In the "recent-old" days, choosing and buying a new camera was pretty cut and dried in many respects. If you were a pro, you backed-up a truck-full of cash to your chosen photographic shop and bought a 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera, and if you were an happy-snapper, you picked up an Instamatic from the local chemist. Of course, that’s an over simplification, but the point is, it was a relatively clear, simple decision. Then.came.digital. And all KINDS of things changed. Again, in simple terms, the distinction between pro and happy-snapper became less of a ne’er-the-twain-shall-meet and more of a spot-the five-well-concealed-differences kind of exercise. One of the features of this leveling of the playing-field, has been the intense downward pressure on the bottom end of the Digital SLR market. Entry level DSLR’s have become cheap and attractive enough that huge numbers of folks have opted to skip the lower echelons altogether, and start their photographic life with a DSLR. That’s great. Bigger sensors and swappable lenses almost always mean better images. But see, the problem is, see, that carrying a DSLR around is a schlep. Even a small one. And so sadly, there are many entry level DSLRs bought and used a couple of times (maybe a holiday), that live lives of quiet dark solitude in cupboards…

Gratefully, there’s at least one company that’s working, (and has been for the 40-odd years) to correct this imbalance in the universe. In 1959 Olympus launched the PEN, a small, light, convenient SLR camera, that used the half-frame standard, i.e. film, half the size of the 35mm standard. They sold 17 million of those, between 1959 and the mid 80′s. And the best of those, was the PEN F, introduced in 1963, which had interchangeable lenses. That camera had near-legend status, still has today.

Along came digital, and downward drive (dive) of the entry level DSLR market. Olympus went about their business, quietly selling millions of cameras, and never letting go of the high-quality-small-(D)SLR ideal. In fact, they went as far as to co-create the Four Thirds standard with Kodak, and are founding (2008) members of the Micro Four Thirds consortium with Panasonic. The June 2009 launch of the PEN E-P1 digital, followed in November 2009 by it’s PEN E-P2 sibling, bears testament to the continued commitment to that ideal.

And, so we get to the camera on review here. The Olympus E-PL1 PEN. Clearly designed to fit below the E-P1 and E-P2 in terms of price, the question is, have Olympus cut too much in the trimming of it? Let’s have a look at the goodies:

The PEN E-PL1 Arrived in a compact package, with the promising tag-line "Great pictures for everyone" in small print below the big PEN logo. The box was summarily unpacked and set (cast, actually, not unlike a child on Christmas morning) aside … Here’s the full haul of schwag, artfully arranged.

First impressions count, and my first impression was: Nice. Complete. No Oh-I-wish-they’d-included-this-or-that-moments. Body with distinctive lens-cap, the satisfyingly wide 14-42 M.Zuiko Digital lens, a proper rechargable battery, straps, leads, charger etc. Sweet. I couldn’t wait to get out an shoot the beastie. But that’s the subject for a shooting-review post, all of it’s own. Keep watching for that, early next week.