Nikon 1 J1 or Olympus Mini PEN E-PM1??

[Deep 3.2TL]

Photography friends...

I bought the Nikon 1 J1 and the Olympus Mini PEN E-PM1. Price difference is about $100 between then with the Olympus being cheaper. I'm running my own shot tests to see which I like better (mostly concerned about low light shooting).

Anyone have any compelling reasons for one over the other? The Olympus sensor is bigger, with higher res and SHOULD perform slightly better in low light. The Nikon has a bunch of gimmicky features, but has a flash built in, where are the Olympus comes with it, but it is removable.

Thoughts? Anyone have any experience with either of these?

[craigIS]

I know this comment is a bit late, but, better late, than never.

I don't like either of them. If I had to, I would stick with the Nikon 1.

The PEN feels better than the Nikon 1 in my hands, and it's a great little camera. The Nikon 1 to me, feels all sloppy and shizznit. Especially the lens. I like the component quality in the Nikon better. The Nikon should produce slightly better results than the PEN, IMO.

Either of them would be good for someone who isn't a photog, or doesn't want a bulky DSLR with them all the time, when they don't need it. They both are tied in my books, but I trust Nikon, and have never been let down by my D60, which has over 20,000 exposures on it, and has been in rain, snow, ice, dirt, heat.......it's just taken a beating in general.

[Deep 3.2TL]

I agree - I have a D90 and trust Nikon - but Nikon let me down with this one...

They PQ was "ok" on both of them, not as sharp as I would have expected. The nikon has a known blurry picture problem which they say they fixed in a firmware update - didn't look like it to me after I updated it.

Ultimately, for the price I was paying, I expected more. I returned both and got a SX260HS point and shoot and believe it or not, the pics are sharper with that for less money...

[craigIS]

I never knew about blurry pictures.... That's a real let down!

Well, I guess you don't always get what you pay for. Sometimes, you just gotta go with something cheaper.

[Robb]

Made in GERMANY Leica X2

[Deep 3.2TL]

Kinda not even in the same world of price... Not a comparison.

[Pfaff Tuning]

Originally Posted by Deep 3.2TL

Ultimately, for the price I was paying, I expected more. I returned both and got a SX260HS point and shoot and believe it or not, the pics are sharper with that for less money...

Awesome little pocket camera for the money. Sony's HX30 is a friggen killer in that range.

I find in order to be truly happy with the compact system cameras you need to get up to the Nex-6/OM-D/XE-1 territory...although as far as size goes the NEX-5R is the best.

For the choices you had: fast focusing, compact, but "boring" image quality and manual functionality is more or less not usable (not really the point of the cameras...but something that deterred me).