Olympus® PEN E-PL1 For Dummies®

Chapter 2. Choosing Basic Picture Settings

In This Chapter

• Reviewing the default picture settings

• Setting the shutter-release mode

• Considering picture aspect ratio

• Getting a steadying hand from image stabilization

• Taking advantage of Face Detection

• Understanding the Image Quality options

Every camera manufacturer strives to provide a good out-of-box experience — that is, to ensure that your first encounter with the camera is a happy one. To that end, the camera's default (initial) settings are carefully selected to make it as easy as possible for you to take a good picture the first time you press the shutter button.

On the E-PL1, the default settings ensure that the camera works about the same way as any automatic, point-and-shoot camera you may have used in the past: You frame the subject in the monitor, press the shutter button halfway to focus, and then press the button the rest of the way to take the shot.

Although you can get a good picture using the default settings in many cases, they're not designed to give you the optimal results in every shooting situation. Rather, they're established as a one-size-fits-all approach to using the camera. You may be able to use the defaults to take a decent portrait, for example, but will probably need to tweak a few settings to capture fast action. And adjusting a few options can also help you turn that decent portrait into a stunning one, too.