Review Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5

According provided by Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 camera with lenses Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 14-42mm 1: 3,5-5,6 IIR MSC и Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 40-150mm 1: 4-5,6 R ED MSC Many thanks to the official representative of Olympus in Ukraine.

Review Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5

Review Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5

Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 - Lite version of the flagship model in the Olympus Pen line - E-p5... All three cameras - E-P5, EPL5 and E-PM2 were presented at the same time - September 17, 2012.

Example photo on Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5

Example photo on Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5

I was pleasantly surprised that the E-PL5 retained 90% of the functionality E-p5. The lite version has the same sensor, processor, frame buffer, ISO range, same focusing system, touch screen controls, etc. Therefore, I will not describe in detail the capabilities of the E-PL5, I will focus only on the differences from E-p5 and certain nuances.

Sample photo

Sample photo

I want to reveal a little secret - models E-PL5, E-PM2, E-PL6 and even E-M1, E-M5 and E-M10 use the same sensor - 17.2MP Live MOS Sensor, effective of which 16.1 MP. In general, the image quality from all these cameras will be approximately the same. But still, there will be small differences, due to the different processing by the processor of the source signals and different AA filters. Personally, I do not see any difference in image quality between the E-PL5 and E-p5, but E-M1 the picture is more detailed due to the absence of a smoothing filter, but no more.

Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 Lenses

Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 Lenses

First of all, the E-PL5 is noticeably lighter and smaller than E-p5 and does not have a built-in flash. But this is easily compensated for by the FL-LM1 external flash that comes with the camera and fits into the E-PL5's hot shoe. The flash is similar to the FL-LM2 that uses Olympus OM-D E-M1. Both cameras have a 3-inch rotary touch screen, but on the E-PL5 it has only 460.000 points versus 1.036.800 on E-p5.

Sample photo

Sample photo

E-PL5 can also shoot at speed 8 frames per second (!), which is only 1 fps less than that of E-p5. Honestly, the difference between 8 and 9 frames per second was personally difficult for me to feel. I want to note that frame buffer the E-PL5 remained the same.

Olympus Pen cameras do not have a framebuffer frame counter, so to know the approximate number of shots the camera takes before it starts to slow down, I just have to count the number on the memory card. I did this procedure for the E-P5 and for the E-PL5 with different image quality settings and their number turned out to be equal (within the margin of error).

Sample photo

Sample photo

Another significant difference is the truncated minimum excerpt, for the E-PL5 it is 1/4000 s instead of 1/8000 s for the E-P5. In practice, especially with the supplied 'dark' lenses, there are no inconveniences associated with shutter speed 1/4000 s

Sample photo

Sample photo

At first, the E-PL5's menus seemed small and stripped down, but as soon as the 'custom menu' tab was turned on, the functionality and customization options became equal to the flagship E-P5.

Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 body (without lens)

Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 body (without lens)

E-PL5 has a wonderful image stabilizer, implemented by shifting the main matrix (sensor) of the camera. It is stated that the stabilization of the E-PL5 is slightly worse (3 steps) than that of the E-P5 (5 steps).

Sample photo

Sample photo

The control of the E-PL5 is slightly worse than that of the E-P5, as the controls have become a little smaller - both control dials (for thumb and forefinger) and several buttons are gone. The E-PL5 and E-P5 use different batteries, however the number of shots that can be taken on a single charge is approximately equal.

Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 40-150mm 1: 4-5,6 R ED MSC lens

Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 40-150mm 1: 4-5,6 R ED MSC lens

Overall, the Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 is a nice little camera. Considering that the E-PL5 costs 2 times cheaper than the E-P5, and is not inferior in terms of functionality, the E-PL5 will be an excellent purchase option.

Sample photo

Example of a long exposure photo

From personal experience, I want to note that I often accidentally touched the video recording button, after which video recording was turned on. The main joystick is small enough for my fingers and I often pushed it in the wrong direction. Also, I really did not like that after taking a series of shots, when recording from the frame buffer to a memory card, the camera does not support changing a huge number of settings. For example, if you change the shooting mode using the main shooting mode dial, the mode will only switch after all data has been written to the memory card. Due to this specific nature of the work, it seems that the camera 'slows down'.

Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 with Flash Fl-LM1

Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 with flash FL-LM1


About the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 40-150mm 1: 4-5,6 R ED MSC lens supplied

Review Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 40-150mm 1: 4-5,6 R ED MSC

Review Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 40-150mm 1: 4-5,6 R ED MSC

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 40-150mm 1:4-5,6 R ED MSC - telephoto lens with 3.75x zoom, EGF which is 80-300 mm (similar to a classic telephoto lens of the 70-300 mm class). There is another earlier modification of the lens - Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 40-150mm 1: 4-5.6 (without the letters 'R' and 'MSC' in the name).

