Should i buy an epl2

The E-PL2 was launched at a somewhat lower price by 25 percent than the E-P2, which makes it more attractive for photographers on a tight budget.

Usually, retail prices stay at first close to the launch price, but after several months, discounts become available. Later in the product cycle and, in particular, when the replacement model is about to appear, further discounting and stock clearance sales often push the camera price considerably down.

The size of the imaging sensor is a crucial determinant of image quality. All other things equal, a large sensor will have larger individual pixel-units that offer better low-light sensitivity, wider dynamic range , and richer color-depth than smaller pixels in a sensor of the same technological generation.

Further, a large sensor camera will give the photographer additional creative options when using shallow depth-of-field to isolate a subject from its background.

On the downside, larger sensors tend to be more expensive and lead to bigger and heavier cameras and lenses. Both cameras under consideration feature a Four Thirds sensor and have a format factor sometimes also referred to as "crop factor" of 2.

Within the spectrum of camera sensors, this places the review cameras among the medium-sized sensor cameras that aim to strike a balance between image quality and portability. Both cameras feature a native aspect ratio sensor width to sensor height of The two cameras under review do not only share the same sensor size, but also offer an identical resolution of This similarity in sensor specs implies that both the E-P2 and the E-PL2 have the same pixel density, as well as the same pixel size.

It should, however, be noted that the E-PL2 is a somewhat more recent model by 1 year and 2 months than the E-P2, and its sensor might have benefitted from technological advances during this time. Consistent information on actual sensor performance is available from DXO Mark for many cameras.

The Overall DXO ratings for the two cameras under consideration are close, suggesting that they provide similar imaging performance. The adjacent table reports on the physical sensor characteristics and the outcomes of the DXO sensor quality tests for a sample of comparator-cameras. Many modern cameras are not only capable of taking still images, but also of capturing video footage.

Apart from body and sensor, cameras can and do differ across a range of features. On the downside, larger sensors tend to be more expensive and lead to bigger and heavier cameras and lenses. The Olympus E-PL2 features a Four Thirds sensor and has a format factor sometimes also referred to as "crop factor" of 2.

Within the spectrum of camera sensors, this places the Olympus E-PL2 among the medium-sized sensor cameras that aim to strike a balance between image quality and portability. Since , DXO Mark has published sensor performance measurements that have been derived using a consistent methodology.

The adjacent table reports on the physical sensor characteristics and the outcomes of the DXO sensor quality tests for a sample of alternative cameras. Many modern cameras cannot only take still pictures, but also record videos. The E-PL2 indeed provides movie recording capabilities.

Apart from body and sensor, cameras can and do differ across a variety of features. The adjacent tables list some of the other core features of the Olympus E-PL2 along with similar information for a selection of comparators. One convenient feature of the E-PL2 is the presence of an on-board flash. While this built-in flash is not very powerful, it can at times be useful as a fill-in light to brighten deep shadow areas. For some imaging applications, the extent to which a camera can communicate with its environment can be an important aspect in the camera decision process.

The table below provides an overview of the connectivity of the Olympus PEN E-PL2 and, in particular, the interfaces the cameras and selected comparators provide for accessory control and data transfer. While the specs-based evaluation of cameras is instructive in revealing their potential as photographic tools, it remains partial and cannot reveal, for example, the handling experience and imaging performance when actually working with the E-PL2.

User reviews, such as those found at amazon , can sometimes inform about these issues, but such feedback is often incomplete, inconsistent, and biased.

This is where reviews by experts come in. Olympus recommends a Class 6 or faster card for recording video. Check the shopping link above, memory cards are really cheap these days, so no reason to skimp. Navigate Review Jump to review page How long it takes camera to turn off before you can remove the memory card. Worst case buffer clearing time. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode.

ISO sensitivity and noise reduction settings can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance. Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, with the lens already at the proper focal distance setting.

