Olympus has launched their latest mirrorless camera offering, the Olympus PEN (E-P5). It has a similar retro design as the Olympus Pen F with interchangeable mount of the 1965 period.

We were invited to the launching of this Olympus PEN model. There was a touch and feel session to get ourselves familiar with the workings of this new offering. What we were told was that this new Olympus PEN has the following features. I have to use their promotion slides as they have not handed out the specifications for this camera.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hands on Preview

What really strike me was the  retro design of the 60’s. It looked uncannily to the Olympus PEN F that was launched back in 1965. It was very well built and felt very solid. It fitted perfectly in my hands, a reminiscence of the Olympus OM1 which I owned in the 70’s. The dials were well designed and the ergonomics were excellent. One does not need to go into the layers of the menu often. Personally I love physical buttons and switches. Cameras that need to navigate through the the layers of menus are a turn off to me. The focusing speed was pretty good. The AF locked on even in low lighting situations. We did not have a chance to put in a SD card to test the units as these units were pre-production models. However, off hand, the images viewed through the LCD screen was pretty good.

We were told that this model featured Wifi capability. Images taken with the camera can be seamlessly transferred to an 3G device like the smartphones or iPads. An App for this facility was also provided with the camera. This camera was able to achieve a shutter speed of 1/8000 for stop action shots.

Olympus is introducing 3 variations of the PEN model, the white, chrome and black. Personally I would prefer the chrome models as it has that retro look. This camera looks like a lifestyle camera that one would hang around the neck when walking into boutique cafes, hotels or shopping centres. The design and accessories ensure that one would not be sidelined as “not cool” or “in the crowd”. Nowadays crowd acceptance is a strong marketing tool.

Olympus is going to do a road show very soon to introduce this model to the public. If you are interested you may join in some of the promotion events that will be announced on their website : www.olympusimage.com.my

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