Olympus E-P3 Review
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1. not all agree want to simply point and shoot The micro camera follows me when roam around trade shows or go on a vacation also own a Canon 50D which is a really good but bulky camera have clearly chosen the micro camera for its small size and weight and love the fact that it can fulfill most of the duties that my 50D does for me I insist on the for me part In both situations tend to shoot in difficult lighting conditions whether it is on a poorly lit showroom or at a dinner with friends But whatever happens rarely use the flash as personally prefer photos without it Also tend to use my photos only on the web and rarely print anything larger than letter size if at all Photo capture very good E j A photo taken in very good lighting conditions http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olympus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo This is obviously the juicy section of the review that you were waiting for so lets get to it There are a lot of things that like about the Olympus when it comes to photo capture like 1 Auto focus illuminator this helps the camera focus faster in low light situation by adding a temporary source of light so that helps the image processor figure out if the current settings yield a sharp image Cameras without such an illuminator may have a hard time focusing when the light is dim 2 Integrated image stabilization IS system will2. ud QO LEETE j a lt x o EY j The thumb goes on top of that speaker when holding the camera The rest of the camera like the battery memory compartment and built in flash are consistent with the http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olympus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo competition except that some don t have built in flash There are small differences but it s not something that would sway me from choosing one over another What s new A button in the back pops the Flash out Built in flash as mentioned earlier not all cameras in this category feature a built in flash but the Olympus E P3 does Although try to never use the flash having one is important for many users and its important should not be discarded The Olympus E P3 has a built in flash that is located on the upper left side It can pop out a the touch of a button That said the E P3 also has an accessory port that can be used to add an exotic flash as well as accessories like an electronic viewfinder The grip is included in the box and strongly recommend using it http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olympus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo Optional grip Unlike its EP 2 sibling you can attach an optional grip on the Olympus E P3 That s a great idea because it allows one to hold the camera in a more intuitive and firm way Most cameras in this category have
3. are beautiful and great for entertainment however they are not the most color accurate displays This will not bother most people except those who need something particularly accurate when checking their photos That said don t think that the competition offers something that is significantly better anyway http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olympus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo There are details in the Olympus E P3 design that really like For example the buttons and wheels are made with quality switches and materials They click and turn nicely and accurately pi The strap eyelets are well designed and feel very solid The strap eyelets are also well designed They allow more freedom of motion to the camera strap which in turn should reduce the pressure on the points of attachment to the body This is usually not a critical piece of the camera but it is a nice touch On the downside think that the right side of the camera does not have a lot of room for the thumb to rest on One would normally put the thumb on top of the speaker but there s a recording button on the left and the sub dial on the right While the setup mostly works I have not pressed anything accidentally it just doesn t feel as comfortable as the Panasonic GF Series which has a clear spot for the thumb On the other hand the GF3 has much less physical dials which leads to slower tuning of the settings
4. give you a few extra f stops which means that it will let the camera use a slightly longer exposition without suffering from blurriness It helps but don t expect any miracles Being steady and being able to use a fast shutter speed is still the best combination for sharp images 3 Fast auto focus With the current 14 42mm f3 5 5 6 lens that came with the E P3 have enjoyed very fast auto focus While the millisecond numbers won t mean much can tell you that it is almost as fast if not as fast as my Canon 50D DSLR that weighs 1 6lbs body only The E P3 does a great job with color reproduction This is what my eyes were seeing Its great but to be fair the credit should be split between the lens which has a fast motor and the E P3 which has a fast processor found that the lens was mostly responsible for the fast focus because the camera cannot focus faster than the lens motor would let it For example if use my Panasonic 20mm f1 7 lens with the E P3 the focus will slow down dramatically because the Panasonic lens has a slower motor Inversely if use the Olympus lens on the Panasonic GF1 it will focus much faster than it would with the Panasonic lens Low light photos cameras have gotten so good these days that they mostly perform well within a class in broad daylight However low light shooting without a flash is really the next frontier and it often makes the difference in real world situations that most re
5. Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo Ubergizmo English French Spanish Uberphones 8 Uderaizmoy al oe Ei SS is E Like 412K A Subscribe to RSS i a Ubergizmo Reviews Mobile Gaming Android Apple Computers Gadgets Home gt Featured gt Olympus E P3 Review Olympus E P3 Review Hubert Nguyen 09 22 2011 06 00 PDT F Digg 0 0 0 W Like Looxciea Official Site ie Looks Where You Look Sees What You How did Michelin improve performance and reduce costs with our help See Like Us Today and Save www Looxcie com AdChoices gt erox e aAa aE ET Reviews oo Olympus E P3 Review Epic 4G Touch Review Galaxy S2 Review Droid Bionic Review HP TouchPad Review With Our Deepest Condolences HTC Wildfire S Review Tg eh NT Blackberry Bold 9900 Review rr as g PHT PNE T h a See ge A c eS SS The Olympus E P3 is the top camera of Olympus PEN line of micro cameras It it is small enough to fit in a pouch but yet it has a relatively big sensor which is still smaller than a DSLR APS C sensor and STANDARD interchangeable high quality lenses FEA TURES COME Olympus uses phrases like classic style incredible power blazing speed or professional quality to STA ND A RD describe the E P3 It is true that it classic looks inspire confidence but can such a small camera deliver a i professional quality This review will show you how it feels to us
6. P3 caters to the enthusiast semi pro and pro market it would be nice to have pro features like remote shooting where you can control the camera from a computer and shoot directly to disk Nikon is coming out with a pro compact camera and we ll see if they do have remote shooting but to this day none of the cameras in the E P3 category have this feature Charger size the charger is almost as big as the camera This is ridiculous Also it should plug directly on the wall we don t need that clunky cable My DSLR s charger is smaller and it caters to a bigger battery USB connector non standard The Olympus E P3 has a weird USB analog video connector which means that it is proprietary which means that if you forget your cable you can t easily replace it by going to the nearest mom and pop PC shop It s time for camera makers to wake up to the fact that we all use micro USB cables and quite frankly there is ample room on the body sic If we can do it on a smartphone surely it s possible on something that was 3X the internal volume Who is this for Consumer by consumer mean someone who will tend to use this camera as an uber point and shoot camera If what you want is to take it out of your pocket purse turn it on and shoot a photo that capture a great photo of what your eyes see I ll admit it when I m not working that s what like to do and if that s your case too don t let your photogr
7. ans better image In dim lighting more light also means seeing better For example when we go from f1 4 to f2 0 to f2 8 the light intensity is reduced by two each time f2 8 lets only a quarter of the light in when compared to f1 4 This is a big deal A photo shot in extremely dim lighting conditions My PC display is the only light source 25mm 14 4 1SO1600 1 30sec Obviously this is a trade off that photographers know all too well as fixed lenses often have an f stop http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olympus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo advantage over lenses that cover a wider range because their simpler mechanics require less glass therefore recommend you to choose wisely when you buy the camera Stand alone lenses tend to be very expensive Also the 17mm pancake lens from Olympus has an f stop of 2 8 versus the f1 7 from the Panasonic pancake lens The good news is that nothing prevents you from using a micro 4 3 Panasonic lens if you choose to Overall the Olympus E P3 is a very good camera in absolute terms and an excellent one if you take its size into account Video quality good The Olympus E P3 can capture high quality videos especially in broad daylight particularly like the fact that they videos looked smooth despite being shot at only 30fps in 1080p resolution The camera can shoot videos in low light as well and it does a fairly good jo
8. aphy enthusiast buddies make fun of you It s perfectly OK to snap pictures not for art but for memories The E P3 will work great However you may also find a cheaper alternative in the Olympus EP L3 EP L2 which should offer a comparable image quality Actually for such a point and shoot usage would recommend going for the f2 8 or better lens whenever possible Obviously you should also consider alternatives from other brands like the Panasonic GF3 Sony NEX 5N and Samsung NX200 Enthusiast The Olympus E P3 would be a very suitable choice it has a lot of physical controls an optical stabilizer an integrated flash and an excellent auto focus That said in light of the recently launched Nikon 1 NEX5 NEX7 and Samsung NX200 I m not sure that the sensor of the Olympus E P3 can compete in terms of low light photography have not reviewed those cameras yet but would advise you to do some research Conclusion http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olympus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo olympus e p3 review 12 The Olympus E P3 is a remarkable camera that snaps quality photos even in difficult lighting conditions like the build quality and the attention to details that Olympus has put into it Its design will surely catch the attention of classic camera enthusiast but I ll leave it to you to decide From a photographic point of view the E P3 and its kit lens where a great a
