Photography Gear News

Olympus has launched the E-P3, its fifth generation Micro Four Thirds camera. The P3 features a familiar-looking PEN body and revised 12MP sensor but almost every other aspect of the camera has changed. The latest flagship PEN features what the company claims to be the world's fastest AF-S performance, as well as a 614,000 dot VGA-equivalent OLED touch-sensitive screen and built-in flash. In addition it can shoot 1080i60 HD movies in the AVCHD format. We've been using the E-P3 for a while now and have prepared a full preview with studio and real-world sample images.

"The classically-styled PEN series has given Olympus the opportunity to draw attention to its film-era history of making small, popular cameras. But it wasn't just the size and style of the PEN and Trip cameras that helped their success - it was also their simplicity. And it's this ethos that explains the E-PM1, or PEN Mini as it is likely to be promoted to its target audience.

The logic behind the design is undeniable - the collapsible zoom and slightly smaller sensor of the PEN series (compared to Samsung's NX or Sony's NEX cameras), helps make the E-PM1 an impressively compact package, so far as large-sensor mirrorless cameras go. There'll still be arguments that it's not truly pocketable, but it's undeniably more convenient to carry than any DSLR.

So, depending on how you look at it, the PEN Mini is either the most simplistic mirrorless model yet, or most of the company's flagship E-5 DSLR for the cost of a high-end enthusiast compact. Either way, its combination of being both relatively small and relatively inexpensive is worth looking closely at...."

Alongside the PEN E-P3, Olympus has announced the PEN Lite and PEN Mini. These closely-related sister models (formally called E-PL3 and E-PM1) feature similar specifications but smaller bodies that borrow heavily from the styling of the company's XZ-1 enthusiast compact. Both cameras are aimed at the point-and-shoot upgrader and feature 460,000 dot LCDs, rather than the E-P3's OLED display but otherwise retain much of that camera's capability, including what's claimed to be the world's fastest AF. We've been using a PEN Lite for a while and have prepared a brief hands-on preview.