Olympus E-P2 Compact System Camera (14-42mm lens & VF-2 electronic viewfinder) Black

Product Information

The E-PL2 doesn’t depart radically from the styling of the E-PL1, though there is one major difference and that’s the addition of a control dial on the rear panel similar to that on the E-P1 and E-P2. It also has a bigger 3 inch LCD screen with 460k pixels.

Whilst these are the only exterior changes, the specification has had a slight reshuffle. Two additional Art Filters are included (so eight in total) - Diorama (making people and buildings look as if they've been photographed with a specialist tilt and shift lens and so appear to be on a toy town scale) and Cross Process (ape-ing the wet darkroom process) - along with a purportedly colour boosting iEnhance function. Also added to the Pen's list of specification is remote slideshow control via HDMI, plus M mode (full manual) HD movie capability. Maximum movie resolution remains at 1280x720 pixels and 30fps with stereo sound, as per the E-P1 (and the GF1, except that its rival records in mono). Olympus has gone the other way with the VF-2. This larger unit matches the 1440k dot resolution of the Lumix G1 and GH1 viewfinders, albeit with a smaller quoted magnification of 1.15x to the Panasonic’s 1.4x. 1440k dots correspond to 480k colour pixels, or an 800×600 grid. Like the Lumix G1 and GH1 before it, this allows the VF-2 to deliver a highly detailed image which is a joy to compose with, and which makes manual focusing much easier.Like the E-P1, a Movie AE menu allows you to shoot video in Program or Aperture Priority modes or with any of the Art Filters applied in real(ish) time (including the two new ones), but new to the E-P2 is a full Manual option. This allows you to fix the shutter speed and aperture as desired for more creative effects and is a welcome upgrade. The Olympus PEN E-P3 looks a lot like its forebears - not just the E-P1 and E-P2 but, just as significantly, the company's film era Pen F camera. Significantly because, in an age in which the major electronics giants are building their photographic presence, Olympus is one of only a handful of companies with genuine heritage to turn to. And, despite modern cameras making high image quality more accessible than ever, there is an undeniable reverence for the look and feel of 1960s cameras. I can now shoot infrared handheld, aided by the in body image stabilisation, with no need for tripods or long exposures. This has broadened the range of subjects and lighting conditions I can now shoot in infrared, from trees and woodland scenes to landscapes and seascapes and even street scenes and portraits.

As we've already seen, the only significant difference (beyond the color) between the E-P1 and E-P2 is the bulge beneath the hot shoe that provides space for the accessory port. Ergonomics are identical, with a good thumb roller (the silver rectangle visible at the top right-hand corner), and a tiny, less useful dial around the edge of the four-way controller.This was a tip I learned when using the E510 when I first started taking infrared photographs and has proved to be an invaluable piece of advice. I would recommend this to anyone with interest in taking up infrared photography. My favourite lens with the EP2 is the Samyang 7.5 mm fully manual, wide-angle lens which produces almost surreal images, where, for example, I can sit underneath a spreading oak tree and can capture the whole tree as it looms over me. The 22 scene modes include Portrait, e-Portrait, Landscape, Landscape with Portrait, Macro, Sports, Night Scene, Night Scene with portrait, Children, High key, Low key, Digital Image Stabilisation, Nature Macro, Candle, Sunset, Documents, Panorama, Fireworks, and Beach and Snow. An additional three scene modes are provided for use with the fisheye, macro and wide converter. The Olympus E-PL2 features the same movie modes as the E-PL1 with the choice of either 640×480 (VGA) or 1280×720 (720p HD) video recorded at 30fps and encoded using the Motion JPEG format then stored in an AVI wrapper. You’re looking at about approximately 1MB per second of footage in the HD mode, with each clip limited to a maximum file size of 2GB; Olympus estimates this will get you around seven minutes of HD footage or 14 minutes in the VGA mode. Olympus recommends using a Class 6 SD card or faster to support HD movies; you can see two examples of the HD movie mode below using the 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 kit zoom lens; the first clip was handheld and in fully automatic with stabilisation enabled.

