Consumer electronics companies have, from time to time, forgotten the familiar adage that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Camera maker Olympus has not, at least when it comes to their excellent PEN digital camera. The fourth iteration, the PEN E-PL2 ($599.99), is a powerful and elegant micro four-thirds digital camera that features a new lens, a large three-inch LCD viewer and shooting modes that can produce some dazzling images.
The PEN's new ED 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 lens packs some impressive results including close, macro focusing, and stylish-looking depth-of-field. But perhaps the nicest surprise was trying out the flash. Many consumer cameras tend to have a built in flash that either blows out a subject at close range or leaves them in the shadows even though they're only metres away. The camera does a good job of adapting to different scenarios and achieving balanced and natural results.
Shooters with a little creativity will appreciate the camera's art filters - overlays such as Grainy Film, Pop Art and Soft Focus - and various Scene-Select modes. The PEN has six art filters, which are fun to play around with but can get old after a while. Also, art filters can make the image on the LCD screen stutter and chop when you're trying to compose a shot. However, using one of the 22 shooting modes is worth the results. Sunset, for example, punches up the colour and saturation of a scene while High Key mode handles backlit glare wonderfully well.
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While the camera shines in its Automatic and Scene modes, Manual mode tends to be slow and cumbersome. If you have time to shoot something right and want to control your exposure, the camera will allow you to do that. But if there's a critical moment at stake, you'll have to get this camera off Manual and onto some type of Automatic mode.
Also, strange orange spotting sometimes occurs when shooting the sun through a shadowed area. This phenomenon crops up quite a bit with this camera and can produce effects that are distracting and unnatural looking. And, though it's not an especially trumpeted aspect of the camera, the PEN's video capabilities - 720p at 30 frames per second - are relatively simple.
Be sure to scroll through Tim Fraser's photo gallery ( direct link here). Tim is a pro freelance photographer ( view his website) who had the camera for a week and shot many of the images used on a very crisp January morning, catching a sunrise in -20 degree weather.