Hands on: Olympus Pen E-P1 review

One of the best features on the camera is the HD movie function. Shooting 720p clips in five-minute bursts is a satisfying experience and the light nature of the camera means that you can be as experimental as you like with your shots. Couple this with PCM stereo recording and there's definitely some professional moviemaking tools at your disposal with the E-P1.

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COMPACT CAM: The E-P1 has a brilliantly compact body

Whether the Olympus Pen E-P1 is a one-off camera, never to be reproduced again remains to be seen. But from our hands-on, Olympus' homage to its 50-year-old film equivalent is a superb effort – both in the style and substance stakes. The camera is a joy to use, and the detail Olympus has put into making the camera as retro as possible is superb; down to leather-style strap and matching slip case.

In our short time with the camera, it's plain to see that this is exactly how the micro FourThirds technology should be used. And with a price tag of just £599 (body only) there's definitely going to be interest in the camera from seasoned pros and newcomers to the DSLR world.

Just ask renowned photographer David Bailey, who is helping to launch the cameras at Jessops flagship store in London on 25 June. And if he's giving it the thumbs-up, then who are we to argue?

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.