Olympus has been a pioneer in the Micro-Four Thirds segment, creating a range of its PEN cameras which have considerably smaller bodies than DSLRs, yet give the same, professional results. While Panasonic has been commended on its Lumix cameras which use the technology, Olympus' first Micro Four Thirds camera, the EPL-1, received mixed reviews. Its latest launch in the category is the new and improved EP-3.

Overview

Regular readers of Smartbuy might recall a story on the Micro Four Thirds system which was featured in January this year. For those unfamiliar with the system, briefly, a Micro Four Thirds camera is one which uses a 4/3 sensor and eliminates the mirror box completely, resulting in a body which is much more compact than the average DSLR. The unique mirrorless design also means that there are fewer lens options, although now users will get to choose from 8 different m.Zuiko lenses from Olympus, which cover a pretty wide range. The EP-3 ships with either a single lens (14-42mm) or dual lens (14-42mm and 40-150mm) kit.

Unboxing the EP-3, the size difference really made a big impression. Not only is the body thinner and more compact than the heavy DSLRs I'm used to shuffling around, but the 14-42mm lens also looks quite tiny in comparison to the usual 18-55mm kit lens that ships with most professional DSLR cameras.

The EP-3 comes in a grey, white or black colour option, and the smooth plastic body felt quite sturdy in my hands. The fact that the camera is light meant that I carried it around in my handbag for the entire time I was reviewing it, but I did find it quite hard to protect it from scratches. The finger grip, finished in textured leather, is removable via a screw on the edge of the camera body, and can either be replaced with a bigger grip or eliminated completely. The old style leather effect, along with the smaller size of the camera body, reminded me of the Fujifilm X100 I reviewed a few weeks ago.

Like the EPL-1, the EP-3 has a 12-meg sensor. Unlike its predecessor, it is also capable of Full HD 1080p movie recording, which to be honest is becoming an expected addition to most professional cameras nowadays. A nice addition to the EP-3 is a pop-up flash, which fits nicely into the top edge of the body when not in use, so that's one less protrusion. There's also an accessory hotshoe beside it. The controls are fairly simple to decipher – somewhere in between a DSLR and a point and shoot digicam. The circular dial wheel has options for P, S, A, M modes, Intelligent Auto, Scene, Art Filters and a Video mode. The rear panel of the camera has been divided into two, with about two thirds taken up by the 3-inch touch screen LCD, and the remaining area dedicated to controls like the click wheel, Menu, Zoom and Delete buttons. There are two customisable Function buttons as well.

Usability

Although the EP-3 may seem fairly simplistic from the outside, it is a full-fledged professional camera, depending on how you use it. Olympus has been really creative in its line up of scene modes – you can choose from 23 pre-programmed modes, which apart from the regular options also include a Fisheye and Panorama effect. I really liked the 10 Art filters as well, which were great for creating dramatic photos. The ones which I found the most effective were the Pin Hole filter, Grainy film filter (black and white) and Dramatic Tone filter. For both the Scene and Art filters, the camera displays sample images as you scroll through the various options, giving you an idea of what to use where.

Since the camera lacks a physical viewfinder, you'll have to be content with the LCD monitor. With a pixel density of 614,000 dots, it is almost as good as looking through a viewfinder. Like I mentioned earlier, the LCD is touch sensitive, and I wasn't too happy about that, since I haven't really had any good experiences with touch screen LCDs on cameras. The EP-3 however, is different. First off, you don't have to use the touch functions if you don't want to – the camera functions perfectly fine with the manual controls. What you can use the touch screen for is to tap to focus, or tap to shoot. There are 35 focus points, which you can bring up by pressing the left button on the click wheel. Tapping on any one of them will focus the camera there, and tapping again will activate the shutter. In the playback option, you can swipe through your images or zoom in and out of them, using the touch screen. The screen was very responsive, requiring no relentless jabbing, and I was relieved to note that my fingerprints didn't leave the LCD in a blurry haze.

In the P, S, A and M modes, you can adjust manual functions by pressing the OK button in the centre of the clickpad, which will bring up Live Control. Any changes you make to functions like ISO, exposure, White Balance, etc, will show up on the screen itself, making it easy for you to see changes before you take pictures. This also applies to the Scene modes and Art filters, so you can preview your image before you actually press the shutter button.

Results

A major difference which I noticed from the EPL-1 was that the EP-3 was considerably snappier. The camera has been equipped with the latest TruePic VI processor, which makes focussing much faster. The time taken for the image to be processed is also much faster, just about a second, which I was really impressed with.

I tested the macro mode on the camera, mainly trying to focus on tiny flowers on a really windy day. The autofocus worked beautifully, allowing me to capture focussed images in a fraction of a second. I was able to focus less than two inches away from my subject at the widest angle.

The camera does a good job of defocusing the background when required, which was really great for portrait shots and close-ups. The Intelligent Auto mode even has a control where you can adjust background blur.

Although the EP-3 has a good ISO range of up to 12,800, I found that images got quite grainy post ISO 400. Noise is also quite evident even when you use the Scene modes and Art filters in low light. I was really impressed with the colour reproduction, which effectively recreated the neon blue of a flambéd cake.

Our Verdict

Although Micro-Four Third cameras have been around for three years now, there's still a lot of apprehension surrounding them. Most photography enthusiasts would rather start with a DSLR than a Micro Four Thirds camera, simply because DSLRs hold the ‘pro' tag. Unfortunately, I think the real takers for Micro Four Thirds cameras will be DSLR users, who've felt the burden of lugging around a heavy camera. A DSLR user myself, I'm quite tempted to go the Micro Four Thirds way, and the Olympus Pen EP-3 would be at the top of my list.

Love: Creative Art filters, intuitive controls, touch LCD

Hate: Images grainy after ISO 400

Price: Rs 39,999 (single lens kit)

Rs 44,999 (dual lens kit)

ketaki@thehindu.co.in

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