The new generation PEN came a bit late here in the Philippines but like they said, its better late than never. I had the chance to try out the Olympus PEN E-P3, the current PEN flagship camera from Olympus. It was only a little over a week which clearly for me was such a short time since I wasn’t able to really take it out on a trip which I usually do the test. And also the weather at that week wasn’t really cooperative. But hey, I was able to take some shots with the E-P3 and play around its new functions and menus.
The Look
The styling hasn’t changed since the E-P1 which is good since I like the all-metal retro styling of the camera. The notable changes on the outside are:
- the control function wheel has been moved to one side to give way to a built-in pop-up flash
- the bigger touch-sensitive OLED 640,00dots screen
- a direct movie button at the back
- a small AF illuminator at the front
- detachable and customizable grip with screw
Inside the Machine
While there are no drastic design changes on the exterior, it’s the internal workhorse that’s been given a major upgrade. Here are the significant changes
- Updated (tweaked) 12MP Sensor
- Dual-Core TruePic VI processor
- Which results to a brand new 35-area Superfast Auto Focus System
- Touch Shutter and Touch Focus with Magnification
- 1080i60p AVHCD Movies (which I wasn’t able to test out)
- Now Auto Gradation can be tweaked to a certain degree
Speedy Focus
If you’ll ask me one good reason to upgrade or jump in to the new generation of PEN line, it’s their new Autofocus System. The PEN has been criticized for its mediocre AF but this new 35-Area Autofocus System makes the whole camera competitive in all rounds. During my test focusing was astonishingly fast especially with the new lenses like the 12mm and the 14-42mm Ver II kit lens. And as I promised on my 45mm f1.8 review, the lens indeed focus more accurately with the new AF system. The Touch Shutter is also very responsive. Too responsive I guess that I had to make sure it’s off since it activate when it comes in contact with your body while the camera dangles on your neck.
While it has improved on a per shot basis, continuous shooting at burst mode and tracking movement has improved a little. Shooting RAW + JPG still slows down the frame rate sooner than expected that’s why when I attempt to shoot action I just shoot JPGs. I would also recommend Memory Cards with faster writing benefit to reduce the buffer time. Clearly the PEN is not ideal for sports but still it’s not impossible with perfect timing once you get used to it.
Touchy Screen
A feature that’s coming into new camera nowadays is the touch screen. While some may think it’s a novelty, when properly used it can be a powerful tool. Let me say first that the OLED screen on the E-P3 is a pleasure to view seeing the crisp colors and details. The Touch Shutter and Touch Focus features are a welcome addition. The Touch Focus enables you to choose a focus point on screen and magnify. This would be great for stills and macro work.
Playback viewing is also enhanced by this touch screen as you can scroll through the photos with the flick of a finger and zoom-in on them.
Image Quality
I have no clear-cut way to measure the technical improvements on this generation of pens aside from my eyes. Though I can say it’s not that big, probably only a notch from the previous generation since it uses only a tweaked sensor and a better processor. The 1600 ISO which is the limit I use from my E-PL1 is a lot cleaner here and the lower ISOs still retain an excellent amount of details as usual. The good thing with the E-P3 is that the user can also customize the degree of sharpening and noise reduction on the images.
Metering is well balanced, white balance is still spot on and colors straight out of camera are still punchy as usual. Auto-gradation or Shadow Highlight controls also have a degree of levels to choose from.
Verdict
The Olympus PEN E-P3 is really a head-turner of a camera and is still an enjoyable photographic tool to use similar to previous generations. The blazing fast autofocus is a great enhancement and will surely make the camera more appealing now. The E-P3 now also has a built-in flash, AF illuminator and a handy touch screen feature. But there’s a quandary for owners of the previous PENs who are looking for major improvements in terms of Image Quality because there isn’t a big significance here. So if the newly added features aren’t such a big factor to upgrade, better stick with your old PEN for a while. But if you are looking for a well-rounded and capable camera and is jumping on the mirrorless or compact camera system, the E-P3 is an excellent choice given an already good range lenses on the Micro Four Thirds system.
Up Next: More E-P3 Samples Images with M.Zuiko 12mm f2 lens
The Olympus PEN E-P3 is now available in the Philippines. The SRP for the E-P3 body with 14-42mm ver II kit lens is P44,750.
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