The Olympus PEN E-P5 was something that piqued my interest when it was announced in early May. As a fan of the both the OM-D EM-5 and E-PL5, this new challenger seemed like a nice mix with even more to offer. Considering it was announced less than a month ago, I thought it would be a while before I'd get my hands on this. Much to my surprise it subtly crash landed on my desk. It's E-P5 time. Thanks Olympus!
**Note: The model I was given is a preproduction model so I can't be too critical on its technical aspects...However physically, I'm going to assume that much of its specs will remain the same.**
Like any fine establishment, it's generally seen as a rude gesture to just dive in. Instead you work your way in with the patience and precision of a surgeon. I could go ahead and start with saying the E-P5 is the mirrorless powerhouse you've been waiting for...but no, let's entertain the joy in discovery. A nice chunk of my first impression is based on the outside...Although it is technically judging a book by its cover, I'm mainly talking about tactility. So lie down on the couch, lets talk about our feelings.
At first glance the outer shell is very "Olympus" of them, conservative but still kind of sexy. It's a throw back to the old Olympus Pen F film cameras and most importantly it doesn't come off as cheesy. This throwback shows that they have the nostalgia-bound enthusiast in mind, sticking with a formula that works for the most part. I have to say...the silver and black combo is an enticing ensemble for a classic-inspired camera.
How did it feel in the hands? I like its general size, but let's throw away the idea that this is anywhere as compact as the Mini and Lite. The Pen is meatier than I remember and with good reason: It has most of the OM-D inside of it sans a dedicated viewfinder. Although it's not as tall, they both share a similar width and weight, as well as an aluminum alloy body that gives off the sense that it's a built to withstand some shock.
The front grip is pretty chunky, has a hard plastic feel and isn't removable like E-PM5. This I'm reading is because the new WiFi port is placed there. The back grip feels like quality rubber, very grippy which is good because mostly everything can be accessed with just your right hand. I'd say that its design still merits this is a two-hander and with that in mind the left hand felt a little left out...I kept accidentally triggering the flash to popup which is extremely startling in a jack-in-the-box kind of way.
On/off switch is fairly tiny and has a pretty quick turn on time. The control dials and buttons feel agreeable to touch and don't feel overly cramped for a compact system. It's nice to see a dedicated movie button, as well as a "2x2 Dial Control" lever which changes the behavior of your front and rear dials. If you accidentally switch it over and become confused when your shutter speed dial is changing white balance, this might be why!
The GUI is easy to follow and doesn't antagonize you while you're trying to shoot. For most cases there the quick menu for changing a setting like ISO and White Balance which is accessed by simply pressing the center OK button...useful as is, the animation of it scaling inward to show icons was a little sluggish (in this version at least).
The full menu system is actually pretty slick. I liked the clean presentation and simplicity. It's to the point where most things you're looking for are all jammed into color coded folders...maybe a little too simple since it takes a bit of hunting through tabs just to customize the top function button. That said, pretty much every button on the back can be customized! If you're a picky one in terms of control, this might be right up your alley.
The back screen has a noticeable upgrade with its nice 3" 1.04m dot LCD. Not only does it look great, the screen is touch sensitive and can be angled up or down for easier composing. LCD live view is ridiculously crisp and with motion it feels like you're previewing at a higher frame rate. The touch capacity feature is something that you'll probably neither love or hate...it's there to select options in menus or it'll take a picture in live view if you tap somewhere in the screen. To me it was more of a novelty feature that accidentally took pictures, rather than a practical alternative.
Unlike the OMD, The E-P5 does not have an integrated viewfinder. Instead Olympus introduced a new hi-resolution VF4 Electronic Viewfinder which offers a fairly decent-sized viewing area, almost comparable to that of full frames. Its 2.36M dot LCD looks great, but it's response can't be compared to the back LCD. Using features like focus peaking only makes it stutter a little more. One thing I did note is that since it's made of plastic, you don't get the same satisfaction of build quality that you do throughout the camera. Although it does angle upwards to help you get a top down perspective, I wish it would lock tighter to prevent it from waggling around in your camera bag, potentially breaking it.
You can't say Olympus without thinking about its patented 5-axis image stabilization...It's become such a successful staple, rumor has it that another company will be getting in on the good. Anyway, the E-P5 did not miss out on the action and it's a great way to save a potential shot in low light. Better yet it works with any lens since stabilization is in-body.
What other features are distinguishing from the OM-D? Speed. This guy can shoot up to 9 FPS, blazing through any sort of action. If that's not fast enough for you, its shutter speed maxes out at 1/8000th of a second allowing you to stop any kind of motion. New to the mix is also a new Low ISO setting which could come in handy for this wide open shooting on those bright sunny days.
Other Odds and Ends: Included with the EP5 is a pop up flash which isn't seen on OMD or Pen Lite/Mini. You might hear a resounding groan from the peanut gallery, but when you have a max flash sync speed of 1/320s and can also use it to trigger off camera flashes, you might be able to shut up the naysayer. The battery is the same as OMD (I know all the comparisons are getting monotonous) but the battery life was pretty good considering it's endures constant live view. Rated for around 330 shots, it didn't disappoint.
Lastly I tried to set up the camera's WiFi connection... operative word tried, and although it seemed to be sending out the right signals, I'm going to blame myself or my maligned phone for it refusing to sync. Again, this was a preproduction model so we can't expect everything to go swimmingly, now can we?
Although I can't speak more technically about the camera, I can show a few examples of what I got out of this early version of the EP-5:
In closing, I was overall impressed with the system. The design is what you would expect and it's packed to the brim with features. Image quality (which I'm not really allowed to comment on) may or may not shine...you decide ;-)
If you do own the OM-D, you probably won't be itching to upgrade as it's still an extremely solid camera, but if you've always had your eye on a powerful micro four thirds camera that has a ton to offer, this would definitely be worth checking out in the future. The PEN E-P5 is now available for Pre-Order in Black, Silver or White and should start shipping by the end of June.