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Do you well up with emotion remembering the Olympus Pen cameras of the Sixties? Did you fail to buy their digital revival in the shape of the PEN E-P1 about six months ago? No worries – by the time you’ve read our Olympus PEN E-P2 review you could have a twinkle back in your eye again.
When you lift the body of the Olympus PEN E-P2 out of its box, you’ll initially be doing a double-take. Hang on, doesn’t this look exactly like its predecessor the PEN E-P1? Well that’s because the solid metal chassis is identical to its predecessor in both size (120.5 x 70 x 35 mm) and weight (335 g) as well as in the layout of the controls (including the awkward to operate mode dial) and the 3.0” LCD display.
The Olympus PEN E-P2 is the second Micro Four Thirds camera the company has produced, where the body comes separate from the lenses and while it has the dimensions of a compact digital, it has scores of programmable manual features like a DSLR.
Read our Olympus E-P1 review now
The most glaring difference between the Olympus PEN E-P2 and the E-P1, though, is the addition of an electronic viewfinder which clips on via the hot shoe and a new dedicated accessory port. Once you switch it on, the LCD goes blank and all the on-screen information is transferred to the EVF. It can also be tilted 90 degrees, you have 100% field of view and 1.15x magnification. The same port will service external microphones and flash units, both of which were sorely missed in the previous camera.
As far as external changes goes, that’s your lot. However, internally the Olympus PEN E-P2 now boasts an AF Tracking function which comes into its own when shooting video. When shooting 1280 x 720p HD movie clips you have more manual control over aperture and shutter speed and high-res stills can also be grabbed while you’re filming.
On the creative side, two new Art Filters (Diorama, which makes objects look like models and Cross Process which swaps around colours) have been added to the existing six in the Olympus PEN E-P2 and there’s an iEnhance function to make colours look super-real and vivid.
All of which means that the manufacturer listened to what the critics said about the E-P1 and put it right in the Olympus PEN E-P2 – which deserves a reward in it own right!
