Upgrade from E-PL6 to E-PL8 or E-PL9

EPL 7,8,9 have a much better IS system than the earlier models.  If the price on the EPL8 is good to you it would be a worthwhile upgrade.  Actually the 7 & 8 to me are the top EPLs ever made because they have the VF port that Oly omitted on the 9.

Thanks for the replies

$K is not too important to me but IS is important as I tend to use hand held when I am travelling.. I also have the VF-4 viewfinder so a camera without the port for this would be no use to me.

As another question, is there any preference in terms of 14-42mm lens , i.e. is the older on or newer one better or are they much the same?

Thanks for the advice

gotoole wrote:

Thanks for the replies

$K is not too important to me but IS is important as I tend to use hand held when I am travelling.. I also have the VF-4 viewfinder so a camera without the port for this would be no use to me.

As another question, is there any preference in terms of 14-42mm lens , i.e. is the older on or newer one better or are they much the same?

Thanks for the advice

There are three 14-42 Oly lenses. The first was the kit lens on the EPL1. That lens had some shutter shock issues, but otherwise was pretty good. With the newer cameras offering electronic first curtain this might not be an issue now (not sure). The second and still in production 14-42 was a just OK lens. OK if you get it for free or close to that. The 3rd is the power zoom 14-42 which despite its small size seems to be at least as good as the other 2, although I have not owned the PZ (I have had the other 2).

Now if I was in the market for a kit zoom I'd skip Oly all together. Panasonic makes much better kit zooms in general. The 12-32 is one of the best if you like the FL range. The original 14-45, which is still sold, is very good. I have both of these and they are better than the Oly kit zooms I have had. The Panny 14-42 II is supposed to be good (make sure to get the II version). The Panny 12-60 gives the most FL flexibility and is as good as the others with a broader FL range. All the Panny kit lenses have IS.

Also any of the Panny lenses on your EPL6 will give you much better IS if using the IS in the lens.

Thanks for all the replies. if I go for the E-PL8 then I will pass on the E-PL6. From everything you are all saying, I will keep the new smaller 14-42 lens. I appreciate that we are talking about kit lenses .

gotoole wrote:

Thanks for all the replies. if I go for the E-PL8 then I will pass on the E-PL6. From everything you are all saying, I will keep the new smaller 14-42 lens. I appreciate that we are talking about kit lenses .

Adding a bit more input (since I spotted this late!): the E-PL8 is basically the same camera as the E-PL7, but restyled.  These two are effectively the Pen Lite versions of the original E-M10.  They should come with the little flip-up silver-finished FL-LM1 flash (as also used by your E-PL6) which is powered by the camera via the accessory port, and as others have mentioned, the presence of the port means they are compatible with your VF-4 EVF.  The E-PL7, 8 and 9 all have 3-axis levitation-type IBIS (like the original E-M10 did), which is mostly just as good as the full 5-axis version.  Whilst the E-PL7's styling was quite reminiscent of the E-PL6, the E-PL8 is more inspired by some of the Pen-F styling, though it has an interesting flat topped, rounded-ends simplistic styling all its own.  These models (E-PL7,8,9) all have a screen which flips down under the camera to face forward and which has a 3:2 aspect ratio, making the image usefully larger than the 16:9 screen of the E-PL6.  There's a nice metal control dial around the shutter release in place of the back dial around the multicontroller on the E-PL6, which is deleted (the 4-way arrow functions remain).  The E-PL7 and 8 have metal tops (a single piece on the latter model).

The E-PL9 looks similar to the E-PL8 but has a plastic body and is a functional near-twin of the E-M10 Mark III, so it has a much shorter menu system due to many customisation options being removed.  As others have said, it has lost the Accessory Port, so cannot use an EVF unit, though it has regained a built-in pop up flash (it does still have a hot shoe as well).  It also offers a silent shutter option for the first time in the E-PL series, but as on the E-M10 Mark III, it is only available as a special, program-only/limited overrides mode under the AP position on the mode dial, which limits its usefulness to quite an extent.  It shares the appearance of its menu system with the E-M10 Mark III (and thus stylistically with the E-M1 Mark II, though it only offers a fraction of that model's controls and options).  One by-product of this is that there are slightly more, slightly smaller focus boxes available when the full set is being used for AF, and multiple ones are illuminated to indicate objects at the focussed distance, instead of just one as on previous models.  However, this is only available in AF-S, not AF-C.  There is also no option for a tiny single AF point size, except temporarily via the zoom AF slider (these latter two limitations are not shared by the E-M1 Mark II, luckily).

gotoole wrote:

Thanks for all the replies. if I go for the E-PL8 then I will pass on the E-PL6. From everything you are all saying, I will keep the new smaller 14-42 lens. I appreciate that we are talking about kit lenses .

Good question!  I have looked into the varieties of the 14-42 lens multiple times and appreciate the memory refresh.

I have a strong nostalgic bent and fondly recall the film rangefinders. When I discovered the Olympus digital Pen series, I had to have one and purchased the Pen E-P5 along with the whole collection of Pen Primes (12mm f/2, 17mm f/1.8, 25mm f/1.8, 45mm f/1.8 & 75mm f/1.8).  As you can probably tell, I have a preference for primes over zooms.

I quickly acquired three zooms when I purchased an Olympus EM10ii, hoping to interest my wife in joining me for photo opportunities.  After her experience with bulky Canon lenses, she declared that she was not changing lenses and expected me to make it as easy as possible to take photos (depending on where we were, I would anticipate what lens she needed and make sure that it was in place).  I got the the Panasonic 12-32mm, the tiny (slower) Panasonic 35-100mm and the Olympus 40-150mm, giving her a FF equivalent range of 24-300mm.  One reason that I chose the two Panasonic lenses was because they are so small and light. The Olympus is bulky but acceptably light.  Her interest in ILC cameras never materialized and I considered selling the zooms and the EM10ii and getting a Pen F but have dragged my feet hoping to avoid seller's remorse. Meanwhile, it's fun to read about the choices of other Pen enthusiasts.

Jim

Thanks for all the detailed replies . They are much appreciated. Sorry for the delay in replying but I had an electrical storm here which put my phone line and internet access out of order!

I had read that the EM10 mark III had features removed but I hadn't realised Olympus had done the same to the E-PL9. The E-PL8 is definitely the upgrade path for me.

I will let you know how I get on when the E-PL8 arrives.

regards & thanks

Gerard