Olympus adds instant video recording to new E-PL1 PEN body
New from Olympus this morning is the E-PL1, an updated addition to its range of Micro Four Thirds bodies.
As you might expect, the price has come down to a more affordable $600 (which includes a 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 lens), but the body is made of plastic and not metal like its predecessors.
What’s intriguing about this model, though, is the video recording control which can be activated by a single button-press from inside any photo taking mode. In other words, you no longer have to turn the mode dial to video mode, take some video, then switch back to a still photography mode.
The video mode is within easy reach no matter what you’re doing with regard to still photography. Although the placement of the new “Direct Record” button might cause problems, as Engadget’s hands-on tester notes:
“We ended up recording a 720p video rather than taking a still a few times, so it looks like you’ll have to get used to carefully angling your hands.”
Even so, this is a very interesting idea from Olympus and could be of great interest to multimedia producers who need to rapidly acquire video, still, and audio footage of an event as it happens. With this camera at least, video is no longer a separate mode; it becomes a direct complimentary activity to the taking of photographs.
(Via Photo Rumors and Engadget.)
