Seeing double
These days you're penalised more often than not for being the first mover with technology. Not even six months after the retro-inspired Micro Four Thirds camera from Olympus, the E-P1, was announced, we've got another contender nipping at its heels in the guise of the E-P2. Essentially, it's the same camera apart from some minor tweaks underneath the chassis and some additional external accoutrements.
On the outside everything remains the same, from the mode dial to the button configuration, though you will notice the accessory port that sits underneath the hotshoe. The E-P2 now comes with an electronic viewfinder, rather than the optional optical one that could be purchased for the E-P1. It's high resolution too, with 1.44 million dots and absolutely essential for photographing in bright areas where the LCD screen is next to impossible to see. The viewfinder tilts up to approximately 90 degrees from its base.
The viewfinder, which comes with the E-P2 in its kit configuration. There are four (yes count them, four) aspherical lenses inside this thing. (Credit: Olympus)
Olympus has also strengthened the E-P2's appeal to budding videographers, with full manual control in HD movie recording, as well as an external mic adapter that can be attached via the port to allow a stereo microphone (3.5mm) to be used. Olympus is also trading on its heritage in the voice recording industry with extra expandability using a range microphone that can be attached via cable or through the 3.5mm jack. We've also heard whispers and hints that the company may have additional plans for the accessory port (can we hear GPS expandability, anyone?). However, as all these devices require using the hotshoe and/or port for functionality, the E-P2 can only use one at a time. So, you will need to decide whether an external flash or a viewfinder is more important on the shooting situation.
The image stabiliser in the E-P2 allows most third-party lenses to be stabilised (with the appropriate adapter). AF tracking mode is a new feature of the E-P2 that detects a subject in the frame and continues to track them, even if they leave and re-enter the frame.
An example of the E-P2's diorama filter. (Credit: Alexandra Savvides/CNET Australia)
Other additions to the formula include two new art filters (cross-process and diorama, the latter essentially being a tilt-shift lens effect) on top of the existing ones. Another shooting mode, iEnhance, is available by default in automatic mode and selectable in PASM, which highlights and enhances colours to differentiate the main subject from the background.
An example of the E-P2's cross-process filter. (Credit: Alexandra Savvides/CNET Australia)
What's in the box?
Click the image above to see our unboxing of the E-P2. (Credit: Alexandra Savvides/CNET Australia)
Performance
One of the main complaints we and many other photographers had with the E-P1 was its sluggish overall performance. The E-P2 doesn't significantly improve matters, and the AF algorithms don't appear to have been tweaked much, if at all, to improve focusing speed.
In terms of shutter lag, the E-P2 was only 0.2 second quicker than the E-P1, clocking in at 1.1 seconds. Start up to first shot was 2.4 seconds. Again, as we mentioned with the E-P1, this is definitely not a camera you will be able to use if you value quick SLR responsiveness. At the time of testing, we were using camera firmware 1.0 which was the most recent available according to the Olympus Master software.
Continuous shooting speed is acceptable, with the E-P2 taking 17 shots (JPEG) before any noticeable slow down, and managed 2.8 frames per second. In RAW, it took nine shots before any noticeable slow down, but the processing time after shooting was considerably higher.
In daylight situations, the viewfinder is clear, responsive and easy to see. There's also a marked difference between the quality of the viewfinder and the LCD screen: certainly you'd want to be using the viewfinder as much as possible given its clarity and brightness.
In movie mode, the E-P2 can record AVI files up to 2GB — which according to Olympus will deliver a video file that's approximately seven minutes in length. Also note that there is no optical image stabilisation in movie mode, only electronic stabilisation.
Image quality
As the E-P2 has changed so little from its predecessor (including the same image sensor and image processing engine), there are few differences between their images. For a full analysis of image quality, please see our review of the E-P1.
Comparing the E-P2's high ISO performance with something like the recently-tested Ricoh GXR shows that results are acceptable when viewing in isolation, but when put side by side with other cameras, the quality is not as high.
The Ricoh GXR at ISO 3200 (top) and Olympus E-P2 (bottom). (Credit: Alexandra Savvides/CNET Australia)
As with the E-P1, the E-P2 delivers best results when images are slightly under-exposed in order to preserve highlight detail. White balance under artificial lighting was also quite off when left on automatic settings.
A comparison of the 100 per cent crop of the same image taken with the Ricoh GXR (top) and Olympus E-P2 (bottom). (Credit: Alexandra Savvides/CNET Australia)
Due to the configuration of the buttons, there is no dedicated movie recording button (like on the GH1 and GF1 from Panasonic), which means you physically need to move the dial into movie record mode rather than press a button on the fly. This also means the E-P2 can't capture stills mid-movie, though there is a function called Movie+Still that will automatically take an image at the end of movie recording.
Announced at the same time as the E-P2 are two new lenses, an M.Zuiko ED 9-18mm f/4-5.6 and an M.Zuiko ED 14-150mm f/4-5.6, scheduled for release in the first half of 2010.
Conclusion
As the E-P2 was announced just six months after the Olympus E-P1, we're concerned that the Pen series will have an incredibly short refresh cycle. Given the similarities to its predecessor, we're not surprised that many people will be disappointed with the additions on offer here. However, on its own merits the E-P2 is a great addition to the Micro Four Thirds camera collection. Just don't be surprised if Olympus announces another Pen camera sometime soon.
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