OM SYSTEM OLYMPUS PEN E-PL3 14-42mm 12.3 MP Mirrorless Digital Camera with CMOS Sensor and 3x Optical Zoom (Black)

I love this little camera! I shoot a Canon 60D with an assortment of lenses and have also been using my iPhone 5 camera (8MP) a lot in last year, but I have been thinking of purchasing a high end compact (P&S) camera that had a hot shoe and shot RAW. However, the $500+ price tag on those I was considering was a turn off. Having heard so much about the micro 4/3 mirrorless cameras, I decided to investigate them. When I saw I could get this Olympus PEN E-PL3 (silver) for only $259 my decision was made! I got what I had been looking plus more: interchangeable lens camera with incredible customization possibilities along with larger sensor (=better resolution) than a P&S, flash hot shoe, RAW format capability, small and light camera yet easy to handle.I was a bit concerned that I was buying a camera model that was already two years old with two newer models of this line already out, but I need not have worried. Though - with experience so far - images at ISO 1600 and above are not great (but I'm still learning how to get the best out of this camera!), I am otherwise very happy with image quality and sharpness. And, unfortunately, I am already - after owning the camera only one week! - lusting after other lenses for it! I am, however, happy with the range of views the "kit" 14-42mm lens offers me. I am also very pleased to see that I can use my old Canon lenses with my new PL3 as well. Along with the camera I purchased an inexpensive adapter that allows me to mount the 50mm, f/1.8 lens (FD) from my old (1972) Canon FTb camera, as well as any other FD lenses I can find to purchase cheaply. With that success, I decided to go ahead and order a more expensive ($115) adapter so I could also use the small collection of Canon EF lenses that I currently use with my Canon 60D. Have not received that yet, but look forward to seeing how those lenses work with the PL3.I'm documenting my experiences at[...]

To me, a camera's needs to succeed at producing a top quality Image first and foremost. If it fails to deliver in any way related to the final output of the camera, then it has a tough road ahead that is littered with other failed prospects. Ultimately, you can be the worst camera in the world functionally and deliver the best image out there and I'll rate the camera highly because, in the end, it's all about the image!LOOKS AND BUILD QUALITYThe Olympus E-PL3 is a solid little body but, it is constructed from Polycarbonate (High Impact Plastic) so, it isn't as solid as some of the other bodies that it competes against but, it isn't bad either.The styling is very nice and clearly shows that it's roots are halfway between the point and shoot crowd and halfway between the SLR crowd.I have two issues here, how slick the body is, and with no grip on the camera, I'm a little nervous about dropping it when I have it out and about. The other issue is the fact that the AF Assist light is right where your left index finger might be while holding the camera and this interferes with the focusing in lower light situations.MENUING SYSTEMOne area that seems too complex is the menu system. Each menu is fine on its own but, it seems as though more than half of the buttons on the body launch a different menu! I'm really baffled by this design as there's no rhyme or reason to some of them and some are turned off by default so they need to be activated for you to see many key features and fortunately, in the tip below I tell you how to do it.My tip here is that you press Menu, select the Wrench, select Display Menu and activate the one that looks like two gears as this is activates the Custom Menu on the Main Menu Screen and here the ability to adjust the camera to your settings really comes alive!METERINGWell, this is a big flaw in this camera, checking spot metering seems to show a Meter that is well calibrated and yet, their algorithms for Matrix Metering seem to heavily favor under exposure and that increases noise. Center Weighted will also favor under exposure to a lesser degree and it is almost as though the metered circle isn't the proper size. The good news is that, Olympus provided a fix for this and you can enable it using the tip below.In the hidden custom menu (we turned this on earlier), you can tweak the exposure bias for each metering mode so, once you figure out where you want it to be, just set it and forget it.AF SYSTEMThe AF System is very fast for this type of camera and I have to say that Olympus really stepped up here given the fact that the earlier bodies were known for having slow AF. Accuracy also seems to be fairly good so, no real issues with the focusing at all.IMAGE STABILIZATIONI've used just about every image stabilization system around and honestly, I am not impressed with the Olympus Sensor Shift. Some reviews suggest it only works between 1/30th and 1/8th of a second and going outside that range will either not reduce blur or will actually increase the chances that blur will exist (above 1/30th or on a tripod mount). To say the least, don't buy this camera for this feature because, there are much better options.I also found out the IS system uses the Auto-ISO as a crutch and if you attempt to stabilize the camera with a fixed ISO, it is going to create problems for you. I discovered this when I found the custom menu and set the camera's Auto ISO Max to 800 and turned the ISO back on. Next thing you know, 1/10 shutter speeds were producing sharp images, sure enough, looking at the ISO should it was toeing the max ISO I had set.One more tip to help you get the most out of your camera, set the Anti-Shock to 1/4 when shooting at slower shutter speeds (under 1/50) as this will allow any excess movement from the internals to pressing the shutter release, to reside before releasing the shutter (Obviously this isn't good for moving objects but, neither is IS unless it features a panning mode and both should function exactly the same for that purpose.AESTHETICSThe best things about this camera are the color and white balance reproduction. There's a certain look to Olympus photos that are really hard for others to replicate. Canon images are too yellow, Nikon's are too Red, Sony's are just plain bland (high quality but nothing special for color) and yet, Olympus just seems to pull off the perfect balance of the bunch.If you're looking for a reason to buy this camera, this is the best reason going for it!IMAGE QUALITYThis is somewhat of a Mixed Bag... If you are careful and babysit the metering, or learn the camera and adjust the bias, you'll get awesome results right up to ISO 1600 but, if you don't watch it, you just might find some of the worst High ISO images you've seen in this class.With that said, I've gotten some really nice images and I only have the kit lens so the camera is more than capable of delivering on the image quality and the better, and brighter, the lens, the less of an issue High ISO becomes.I recommend Shooting with Natural Mode, Sharpening to -1, and Noise Reduction to Low.CONCLUSIONI started this review after spending just a few hours with the camera and I was sure, I hated the body. As I continued writing the review and shooting with it, I started to figure it out a bit more and have found that it is capable if you work within its limitations.Overall, I like the camera because I like the Image Quality but, I cannot fathom how throwing a metering system that has to be babysat, putting the workaround in a hidden menu, and a menu system that is a bit of a mystery, into a body aimed at beginners makes any sense at all. If you're new to this level of Photography, you're either going to leave the body in IAuto or you're going to return it out of frustration.Would I recommend this body? If you have some understanding about metering or, you like to tinker and want to make the camera your own then yes, I would. If you're the type of person that thinks cameras take nice pictures, then you should probably look elsewhere because, you're about to found out just how hard taking those nice pictures can be so, read through the review and adjust the camera based on the tips I've provided.

After reading lots of reviews of the Pen cameras .. and good experiences with my OM-10 back in the dark ages, I decided to try the Pen line. I bought a EPL3 thinking I was getting into something special. Well, my appraisal is this ...... the jpegs are pretty nice, the raw files are similar to panasonic's, the EPL3 user inter face sucks big time, the AF is extremely overrated .. it is great in bright light when contrast is well defined but in a situation like a fairly low lit living room, bar, or night club .. it is absolutely terrible .. really slow and misses focus more than it hits. I realize this could be the fault of the kit lens but my Panasonic GF2 blows it away in terms of focus speed and accuracy (for indoor use). I find the menus unintuitive and things are well hidden, the camera feels solid and the fold-out screen is nice but it just seems difficult to find my way around. I am sending this thing back, it's just not for me. I much prefer the GF2.