E-P7 - Is the design and build letting down a good camera

[R99C99]

I own an E-M5iii and an E-PL8 (and previously an E-M10ii). I have loved each camera from the moment I picked them up. Only the E-M10's slightly sharp control dials have bothered me, everything else about the build and design of these cameras has been great.

I picked up a mint used E-P7 today as I really wanted a more feature packed Pen model than the E-PL8. A Pen-F would be nice but it's still on the more expensive side for me (totally worth it I'm sure) and I'd prefer to have all the same smaller battery sizes. I also want a tilt only screen for my Pen.

So the E-P7 was the perfect fit on paper, until I held it today for the first time. It's the first camera I've ever picked up that felt plasticy and hollow immediately. The buttons click in a plasticy way, it seems to 'creak' and sound odd just using it. And its by no means a cheap camera even used.

I don't mean to be negative and it has made me appreciate just how good my E-PL8 is and how amazing my E-M5iii is. I can't even imagine how good an E-M1iii or O-M1 would feel to use. And that for me is such an important thing. I want it to feel good. I want to pick up my cameras and use them more. I didn't realise how much the tactile feel was part of my enjoyment of photography.

So a great lesson learned for me today. Build quality and tactile feel is more important to me than the features! I'll be going back to my lovely E-PL8 for when I want to use a PEN. If only they could release a Pen-F ii....

[090657]

I get what you say! I was a 20+ years Pentax user until I attended the Photography Show several years ago and just out of curiosity picked up (ie held for the first time) an EM1 mk 2.. Convinced instantly. Sold all my Pentax stuff within weeks . Exactly the same thing happened a while later when the EM1X came out- handled that and part-exed the 1 mk 2. And yes you are right to think that the Pen F is a thing of joy- a camera better than the sum of its parts.

[pdk42]

The E-P7 was for me a big disappointment. I owned the E-P5 back in the day and also now have a Pen F. Both the 5 and the F have a really nice well-built feel to them which the 7 doesn’t. Given also that the 7 also needed to fill the boots of the F, it’s disappointing that it has no EVF.

I think that by the time the 7 was released Olympus were into minimum engineering costs and the 7 really is just another rehash of the old E-PL range with the newer 20Mp sensor, combined with the composite mouldings design introduced in the EM5.3.

It is what it is. I’m sure it’s capable of great images, but it’s not for me - I promised myself years ago I’d never buy another camera without an EVF.

[R99C99]

Overnight I convinced myself that I should just spring for a Pen-F to get the build quality I want. I’ve even been negotiating with an eBay seller this morning for one. But I keep coming back to the fact that it’s a 2016 design, it doesn’t have the tilt screen and it has different batteries to my other cameras. Also I read on another forum that the build is similar to the E-P7 anyway (not sure how that can be). And it’s stupid expensive.

So I’ve picked the E-P7 up again this morning. It’s still massively plasticky and disappointing. But I’m going to give it a few hours today to give it a fair shot before returning it to LCE.

[pdk42]

I've recently re-bought a Pen-F. It's got absolutely excellent build quality. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. The foldout screen isn't ideal, but you get used to it.

Is it worth the money? - probably not in terms of what you get feature wise (the EM5.3 is hardly any bigger and is a much more functional camera), but the F has a certain "je ne sais quoi" about it. Its sum is greater than its parts!

I've recently moved to Panasonic FF for my "serious" landscape shooting, but I'm sticking to m43 for more general stuff and the Pen-F is my choice. Its IQ is only barely lower than any of the other 20Mp cameras and so long as you don't need good AF, it does everything else just as well.

Finally, if you want a nice rangefinder-style m43 camera, take a look at the GX8. It's a bit bigger than the Pen-F, but in many ways it's a better camera.

[R99C99]

I've recently re-bought a Pen-F. It's got absolutely excellent build quality. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. The foldout screen isn't ideal, but you get used to it.

Is it worth the money? - probably not in terms of what you get feature wise (the EM5.3 is hardly any bigger and is a much more functional camera), but the F has a certain "je ne sais quoi" about it. Its sum is greater than its parts!

I've recently moved to Panasonic FF for my "serious" landscape shooting, but I'm sticking to m43 for more general stuff and the Pen-F is my choice. Its IQ is only barely lower than any of the other 20Mp cameras and so long as you don't need good AF, it does everything else just as well.

Finally, if you want a nice rangefinder-style m43 camera, take a look at the GX8. It's a bit bigger than the Pen-F, but in many ways it's a better camera.

Thanks for the tip on the GX8 - I had never considered a Panasonic before but since it’s the same lens compatibility, I’ll take a closer look at them. Thanks