Update to Olympus E-P3 and 12mm f/2 reviews - Full size samples

When I posted my reviews of the Olympus E-P3 and 12mm f/2 lens, I stated that I believed I could get better sharpness and an overall higher quality file from Photoshop Adobe Camera Raw when the update was released. That has now happened and I have done some conversions using that software. The files below are all available as full-size high-res. files on flickr.

Click on the images - select Actions > View all sizes and choose the original file.

All images Olympus E-P3 12mm f/2 lens processed in Adobe Camera Raw and edited in Photsoshop.

Olympus E-P3 and 12mm f/2 at high ISO's

I decided to do some tests to see just what the high ISO results from the camera / lens combination was like. The E-P3 goes into previously unchartered territory for Olympus, ISO 12,800. I shot some objects around the house in pretty murky light and compared the camera jpgs with a Rawker (dcraw) conversion, which gives the closest indication I can get of the original file. I also did two conversions with the supplied software - Olympus Viewer 2 - one with the noise filter off and one with the noise filter on high.

Here are four comparison files. Click through to flickr and they are full-size, which means they are HUGE.

Be warned - the ISO 12,800 samples are not for the squeamish!!!

ISO 4000

ISO 5000

ISO 8000

ISO 12800

To be honest they are not as bad as I feared, though I can't really think of much use for the ISO 12,800 setting. It does seem to me that the E-P3 is an improvement on other Olympus cameras however, and they look about the same as the Panasonic GH2 is capable of. I'll do a test against the E-PL1 in a few days, but in the meantime have a look for yourself and see what you think.

Olympus E-P3 Video

The video on the Olympus E-P3 is something that gets mentioned very rarely. Its now full 1920 x 1080 HD video, with AVCHD files. It follows on from the improvements in the E-PL's and is actually now pretty good.

The great thing is the in-body stabilisation which results in very smooth hand-held footage. Though the above sample has been run through iMovie and its stabilisation software, the raw footage is the best I've seen for smoothness. Indeed when shooting video, the live view image looks very stable and you can see the IS really working when you are recording. I shot the whole thing hand-held and was very pleased with the results.

Its another improvement of the E-P3 over the E-P2 and a very useful one.

However it does throw up a problem. The battery life of the E-P3 is terrible. There is absolutely no way that I will be able to go out for even an afternoons shooting with one battery. For a full days shooting I would have to take at least 3 and maybe 4 to be sure. While I think its a good idea for companies not to keep changing batteries, and Olympus do have the same model for all the Pens, its performance has always been poor, and the better screen on the E-P3 is probably contributing to the power drain.

Olympus E-P3 on location

Olympus E-P3 14-42mm

Just when I thought that m4/3 was disappearing (literally!) into an ever smaller series of plastic gadgets, along comes the E-P3. It looks like a camera, feels like a camera and with a few improvements from Olympus, is a pretty good one too. 

I remember when the Panasonic GH2 I bought arrived and I opened the box. I had a sense of disappointment and my initial impression was that it looked and felt "cheap". I had no concerns about its performance, which was excellent, but I never found holding and using it a pleasure. It may have been a BMW under the hood but it was a Nissan Micra on the outside.

OK so thats overstating the case somewhat, but I've always struggled to actually like Panasonic m4/3 cameras, apart from the GF1, which was then spoilt by its really second-rate electronic viewfinder. 

The E-P3 on the other hand, looks and feels very classy. But is it the reverse? Sleek sports car on the outside, Nissan Micra on the inside?

Olympus E-P3 14-42mm Olympus E-P3 14-42mm

Olympus E-P3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar 

The E-P3 isn't a revolutionary upgrade by any means. From my somewhat limited use, the sensor seems to be very similar to whats gone before. However what has been upgraded, has made it the nicest of all the Pens to use. The AF is indeed very good, but I'm particularly impressed by the OLED screen and how it performs outdoors, by the more coherent re-designed menus and the slightly re-designed layout, which means that its a much more pleasant experience taking pictures with it as opposed to the E-P2.

Olympus E-P3 14-42mm 

I'm not going to make any detailed comments about the image quality from the E-P3 until I get some decent software to process the raw files with. Currently I'm using Rawker and while its producing sharp results, there is no correction for CA or noise, which I'm doing manually in Photoshop. I'm also not going to do any assessment of how it performs in low light at high ISO's until the new version of Adobe Camera Raw, which supports it, is released.

So these early reports are about the handling and use only.

Olympus E-P3 14-42mm 

USING MICRO FOUR THIRDS FOR LANDSCAPE AND LOCATION WORK.

I've written about this before but its useful to re-state the reasons I've used m4/3 for a lot of my work over the past few years.

Olympus E-P3 Voigtlander 75mm f/2.5 Heliar

Shooting landscape / travel / location images for my publication and stock photography work requires good light (sunlight), bright saturated colour, high image quality, the capacity to produce A3 files and lots of depth of field. MIcro four thirds has been able to provide this for me. The A3 file requirement is usually taken care of by shooting multi-images, which is not ideal & time-consuming, but works well.

The great advantage to me is the depth of field. On m4/3 I can shoot at f/5.6 with the wide-angles I use mainly and get high shutter speeds. Since I hand-hold virtually everything this makes for sharp pictures. Using full-frame I'd need to be shooting at f/11 to get the same DOF.

All m4/3 cameras have good saturated colour, are sharp and with careful processing look very good indeed at low ISO's. The trade-off is reduced dynamic range, and that does take care to make sure it doesn't ruin pictures with a lot of contrast. Plus the fact that if I do want to take pictures at a high ISO rating then I have to accept that it will look inferior to larger sensors.

