Olympus announces cheaper PEN camera

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Posted on 4 Feb 2010 at 16:00

Olympus's PEN E-P1 was a camera that divided opinion here at Expert Reviews, because it was the first camera to deliver SLR-like quality in a relatively compact body and its retro design was inspired by the original PEN film cameras from the 1960s, which helped give a classic feel to the E-P1. Unfortunately though, it was frustratingly expensive and its drawbacks were too much at its near £700 asking price.

However, Olympus is back with its third PEN, which hopes to correct some of the original's flaws while also being a little friendlier on the wallet. The E-PL1 still uses the Micro Four Thirds mount and looks startlingly similar to the original E-P1, but now includes a built-in flash and the price has dropped to £549.99 in the UK.

There's still no electronic viewfinder built in, but that probably won't be much of a concern for those looking to buy such a camera.

The E-PL1 uses a 4/3in high-speed Live MOS sensor with a 12.3 megapixel effective resolution that can not only capture stills, but 720p HD video at 30fps is also supported, although it does record in the inefficient Motion JPEG format. Image stabilisation is built into the body using sensor shift technology and three modes are supported: Horizontal+Vertical, Horizontal only and Vertical only. Olympus claims that this will allow you to take photos with shutter speeds up to three stops lower than what you'd normally use for a particular focal length.

Low light performance is promising with an ISO range of 100 to 6400, but we suspect that it'll be on a par with the existing models in the line up, as the specs are very similar. In camera panorama, face detection and 19 scene modes are just a few of the built in features designed to help the user capture the moment as best as possible. There's also a selection of art filters to give your photos a little more pizzazz.

Naturally, with the E-PL1 supporting the same Micro Four Thirds lens mount, there's the same array of lens options available. Olympus will ship the E-PL1 with the 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 lens as standard, but the 17mm F2.8 pancake lens will also be available as part of a more expensive bundle.

Frankly, when we first heard rumours of a $599 asking price, we were excited at the prospects of a very cheap PEN camera, but given that this has translated into a £549.99 UK retail price, it's not as affordable as we were hoping it would be. Of course, we'll have to wait and see how it performs when we get one in for review, but the real growth for this market segment will happen when they're priced much closer to entry-level dSLRs.

The Olympus E-PL1 will be on sale from March 2010 in a variety of colours, dependant on region. All regions will have black and silver models available.

Author: Tim Smalley