New Olympus E-PM2 "Mini" Pen Camera Gets The OM-D Sensor • Camera News and Reviews

New Olympus E-PM2 “Mini” Pen Camera Gets The OM-D Sensor

Last week at the Photokina tradeshow in Germany, Olympus announced two new compact, interchangeable lens Pen cameras. That alone is pretty cool. But what makes this announcement extra special is both cameras were graced with the same fantastic 16-megapixel sensor Olympus used for their OM-D E-M5 flagship Micro Four Thirds camera. Yesterday I wrote about the mid-range E-PL5 and today I’m writing about the Olympus E-PM2 “Mini” Pen camera – the smallest and most affordable of the Pen cameras. The first Olympus mini Pen camera, introduced a year ago (Olympus E-PM1), put Micro Four Thirds format interchangeable lens flexibility, image quality and control in an affordable camera designed to appeal to point-and-shoot photographers. The new E-PM2 takes that P"S design concept and ups the ante with the same 16-megapixel sensor that Olympus used in their popular OM-D camera. In other words, the E-PM2 gives you (near) OM-D performance in a camera the size and price of a high-end compact.

Olympus E-PM2 Pen Camera Key Features and Specs:

Same 16.1-megapixel Live MOS Sensor as the Olympus OM-D
TruePic VI image processing
Sensor-shift image stabilization
3-inch 460k-dot touch screen LCD display
Touch auto focus and touch shutter
P, A, S, M plus 23 scene modes
New “Small Zone AF”
1920 x 1080 full HD video in .MOV format
Sensitivity: ISO 200 to 25,600
8 frames per second high-speed burst with focus locked (3.5 FPS in continuous AF mode)
Art Filters
Accessory port
Removable grip

I’m really excited about the two new Olympus Pen cameras. Honestly, I was surprised Olympus put the OM-D sensor in a Pen camera so soon. I figured they’d keep it in the higher end cameras and charge a premium for it. This is a pretty bold move as far as positioning the Pen cameras against the competition. The OM-D has excellent low light image quality and great auto focus and making that performance available in a smaller and far less expensive camera is a really big deal. I believe this gives the E-PM2 the best balance between size and image quality of all the currently available mirrorless cameras.

Besides a great sensor, the E-PM2 has a 3-inch touch screen LCD with touch focus and touch shutter, so you can take a picture by simply touching your subject on the LCD screen. The auto focus has been improved and the E-PM2 has a full range of shooting modes, Art Filters, full HD video and built-in sensor-shift image stabilization so no matter what lens you use the camera will compensate for camera shake.

Here’s a hands-on video showing some of the features on the new Olympus E-PM2 and E-PL5:

The new Olympus E-PM2 “Mini” Pen camera should be in stores next month (October, 2012). If you want to coordinate with your favorite outfit, it will be available in red, black, white and silver. It will set you back US $599.99 with a 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens or $549.99 for the camera body alone.

Olympus E-PM2 Press Release >>