Camera of the Year Award Winner 2011 - Smart Photography
The Olympus PEN E-P3 is an ILCC designed on the Micro Four Thirds System. With a new image processing engine and creative Art Filters, it is available as a single lens kit (with the 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R lens) or as a two-lens kit, which includes the 40150mm f/4-5.6 lens. The body, with an interchangeable hand-grip, is available in black, white, and silver. The 12.3 megapixel camera uses a 17.3 x 13mm Live MOS sensor, backed by a new Dual Core True Pic VI image processor. A Super Sonic Wave Filter vibrates at high speed to knock off any dust that may settle on the imaging sensor. A sensor-shift image stabiliser is built in, hence any lens fitted to the camera becomes a image stabilised lens. P, A, S, M modes are available for the advanced users, and iAUTO (Intelligent Auto), Scene modes (SCN) and Art Filters (ART) for beginners. Exposures can be bracketed for 2, 3, 5 frames. Movies can be recorded in AVCHD/ AVI Motion JPG. The E-P3 autofocusses during the movie recording to provide crisp and sharp movies. The E-P3 has the world’s fastest autofocus – contrast-detection AF system – with 35 AF points (as of June 30, 2011, with the standard ‘14-42mm II R’ zoom lens). Full HD video recording can be achieved upto equivalent of ISO 12,800. Images can be recorded in RAW, JPEG, RAW+JPEG, and MPO (3D Still). The PEN E-P3 uses a 3-inch OLED monitor (approx. 614,000 dots) with a new GUI (Graphic User Interface) providing touch-panel functions. The touch panel has an antifingerprint coating. ISO sensitivity can be set to Auto, or can be manually set from 200 -12,800 and can be set in 1/3, or 1 EV steps. White Balance can be set to Auto or 6 presets, plus Kelvin temperature. WB can also be bracketed (3 frames), while 2 custom settings of WB can be registered for one-touch operation. Long exposure noise reduction and high ISO noise reduction ( known as Noise Filter) are available. Shutter speeds on the E-P3 range from 60 seconds to 1/4000 sec, plus Bulb (up to 30 minutes). E-P3 offers easy-to-use Art Filters (Pop Art, Soft Focus, Pale & Colour, Light Tone, Grainy Film, Pin Hole, Diorama, Gentle Sepia, Cross Process, and Dramatic Tone). A built-in flash has a GN of 10m at ISO 200. Wireless flash control is possible. External flashguns FL-50R, FL 36R and FL-300R can be used. X-sync speed with flash is up to 1/180 sec. Images can be recorded on SD, SDHC and SDXC (UHS-1 compatible), and Eye-fi card. The camera body dimensions are 122 x 69.1 x 34.3mm and weighs 369 g including battery and memory card.