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, with the lens already at the proper focal distance setting, TTL Auto flash enabled. This mode usually shows no speed increase with our static subject; we have no way to measure performance with moving subjects.

For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "prefocused". Noise is very well handled, being virtually absent from ISO and not being too obvious at the relatively fast speed of ISO Colours were vibrant without being over-saturated in the default Natural picture mode, and you can always choose Vivid if you want even more punch.

The art filters quickly produce special effects that would otherwise require you to spend a lot of time in the digital darkroom, while the various Picture Modes provide a quick and easy way to tweak the camera's JPEG images. Image stabilisation via the camera body is a very useful feature that works well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range.

The The built-in flash takes full advantage of the E-PL2's various flash modes, with good exposure and no red-eye. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are just a little soft at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level to suit your tastes by changing the Picture Modes.

These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1. And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the On or the Red-eye Reduction settings caused any red-eye. The Olympus E-PL2 lets you dial in shutter speeds of up to 60 seconds and has a Bulb mode as well for exposure times as long as 30 minutes, which is very good news if you are seriously interested in night photography.

The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 13 seconds at ISO To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with Image Stabilisation turned off, the second with it turned on.

As you can see, with Image Stabilisation turned on, the images are much sharper than when it's turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.

The most useful of these is Soft Focus, because the FourThirds system lacks a dedicated soft focus lens, and the effect would require advanced knowledge of layers, blurring methods and blending modes if you were to reproduce it in post-processing. The six available Art Filters are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences.

Note that applying the Art Filters slows the camera down somewhat as the camera takes several seconds to process and save the image.

Olympus' Picture Modes, similarly to Nikon's Picture Styles and Canon's Picture Controls, are preset combinations of different sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone settings. The five available Picture Controls are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences. There is also an additional Custom style so that you can create your own look.

This is a selection of sample images from the Olympus E-PL2 camera, which were all taken using the The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way. This is a sample movie at the highest quality setting of x pixels at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 15 second movie is 62Mb in size. The Olympus E-PL2 is a rather modest upgrade of the original E-PL1, with a sleeker design, better kit lens and bigger screen chief amongst the rather short list of improvements.

Olympus got most things right first time round with the E-PL1 though, so this new model remains an easy-to-use alternative to a more complicated and bigger DSLR.

The mm kit lens, possibly the only lens that many E-PL2 users will actually buy, is much improved - smaller, lighter, more compact and quieter, whilst offering faster auto-focusing and the same image quality as its predecessor. The larger and higher-resolution screen is also very welcome, as is the revised control layout that more closely resembles the higher-in-the-range E-P2.

Only the Live Wheel selector disappoints amongst the major new features, proving too small and too responsive for reliable use - we'd much prefer to see a DSLR-like control dial preferably two on the E-PL3.

Importantly for its target audience, the E-PL2 retains the built-in flash of it predecessor, very neatly implemented with a folding design that raise the unit above the lens and helps reduce red-eye. The improved Live Guide is another beginner-friendly addition that makes understanding and changing apertures and shutter speeds to achieve creative effects very straight-forward indeed - simply move the slider and observe the effects live on the LCD screen, and it now works for movies too.

The noise reduction is more aggressive by default on the E-PL2 than the higher-end PEN cameras, but you can change this if you don't like the out-of-the-box results.

In terms of movie recording, the E-PL2 is one of the more capable Four Thirds cameras despite its budget price-tag, with p HD quality, full manual control, a handy one-touch record button and the much-prized ability to add an optional stereo microphone. Only the lack of full HD, large file sizes and limit of 7 minutes in HD mode detract from what is otherwise a great performer.

This new model also mostly solves one of our major criticisms of the E-PL1 - its painfully slow auto-focusing speed. The E-PL2 and new mm kit lens are thankfully a lot faster to lock onto the subject in good light or bad, so much so that we only missed the decisive moment due to our own fault, rather than the cameras.