Until recently I had never even picked up an Olympus Pen F. Then a friend of mine showed me hers and even let me borrow it for a weekend. I fell in love with the camera and bought myself a second hand copy. It is beautifully retro styled with a well thought out layout, nice EVF and it takes great pictures. I then became very puzzled as to why Olympus have ceased production and have decided there will be no MK II. (Though this may be changing) Their reason apparently is that it didn't sell as well as possible. Well that may be true or not, but surely if they can't sell an updated versions of this, then what can they sell?
The original Pen F was a half frame film camera.
But I have to say the new digital version looks a lot better. And it really is one of the most aesthetic cameras ever made, either film or digital. The nice thing is it has Olympus lineage and is not just a copy of a Leica or something similar. And unlike a lot of small mirrorless cameras it looks like it was designed and laid out by photographers without those small buttons and dials that get hit accidentally and send the camera to places you don't want it to go. Which is a good job considering The convoluted way Olympus design their menus!!
There is no grip, which does make handling difficult, but there are plenty available. I bought a cheap L-Plate grip from Amazon which works fine and for larger lenses I have a small rig video cage which fits most cameras. As you can see in the top two pictures it's fitted on the camera with a 12-100mm f/4 zoom and looks good as well as making the handling of the camera a lot better. I therefore have three options in terms of size and feel and this makes the camera much more versatile.
As you can see above it takes great pictures with nice colour and all the usual m4/3 attributes.
So why stop making it? Well it was expensive when it came out and like a lot of m4/3 gear it was overpriced. But then that's easily fixed, just stop being so greedy!! So if Olympus are reconsidering what else could they do to make it more attractive to potential buyers. Firstly the HD video recording needs upgrading to 4K. This is certainly not a camera people would buy for shooting video but it's nice to have and more to the point people expect it. Other than that speed / AF improvements always go down well. A new higher MP sensor would be nice plus adding the hand held high res mode would help justify the premium price I'm sure Olympus would ask for it.
What I personally would like see is somewhat radical (and I'm sure Olympus won't do it) but why not make it modular like the Sigma FP system? That camera uses the L Mount, which means for the most part the lenses are going to be huge and unwieldy. m4/3 has lots of high quality small light lenses so a modular system would make more sense. Why not add a choice of grips including a battery pack? Beef up the IBIS to make it a small light hand held option for stills and video? Keep the retro look and make it a carry anywhere stills / video hybrid. Much as I like my Olympus E-M1X there are lots of times when I need a smaller, lighter camera.
So why not go for a more powerful and feature packed unit that can handle what a modern photographer would want? Well the answer to that is that Olympus think in traditional terms, much like most Japanese manufacturers, and have very rigid views of what the market wants and what product fits what sector. (And they wonder why they are selling less cameras!!!) Another option would be to make the camera like a smaller option to the Samsung NX 30 smart camera, with direct internet access. Of course they would argue that that didn't sell, but then the problem with the Samsung was it was way too big. A smaller Pen F version would surely be a more attractive option.
Now as stated before I have no optimism that Olympus will do anything radical with a Pen F II if they do decide to make it. Instead we will probably get the usual incremental improvement and nothing more. This is a shame since the Pen F is a cracking little camera and to be honest if there is no version 2 then I'll be happy to use it as it is.
Bottom Line - An unexpected discovery and an unexpected delight I'm pleased to have found the Pen F and look forward to many happy hours using it.
