Very detailed Olympus E-PL2 review at digitalcamerainfo
Digitalcamerainfo tested the new Olympus E-PL2. It’s a very long review so be sure to have enough time to read it all! They also compared the E-PL2 with the older E-PL1 and yes there seems to be a difference between the two cameras: “Our tests so far show that the color performance of the E-PL2 is relatively unchanged, but the noise performance seems to have been improved slightly.”
A first short user report has been written inside the “Just bought Olympus E-PL2!!! WOW! oh WOW!” forum post at Serious compacts. The title says it all 
And to conclude, dcresource posted a bunch of new test shots taken with the E-PL2.
E-PL2 preorder links: Amazon, Adorama, Amazon DE, Amazon FR and eBay.
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Recent comments
Comment from flipinus: you are absolutely right!!! this is BOGU...
Comment from mma173: If pictures quality is not good enough, ...
Comment from cteve: By the way I dont care too much about th...
Comment from mambastik: If the faster AF is because of the lens,...
Wife
2 years ago |so basically slight noise improvement and not much more.
hopefully there will be better news from oly in feb.
dCap
2 years ago |hmmm, not so … the E-P1 owners now have several reasons to upgrade to the E-PL2:
- the port
- the flash (which can talk to off camera guns like the 36R)
- better colors?
- less high ISO noise?
- faster AF?
- black (or red for the girls)
I’m waiting for the E-P3 and then I’ll take which ever looks like the better deal as an upgrade from my original E-P1
TheVoiceoverman
2 years ago |The guy on that forum who bought one seems to think the AF is fast! Which would be the only reason I would consider this a worthwhile upgrade. Better to sit tight methinks.
MikeS
2 years ago |I think the AF improvement may be mostly due to the redesigned lens and camera firmware upgrades relative to the E-P1 (e.g. the E-PL1 was almost on a par with the GF1′s AF).
If I didn’t know that there are *much* better offerings to look forward to, the E-PL2 would be very tempting.
Wife
2 years ago |The article spoke about EPL1 and EPL2. And so was I.
Gman
2 years ago |Did those E-PL2 shots look like they show significantly less detail than the E-PL1, even at ISO 200? All of the samples look poor to me. Is it just that the new kit lens is not as good?
Jón
2 years ago |My E-P1 is still serving well. But I loathe the original 14-42mm lens. I think I’m going to wait for the next generation of sensors. Panasonic is a bit behind Sony and Canon when it comes to noise suppression. (Or it could be the Olympus processor).
Still, the m43 seems to be able to do 90% of what a good DSLR can do.
Zonkie
2 years ago |Yes, they look pretty bad to me. So much so that I’d say they got a bad copy either of the lens or the camera.
Cteve
2 years ago |Ok,
I want to buy a micro 4/3 camera in the next month, what should I do? Go for this one or the GF2? I dont want GH2 because I already own a Canon 50D which suits me fine… I just want to buy a small “pocketable” camera to do some street photo work!
Greg
2 years ago |Don’t get the GF2, it has close to no manual control. Touchscreen based shit etc. I’d say either get this one or the GF1. GF1+20mm is cheap now. And good.
Or you wait for the rumored Olympus pro rangefinder style camera (April, May?)
hd72
2 years ago |Most people I know put their camera in Aperture Priority and leave it there, so omitting the big pocket-snagging knob protruding from the top might not be a deal breaker for everyone, if the trade-off is going smaller and lighter. (I would miss the drive mode switch though – being able to feel if you’re in burst or timer mode.) Agreed that the GF1 is still a great camera – especially for the current price. I, myself, am definitely waiting till the rangefinder styles go more pro.
Greg
2 years ago |Definitely agreed for the pro rangefinder… which is in the rumored Olympus roadmap… For some reason – and this is a very happy gf1 owner speaking – I expect more from Olympus than from Panasonic. Panasonic’s range of product has become too confusing…
cteve
2 years ago |By the way I dont care too much about the price, so if the price gap between the GF1 and the GF2 is like 200-300$ I don’t care. Also, 1 very important thing for me is a GOOD video mode (lacking on my 50D).
If I have extra money left, I want to invest in that cool Nokton 25mm, so the GF2 with 14mm sounds fine. Here where I live (Korea) there are plenty of Voigtlanders in stock so I am really considering the option of buying one.
safaridon
2 years ago |The GF2 has close to no manual control?? Just whose propaganda are you reading obviously not the previews or reviews ? Just because it lacks a top drive mode knob doesn’t mean you cannot select with back controller without even using the touch screen you apparently hate. The GF2 has a much more convenient rear roller control to change or set shutter speed, aperature, or ISO. If you are in a big rush just push iA button and the camera will instantly select the appropriate mode for what it sees in the picture.
If you bothered to read the Digitalcamerainfo review of EPL2 you would have seen their implied conclusion you would be better off sticking to the EPL1 over new EPL2 because of the change to a much muted less saturated colors and blurring of detail from excessive noise reduction at all higher ISOs. I would expect the JPEG and color advantage has disappeared and about equal now.
