Heard back from KEH.COM today. It seems I was a bit more conservative than I thought. They quoted me $1000 for the batch of cameras I offered. Upon review, they're paying me $1049! Cool!

I'd sold a Fujifilm X20 last month for $250, and shipped off those 14 bodies to KEH; but then I bought the OM Systems E-P7 on eBay. That came in at $685, which wasn't horrible. It turns out that it's one of those resellers that splits out lenses and bodies, probably moves a little more quickly with the overseas crowd and brings in a better margin in the process.

PEN-wise, I've now got the PEN-F, the E-PL10, an E-PL7 and a very red, so very red, E-PL6 along with the E-P7. The PEN-F is somewhat iconic, and has held its value. As a shooter, I'm ambivalent. I've carried it on travel quite a bit. It went with me to Ireland, most recently to Boston. I love the jpegs and the evf comes in very handy in bright sun. It's not the most comfortable body in-hand, but I don't think I want to part with it.

The three E-PLs are my most irrational cameras. I have the black E-PL10, and I just love the way it looks with the 2nd generation 14mm/f2.5 Lumix tiny pancake on it. It's quick, light, takes great images, what's not to love? 16MP sensor, okay. Not very customizable. No option for an evf, where I can put a VF4 on either the E-PL7 or the E-PL6.

I have a bunch of accessories I'm going to try to sell to KEH, I may offer the E-PL10 as well. That would bring in a decent price, though the combination of the E-PL7, E-PL6 and the VF4 would likely bring in the same or more. Those external evfs have held their value pretty well and I have one of each. Because of course I do.

I'm fond of the E-PL7 just because I shot with it a lot. Bought it as a refurb and was impressed with the build quality as an entry-level camera. It's got a better sensor stabilization system than the E-PL6.

What I'm trying to do here, and mostly failing, is convince myself to part with all the "light" PENs. Just have the PEN-F and the E-P7 for rangefinder style bodies.

I'll sleep on it.

In the meantime, the E-P7 is nice. It's kind of a mid-grade body between the E-P and E-PL series. Build quality is at the E-PL level, which is very good but not at the same level as the E-P5. Like the higher end PENs, it has two control dials, where the Light series only had one.

The image processor interface is dumbed-down like the E-PL10 or E-M10 Mk4; but it offers a jpeg color/b&W profile customization capability like the PEN-F. It has a 20MP sensor, with a less capable image stabilizer, probably like the E-M10 Mk4, so no high-res capability, sensor-shift or handheld.

It's attractive without being sexy in any way. Serviceable grip. Buttons are tiny. Someone said it's kind of an ideal jpeg shooter's camera, and I think that's about right. Which means me.

I like it and certainly don't regret buying it, but it does seem to lack a certain je ne c'est quoi that has often been present in other Olympus bodies, especially the diminutive ones.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 10:39 Friday, 10 February 2023