Olympus E-P2 review – perfect build & photo quality, slow performance

Thumbs Up:

Excellent photo and build quality; striking design.

Thumbs Down:

Does not have onboard flash; low resolution display; low battery life; sluggish auto-focus.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Olympus E-P2 is a 12.3-megapixel digital camera powered with TruePic V image sensor. It has 13,100,000 pixels High Speed Live MOS optical sensor that features Supersonic Wave Filter (SWF), Sensor Dust Reduction and two-field view crop factor. The effective sensor resolution is 12,300,000 pixels. The camera has SD memory card slot for external storage.

3 inches LCD display has a resolution of 230,000 pixels resolution. Olympus E-P2 features external electronic viewfinder, inbuilt stereo microphone and hot-shoe clip-on flash. The flash modes are Flash OFF mode, Manual, Fill-in mode, Slow sync Red-eye reduction mode, Auto red-eye reduction, and Auto Mode.

Aspherical lens has Micro Four Thirds mounting system and 17mm focal length with F/2.8 aperture. Maximum viewing angle is 65-degree, minimum focus range is 7.9 inches and filter size is 37mm. Olympus E-P2 has TTL contrast detection auto-focus, automatic focus adjustment and 225 auto focus zones.

The E-P2 features Optical (Image sensor shift) image stabilizer, frame movie mode, 1/180sec X-sync speed, face detection and white balance bracketing. Light sensitivity levels are ISO Auto (200-6400), and ISO 100-6400. Maximum shutter speed is 1/4000 second and minimum is 60sec.

Shooting programs of Olympus E-P2 include Night scene with portrait, Panorama assist, Portrait mode, Nature macro, Sports mode, Anti shake, Landscape, Documents, High key, Children, Low key, and Macro. The special effects are Black & White Yellow filter, Black & White Orange filter, Black & White Green filter, Black & White Red filter, Pale & Light Colour, Cross Process, Grainy Film, Soft Focus, Light Tone, Pin Hole, Monotone, Pop Art, Diorama, and Sepia.

Exposure compensation is ±3 EV range, in 1, 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps and auto exposure bracketing is ±3 EV range, in 1, 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps. Olympus E-P2 has exposure range of EV 0-18 (ISO 100) and 324 exposure metering zones. Exposure modes are Automatic, Aperture-priority, Bulb, Shutter-priority, Program, and Manual. Exposure metering is of three types: Center-weighted, Spot, and Multi-segment.

Olympus E-P2 has three types of white-balance: Automatic, Custom and Presets. The white-balance presets are Fluorescent light (warm white), Fluorescent light (cool white), Fluorescent light (daylight), Tungsten light, 2000K-14000K, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, and Flash.

Supported digital video formats are AVI and JPEG. Olympus E-P2 supports image formats of RAW, RAW+JPEG, and JPEG. The video capture resolution options are AVI 640×480 and AVI 1280×720. Image storage resolution options are JPEG 640×480, JPEG 1280×960, JPEG 1600×1200, JPEG 3200×2400, JPEG 1024×768, Super-fine JPEG 2560×1920, Fine JPEG 4032×3024, Basic RAW 4032×3024, and Normal.

Olympus E-P2 has self timer delay function of 2 and 10 seconds. Additional feature set includes Digital Image stabilization (video mode), Shadow Adjustment Technology, Camera orientation detection, Display brightness control, RGB primary color filter, Highlight point display, 720p HD movie recording, Digital image rotation, USB 2.0 compatibility, In-camera red-eye fix, Shadow point display, PRINT Image Matching, Full-time Live view, Saturation control, PictBridge support, Sharpness control, Resizing an image, Histogram display, Cropping an image, Contrast control, Audio recording, Face detection, DPOF support, AF and AE lock.

The connector set includes 1×HDMI output, 1×composite audio/video output, and 1×USB. The accessories inside the package are USB cable, one A/V cable, shoulder strap, lens cap, dust cap, and body cap. The E-P2 has Olympus BLS-1 lithium ion rechargeable battery. Maximum operating temperature is 104°F and minimum is 32°F.

Razzle Dazzle:

Olympus E-P2 is 2.8 inches tall, 1.4 inches deep and 4.8 inches deep and weighs 11.8 ounces. The E-P2 looks like its predecessor – E-P1. Its body is made up of metal and has black enclosure color.

Inside Dope:

Olympus E-P2 Micro Four Thirds digital camera is a more expensive sibling of previous E-P1. At first look, the E-P2 looks tremendously similar to its predecessor the EP1 due to same elegant body and natural quality. One of the most noticeable additions is accessory port that increases the height of its body. Olympus is currently offering two accessories for this port: included adapter for external mic and tilt-able electronic viewfinder that can easily slide inside the hot shoe. We like this included accessory because one has to purchase it separately for Panasonic GF-1. The EVF is bright, contrast and well magnified and has enough high-resolution for manual focus. The E-P2 also has revamped manual focus system, in which the focus magnification is linked with focus points. What’s more – tilt ability of the EVF helps a lot to get better shooting results.

