter is nice, but seems to change pitch when fired vertically and sounds less solid than other Olympus cameras. It puts me on edge a bit, sounds “flimsy” like an old cloth shutter. The electronic shutter also has the usual early electronic shutter issues like banding and a colour caste etc at quite low ISO settings (800 is safe, 1600 twitchy, 3200 often off limits). In this respect it is about the same as the EM10 mk2’s.
It has some handling quirks. The creative options dial on the front is in a poor location for my and others’ hands, the knurled dial face rubs against my middle finger. I have added the optional hand grip and it helps, but not much.
The battery and card compartment are shared on the bottom. This is neat but amateurish. The door feels about EM10 grade so having to open it constantly, as a pro camera needs, could be problematic. If used as a travel camera, this is less of an issue.
The rear screen, likely optional for many who want the true view finder camera experience is sizeable, but fiddly to deploy. It is the most hide-able of my screens, which is deliberate, but annoying when you actually want to employ it in a hurry.
Video is fair, but it has no mic option or 4k. I feel Olympus could have left it off completely as the whole reason for this camera being made, like the Fuji X Pro series, is to take us back to a different time, a gentler, simpler time, one where cameras just took photos.
The matched pair.
The exposure compensation dial is a great big dedicated knob on top, but it is stiff. You need a thumb and finger, not just thumb, making it uniquely annoying in my Oly camera collection as it is a feature I use instinctively.
Even though it is heavy and precisely made, it like the often matched 17mm and 75mm lenses lacks weather sealing, a detail that a world traveller or street shooter would appreciate.
ISO performance is fair, but not an advance over older cameras. There is a nice quality to the high ISO noise, film-like and sharp, but compared to EM1’s, it is more of a creative consideration.
Something special out of something ordinary.
Is it all bad?
No, of course not.
The camera is a celebration of craftsmanship, even sans weather proofing. It is weighty, all metal-cold and reassuring and there are no external screws.
Saved up for special shots like this one of a friend, it is capable of bringing the goods when needed.
The files are special.
Coming from a fleet of EM5 mk1’s, I bought it as the only 20mp Oly camera available after I left hospital six years ago. Empowered by a long enforced rest and inspired by a single photo mag my mother dropped in to me (totally out of the blue), I decided to grow my photographic interest again that resulted in a return to a photo shop, then to the school and now the paper, so I guess it is a loadstone item, an enabler.
After it, I bought an EM1 mk2 and the Pen F still out-shone the newer camera in base image quality. The EM1 mk2 has on sensor phase detection and I felt lost something from the earlier cameras, something the Pen F not only retained, but seemed to exemplify.
At the time, I remember thinking it was like shooting full frame again and years later, the files still stand up against cameras like the G9 or EM1x. The G9 is actually the closest in feel, except for better ISO performance.
Matched to the ancient 25mm old Pen G-series lens, it feels and looks good, but the lens has been drafted into the video kit. The matched 17mm is the right fit as is my spare 45mm.
Old school meets new for old school.
Uses?
Landscape imaging at 20mp. It can do high res, but it is an earlier generation, so best left at its native res. The handling and weight make it good on a tripod, but weather proofing would be ideal. It does have a trump card, an old fashioned screw-in cable release socket!
Studio portraiture, where its average ISO performance is irrelevant.
Travel and street. It is not the most or least practical, but it feels right and is built for heavy use (except the card door). It also looks and feels right which can be more important than you would expect and it has excellent creative modes for previewing possible post processing, like the Kodak Tri-X like mono mode and some old school colour looks. This may seem irrelevant, but to be able to see in black and white helps enormously with compositional choices and inspiration. Shoot in RAW, see in JPEG mono.
A better electronic shutter application would be good, allowing silent operation in low light without fear, but the mechanical shutter is decently quiet and in black and white, I have found banding often disappears.
Personal use and “changing creative hats” fine art projects. Just a great camera to have around and to run outside your usual kit and it actually helps that it feels and acts differently.
Would I sell it?
No. It is special and I know that.