Olympus PEN E-PM1

The Olympus E-PM1 Micro Four Thirds camera inherits a similar styling of the company's XZ-1 enthusiast compact. It is point-and-shoot upgrader and features a 460,000 dot LCD and what's claimed to be the world's fastest AF. To go with the user-friendly size, Olympus has opted for a beginner-orientated design and interface, with the bare minimum of buttons and dials. Hidden underneath, though, the E-PM1 retains much the same feature set as the enthusiast-targeted E-P3. The more-advanced functions aren't quite as easy to get at, but they're almost all there.

Overall, the PEN Mini conveys the feel of a well-executed simplification of the E-PL3, offering nearly all the features of its sibling while reducing the price. Basic image quality remains essentially unchanged, without making the lower-end unit feel like a stripped-down budget model.