Robin Wong’s Olympus PEN E-PL10 Review – Far Superior Than Smartphone Cameras

Robin Wong writes:

Olympus PEN E-PL10 was launched in November 2019, but only available for sale in Malaysia recently in March 2021. Hence I wanted to take a closer look at this camera, and see how it performs today in 2021. The E-PL10 is an entry level mirrorless system camera, that has interchangeable lens capability, and features a Micro Four Thirds 16MP (older generation) image sensor. It is designed to be compact, light, and easy to use, with simplistic layout, minimal buttons and dials, and stylish look. The camera is made for casual everyday shooters in mind, definitely not for professional or serious use. I brought the E-PL10 out to do some street shooting as well as covering a live theatre show in Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center. I tortured the E-PL10 in a dimly lit stage, with actors dancing and moving constantly, I had to shoot with high ISO (6400 mostly, but went up 12800 and 25600 several times). I concluded that the E-PL10 still far surpasses what even the best smartphone camera can do today – being able to use any lens (tele lens in this case for far reach), having extremely fast and reliable AF even in low light, and very good image quality at high ISO.