So all in all m4/3 are great cameras for what I do. Add in the fact that they are small and light, so are less of burden on days that involve a lot of walking and you can see why I've been so enthusuastic for them.


Olympus E-P3 14-42mm

So does the E-P3 give me any improvements over what I've used before.

ON THE PLUS SIDE

The AF is fast. Though the GH2 struck me as just as speedy.

The OLED screen is really very good indeed. Works with my polarised sunglasses. Still affected by sunlight but the best I've used.

The controls, menu, layout etc. are very similar to the E-PL's. Not perfect but I've got used to the Olympus layout now. Certainly way better than the Fuji X100 which I struggled with and a lot better than the E-P2.

The VF-2 electronic viewfinder is really good. I have no problem with the fact that its an add-on. I'm also convinced that the signal thats being fed into it is sharper and clearer than any other previous Pen.

I personally love the handling of the E-P3. The "rangefinder style" shape does suit me very well.

After a day using the kit lens, I think it is the best yet in terms of quality. Certainly it gives instant AF.

Though I need to see what the raw files can produce with decent software I certainly have no complaints so far.

If the 12mm f/2 and 45mm f/1.8 lenses perform as good as they look then the E-P3 will be a way of getting the best out of them as Panasonic cameras don't make all the"corrections" that this camera will.

ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE.

The loss of ISO 100. It may be the case that ISO 200 on the E-P3 is as good as ISO 100 on the E-P2, but I cannot confirm or deny that yet.

Using manual focus lenses is still more fiddly than with the Panasonics.

Very poor battery life.

An articulated screen would have been nice.

One of the reasons I've gone with Olympus rather than Panasonic is I suppose a question of philosophy. Olympus are a camera / optical company only. Panasonic are an electronics multi-national. Olympus, for me, have the edge in terms of design, style and if you like a respect for the traditions and conventions of camera manufacture and what makes them work for photographers. That's a personal thing I know, but I'm much happier working with something like the E-P3 rather than the current Panasonic or Sony small camera systems.

I think I'll enjoy using the E-P3. Certainly yesterday was a good start.


Olympus E-P3 14-42mm

Finally a bit more camera porn. The E-P3 fitted with a Nikon 24mm f/2.8D.

Olympus E-P3 with Zeiss 50mm T* Planar

One of the first things I tried with the E-P3 was how it worked with my Zeiss 50mm T* Planar. 

Using manual focus lenses on the E-P3 is easier than with the E-P2. It uses the system in the E-PL's i.e. pressing the zoom / magnification button enlarges the focus point. I don't know if this is my imagination but the VF-2 viewfinder image seems clearer and sharper. It certainly seemed much easier to focus the lens than on other Pens. This has removed the need to change screens that I had to do with the E-P2. 

Unfortunately you still have to click the button to get out of the magnification screen, unlike the Panasonic system where you just touch the shutter button, which is a much better and quicker system.

I took the following images using the Zeiss lens. I have uploaded the original, straight out of the camera camera, jpgs to flickr so you can see what these are like.

As is my practice, I have shot these at -0.7 to protect the highlights and increase the saturation. 

The images are very sharp but do have some luminance noise and a "grainy" look, even at ISO 200. This is very similar to results I've had from all the Pen cameras and indeed the Panasonic GH2 does the same.

My initial impressions of the E-P3 sensor is that it produces results very similar to to previous Pen sensors. However I do have a suspicion that the anti-aliasing filter has been slightly weakened. The images look marginally sharper with a slight increase in noise. However its early days and I need more time to assess this.

So in terms of using MF lenses, better than the E-P2, though still not as easy as the Panasonic cameras with the built in viewfinder.

Olympus E-P3 arrived today.

Well it's here. And its gorgeous. To my eyes the best looking camera ever. Great to hold.

The kit zoom is MUCH nicer. Better made, looks great, no telescope extension and a really solid feel. Very nice indeed. I normally sell these off really quickly on ebay, but this ones staying. Seem to perform exactly the same however.

QUICK IMPRESSIONS.

Yes the AF is fast. Who knows whether its the fastest, but it feels instant to me, even going from near to infinity. 

The OLED screen is very good also. Very clear and sharp. Haven't used it in sunlight yet, so will report back on that. However, it functions perfectly, horizontally and vertically with polarised sunglasses. Hooray!!

Touch screen works very well. Instant focusing and taking the picture with only the slightest touch. However carrying it means you take lots of pictures as you're walking along, since the merest brush against my clothes meant it took a picture. Street photographers take note. The ultimate stealth camera.

Did I mention it looks gorgeous.

None of my previous leather cases fit it. However its sits very nicely inside my Zhou Leica M9 case.

Images quality looks much the same as previous Pens. However I need to check this out.

BUT - the colour has definitely been tweaked. Very saturated. Finally camera manufacturers are realising that the real world is full of rich colour. These images are both full of colour but they are realistic also.

Removeable grip is interesting.

The battery hardly lasts anytime at all.

The bundled software - Olympus Viewer is just about the worst I've ever used. Truly dreadful. Please hurry up Adobe and release the next version of ACR.

Menus are slightly better, more like the E-PL1/2. Manual focusing is easier, uses the same method as the EPL's. 

It looks gorgeous.

More as I use it. 

My 12mm f/2 arrives Monday as well so that will be good.

More later - In the meantime here's some more camera porn!