Hands on: Olympus Pen E-P1 review

When it comes to performance, the E-P1 is a workhorse. Using the 17mm pancake lens, we found the camera a breeze to use. In fact, you could kid yourself into thinking that what you have in your hand is a simple point-and-shoot compact.

And that is the beauty of the camera. It's a DSLR (well, as close as you can get with the mirrorless micro FourThirds system) in a compact body, one that will be desirable to both the pros and first-time snappers.

Olympus 9

HOTSHOE: The hotshoe can be used for a flash or optical viewfinder

Manual focus was a breeze, the pancake lens ring is smooth and somewhat satisfying when used. If you want a bit of zoom action, then there's also a 14-42mm zoom available.

The 12.3MP Live MOS sensor works will with the camera's TruePic V processing, with shots looking both vibrant and crisp.

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.