9. ates the IS as giving you three shutter speed steps and while this is not a substitute for a fast lens low f stop it does help Design http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olympus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM Advertise Here TECH Archives If you want to dig deep into Ubergizmo s past and check what was going on previously check our archive page It s great for random browsing but a search may be faster to find something specific Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo _ The design of the Olympus E P3 will please those who like a classic look wouldn t call this retro because the Olympus E P3 still looks much more modern than the Leica X1 for example However the Panasonic GF3 or the Sony NEX have more modern designs The camera feels solid but the surface doesn t feel metallic at all It looks like a magnesium body the same material is used in most laptops but can t say for sure but It does feel like it INFO mN 102 0 110 The OLED display is beautiful and far superior to any Panasonic GF that I ve tried Display On the back there is a a nice 3 OLED 640x480 touch screen display It is noticeably sharper than my Panasonic GF1 s display which it itself better than the GF2 GF83 suspect that the Samsung NX and the Sony NEX should have competitive displays but don t have either on hand today There s one thing that you should keep in mind OLED displays
10. b at reproducing what you eyes see even with the f3 5 kit lens but the quality degrades fairly quickly as the light dims out so the evening footage may be OK for the web but not for watching ona TV also tried with my f1 7 Panasonic pancake lens and not surprisingly the image quality went way up because much more light was coming in However the f1 7 lens has difficulties focusing when compared to the Olympus f3 5 the videos below show the difference between f1 7 and f3 5 lenses In the end the video quality is good even in difficult conditions but just like other micro cameras the focus speed isn t as fast as a camcorder would be so keep this in mind this won t replace a similarly priced camcorder but you are not likely to have both on you http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olympus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo Controls good olympus e p3 review The Olympus has a hybrid control system that uses the touch screen and the physical dials Sometime this is handy for example when it s time to select an auto focus zone simply touching the screen is much faster than going through the many possible combinations On the other hand using the dials to change the aperture and shutter speed is also great C2 Brack Change Image stabilizer mode Multip ISA and 88 are used for i with the camera RC Mode Digital Tele converter Back However not all the functions can be tr
11. e the E P3 in the real world TELL ME MORE Olympus E P3 In a nutshell The Olympus EP 3 is a Micro Four Thirds micro 3 4 camera that Olympus and Panasonic have created It http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olympus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo uses a mirror less design that elegantly allows light to flow directly to the sensor without any complex mirror mechanism The main downside of this approach is that any view finder has to be electronic which is usually not an issue for compact camera users Here are the technical highlights that you should keep in mind Despite being a micro camera the Olympus does not fit in a pocket not even close The Olympus E P3 is a little bigger than its competitors 4 80in W x 2 72in H x 1 35in D for 130z or 369g namely the Sony NEX Series and the Panasonic GF Series Although Panasonic is clearly going away from the high performance segment and has been simplifying or dumbing down its GF cameras want to make sure that you don t associate bigger size with bigger performance The Sony NEX may be proof of the contrary The The Olympus E P3 has a 12 3 Megapixel image sensor and features in body image stabilization IS Having IS built into the body is great because it will work on every single lens In some ways it seems less wasteful than having an IS system built into the lens itself since users may be changing lenses Olympus r
12. gular users would care about http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olympus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo olympus e p3 review E Photo shot long after sunset in San Francisco f3 5 1 13sec The exposure was a bit too long to reflect what my eyes were seeing Seasoned photographers who have the skills the means and the time to tune the lighting conditions to their liking won t care as much but those of us who just want to capture the moment without spending a couple of minutes tweaking the controls do When it comes to low light photos the focus system sensor and lens are critical The auto focus illuminator should do a good job on most subjects that are within range of the light Beyond that it won t help much The lens is truly the most important piece of the low light puzzle because it basically defines how much light will reach the sensor http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olympus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo This photo is a bit darker than reality and could have tuned the settings better manually ISO 200 f4 1 20 For low light shooting the 14 42mm f8 5 5 6 f stop value kit lens that came with the Olympus E P3 is much inferior to the fixed 20mm f1 7 that came with my Panasonic GF1 What s f stop Also called aperture it s a metric that shows how much light gets into the lens More light means more image information which me
