Cameras

Field Review: Olympus EPL-2 (Day 1)

Chris Gampat
No Comments
02/21/2011
3 Mins read
olympus_epl2-550x326

With the Olympus E-5 review finished, the Olympus EPL-2 suddenly appeared at my doorstep. Now, do note that I raved about this camera during the announcement despite my total dislike (more than once) of the EPL-1. We’ve reviewed a number of Micro Four Thirds cameras here as well like the EP-2, GF-1, and the G2. This field review though will be a special one geared towards the professional and semi-professional looking for a carry around camera so that they don’t have to lug their DSLRs around. So is the latest addition to the bunch really worth purchasing for this segment of the market?

Gear Used

Olympus EPL-2

Olympus 17mm f/2.8 Lens

Olympus ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6

Olympus 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 ED

Olympus VF-2 Electronic ViewFinder (Black)

Ergonomics


The Olympus EPL-2 feels significantly better than its predecessor. The grip just feels right, the body feels tougher, there is a dial for manipulating the settings, and the on/off button is in a good spot.

I’ve been using the camera in two different ways:

– With it wrapped around my body like an old-school rangefinder or DSLR

– With it wrapped around my wrist similar to how I keep my DSLR when shooting events.

The back dial is nice and I’m so glad that Olympus chose to put one on this camera. However, it isn’t all perfect: more on that later.

The LCD screen is relatively bright and clear, so I have no major complaints about it at all. In fact, I’m often using the viewfinder instead of the screen.

Autofocus

The autofocus is fast and the camera doesn’t tend to hunt for something to focus on. At the time of writing this piece, I’ve only used it in Single Focus with Manual override and with the 17mm pancake lens. For the most part, it is also relatively smart and will be able to find exactly what I want to focus on based on my composition of the image.

Face detection works very well. In fact, I see almost no reason to turn it off in this camera.

Menus

I’ve used this camera so far in Aperture mode and Manual. The menus are very thin. In fact, I can’t even find how to turn off the AF confirmation beep and don’t even think the camera has the ability to do this.

Quirks

The camera has a couple of quirks that I believe I’m either going to overcome, get used to, to find absolutely annoying.

Note to the PR reps: Chill, I think very highly of this camera so far.

– Can’t figure out how to turn off the AF confirmation beep at the time of writing this.

– I wish that manipulating the aperture and shutter speed in manual mode were easier. You need to set one, then press the exposure button and either press up or down on the function wheel.

– Battery life seems a bit short at the moment (using it with the Eye-Fi X2 pro card that I gave a glowing review to.)

Editor’s note: after a while I was able to figure out how to turn off the AF confirmation beep. In order to do this, you’ll need to unlock the hidden menus that should not have been hidden in the first place. Said menus also allow the user the customize the camera settings much more than previously allowed.

These customized settings will help to make my review experience more pleasant, hopefully. They could also make yours better.

Question: What do you want to see in the review? Let us know in the comments and I’ll try to incorporate it into the testing.

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.