Olympus PEN E-P3 Overview
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I own it | I want it | I had it |
The E-P3 is Olympus's fifth generation Micro Four Thirds camera. The P3 features a familiar-looking PEN body and revised 12MP sensor but almost every other aspect of the camera has changed. The 2011 flagship PEN features what the company claims to be the world's fastest AF-S performance, as well as a 614,000 dot VGA-equivalent OLED touch-sensitive screen and built-in flash. In addition it can shoot 1080i60 HD movies in the AVCHD format.
The E-P3 is, in many ways, the camera we always hoped the PEN would be. It addresses the major weaknesses and criticisms of the E-P1 and E-P2, most notably with substantially faster focusing, a much better screen, and the addition of a built-in flash. These improvements, along with its plethora of external controls, excellent JPEG image quality, and hugely attractive design, make the E-P3 a very desirable camera indeed. If there's one area of disappointment with the E-P3, it's that the image quality hasn't really progressed from previous PENs. It's impossible to ignore the fact that the E-P3 lags behind the current round of 16-18 MP sensors in terms to the detail it can capture.
Body type | Rangefinder-style mirrorless |
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Max resolution | 4032 x 3024 |
Effective pixels | 12 megapixels |
Sensor size | Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) |
Sensor type | CMOS |
ISO | Auto (200 - 1600), 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800 |
Lens mount | Micro Four Thirds |
Focal length mult. | 2× |
Articulated LCD | Fixed |
Screen size | 3″ |
Screen dots | 614,000 |
Max shutter speed | 1/4000 sec |
Format | AVCHD, Motion JPEG |
Storage types | SD/SDHC/SDXC card |
USB | USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec) |
Weight (inc. batteries) | 369 g (0.81 lb / 13.02 oz) |
Dimensions | 122 x 69 x 34 mm (4.8 x 2.72 x 1.34″) |
GPS | None |
The Olympus PEN E-P3 is, in many ways, the camera we always hoped Olympus would produce at this level. Fast, pleasant to shoot with, and undeniably stylish, it produces excellent images with the minimum of fuss. However its aging sensor is unable to quite keep up with the best in class at high ISOs.
Good for: Enthusiast photographers looking for a fast, versatile compact interchangeable lens camera
Not so good for: Applications requiring high speed or burst shooting.