My handbag is heavy.. coz there's my telephoto in there… and flashgun. The camera bag itself is rather heavy.. and when filled with camera.. even heavier. All that around my neck with a toddler running wild to chase.. it's a bit too much. Now dun think that OH is not helping. In our family, I do the photography.. unlike most other families.. the husband is usually the photography enthusiast. I will carry everything despite OH insisting on carrying my handbag even.. but I always say no.. coz I want him to concentrate on the LO. Then I remember how tiring it is… but I'm willing to bear it coz I just can't live without the photos I get with a dslr. Then I remembered OH showing me Kenny Sia's review on the Olympus PEN. I wasn't really interested back then… but it occured to me.. it could be the solution to my problem. I wasn't really thinking of buying coz I was sure I couldn't afford it.. but I asked OH anyway.. how much it costs. True.. it's waaaay over my head. Then, this all happened on our way to KL.. couple of weeks back.. I thought suddenly if only I let go of my current slr.. with all its accessories.. I might be able to get it.. might even break even! (no pun intended)

I recalled seeing a distant photography enthusiast fren holding a pen in one of his facebook photos. I wrote him a lengthy explanation.. on how my photography skills were.. how much I'm familiar with the alpha.. and asked him.. would it be worth the swap… I think I wrote at least 3 paragraphs.. the reply was…."BUY IT!" A bit annoyed with the short answer despite the longwinded grandfather story I told.. but delighted nevertheless..

So.. we went to lowyat to scout out the camera. There wasn't any on display.. they would only show you the brochure.. I was so dismayed. but luck has it… a european guy beside me was also asking questions on the PEN. Noticing my interest in the camera, he actually took out from his back pack.. a silver PEN… I was like awed! He demo-ed how the lense extends… AWEDx2!! OH already told me not to buy if the price is so and so.. and the price was indeed so and so.. I left empty handed but the image of the white and silver PEN and the photos I took using the nice european's camera under low-light was already imprinted in my mind.

Fast forwarded to the day before we had to leave for Parenthood Expo. I frantically called each camera shop in Midvalley asking for their price and whether or not they have white… most of them carry silver except for this one shop which can get white for me if I just confirm. Consulted OH, pleased with the price and accessories thrown with it.. I gave the thumbs up.

Got to the shop next day panting for breath at 9.46pm LOL. Have a look and paid for it.. defended sony alpha a bit since the shopkeeper was dissing it.. and took it back to our room. Battery was empty.. so couldn't try it out until 8hrs later. The morning after, 5 am, stirred awake and couldn't get back to sleep, I fired it up and took photos in the bathroom.. (didn't wanna wake the 2 bears) tried everything that I can and I grinned from ear to ear… it's really that worth it.

What I like best:

• small enough to easily fit in my handbag, big/heavy enough that it feels great in my hands.
• it takes amazing photos despite lowlight DSLR like.. seriously.. if one complains about the bokeh la.. or the blur in lowlight, it's not the camera.. it's the kit lense… all other dslrs (my level of dslrs at least) using kit lense have the same issues.
• it is indeed a compact dslr.. and a compact with better photos.. of course you cannot compare the compact-ness to an ixus i..
• noise at very high ISO is very VERY forgivable unlike my previous sony alpha
• I can change the ratio 4:3 (typical), 16:9 (fav!), 6:6 (no need to crop for square frames), 3:2 like alpha
• art filter.. you just gotta love the grainy affect.
• the barrel mechanism of retracting and protruding the kit lense.. it's just so cool, you never get bored of it
• HD video is amazing!! You should check out the vids I posted on facebook.
• HD ready — I can plug it in OH's full hd
• it uses SD! SD is the best in my book. xd is a no-no.. compact flash is not very convenient too. I'm so relieved that it uses SD. It's cheaper too.. right?
• it's a topic of conversation.. at least at the moment la.. wherever I go.. ppl will gawk and talk about it.. LOL
• I've never used Olympus camera but I find the interface is real breeze to get used to. the buttons are all in the right position.
• LCD is huge. I heard ppl complaining about the resolution.. but I seriously dunno what they are complaining about.
• The kit lense is great for everyday photos.

The little things that annoys me at first but I got over it:

• having to remember to protrude the lense. haha.. eventhough I love this to bits but in the beginning I thought it's kinda leceh. But I got used to it.
• the big ass file sizes. ORF is about 15mb, jpeg is 3mg and HD vids… can go up to 1gb! I always use the best setting coz I usually take pictures/videos for personal keepsake. If I wanna share most of the photos I take on the web, it's just a bitch to resize all.. and I couldn't upload the HD videos using streamyx. The ones on facebook.. I used the room's connection. So.. that explains why I still haven't uploaded the remainders. So.. I need to figure out the best setting.. I haven't had the time to do so..
• I didn't get the other package.. the one with pancake lense.. coz they dun have it! dang.
• accessories are nowhere to be found yet… I hope I can get a spare battery before the end of year trip. Shashinki has it.. but I dun wanna buy from shashinki
• special sized filter i need to find… 40.5?
• it's not canon…
• The camera strap is in the way.. just need to fold it out of the way lah
• the eerie green power indicator. why green…?

The things that bother most but I dun see it as a problem

• lack of viewfinder. I only used the viewfinder on my alpha becoz it doesn't have LCD liveview. I dun understand how a viewfinder can help you frame your subjects better. Anyways.. it could mean that the battery drains faster? But I used it a week now and I haven't the need to recharge the battery yet
• no in-built flash. More often than not, I need to switch of the flash on compact cameras and even on my dslr becayse I just hate hate hate the washed out effect a built-in flash produce. So.. I dun miss it.. but I think I do need a flashgun if I wanna take better photos indoor/lowlight. If the PEN external flash is good enough.. I'll just get that one. And since it's small.. it won't weigh down my handbag even further.

Below are photos I took with N97 hahah.. I'm suppose to put photos I took with the pen.. wth? Most picture are on facebook. You can view the photos and see for yourself the quality of the images and whether or not it's worth it. Just remember though.. I took those photos during the 1st few days witht the pen.. mostly indoors.. sometimes while chasing after Afya.. so they may not really justify the capability of the camera. Just FYI.