I would concur with your advice to get the GF1 w 20/1.7 bargain while you can, I just did yesterday. In Digital camerainfo test their overall ratings which were very high for the GF1 were 750 compared to only 200 for the EPL2? (actually I think the later score was incomplete as many items not yet evaluated). The new GF2 aside from being significantly smaller compared to GF1 has faster AF (0.2 vrs 0.3 sec) better colors and JPEGs than GF1 but lower resolution from NR to get get smoother picture, 1080iP HD, and for video ETC for X4.3 increase in focal length of any lens without loss of IQ or lens speed. I would expect once these factors becomes better know and GF2 camera available to buy here it will be a big success as is in Japan.
mma173
2 years ago |I have no doubt that this camera is a better photography tool than any of the panasonic’s.
GF1 Owner
safaridon
2 years ago |Really? And you own and use a GF1? I suggest you read the Digital camerainfo review of the GF1 first and then this review of the EPL2 and then you might form a different opinion unless you disbelieve their results and conclusions. After all that is the topic of this thread. See my comment posted aboveresponding to Greg.
tgutgu
2 years ago |A better photographic tool than any of the Panasonic’s? Are you kidding? The EPL-2 body falls short to that of the GH2 in every respect except size: ergonomics, control layout, features, AF, build-in EVF, EVF quality, speed, tiltable screen, position of the card slot – you name it. Even image quality is not likely to be better – except for people who are obsessed by “Oly colors”.
mma173
2 years ago |If pictures quality is not good enough, then the other stuff do not matter and ,in my opinion, this is the case with Panasonic.
Henrik
2 years ago |I was looking at the review and on the first section called Product Tour theres a size comparison of different cameras. What struck me is that how small the E-pl2 looks compared to E-pl1. Is that pciture really correct? Anyone can confirm?
Henrik
2 years ago |It seems the writer hasnt kept the perspective of the cameras. Instead he just added pictures of them and but the measurements beneth. ;/ I suppose the measurements are the correct thing to look at.
Monique
2 years ago |Here’s a side by side comparison with true perspective.
Monique
2 years ago |Here’s a side by side comparison with true perspective.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thedigitalstory/5328969228/
Abi
2 years ago |noise is improved because they reduced sharpening level to the point way tooooooooo soft….
tobi
2 years ago |+1
especially the pencils look way too soft.
Monique
2 years ago |Way too soft! I agree.
pilgrim
2 years ago |It’s encouraging to read the positive reviews about the EPL2. Kirk Tuck is trying one and liking her: http://www.visualsciencelab.blogspot.com
Georgi
2 years ago |This review is biased it tests only EPL2 on f18 all other samples are at normal aperture .Thats why samples look soft
Miroslav
2 years ago |They look so soft I thought the photo may be out of focus. Why they have used F18 is beyond me… They should have used the same lens on all m4/3 cameras as well – I don’t intend to use the 14-42 kit lens and I don’t care about its characteristics.
Thomas S
2 years ago |F18: ignorance or on purpose? anti-m43 conspiracy, we always knew it!
safaridon
2 years ago |Are you sure all the EPL2 pictures were taken at f18??? The section with examples of noise reduction is the only place where I see a picture with a reference taken at f18 1/125 ISO 6400 to represent the worst case scenario and another picture taken at f3.5 1/50 ISO 800 to represent a more typical case?
If as you say all the pictures were taken at f18 on the EPL2 then that would mean a very bad auto program going to such diffraction extremes or something wrong with the camera.
flipinus
2 years ago |you are absolutely right!!! this is BOGUS!! testing a m4/3 camera which has a diffraction limit at between f11 and f16, and setting the aperture at f18, then comparing it with other cameras is inane. one clue would be the image quality of the epl-2 should at least be on par with the epl-1 which it clearly isn’t. poor quality control in their testing procedures. it doesn’t matter how long their review is. the basis of their conclusions, can only be flawed if they used those images taken at f18… any reviewer worth the pixels their review is read on should know better….. i will pass on this review… this makes 2 bad reviewers who have reviewed the epl-2… can someone come up with a decent unbiased review?
Georgi
2 years ago |This guy does not know what he is doing
Holgs
2 years ago |Yet another long elaborate “test” that tells you nothing that you actually need to know.
“As well as the camera, you get: 14-42mm zoom lens….” (wonder what that’s for??)
Kirk’s impressions are a much better guide.
safaridon
2 years ago |Really or just not something you wanted to know?
The reference to the lens is apparently to the new reportedly improved kit lens which is internal focusing, quieter operation, and faster auto focus.
George
2 years ago |Olympus is a joke. They marketed 3 cameras all are almost same. LOL
Wife
2 years ago |In terms of image quality, heck, one can even argue that they marketed 5 cameras that are the same: ep1, epl1, ep2, epl1s, epl2.
John Krumm
2 years ago |Guys, any difference between these cameras is going to be slight. Still, there are enough improvements for an EP1 user to consider it. I’d expect more solid improvements in the more “pro” version (we can hope) especially better IS (the IS in the E5 is much much better than these cameras). Better DR maybe but who knows, and better noise control likely as they seem to be making steady progress there. Better blackout time, better lens speeds, and of course new art filters should also show up soon enough (I only guarantee the art filters).
mambastik
2 years ago |If the faster AF is because of the lens, I wouldn’t need to buy the E-pl2 for the upgrade but rather just the new kit lens. Slightly better noise performance because, as someone has pointed out, is softer than the E-pl1. Other than the 1/4000 max shutter and dial control, not much to persuade me to upgrade.