Olympus PEN E-PL5 with 14-42mm lens £320 / $600

Sophisticated but not over-complicated

lympus seems to be marketing the E-PL5 as more of a ‘streetwear’ style accessory than a serious camera for demanding photographers. It comes in a range of black, white and silver colours and is pictured on the Olympus website in the company of glamorous models in cool shades. As it turns out, the beauty of the E-PL5

Oisn’t just skin-deep. It features the same image sensor and TruePic VI image processor as the original OM-D, which has won many accolades, including from us.

Unlike the OM-D, the E-PL5 has a super-slim design. Textured grip areas on the front and rear enable confident handling. Further creative credentials include a proper shooting

Plenty of options despite the super-slim camera body mode dial on the top, absent on the other CSCs in this group. Similarly, while the thin design precludes the fitment of a built-in viewfinder, it’s the only CSC on test for which an electronic viewfinder is available as an optional extra. The E-PL5 is also the only camera in the group to feature both tilting and touchscreen facilities in its LCD, the latter of which make for quick and easy AF point selection.

The 14-42mm kit lens has good build quality yet is compact, with a retractable design. Thanks to the 2x crop factor, it has an effective zoom range of 28-84mm. There’s no optical stabilisation in the lens, but the E-PL5 is the only camera here to feature sensor-shift stabilisation.

PERFOR MANCE

Despite its pure contrast-detection autofocus system, rather than the hybrid phase/contrast systems of the Canon and Nikon CSCs, the Olympus autofocuses faster than any other CSC in the group. It’s also quicker than the Canon 1200D.

Image quality is excellent. While the standard sensitivity range tops out at ISO 5,000, the Olympus gives pretty clean images if you push into its expanded ISO range.