Olympus E-P3 Review

The Olympus E-P3 is the third-generation flagship camera in the Olympus Pen line of Micro Four Thirds format mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras. It has a 12-megapixel Live MOS sensor, seriously improved auto focus, full HD video, a beautiful OLED (organic light emitting diode) touchscreen display, a solid metal body and pro-level exposure controls. The Olympus Pen system has matured considerably since the E-P1 was introduced in the summer of 2009. The lens selection has and there are now ten dedicated Olympus Micro Four Thirds lenses, including three fast primes. There are also a whole bunch of non-Olympus Micro Four Thirds lenses available now. I’ve been using the Olympus pen cameras since they were first introduced and I think the new sensor, OLED display, faster auto focus and refined design make the Olympus E-P3 the best Pen camera yet. If you like E-P3 but it’s out of your price range or you want a smaller camera, read this review anyway because the Olympus E-PL3 and E-PM1 have the same processing and sensor so their image quality and basic performance will be the same.

Introduction

Camera Experience

Image Quality

Conclusion

Olympus E-P3 Pros

Image quality is very nice to ISO 800

Beautiful 3-inch touchscreen OLED display

1920 x 1080 AVCHD full HD video with built-in stereo sound

Sturdy metal body

Separate aperture and shutter speed control dials

Built-in pop-up flash

Wireless flash operation with selected Olympus flashes

Sophisticated in-camera Art Filters

Olympus E-P3 Cons

Easy to accidentally trigger touchscreen display

Continuous auto focus not very good

3 frames-per-second burst is slow

Some color issues

A bit short on detail for serious landscape photography

No eye-level viewfinder

Olympus E-P3 Studio Test Images
ISO 200 Sample >> ISO 400 Sample >> ISO 800 Sample >> ISO 1600 Sample >> ISO 3200 Sample >> ISO 6400 Sample >> ISO 12,800 Sample >> All Digital Camera Studio Sample Photos >>