I was able to test Olympus' latest four thirds camera, the E-PL1, and here are some comparison shots with my current gear, the venerable, best-selling, critically acclaimed, best bang for your buck Canon XSi/450D (yes, im partial to my camera).

Both cameras were using the kitlens from their respective manufacturers.

All shots were taken using aperture priority, handheld at f5.6, ISO 100.

With the exception of pic #30 and #31 (i had to show two shots for E-PL1 for this particular one, first using auto focus while the other using manual focus, more on this later), the first shots are always from XSi while the second from E-PL1, followed by a 100% crop of the same picture on some occasions.

The one thing that i noticed with E-PL1 is that it really struggled to lock on focus on high contrast shots. I had to manually focus on certain occasions just to get the shot. But i think this is more of a property of the kitlens rather than the camera. Other than that, im pretty impressed with this little camera. There are some difference with the way it exposes some shots (and quite frankly, it's JPEG output looks better to me), but could be easily tweeked to your liking, especially if you shoot RAW. ISO performance is also outstanding. It's perfectly usable up to 800, acceptable at 1600, and 3200 is not so good but at least you have it when you need it.

Handling-wise though, it leaves something to be desired. If you're coming from a P&S, you'll be happy with all the controls the camera will give you. If you're coming from a DSLR, you wont be happy with less controls the camera will give you. But that is not to say that this camera is not for DSLR users, far from it. It's fun to use, just dont use it as a DSLR and you'll be happy.

C&Cs are welcome.