Edmond Terakopian, a freelance press photographer and BJP contributor, has had the opportunity to test the newly-released Olympus E-P1 MicroFourThird camera, and he is mostly enthusiastic about it.

‘Every once in a while a product comes along, out of the blue, that you’ve been wishing for. For me, the Olympus E-P1 is this product,’ he writes. Terakopian says it is sturdy, comfortable, ergonomic and well made. He also likes its retro looks.

However he does tell us later on that however good this camera is, it’s not perfect. The main problem, he says, is that it doesn’t have a built-in optical viewfinder, criticism that is being shared by a lot of reviewers so far.

As for the 17mm lens, Terakopian writes: “This little lens is superb though; it’s sharp, contrasty and performs well with flare. I just wish it was f/2 (or faster) and not f/2.8. With the smaller sensor, getting out of focus backgrounds is trickier as the smaller sensor increase depth of field; as a result, it would be preferable to have faster apertured lenses.”

So, who’s this camera aimed at? Terakopian asks at the end of his quick review. “It’s not a compact and not an SLR; think of it as a modern day rangefinder style camera. For me, its ideal for features / reportage and street photography. I would definitely recommend it as a second camera to an SLR user.”

Read Terakopian's review here.