Pen F

[ronidog]

A lot of the OM ambassadors are posting you tube videos and blogs discussing how great the Pen F was for its time. They also ask the question why is it not updated and released again.

Is this a marketing move by OM to create a desire for their next new camera release?

[ronidog]

Paul,

I was not suggesting I wanted the old PEN F, just curious as to why a number of brand ambassadors are talking up an upgrade to it.

I have the EM5 iii and love it

[Phill D]

Never used one myself but I bet a lot of folks would be pretty pleased if there was going to be a new version.

[BDennis]

Yes just seen the video by Emilie Talpin, a redo of it could be a nice compact retro style m43 body if they updated the sensor, evf and added weather sealing. I nearly bought the Pen F for a backup body once. The late David Thorpe did a good Pen F review, still makes me want to buy one!

No idea if this latest interest is a marketing ploy

Bill

[pdk42]

The Pen F is the epitome of a cute camera. A camera to take pictures OF, but not necessarily WITH - because it's flawed in many ways:

- The EVF is too small (worse than the EM5 & EM1, no better than the EM10)
- The AF is the worst of any Olympus m43 camera since the 16Mp Sony sensors arrived. It's especially bad in low light
- The grip/handling without an add-on grip is poor
- The creative dial cuts into your finger as you hold it
- The battery is the old, unchipped low-capacity thing from the OG EM-5. Not only is life poor, but there's very little warning of it running out of juice
- If you're a raw shooter, the controls for the various JPEG effects are superfluous since they can't be re-assigned
- It should be great for street shooting, but it's got a flippy screen which is really not ideal for waist-level incognito shooting
- The sensor is the first-gen 20Mp one and it lags the one in the EM1.2 and onwards
- It's got slow burst shooting and a small buffer

But having said all that, it is a nice camera to use if you can live with these limitations. And for sure - it's cute ! For that reason alone it'll remain popular. But if taking photos is your main aim, there are better Olympus camera options. The EM5.3 for example beats it in just about every way - better sensor, better controls, better AF, better IBIS, better EVF, better handling, faster burst/deeper buffer. But you'll pay through the nose for the Pen-F whilst the EM5.3 remains a bargain! Go figure.

[ronidog]

Paul,

I was not suggesting I wanted the old PEN F, just curious as to why a number of brand ambassadors are talking up an upgrade to it.

I have the EM5 iii and love it

[Dave in Wales]

I took delivery of three new ones from WEX back in the day.

All were like this, the cover lifting, I was not impressed.

[pdk42]

I had three at various times (you can tell I was torn on it!) - two used and one new. All three were perfect.

[Nobody_in_Particular]

I had thought that the Pen F would make a good street photography camera, less obtrusive than an E-M or OM, but on the basis if the foregoing obviously not.

[griffljg]

In fairness to the Pen-F, but in total agreement with Paul's issues, which would also stop me from buying a Pen-F, every Olympus camera I have owned from the E-300 to the E-M1 Mk II had issues with the rubber grips lifting. I finally fixed that issue by using just a dab of Superglue.

With the release of the E-M1 Mk III, that issue appears to have been addressed by using a different material in place of rubber for the grip. It doesn't feel as nice to hold, but at least the grip doesn't peel off.

[ronidog]

The om 3 matched with either the 20mm or the 12-40 is great for street photography.

[090657]

Paul is absolutely right in every way of course but I have two F`s and in a fire these are the two cameras I would rush to save. For my style of shooting, static and not low light, they are perfect. Yes outdated but the sheer joy of using them makes up for that. A camera far greater than the sum of its parts in my opinion.

[pdk42]

Paul is absolutely right in every way of course but I have two F`s and in a fire these are the two cameras I would rush to save. For my style of shooting, static and not low light, they are perfect. Yes outdated but the sheer joy of using them makes up for that. A camera far greater than the sum of its parts in my opinion.

You are in good company since the Pen-F is still very popular on the used market. I think it perfectly illustrates that image quality and features are not always what motivates people to buy and use cameras. There is a certain "je ne sais quoi" about the Pen-F that draws people to it. And truth be known, I never really had any complaints about its image quality or its performance. It's a "feel good" camera.


Interestingly, I participated in a recent discussion in an L-mount forum about the Sigma BF. If you haven't heard about it, it's an L-mount FF compact body that's exquisitely made from a chunk of milled aluminium. But ... it has no mechanical shutter, no EVF, only a single dial, and some quirky UI concepts. It's not at all the camera for me since my red-lines are EVF and twin dials, but there are a lot of people who really like it. On all rational grounds, there are much better cameras available in L-mount, but many people get a "feel good" factor from the BF, just as others do from the Pen-F.

The BF also just got awarded the runner-up prize in the "Worse Camera of 2025" review by Chris Nichols and Jordan Drake on PetePixel. I agree with them, but I think there will be lot of people enraged by that decision!