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The LCD screen is bright enough in everything except direct sunlight, but as with that on the E-P1 is quite low res compared to much of the competition. Not to the point of being unpleasant, just not up to the current standard. When capturing images in infrared with my EP2 I nearly always use aperture priority. I also always create a new custom white balance from any uniform green area, e.g. grass. I do this as the light changes when I am in the field. This enables the camera to capture the best range of tones in the infrared image.
The knurled thumb wheel on the right side of the body, on the other hand, is far too easy to turn accidentally. It would have been much better (though a bit more costly) to make it a push-in-and-turn design. The now ubiquitous circular thumb wheel is a bit too small, and many times the difference between wanting to spin it with ones thumb, or press it inwards to select a setting such as ISO or AF modes, is made by accident. It’s hopeless with gloves on. Another very welcome addition is a built-in autofocus illuminator light, in the form of a bright orange LED on the front of the camera (previous PENs were notorious for their reluctance to focus in low light). The autofocus system has been updated too, with 35 zones covering most of the image area. The movie recording specification has also been significantly upgraded, and the E-P3 can now capture full HD 1080i60 movies in AVCHD format.The Olympus E-P2 is equipped with the same six Art Filters of the E-P1 along with two new ones, Diorama and Cross Process. Art Filters apply digital special effects to images, and while you can achieve the same results in software afterwards, the opportunity to do it in-camera is obviously more convenient. I actually really like it that way, because it’s more rugged and not in the way in normal operation.
There is no lens shade provided with this lens, and with the front element always exposed I would suggest a UV filter for protection. As for stray light protection, you’re on your own. The extending lens barrel is equipped with a bayonet mount that accepts a lens hood or one of three adapter lenses for macro, fish eye and wide angle shooting. The wide angle adapter converts the 14-42mm range to 11-22mm (22-44mm equiv.) and the macro adapter brings the close focussing distance in to 24cm with a 0.28x magnification factor. If you’re a fan of circular polarisers you’ll be pleased to know that the front section of the lens has a 37mm filter thread and doesn’t rotate when focused. 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.
Image Quality
Just like Fujifilm's X100, the Olympus PEN E-P1 generated a lot of excitement at its launch thanks to its elegant traditional styling. And, in common with the X100, the shooting experience didn't always live up to the high expectations that its classic looks might have engendered. The E-P2 was a slight reworking of the E-P1, doing little more than adding the ability to use the excellent VF-2 electronic viewfinder, and could still be a slightly slow and awkward camera to actually use. White Balance is another area where performance is exemplary. The Auto setting covers very nicely for over 95% of the time, but for those situations where perhaps one colour is dominant the offered pre-sets deliver the goods. This of course assumes that we are discussing JPEG capture, as RAW shooters will be able to adjust the white balance to taste after the event. It is quite interesting that Auto White Balance seems to have a much wider range and can now seem to cope to some degree with even tungsten (incandescent) light.
The E-P2’s accessory port also allows you to mount the (S)EMA-1 adapter which lets you connect an external microphone for far superior audio quality during movies. The Manual exposure mode and option to connect an external microphone – albeit with an additional accessory – are both decent upgrades to the movie capabilities of the E-P2, and could swing the decision from the E-P1 for serious film makers. Following the accessory port, the other enhancements to the E-P2 over the E-P1 are more modest, although still useful. Arguably the most important of them concerns improvements to the autofocus, at least in terms of capabilities if not actual speed. Another annoyance is that when working with Auto ISO, the ISO selected by the camera is not displayed on the LCD or the viewfinder. Why not? The camera knows what it is. Why not display it? I want to know, because though there are shooting situations where I’m happy to allow the camera to set the ISO automatically, I may not agree with the choice.The pop up flash unit has to be manually deployed and offers high speed and fill flash as well as wireless flash options with compatible external flash units. Several channels are provided for use in group situations. The external flash units can be triggered by the camera's own built in unit. Switching to RAW mode we measured 10 frames in a fraction over four seconds for a marginally slower speed of 2.5fps. This remains better than most compacts, but slower than a typical DSLR at this price point. In terms of a self-timer, there’s two and 12 second countdowns, and you can now also use a remote shutter release in the USB port.
There are 7 ISO settings available on the Olympus E-P2. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and the RAW equivalent on the right:DxOMark provides objective, independent, RAW-based image quality performance data for lenses and digital cameras to help you select the best equipment to meet your photographic needs. 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.
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