The E-PL3 is very slim, therefore, the small metal case (silver painted / anodized) makes a very stable impression and is very well made. This small housing can be both demand and advantage that depends on the use. Who wants to carry little luggage and still want to make very high-quality photos, will surely find something here, but it needs but without a strong handle. The lacquered casing is quite smooth, but as I usually wear the camera on the lens and have a bag here, bothers me not.
Substantial change to the E-PL2 is the tiltable display with its 460,000 pixels. So can also easily recordings at the bottom (close to 90 degrees upwards) or be made via the top (about 45 degrees down). The resolution stands out from the standard display, allowing a good sharpness evaluation, an even better display remains the E-P3 reserved (but not tiltable).
The attachable video viewfinder VF2 is working properly and is in bright sunlight still recommended, although here the tiltable display already helps a great deal.
Still 6 different type filters are available that bring some very impressive results, but these are perhaps not to everyone's taste. I particularly like the filter "Dramatic Effect", a sort of HDR effect.
The menu system has in relation to the E-PL2 little revised Olympus, the detailed settings menu must first be activated so that it appears in the normal menu bar. The options are then very numerous and serious photographer will hardly miss a setting, but unfortunately is clearly something else. However, if you already had Olympus cameras will find their way. A look at the full manual (unfortunately only on CD, too bad) is strongly recommended, here you will discover numerous subtleties. So autofocus and manual focus, for example, be combined, that is pressed, the AF can work and then manually readjust / move. Of course, can be switched on during the manual focus automatic magnifier. In the depths of the menu there is also the option to set the upper limit in the ISO auto, can not each camera.
The controls are fairly well distributed, some buttons also configurable. Unfortunately, the buttons are quite small for larger hands certainly quite a habit problem. The dial on the back is easy to operate, is however quite close beside the slightly protruding folding screen, which is why the operation there sometimes jolts something. The mode dial on the top could be something schwergängier for my taste, but it locks well and is overall comfortable to use.
In addition to the Art filters and manual programs P / A / S / M, the E-PL3 also offers a full automatic mode "iAuto" and a total of 23 scene modes. This makes the camera for beginners who want to grow slowly without swap equal the camera very attractive.
For the film mode (now FullHD with optional space-saving AVC / H.264 encoding or good to be processed MJPEG), the E-PL3 a separate button on the back, which can be reached easily by thumb.
So far I have mainly tested the photo function, since I rarely use video total. The image quality with the kit lens is subjectively very good, even higher ISO levels (more than 800) are quite low noise, high quality Compact as the Nikon P7000 have here clearly at a disadvantage. I was also surprised the good close focus range, the kit lens has almost macro qualities.
Very successful is the significantly accelerated autofocus, the Olympus has also promised. Although I have the E-PL2 is not felt to be extremely slow, the speed increase in the E-PL3 is but palpable. This works quite well even in dim light. Overall, the autofocus has to hide behind very little full-blown DSLR, the difference is likely to maybe show in the field of sports photography. But the faster autofocus requires appropriate lenses, the ability will each appear in the display. But my Panasonic 20mm and 45-200-Zoom had therefore no problems, the focus was just as fast. Possibly firmware updates are being applied for one or the other objective but here.
Getting used to the weight distribution and also look such a small system cameras with larger lenses that meets not only the PEN series alone. Most Panasonic MFT lenses are a bit bulkier than the Olympus counterparts, nevertheless can be changed briskly between the two, the choice of lenses is accordingly well (all focal areas of WW to telephoto and also in terms of price, from affordable to expensive is everything thereby).
Small disadvantage for E-PL2 is the no longer existing internal flash, but the camera is a really small Aufsteckblitz at. Sure, some more in your pocket, but for me quite an acceptable compromise in favor of the tiltable displays. If you want more, will now with the FL-300R is also a good matching in size to PEN flash, which can also be controlled wirelessly, which worked right away without any problems.
Certainly, not every user happy with a system camera, so you should think twice before their own priorities. An alternative is certainly the GF3 Panasonic with integrated flash and small touchscreen, but no movable display and without accessory shoe. The E-PL3 is in my eyes a pretty good compromise between many buttons for direct access and a too-heavy menu (usually more cumbersome) operation.
Conclusion: In my view, the switch paid off by the E-PL2 on the E-PL3 solely on the basis of the really snappy autofocus and tilt displays. Anyone who does not need, is likely to continue to be satisfied with the predecessor, the picture quality so far I could not detect any differences. Anyone looking for a camera with a handle, which is (then at the expense of image quality) better off with a real SLR or bridge camera. However, I am glad that I can make high-SLRs with comparable Photos and thereby save a lot of weight, because the MFT lenses are much smaller.