13. iggered with the touch screen For instance if want to select the flash mode may want to tap on one of the flash icons but nothing happens After using the camera for a while found myself mostly using the physical controls and considering the touchscreen as an assist or accelerator for very few tasks My favorite use of the touchscreen controls is the tap and snap mode where to press the screen to tell the http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olympus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo Olympus E P3 where to focus and snap the photo at the same time Of course the tap function can be disabled to avoid accidental trigger What could be better My first wish would be for the camera to get a faster lower f stop pancake kit lens It is a personal preference of course but found that the marriage of the compact E P3 body with a flat lens makes a great combo and if I m going to sacrifice some zooming capabilities would like to get better light sensing instead Touch user interface Ul this is a very high quality touch screen but i don t think that the user interface does it justice The current UI is not consistent and most of the graphical elements are a bit too small to be finger friendly anyway Smartphone apps have shown us that touch interfaces can be greatly applied to photography and camera manufacturers have some work to do there Remote shooting Because the E
14. ll purpose combo am impressed by the auto focus speed which was great for quick shots This is really a promise that has been delivered upon The photo quality was also very satisfying for a camera of this category Keep in mind that your lens quality will have a huge influence on the photo outcome Overall the E P3 is not the smallest camera and it doesn t have the biggest sensor One could even say that it is outgunned by newer competitors like the Samsung NX200 Sony NEX5N and NEX7 but in the end it does deliver very nice photos even in places where other cameras would be way over their heads To be fair the E P3 also costs much more than even fancy compact cameras so it is normal that the expectations should be high hope that this review gave you a good idea on what using the Olympus E P3 feels like Don t forget to check the Olympus E P3 samples on the Ubergizmo Flickr account If you have questions drop a comment while we still have the camera on hand We ll try to reply ASAP Links You may be interested by my Panasonic GF3 Review and by our video photography news Official Olympus E P3 page E P3 user manual pdf Add a Comment M Cameras At SearsA N Save On Name Brand Cameras At SearsA Official Site Shop Now www Sears com Camera AdChoices gt n Fiolet Follow Ubergizmo s founders Google yy Eliane Ee Hubert o Nguyen Ubergizmo com on Facebook ea Like http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olym
15. pus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM Olympus E P3 Review Ubergizmo 11 792 people like Ubergizmo com a Gunjan Esperanza Xie Kirsten Saleh Nancy Wai Ho Yulia Sasi Kumar Chris Hdttito HET Alaa Paul Balla Elsie Steven Tracy Ilyes Lux Tony Fethi Robbie Ej Facebook social plugin Featured Photo Video Reviews EATA arSuvryc EME camera olympus olympus e p3 photo photography review iPhone 5 announcement happens at Apple HQ in Cupertino Amazon tablet set for September 28 launch Samsung Galaxy S2 and Galaxy S2 HD gets LTE goodness iPad 3 coming because of iPad supply chain order cut Samsung Galaxy S2 gets Android 2 3 5 Gingerbread ROM leaked iPhone 5 ready to take over KDDI s Android site Related Articles Articles User Comments a oisaus Add New Comment Login f Please wait Real time updating is enabled Pause Showing 0 comments M Subscribe by email S RSS Privacy Policy Terms of Use Contact About Q 10 ID 89404 http www ubergizmo com 2011 09 olympus e p3 review 9 26 2011 12 16 07 PM
16. some kind of bulge that helps retain the camera s body in the hand and don t like to use the E P3 without it as it feels a bit uncomfortable TruePic VI processor few people actually want to know about the processing power of their camera but in this case the dual core TruePic VI chip helps the Olympus E P3 focus at 120 frames per second which is excellent The processor also makes the viewfinder react much faster Electronic viewfinders often induce a lag time that inherently does not exist with optical viewfinders However the lag on the E P3 is much lower than on my GF1 in this case In theory the faster processing should also allow the E P3 to compress images faster thus reducing the black out time in between photos In reality don t think that the difference in black out time is perceptible at least not in a meaningful way against the GF1 that we have here 1080i GORRE Vides FELEAG AVCHD The Olympus E P3 is capable of recording in 1080i resolution at 60 frames per second Although 1080i is not as detailed as 1080p the extra framerate of 60FPS will be welcomed by many users A higher FPS would allow for smoother panning and action scenes How I use it Before we go on think that it s important that you know how I m using my micro camera as this inevitably shapes how perceive its qualities and pitfalls Also in the reviews mainly use the fully automatic mode or the shutter priority mode as most people
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