Bokeh lens

Lens diaphragm bokeh

The lens itself is very light, weighs about 200 grams, made in China from plastic and with plastic mount. To the touch does not cause much confidence. When you change the focal length, the rear lens moves.

Backlit photo example

Backlit photo example

The lens has an electronic focusing ring. The focus and zoom rings are not rubberized. In the E-PL5 menu, you can select the direction of rotation of the focus ring to decrease or increase the focusing distance. Of course, the focusing of the lens is internal, fast enough and quiet. The front lens does not rotate when the focal length is changed. MDF is 90 cm.

Sample photo

Sample photo

The diameter of the front filter is 58 mm. Diaphragm consists of 7 petals and closes to F / 22 over the entire range of focal lengths. The optical circuit has 1 HR and 1 ED element. The lens, except for the focal length indicator, has no other useful marks. I did not find a hood in the delivery set. The lens itself can be found in black and silver casing.

Please note that the camera automatically corrects many lens flaws, for example distortion и vignettingtherefore, it is difficult to see the 'bare' operation of the lens. Nevertheless, Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 40-150mm performed well. The lens perfectly tolerates light flares, has good sharpness at open apertures and is quite usable. With it, you can easily shoot distant objects, wildlife, even use it as a portrait lens :)

Sample photo

Sample photo. By the way, this is the 'new' face on Radozhiv

Prices for modern Olympus cameras in popular stores can look at this link.

In comments Can I ask you a question on the topic and you will answer, and you can also express your opinion or describe your experience. Many little things for a photo can be found on AliExpress.


Archive with the original photos from Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 in the format RAW can download from this link (384 MB, 27 photos).

Sample photo

Sample photo. Taken from the hands.

Results

The Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 is a small and pretty camera. In terms of image quality, it is in no way inferior to the more expensive cameras in the Olympus Pen line.

Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram

Add a comment: Yuriy75

 

 

Comments: 44, on the topic: Olympus Pen Lite E-PL5 review

  • Denis

    Damn, for its cost, I'd rather use a second-hand Canon 5D)))
    Anyway, mirrorless better quality for the money seems to be enough.
    PS Arkady, please delete my first comment.

    • Arkady Shapoval

      Fixed 5D is much heavier, it doesn’t shoot video anymore, it’s not correct to write about completely different cameras.

      • Denis

        Yes, I agree, I just don't understand the pricing policy a little when a camera with such a crop costs so much ...

      • Ivan

        In general, 5D has some pluses!

        I completely agree with Denis and Arkady.

        • anonym

          Well, not everyone can be a "pro"! I personally have repeatedly seen on the forums advertisements "I will sell a glamorous photo", so there is also a demand for them. There is a niche that Olik created, and he fills it. He makes cameras, someone buys them. And since the technique is presented on the market, then its very place in the reviews of "Radozhiva". I wonder why people pay such money)

          • Denis

            What they pay for is easy to guess - for the pretentious body ala retro :)
            These cameras do not give advantages in the quality of pictures.

            • Ivan

              Rumor has it that Olik is honored for color rendition.
              straight, supposedly, proprietary and very accurate.
              However, it seems to me that the trademark in their picture is a hard noise reduction.

    • Hleb

      let’s say so for an amateur, these are the same watering cans, you know how someone likes big SUVs like MINI, and these mini cars are many times more expensive than huge SUVs)))

    • Adrian

      it's all about the weight and size of the camera. suddenly you have a used ear 5d grunt in the middle of the celebration ... and so he took it out of his pocket and took it out for a show ... while there is a battery to replace or a lens to change on a DSLR ..

  • Maksim

    Crazy for looking around!
    For some time, I have been able to twist in the hands of similar cameras (Nikon, Sonya) and have caught myself at the Duma - for what? For prof. do not go, for a generic victorian - not so much and small size, but also the price. A mirror can be used as a mood of the owner for a more sophisticated, bazhannya paint navigation of a photograph, a mirrorless camera, if I don’t give such a mood, the road isn’t a good game. Especially tsіkavo, so friends like meyut such aparati in photography isn’t a matter of mind, they took a better eye at that moment from such a class of fotoaparatіv ..

  • Oleg

    As always, the topic of mirrorless versus DSLRs is an acute and main question for what ???

