Help Me Select: E-PM2 vs E-PL5 vs E-P3

NoTx wrote:

Hey all,

So life happened and I was forced to sell off all my cameras a few years ago. And I am now looking at getting back into photography. So, I was looking at the various systems, and it looks like I am going to go back to Olympus.

So, this time around I have a fairly tight budget as far as body (or I would be getting an OM-D), but in the end I want either a 25/1.4 or a 17/1.8 and a body… so I am limiting my targets.

There are three bodies I am looking at, all Olympus: E-PM2, E-PL5 and E-P3. These are all within a $150 range. What would your recommendations be?

Old cameras were E-1s, Leica M6TTL or Contax rangefinders. Prefer street photography and portraiture.

Thoughts? Comments?

Even though it's the most expensive option I'd go with the E-PL5 and 17mm f1.8. As others have said the sensor is much better. Other advantages include the flip up screen. A big one is that you can override up to 4 settings on the mode dial with my sets in the camera. For things like the scene mode or art filters you can override it with your commonly used settings. Good for street shooting.

I think the snap focus on the 17mm is a great feature to have. I wish they had some more aperture settings, but it's still quite useful as is. The steps don't make it as good for real manual focus, but it's great when you want to do zone focusing. (In particular I meant I'd take it over the 17mm f2.8, 19mm or 20mm lenses. The 25mm is also very good)