OLYMPUS PEN E-P7
The first camera from Olympus since its transfer in ownership looks great, but does it deliver what enthusiasts want? ANGELA NICHOLSON takes a look
It looks great, but does Olympus’ first camera since a change in ownership deliver what enthusiasts want? Angela Nicholson finds out
Just over a year ago, Olympus sold its camera business to a private equity firm and subsequently a new company called OM Digital Solutions was formed. The Olympus Pen E-P7 is the first camera to come from the new company, but its planning and development were largely done under the original owner’s tenure.
Prior to this, the most recent Olympus Pen camera was the E-PL10 (Pen Lite 10), which was announced in October 2019. However, the most recent Pen E-P camera was the Pen E-P5 in May 2013. So the E-P7 is long overdue and it combines elements of the E-P line and the popular Pen-F announced in January 2016.
In a significant upgrade on the E-PL10 and E-P5, the E-P7 steps up from a 16MP sensor to a 20.3MP chip combined with the TruePic
VII processing engine. It’s a Four Thirds type sensor paired with the Micro Four Thirds mount.
It seems likely that the Pen E-P7 uses the same sensor as the Olympus OM-D E-M10 IV as it (and earlier Pen models) has a contrast detection autofocus system. Olympus’s more advanced OM-D series cameras have a hybrid system that uses phase detection pixels. As usual, there are 121 individually selectable points.
Olympus’s image stabilisation systems have a great reputation and the one in the E-P7 is rated at 4.5EV of shutter speed compensation.
Traditionally, the Olympus Pen cameras don’t have a viewfinder while the OM-D series cameras do. The Pen-F confused things by having a viewfinder within its rectangular form. Sadly, that’s a feature that Olympus hasn’t rolled out to the E-P7; it is viewfinder-free. There’s also no optional external viewfinder. However, there’s a flip-screen that can tip up through 90° for viewing from above, and down through 180° to make it visible from in front of the camera and suitable for vlogging and selfie-shooting.
Olympus refers to the Pen-EP7 as a ‘featherweight beauty’, and it’s fitting. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but if you like clean lines and retro styling, the E-P7 won’t disappoint. It’s also very light, weighing just 337g, and it’s best used with a small lens like the M. Zuiko Digital 17mm f/1.8, which has an effective focal length of 34mm. Or if you prefer zoom lenses, the M. Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 EZ (effectively 28-84mm) makes a great choice. I also used it with the excellent M. Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro, but it felt front-heavy and the shallow but stylish grips don’t give the purchase you want for the weight.
While the E-P7’s exterior appears to be made from plastic, the dials on its top-plate and lens mount are made from metal, giving them a high-quality, durable feel. The mode dial, which has a firm and positive action, has markings to set the camera to Auto, program, aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, bulb, video, Art Filter, Advanced Photo and Scene mode. While the Art Filter mode gives quick access to the Art Filters, it puts the camera in charge of the exposure settings, so it’s better to select the one you want to use via the main menu or the Super Control panel – they’re listed with the Picture modes. The Color/ Monochrome Profiles (seeTalking Point), can only be activated via the switch on the front.
Advanced Photo (AP) mode is where you find some of Olympus’s
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but if you like retro styling it won’t disappoint
cleverest features such as Live Composite and Live Time mode that take the guesswork out of long exposure images and simplify things like painting with light or photographing light trails. There are also settings for double exposures, HDR photography, panoramas, shooting silently, or correcting keystoning or bracketing the exposure or focus.
As its design makes it unsuited for use with long lenses, the E-P7 isn’t likely to be used for shooting sport on a frequent basis. However, its autofocusing system is pretty quick and it copes well with low light while the Face & Eye Priority AF is effective.
At the lower sensitivity settings, the E-P7 captures a good level of natural-looking detail. As they’re 20.3MP files, zooming into 100% on a computer screen isn’t quite as exciting as with a 50 or 60MP file, but equally, your storage drive doesn’t fill up as fast and your computer responds quickly.
It’s worth sticking below the native sensitive range maximum, which at ISO 6,400 is fairly low in 2021. At this setting, the RAW files have a fine texture of luminance noise in the midtones and shadows, and the JPEGs look similar. Pushing beyond this value increases the amount of noise in RAW files while the simultaneously captured JPEGs start to lose detail. By ISO 25,600 the JPEGs can look smudgy while the RAW files have lots of luminance noise.
One issue with the E-P7 is that in bright conditions, details aren’t very clear on the screen and it’s hard to assess the exposure. The ESP metering does a good job in many instances and there’s a histogram view, but a viewfinder would make it easier. A viewfinder is also a key distinguishing feature between a smartphone and a dedicated camera.
In bright conditions, details aren’t very clear on the screen and it’s hard to assess the exposure