  • Michael

    The review lacks a rear view. There are probably some buttons there :) this view is most often seen by the photographer himself. This is not a camera test, you don't have to show the bottom view of how the card and batteries are inserted ... but the rear view is essential.
    But in general .. Thank you for your work and for the wonderful site!

  • Oleg

    Good review. THANKS!!!

    A funny debate - why such cameras are needed. I think it's worth thinking about the fact that there are people who do not like to carry a camera weighing over 1 kg, and a kit from 3 kg, etc., but at the same time they are not satisfied with the quality of a smartphone camera. The tendency is clear that digital compacts with tiny matrices are leaving the market a little, they are quite realistically replaced by smartphone cameras. And here a niche is formed, which must be filled, because on the one hand, small and noisy matrices of the size 1 / 1.7 - 1 / 3.6 - replaceable by smartphones, on the other hand, full frame (24x36) in heavy cameras. This is where the field begins for system cameras without DSLRs with a 2x (Micro 4/3) - 1.5x (APS-C) matrix, with cameras within 250-400 grams and sets of up to 1 kg. After all, many people do not make money by photography, and do not consider their works to be masterpieces, which should be shot by the most expensive large heavy SLR camera.

    And besides, there are people who take a DSLR with expensive and heavy optics, but when they are relaxing with their family, they prefer to take a kit with them for a walk, which allows them to make very decent photos for a family album, or even a masterpiece if they don’t have hands curves :)

    So - why dispute - why. the question is whether you need it personally

    • Oleg

      Quite agree demand creates supply

    • Exhausted

      Such cameras are needed, of course, but I think the question is not whether you need it personally, but the question in price, if you still need it.

      • Denis

        That's it, the question is not whether such cameras are needed or not, but what they should cost, at least cheaper than APS-C cameras. After all, production costs are directly proportional to the size of the matrix (which also determines the size of the optics, shutter, housing, etc.), the rest of the piping has almost no effect on the price, processors for cameras with matrices of different sizes have no fundamental differences.

        • Oleg

          I also agree as an addition to the DSLR, I would like to have it, but the prices scare

  • Vladimir

    For many, just like for me, size matters. Yes, and for amateur photography I am more comfortable with the Apple 5 than the Nikon D5200. Apple 5 is compact, mobility the ability to use almost any kind of optics

    • Denis

      As for almost any optics - if telephoto lenses are needed, then yes, but for a wide angle only regular ones.

  • Alexander

    I use a similar camera, only much easier (Olympus EPM-1). When I had a choice of what to get from budget cameras (and I chose from Pentax-kr, Cannon 1100d, Nmkon 3100), I chose EPM-1, precisely because of its compact size, which makes it easy to carry a photo camera with me and still do it decent quality photos not inferior to DSLRs.

  • Gene jb

    Sometimes I want to kill all the marketers of all the products. If they had not slowed down progress with an unreasonable pricing policy, we would have already shot widescreen cameras at 500mp.

    • Ivan

      If ... then we would shoot with normal FF cameras with 5-10mpx, almost noiseless, with huge DD, etc., etc.

      • Maksim

        one hundred%! Povnimyu pіdtrimuyu!

      • Yuriy75

        +

    • Denis

      Marketers are just pushing megapixels where they don’t get and they don’t take money for it, Nokia 808 is not so expensive, and there are already 41 megapixels.

      • Ivan

        The point is not in the cost of production, but in the advisability of development.
        Let's compare the photos printed by A3 with Nokia 41 mpx and with Canon 1D 4 mpx.

        • Denis

          “If they hadn't hindered progress by unreasonable pricing policy, we would have already shot at 500MP” - I answered this, meaning that megapixels are not worth money now and the limitation of their number is not limited by the cost yet.

    • Mill

      Oh, these myths about evil greedy marketers ... Demand creates supply ... And thanks for the cameras and their cost, you can only say to yourself)

  • Sergei

    Good reviews of Olympus, but they are all about devices with a new 16MP matrix. I would like to read about devices with a 12 megapixel matrix - E-PL1,2,3, E-P1,2,3, E-PM1, they are more common and affordable. How much are they inferior (if inferior) to new devices? Sincerely.

