E-P3 black no lens with pop-up flash
As anticipated, the Olympus E-P3 was announced today. They also announced the E-PM1 and E-PL3 (“Mini” and “Light”), which aren’t as interesting to me due to lack of physical controls–much more touchscreen oriented. Among the E-P3′s headliner improvements over the E-P2:
- Fast AF–not just faster, but actually fast!
- Built-in flash
- Much higher resolution screen on the back, touchscreen too
- Better video
- New sensor
Compared to the E-P1 you can also add the accessory connector to allow use of the very nice VF-2 electronic viewfinder. So on paper it ticks all the boxes in terms of what I was looking for in an upgrade to the E-P1. For me the big question marks are:
- Just how fast is the new AF? Olympus claim outright fastest of any camera. Bold, bold claim, but I’ll wait and see.
- How much has the noise and color rendition at high ISO improved?
Pending answers to those questions, I’ll start drooling from now until I can try one out in the store. You hear me, Deville Camera? You’d better stock some of these, and soon!
Second but just as exciting are the new 12mm f/2 (24mm equivalent) and 45mm f/1.8 (90mm equivalent) lenses. These lenses are ones that many Micro 4/3 users have been clamoring for since the beginning–the 12mm because it’s a high grade lens with a beautifully made metal barrel (and I’m assuming stellar image quality too), and the 45mm because it’s the first lens to fill the common portrait focal length and aperture. 24mm equivalent isn’t a focal length I use much, but if the 12mm lens is great and can also be used for silent and quick AF during video I might have to retrain myself on it. The 45mm lens I’m more immediately excited about since I’m familiar with the short telephoto focal length and have some good uses in mind for it. Both of them look to be terrific additions to the Micro 4/3 family.
