Another sort of troublesome lighting--fluorescent--reveals that interesting Epic trick. First off, we wanted to see if the fluorescent-compensating flash was triggered as advertised. We found a patch of wall illuminated by a bright overhead fluorescent fixture, loaded the Epic with 800speed film, and pointed it at the wall. Sure enough, the flash lamp came on, even though a light meter indicated an exposure of 1/125 sec and f/4. Then we illuminated a patch of wall with studio tungsten lights (which pump out plenty of infrared) and adjusted them to the same EV level as the fluorescent-lit wall. We pointed the Epic at this surface, pressed the release--and this time the flash was suppressed. Clever, those Olympians.
Adding flash isn't a cure-all, of course; it simply makes it easier to get more-normal looking (less green) skin tones in a print. Any background illuminated by fluorescent but out of flash reach will still show plenty of the "greenies." In any event, since almost all fluorescent lighting is overhead--with that unfortunate tendency to create dark eye sockets--a pop of fill flash will almost always make a portrait more flattering. (Getting out of the fluorescent entirely will make it more flattering still, but that's another rant.) By the way, you can still cancel flash in the usual fashion under fluorescents.
Our lens check revealed a top-notch optic. Sharpness wide open was excellent at the center, good at the edge. Stopped down a bit (we estimate about f/4-5.6) the sharpness jumped to outstanding in the center, and excellent at the edge. (Just for reference, we're talking a little under 90 lines per millimeter resolution in the center, a figure that might give an SLR shooter P/S envy.) Field tests on slide film showed that at smaller apertures, lens sharpness improved still more at the edge. To cut the blather, this is simply a very sharp lens.
In severe sun-in-the-lens backlight, the Epic exhibited almost no flare, and produced just one small ghost image. An excellent performance. Light falloff was very modest, almost unnoticeable on slide film, and our test slides of general scenes with sky confirmed the formal test result. Again, an excellent performance, particularly given a fast lens of this type.
The lens exhibited very slight, very nearly undetectable complex (moustache) distortion. It was minute enough that you can rest assured that straight lines will appear straight in your pictures. Overall, we'd rank the lens excellent plus. To put things in perspective, if an SLR shooter were to purchase a 35mm f/2.8 lens of similar overall performance for $170 (the Epic's street price), he wouldn't be disappointed. The Epic's manual cautions that the maximum flash distance (13.5 feet for ISO 100) is the rating for print film, and that distances should be shortened for slide film. Well, in our check on slide film, the flash was perfectly adequate right up to maximum. So consider 15-16 feet the maximum stretch for 100-speed print film, and about 32 feet for 400-speed print. Flash coverage was also quite even, despite the distinctly teeny tube; there was only slight darkening in the lower comers on slide film, which should not even show up on print materials.
This is not the quietest point-and-shoot to come down the pike; we'd describe firing, winding, and rewinding noise as about average. Rewinding is on the pokey side, which tends to make the noise more noticeable.
Nice touches: You can open the battery compartment without breaking your fingernails, employing some exotic tool, or dropping a cover hatch. Inside that compartment, the Epic uses the robust 123A battery rather than the wimpy CR2 about which we frequently crab and gripe. The camera comes with a braided neck cord instead of a wrist swinger.
Conclusion: Perhaps it's a good indication of the maturing of point-and-shoots that upgrades often now make real sense. This is one of them. Quite simply, if you bought this camera solely for the lens, it would still be a bargain.