This is a great little camera ! I was looking for something that would allow me to shoot good quality images without having to drag around my Big Kit, the E-PL1 did this completely. Small in size, great image quality ( best JPG engine on the planet), nice handling, and some good glass.
I've finally see what all the M4/3 people have been raving about.

great camera at a great value
contains features that make photography fun, easy and productive

I am a musician and writer who has been in a bit of an artistic rut as of late, so I decided to rekindle my interest in photography and bought the Olympus PEN E-PL1. I have been creating images on and off for several years, but this camera is inspiring me to do more with photography than I ever have. The image quality is excellent. It feels good in the hand. I like the sounds it makes, mechanical and real. I feel it is a good tool, one that will help me learn about the mechanics of photography, and let me not think about them when I don't want to and still be able to create quality images. I liked it so much after 2 weeks that I bought a second one for my son.

I purchased this camera to shoot highly detailed closups of antique porcelain. Fantastic, crisp images. Always having people ask what kind of camera I used to take spectacular photos. However, just two months past the one year warranty, it suddenly will not focus with the lens zoomed in. It just gives a black screen "check status of lens" message and makes a whirring sound. I have never dropped or taken this camera in the rain, and am extremely careful with my electronic devices. I expected Olympus to have higher quality standards. All of my previous cameras of other brands have lasted for many years and are still running fine. Wish I could recommend Olympus because the image quality was better than the other brands, but due to the early breakdown I cannot.

E-PL1 is an amazing light second camera, with DSLR image quality, for all situations.

We are happy with the quality, but wanted more zoom than the 14-42, so we have already added the Zuiko 40-150 lens which needs an expensive adapter the OLYMPUS MMF-2 four thirds to micro 4/3. If we would have researched more and the cameras advertising would have shown all the options better we could have purchased all as a bundle.

This camera is super, lite and handy, however, I have found one little flaw. When using the camera for outside photos, if the sun is behind you, you may have trouble viewing the LCD Screen, I use a large hat, but am currently coming up with something to shield the sun for the LCD Screen, other then that, which is not an Olympus issue, it's just an issue with the digital camera world as a whole, camera is highly recommendable.

The E-PL1 with its 14-42 mm kit lens is a quality compact camera but not quite suited for outdoor use. The lack of a decent viewfinder, either optical or electronic, is its biggest defect. In normal sunlight the LCD display is hard to use, virtually impossible to use if the sun is at your back. The pictures are excellent if you can frame them properly. The simple fix would be an optical viewfinder. Even a simple frame finder would do. The cheapest one use cameras have them. The electronic viewfinder costs as much as the camera. I like mine but it won't replace a DSLR. Fairly short battery life too. The movie button is too easy to depress when holding the camera normally.

Is easy to use, very good quality image even in low light conditions, portable although is not a compact! ergonomics are practical enough to be used quickly in any emergency situation... however the weak point is slow!

I bought the e-pl1 to use with older manual focus lenses and it has worked great so far. I had to get the optional viewfinder (vf-2) in order to focus accurately with the old lenses and it has more than met my expectations. The image quality and colors are both amazing.