Micro Four Thirds achieves this goal by taking the sensor of the existing Four Thirds DSLR standard, but dispensing with the traditional SLR mirror and optical viewfinder to allow a much shorter lens to sensor distance; this in turn enables smaller and lighter cameras to be built, and the E-P2, like the E-P1 before it, is certainly compact considering the size of the sensor within. To test the Olympus E-PL2’s image stabilisation with the 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 II kit zoom we took a series of hand-held shots using a range of shutter speeds with the camera set to shutter priority mode. The sensitivity was manually set to 200 ISO and the lens was set to its maximum focal length of 42mm (84mm equivalent). At this focal length the photographer’s rule of thumb would suggest a minimum shutter speed of 1/84 to avoid camera shake.The Olympus E-P2 is a compact camera with a DSLR-sized sensor and removeable lens mount. Announced in November 2009, it’s an enhanced version of the E-P1 launched just five months earlier. Like that model, the E-P2 is based on the Micro Four Thirds standard jointly developed by Olympus and Panasonic to deliver DSLR quality and flexibility without the size, weight and perception of difficult operation. The other major change made to the E-P2 also improves the camera significantly. The addition of an accessory port isn't usually the sort of thing that excites us but, when it allows the use of such a good electronic viewfinder, it does make quite a big difference. Most obviously it offers a steadier way of holding the camera and a way to use the camera in really bright light, where the E-P2's rear screen can be hard to see. In addition, though, the clip-on nature of the EVF means that you only have to carry it when you think you'll use it and users who don't think they will are likely to have the option to not have to pay for it. That said, for the number of other people we showed it to who enthused about its quality, there were an equal number who couldn’t see the point. There’s also the undeniable fact it adds considerably to the price of the E-P2, so you have to ask yourself if you really want it. There are of course a number of other benefits to the E-P2 over the E-P1, but if you’re not bothered about the VF-2, you could save yourself a great deal by going for the older model without missing out on too much. Alternatively if you can’t afford the VF-2 today, but don’t want to rule out the possibility of using it in the future, you could always go for the more recent Olympus EPL-1 instead, which features the same accessory port as the E-P2, not to mention a new popup flash, albeit with a smaller screen and more basic controls. Here, as expected, the Olympus 14-42mm lens is indeed very small, even taking 37mm filters, an unusual size. The lens is also very good. This is a high quality optic and will not disappoint. When retracting the lens for transport its necessary to locate the release tab, somewhere on the left side of the zoom (depending on the zooms position), and then to slide it forward so that the lens can be collapsed.

The E-PL2 body measures 115 x 73 x 42mm and without a lens attached or battery fitted weighs 317 grams. Pop the battery in and add the 17mm f2.8 pancake prime and the weight comes up to 432g. To put that into context, Canon’s high end PowerShot G12 compact weighs 401g, albeit featuring a built-in 5x zoom. Another comparison worth making is with the Panasonic Lumix GF2 which is not only a little smaller, but lighter, weighing only 265g without the battery or a lens attached.

Samples Galleries

Only the color scheme and the extra lump under the flash hot-shoe give away that the camera on the right is an E-P2, rather than is predecessor on the left. The included electronic viewfinder is very good. It is high resolution, has a high eyepoint, and is bright. It’s also a bit bulky (more so than the one for the Panasonic GF1). The VF-2 has a well designed diopter adjustment, rubber surround for comfort and eyeglass protection, and it tilts 90 degrees for downward viewing. Despite sharing the same sensor and image processing pipeline as the E-P1, we’ve fully retested the E-P2 for real-life detail and noise. Reflecting its audience of enthusiasts, we’ve also now included extensive results in RAW. To further complement our existing E-P1 review, we additionally tested the E-P2 with its other kit lens, the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f2.8 pancake prime and have included results for it at various apertures. In terms of noise this is a very clean camera. It makes no attempt to follow the trend of ultra-high ISO values as found in some of the current DSLRs, but offers a relatively modest ISO200 – ISO1600 as its standard range. These values control noise very well indeed and although a rise in levels can be noticed even at ISO400, it is quite unobtrusive all the way through to ISO1600. The extended range of ISO3200 and ISO6400 does display high noise levels, but these are available if required and are better than most. It is I think much better to have a grainy (noisy) image than no image at all, so there is value in providing high ISO capability. Image quality is up to the high standard set by the E-P1, with some of the best JPEG output we've encountered on any camera. Understandably the high ISO performance isn't quite up with those DSLRs that have APS-C sized sensors but it's not far off and, so long as you avoid the ISO 100 setting, the dynamic range is perfectly good, too.