Olympus PEN E-P3 review: first look

Jonathan Bray July 6, 2011

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I’ve had a soft spot for Olympus’ retro PEN cameras ever since the E-P1 was released two years ago. The design harks back to the days when old-fashioned rangefinders were all the rage and photography was a game of patience, not instant gratification.

(It might also have something to do with the fact that I’m the proud owner of an Olympus 35SP 35mm camera – a legend in its own time, and a wonderful portrait camera.)

Nevertheless, the original E-P1 did have its flaws. Quality was great but not quite a match for a DSLR, and performance, particularly with the contrast detect autofocus system, was sluggish. Olympus is aiming to address those issues with the PEN E-P3, which I had the chance to tinker with yesterday.

Olympus is set to unleash three new PEN models: the top-end E-P3, with which I took all of the photographs on this page (except for the stock shots of the cameras themselves); the mid-range PEN Lite E-PL3; and the PEN Mini, aimed at novices who want a simple camera that offers better quality than a compact.

I only had eyes for the 12.3-megapixel E-P3. Top of the PEN range and the first to hit UK shops in August, it’s set to cost an eye-watering £799. It includes a 14-42mm kit lens, and features a number of key improvements over its predecessor.

The sensor is still a micro four-thirds, which is smaller than the one you’ll find in Sony’s superb NEX-3 and NEX-5 cameras, but the hardware is new. The image processing engine is improved too, with sensitivity levels of up to 12,800 ISO.

Olympus also claims to have boosted autofocus speed, dubbing the new system (rather unimaginatively) Fast AF. It certainly felt snappier than the original, although general performance didn’t feel up to the levels of a DSLR.

There are plenty of other improvements on the cards too: a built-in pop-up flash; a cracking 3in, 460-kpixel OLED capacitive touchscreen with touch focus and shutter release functions; 1080/60i video recording with live autofocus; plus a range of hugely impressive in-camera “art” filters, which can be applied to video and combined to create compound effects (as you can see from the shots on this page).

The other two new PENs feature the same core sensor and image-processing engine, but differ slightly in size and features. The PEN Lite boasts a tiltable LCD, but has no touchscreen and a reduced number of on-body controls. The PEN Mini, meanwhile, is targeted at the point-and-shoot brigade: it’s compact but has no tilt or touchscreen, and on-body controls are minimal with most settings accessed via the 3in screen.

Olympus is adding a pair of new prime lenses to its micro four-thirds armoury: a 12mm (24mm equivalent) f/2.0 and a 45mm (90mm equivalent) f/1.8 portrait lens.

The big question is whether the E-P3 or any of its siblings can dethrone the current king of the SLD (single lens direct view) segment: Sony’s NEX range. We’ll deliver our verdict when we’ve got our hands on a review sample, but for now the new PENs are looking good.