  • Alexander

    It would really be nice to read / see reviews of E-PM1, E-PL1,2,3, E-P1,2,3

  • Semen

    Hello, dear readers of Radozhiva.
    Can I get your opinion on the choice of additional optics for PL5? I bought this camera in Japan several years ago, we have it for family photos and videos :) There are no professional requirements, it is simply not affordable (especially now, with our UAH) native optics, although I am sure it is an ideal option for obtaining high-quality photos. Our portrait lens 1.8 / 45 gives excellent portraits in natural light .. So when I bought it, I immediately took an adapter for M42, tk. at home there were glass pieces Mir-1v 2.8 / 37 and Helios-77m-4. I got a huge field for experiments and I would like to continue further. I aimed at manual optics 28mm (+ -) to have a working fifty dollars. But a doubt arose: if you try lenses for Micro 4/3 on the M39, how much will this affect the quality of the images? And which way? Will they be more interesting than with M42 lenses?
    I will be very grateful to everyone who shares their knowledge and experience in this matter.

    • Alexander

      the quality of the pictures is affected by the quality of the lens. The working segment of the micro 4/3 is "omnivorous", which allows you to hook (through the adapter) not only M39.

  • Peter

    Hello. Please tell me on such a question. Mirrorless crop factor 2. Does it mean If you use Helios-81n with its 50 mm for example, will there be 100 mm of focal length in fact? That is, the portrait will become a telephoto correctly? Just there is a lens from gull 2 ​​there 28 mm, there is industrial ld there is Jupiter 8 I want to understand how to use them.

    • Arkady Shapoval

      Yes, the EFR will be recalculated, namely, multiplied by 2.0.

    • Serge36ru

      The DSLRs also. Anadys took the type of this one, the current 3,5-4,5 for a half ruble b / y, I had to buy a carcass for him))) On a double crop, consider 80-300mm. On Nikon it will cost like a cast-iron bridge. Here is a photo in auto mode 45mm iso 100,1 / 320s, f7.1 jipeg

  • Peter

    It’s a pity, but I’ll try to use I-69 from seagull 2 ​​as a portrait, since 10 mm is expensive for them (((For me. Are there any ways to reduce the focal length of lenses?

  • anonym

    Don't even try from Chaika. Firstly, this is not a portrait EGF, and secondly, the lens itself is Mr. from Mr.. Apertures up to 8 are practically non-working - soap and software are merciless, it is possible to use only for macro. The same is said by all the users whose reviews I read. Well, perhaps 90% of these glasses are defective. Waste your money on an adapter.

  • Alexander

    Not a bad aggregate, but as for me, the blur is terrible

  • Sergei

    Who will tell you what functionality the camera has for shooting video - I'm interested in whether there are manual adjustments to the shooting parameters (shutter speed, aperture, ISO) if there are manual adjustments, is the auto-ISO available in manual mode? Is the stub effective when shooting video, as it makes noise at high ISO. Thanks.

  • R'RёS,R ° F "RёR№

    Arkady, good afternoon!
    I understand that the review was long ago, but your opinion is still interested. In terms of image sharpness, which do you think is better: this Olympus 40-150 or some old manual lens like Jupiter-21A 4/200 or Soligor 200 2.8?
    Thank you in advance!

    • Yerema

      Jupiter seemed to me a little sharper, but there are several factors against it: 1). you need to drag it specially, and the Olympus 40-150 can calmly wait for its moment in a purse (at one time it was sold in a kit with a firm Polish tailoring, a phot with a whale, this lens and a trifle get into it); 2). Jupiter has no zoom; 3) with age, my farsightedness began, and hovering over the screen in the TV manual is annoying, I smear a lot, but I notice it only at home. Jupiter-21 tried, appreciated, put on a shelf until inspiration to go out with glasses.

    • Yuriy75

      On a microscope, Soviet optics works disgustingly, there is not enough resolution. The native telephoto lens is very sharp with an open aperture plus zoom plus fast autofocus. Old glasses are suitable for unhurried photography, while native glass is suitable for photo hunting as well for portraits.

  • LUDO

    Hello,

    Question simple? Pour les grandes ouvertures est ce qu un filtre nd compense l absence de price à 4000e au lieu de 8000 pour l em 5 et l epl 5 ?
    Thank you for your help.

    (Pour un très petit budget vers des appareils d occasion).

    • LUDO

      Question simple? Pour les grandes ouvertures est ce qu un filtre nd compense l absence de price à 8000e pour l em 5 et l epl 5 ?
      Thank you for your help.

      (Pour un très petit budget vers des appareils d occasion

Add a comment

Copyright © Radojuva.com. Blog author - Photographer in Kiev Arkady Shapoval. 2009-2023

English-version of this article https://radojuva.com/en/2014/03/olympus-pen-lite-e-pl5/?replytocom=391853

Versión en español de este artículo https://radojuva.com/es/2014/03/olympus-pen-lite-e-pl5/?replytocom=391853