OLYMPUS PEN E-PM1

[swedonator]

Anyone who has used the Olympus Pen E-PM1 for astrophoto? It is one of these mini system digital cameras, much smaller than a ordinary digital system camera.

[billhinge]

I had an E-P1 which was the original Pen but I sold it when I got a Panasonic GH2, I didn't like the lack of viewfinder and I found the GH2 picture quality more to my taste. I quite like the micro four thirds format but some reviewers can be a bit snobby (as you know Olympus and Panasonic are the two manufacturers of micro four thirds systems and much of the early technology was similar)

Why not give it a go, you may be surprised but I think the problem you may have is that you may be limited to 60s max exposure for DSO shots so you will need to stack lots of exposures to combat noise (I don't remember if the PEN has long exposure noise reduction like the GH2 but on the GH2 it works well). It's best to use RAW format when taking images to stack not jpeg.

The video feature is similar to the GH2's so you could use it for planetary video - I use the AVCHD settings

I have used my GH2 for planetary and I'm just starting on DSO and I haven't found too many problems but it depends on your expectations I guess, here are a couple of images taken with the Gh2, the limitation here is me and the weather , not the camera

You will need a M4/3 T2 ring and a cable release if you want to attach it to a telescope (you may have an issue in getting enough contrast to see stars on the LCD though since it may be fooled by the dark background and try to raise the LCD brightness to compensate)

Edit - the last pic was a single shot jpeg of 60s (I think) over a neighbours house with camera and telephoto lens mounted on a CG5 - no telescope

[fredster]

Those are excellent images. We have the Panasonic GF1, just bought all the adapters and remote for it. I was going to try some planetary imaging using the movie mode initially. And then some deepsky. Good to see that both are possible.

Friends all think i'm nuts as i sold a Canon 500D to buy the GF1. But as a day to day camera i much prefer the GF1. With the 20mm pancake lens its great fun, fits in a pocket and take superb pics. Be great if i can take some astro pics with it.

[billhinge]

Thank Fred

I don't miss my nikon F6 35mm film gear either, GH2 is first camera I enjoyed using since the old Olympus OM-1

I know everyone says Canon is the answer, and if you don't have a camera and are buying a s/h one then its probably good advice for an easy life. But if you already have a camera then why not try it, ask a lot of people and they have probably never tried it so they don't know and will give you opinion rather than experience

By the way I used to go on dpreview the photography site and cloudynights and one guy I used to correspond with rated the GF1 quite highly (more so than the GH2 in someways due to its longer B setting), he moved on to the GH3 now which looks like an excellent camera but expensive.

PS I should have said, I was using an Astronomik Light Pollution filter on all these images

[Aussie Observer]

I have just started to use my Olympus Pen EOM1 for astrophotography with my Skywatcher 102 mak mounted on an eq5. The lack of a viewfinder is an issue with DSOs so I will be getting the VF2 finder soon, But for bright objects lije the Moon, it is great. I have attached a photo I took the other night at prime focus. You really need a cable release and a setting on the camera called Antishock. Without this, the images are blurred even using the 2 second delay feature.

I also recently attended an Astrofest where I used RAW to take wide angle photos of the Milky Way. These turned out beautifully.

If you haven't already, do get a micro 4/3 adapter to attach your camera to your scope.

They are great cameras and the small size and lightweight character are bonuses. Good luck.