Olympus® PEN E-PL1 For Dummies®

Chapter 1. Getting the Lay of the Land

In This Chapter

• Taking a tour of external controls

• Looking at lenses and memory cards

• Using the optional electronic viewfinder

• Selecting from menus

• Customizing your display

• Viewing and adjusting picture-taking settings

• Customizing basic operations

At first glance, the Olympus PEN E-PL1 could easily be mistaken for just another digital point-and-shoot camera. But don't be fooled by your camera's diminutive size or the simplicity of its outward design: Under that small, sexy exterior lies a lot of photographic muscle.

This chapter covers the basics you need to start enjoying all the E-PL1 has to offer, introducing you to its external features, showing you how to work with interchangeable lenses, and explaining how to navigate menus and select camera settings. In addition, the last part of the chapter details options that enable you to customize basic camera operations.

Taking a Quick Tour

If you've used a digital camera before, some external controls on the E-PL1 may be familiar to you. The button that you press to erase pictures, for example, is marked with the universal delete symbol — a trash can. But some features are unique to the E-PL1, so the next three sections provide an overview of the function of each external control. (I discuss these controls in more detail later in this book.)

Topside controls

As shown in Figure 1-1, the top of the camera sports ...