Olympus Pen E-PL7 – What’s New?

Olympus Pen E-PL7 – What’s New?

Description

Aimed at point-and-shoot photographers, the Olympus Pen E-PL7 is built with a unique front-facing screen that you can flip down for selfies. It’s as serious mirrorless camera the same as others in the Olympus’ PEN lineup. The 16 MP shooter can capture images up to 8.4fps. It’s compatible even with Micro Four Thirds lenses.

Without a lens, it weighs around 10.9 ounces. Available in silver and black or all black version, this interchangeable lens camera has many of the features that its more expensive siblings have. But it’s categorized in a compact package.

Its built-in Wi-FI lets you control it remotely. The package also has video recording and live bulb monitoring. It can video record at 1080/30p with a stereo sound. E-PL7 lacks a built-in flash, but it has a bundled external flash.

In terms of image quality, the photos are better than if they’re taken using a 1-inch sensor. Through ISO 800, the photos look sharp and clean. The photos at ISO 1600 will remain reasonably good.

Handling

As a compact camera, it lacks the large physical grip that you can find in any DSLR. You can’t also add an external grip, which may pose a problem if you’re using heavier lenses with the PEN E-PL7.

Compared with the E-PL5, however, the E-PL7 feels better in your hand during longer hours of shooting. If you’ve tried the OM-D E-M10, the handling is almost the same, i.e. without the external camera grip.

Despite the lack of external grip, this PEN model feels solid in the hand, which is expected. The camera has just the right weight that lets you hold it steadily. It’s also light enough for a selfie or a single-handed operation.  

Comparison

Both PEN E-PL5 AND E-PL7 have the same sensor resolution and size, shutter speed, metering and sensitivity, LCD, memory slots, battery life, and overall size. The improvements are too slight but it E-PL7 has a more sophisticated AF system.  The adjustment dial has been moved from the back to the top. But the E-PL7 doesn’t have a mic input, compared with E-PL5. Its body operating weight is somehow heavier (12.9 oz) than E-PL5’s 11.5 oz.

Olympus Pen E-PL7 – What’s New?

Overall, this model performs better than the other compact alternatives. It has better photo quality with the broader feature set. It also supports interchangeable lenses.