Olympus E-P2 comes in two versions: $1099.99 with 14-42mm lens and $1099.99 for 17mm lens. On the contrary, the E-P1 costs $599.95 for body only version, $799.99 for 14-42mm lens and $899 for 17mm lens. Our test model of E-P2 had 17mm lens. Previous E-P1 and E-PL1 were offering 12.3-megapixel Live MOS sensor, whereas the E-P2 offers same sensor with less resolution – 12.1-megapixel. Moreover, the E-P2 offers add-on EVF and external flash (hot shoe), whereas E-P1 was not offering any EVF but had inbuilt flash. Moreover, the E-P2 weighs 13.8 ounces and 14.9 ounces with EVF.

You will get more control in Movie mode of Olympus E-2 that allows adjusting of shutter speed and aperture. There is also a revamped i-Enhance auto mode that works more intelligently and better by isolating the operated onscreen elements. In addition, Olympus has also added various latest art filters. One is Cross Process mode to simulate contrast and colors shifts to provide a look to the pictures as they are produced due to usage of wrong chemicals while film processing. Another is Diorama mode that simulates tilt-shift lens effect for giving Lilliputs look to big cities. These Art Filter also works in Movie mode. Last but not least, the Olympus E-2 also has CEC (Consume Electric Option) for TV control through HDMI.

Olympus E-P2 digital camera also has optional adapters for (MF-2) OM lens and (MMF-1) Four Thirds mount lens. The E-P2 looks retroactive from the front and has typical digital control layout at the back. There are menu, delete, playback, AE and AF buttons at the right side of LCD display. You will find a user-defined customized function button on right of above controls. You can set this button to toggle LCD backlight, show MyMode customized settings, capture unsaved test image, override raw options, use manual focus, reset AF area to home position, set white balance manually, give depth-of-field preview, raise face detection mode, or to disable the button completely. You might face difficulty to set this function button first time, but it will work fine after that.

The back dial has direct-access clickers for drive mode, focus mode, white balance, and ISO sensitivity. In addition, the camera also has separate vertical dial. Both of the dials are comfortable to use and quick responsive. Mode dial on the top gives options for eight Art Filters, various scene modes, movie capture, Intelligent Auto, semi-manual and standard manual PASM modes.

The shutter release and exposure buttons are also located on the top. Olympus E-P2 also works similarly to E-P1. There is an Info button that cycle from various display options: image only, grid/scale display, selectable previews of white balance or exposure compensation, basic settings with AF area or histogram, detailed present settings, or two axis digital level.

Moreover, you can also bring up Super Control Panel – overstuffed display to adjust both frequently and less used shooting options including Picture tone, black&white filter, gradation, saturation, contrast, sharpness, and white-balance. Olympus has also included a simplified version where you can move around display’s outer edge for adjusting AF target (user defined or Auto using 11AF areas), face detection, auto-focus, metering, ISO sensitivity, flash options, image quality and size, aspect ration, image stabilization mode, drive mode, white-balance, and shutter speed. You have to read the included user manual to know all of the operations and features of the E-P2 camera.

We recommend you to use 14-42mm kit lens for such a compact digital camera. This lens kit can focus much more close and will work more perfect for macro distances than traditional ones. It will deliver similar shooting experience as with 18-55mm lens from Nikon and Canon, but the manual focus of the Olympus’ Kit is better than others. Olympus is using servo-electronic ring on the camera, unlike its Panasonic counterparts. This ring is relatively loose and provides infinite rotation experience. However, we are disappointed that you may need to practice few minutes for its accurate usage and this kit will increase the size of the camera. If you need much more compact device, then you have to go for 17mm lens that also features wide maximum aperture.

Time from boot up to take first shot is 1.6sec. The shutter lag is 1.1sec in dim light and 0.9sec in bright lighting. Raw shot-to-shot time is 2sec and typical is 1.9sec. The continuous shooting speed is 3.1fps.

On the contrary, similarly featured – Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 tops the shooting performance by 0.8sec for time-to-first-shot. Its raw and typical shot-to-shot time is 0.9sec. The shutter lag is 0.6sec in dim light and 0.4sec in bright light.

During test, it was quite frustrating that the Olympus E-P2 was grabbing and loosing focus rapidly on using continuous AF. We will recommend you to stick with the single AF and still objects. The 9-18mm lenses on E-PL1 are better to use and can hold better AF than Micro Four Thirds lenses. Despite of having low resolution, the LCD display is enough for using manual focus with magnification. However, it is not so useful to judge the quality of captured photo.

Both E-P1 and Olympus E-P2 uses same image processor and sensor, but the E-P2 delivers better image quality due to its fine noise suppression. It delivers good still photographs up to ISO 400 and just a bit degraded images at ISO 800. The E-P2 exhibits a bit noisier photos than that of E-P1. The images look soft above ISO 800 and color noise is more visible at ISO 1600. On the contrary, the E-P2 maintains perfect exposure, color characteristics, and fine dynamic range. The overall sharpness is also looking good on full size (13×17 inches) prints and on full screen. The recorded video quality is also good.

The battery life of Olympus E-P2 is 300 shots, which is similar to previous E-P1. We hope that this battery life is very short for continuous usage.

Nitty Gritty:

If you need a compact digital camera with good photo quality and do not mind the slow performance, then you can buy new – Olympus E-P2 camera. However, we will recommend you to check Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 before making any final decision.