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?

Thanks!

Rob

The sensor in the EPM2 and EPL5 is substantially better than the one in the EP3.  If you want to save money, and can live without the flip-up LCD, the EPM2 is the way to go.  If you need the screen to flip for street shooting, than the EPL5 it is.

My suggestion:  Get the 25mm for portraiture (fabulous lens), and a cheap 14mm f2.5 from Ebay  (around $170) for street.  That should have you covered in budget, and you'll get superb IQ to boot.

-J

I'm the odd man out. I use 2 EP3's and couldn't be happier. The 25mm on 1 and the 24mm on the other. I have all the m43 lenses but just use these 2.
I'm just a streetshooter so I want a camera that gets out of my way.

The other guys are right about everything but I prefer the Pen3 cause it works like my M cameras.

Difficult decision.  I think I would go for the E-P3.....

BTW, where can the E-P3 be purchased for $150?  Thanks!

I just his another Pen3 with the 17 2.8, a much underrated lens...new with shipping for $419.00.
What a steal....

These are available quite cheap sometimes.

Don't worry about the sensor; it still produces results as good as it ever did, and the extra controls on the PENs make them easier to use.

I have E-PL1, E-P3 and E-PL5.

Though the E-P3 feels a nice camera to use and does have that extra Fn button plus the thumbwheel, it's the E-PL5 that gets 99.999999% of the shots in my hands.

Better image quality, better focus in low light, bend up/down LCD, ability to use OIS of unswitched OIS Pana lenses, and my total favourite feature = ability to assign MySets to any Mode spots - suddenly MySets are extremely useful.

Those features plus the results that I get make it the best of the Oly cameras at present, even better & more useful than the E-M5 to use. OK the IBIS is old but who needs that all the time? The better high ISO ability compared to the old sensor makes the need for IBIS less anyway.

I see that I will get rid of the E-PL1 and E-P3 and get a second E-PL5 body and then wait it out until global shutters become available.

My pages slowly growing on E-PL5 info.

Regards.... Guy

Hi, I have been through some of the same things, having sold my previous cameras, coming back, and being constrained in budget too, among other things that come with age.

I researched for about a whole year, before making my decision and I believe I can help. I studied all these cameras, and also some other alternatives like the NEXes and I think the E-PL5 is the best small interchangeable camera on a budget at this time unless there are very special requirements. IMO, there is no reason to consider the E-P3, due to a huge improvement in the sensor available to Olympus since that camera - a fact well reported and tested. The E-P3 (and also all the Olympus cameras) before the E-M5 is known for relatively poor IQ, especially high ISO performance and DR performance, compared to others. The important question here is whether that its IQ is adequate for you. For most it is not. While there are many things you can do to get better quality in your photos with the E-P3 (and even excellent pictures given the right conditions and using all the tricks in the book), life will be a lot easier with the new E-M5 sensor. You will be able to do a lot more in cropping, in post processing, to salvage a shot, to get special effect, etc with the great 16MP E-M5 sensor in the E-PL5 or E-PM2.

While on a budget, often it is tempting to cut corners that could result in long-term grief and hence come out worse off. For a student or young person, with expectations of more income and continued accumulation of wealth, it is fine and a budget camera can be replaced soon. If that is not you, and you think you want to use this camera for a number of years, it is more important to think about TCO, total cost of ownership, over those years because you don't want to have to upgrade. The E-PM2 is a bit basic and can take away some enjoyment in this hobby. The E-PL5 has the same capability in terms of photographic functions, but the user interface and features that help you capture the photos successfully and easily are important.

So, I recommend the E-PL5, given the small difference in cost. I myself bought the E-M5, upgrading from the E-PL3, which is a very nice little camera that does everything except delivering the IQ I wanted. The E-PL5 should be very similar, but has the E-M5's sensor and therefore IQ. Putting a highly regarded sensor in the flagship model in value cameras is very rare in cameraland. I think you should take advantage of that and forget the E-P3. Consider carefully, and consider also all your requirements, and the consequences long term. Good luck.

I'd go with the E-PL5 with the 17 mm f/1.8.

The 25mm is a great lens but doesn't balance well on those bodies (well it might be OK on an E-P3) and I got sick of constantly dealing with the CA.

Guy Parsons wrote:

... bend up/down LCD, ability to use OIS of unswitched OIS Pana lenses, and my total favourite feature = ability to assign MySets to any Mode spots - suddenly MySets are extremely useful....

This. e-pL5

Flip LCD, MySets on mode dial, excellent low-light results.

The E-P3 has an ancient sensor that's no better than a modern small sensor camera like a Panasonic LX7.

E-PM2 and E-PL5 are identical cameras except the latter has a tilting LCD, a mode dial (not really needed at all unless you switch modes all the time) is slightly bigger and heavier to account for the tilting LCD.

sigala1 wrote:

The E-P3 has an ancient sensor that's no better than a modern small sensor camera like a Panasonic LX7.

E-PM2 and E-PL5 are identical cameras except the latter has a tilting LCD, a mode dial (not really needed at all unless you switch modes all the time) is slightly bigger and heavier to account for the tilting LCD.

While I agree the E-PL5 has the latest sensor and thus makes sense, I'm not sure the E-P3 would be out of bounds because of IQ - or because of low light capability and DR.

I have an E5 with the same sensor as the EP3 (but an older processor) and the OMD with the same sensor as the Epl-5.  While the OMD is better, it is probably only glaringly better if you look really closely.

The community opera I shoot has very low light and high DR - and because I choose to shoot a wide FOV to record the whole scene, it is very challenging for any camera or photographer.

Here is a jpeg straight out of the camera - shot from probably the first E5 sold in Australia a couple of years ago.

Carmen - the Gang jpeg OOC

Here is the same shot using Archgeolab's preset for LR4 to process the raw file with very minimal other PP.  So, with raw you can do quite well with the old processor.

Carmen - Gang Archgeolab preset from raw

So while, I think the Epl5 sensor is better, the old EP3 is not so bad you can't take a reasonable shot and get respectable results.

Cheers

Ray