The

Olympus Olympus or Olympos ( grc, Ὄλυμπος, link=no) may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Les ...

PEN E-PL3 announced on 30 June 2011 is Olympus Corporation's seventh camera that adheres to the Micro Four Thirds (MFT) system design standard. The E-PL3 succeeds the Olympus PEN E-PL2, and was announced in concert with two other models, the

Olympus PEN E-P3 The Olympus PEN E-P3 announced on 30 June 2011 is Olympus Corporation's seventh camera that adheres to the Micro Four Thirds (MFT) system design standard. The E-P3 succeeds the Olympus PEN E-P2, and was announced in concert with two other mod ...

(the flagship version), and the

Olympus PEN E-PM1 The Olympus PEN E-PM1 is an entry-level mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera from Japanese manufacturer Olympus with a Micro Four Thirds lens mount and sensor. It includes a 12.3 megapixel sensor, 3-inch 460,000 pixel LCD screen, and sensor-bas ...

(a new "Mini" version of the PEN camera line with similar features to the E-PL3). The E-PL3 is commonly said to be the "Lite" (less full featured) version of the E-P3, much as the E-PL1 and E-PL2 were "Lite" versions of the E-P1 and E-P2, respectively.

Technology

The E-PL3 addresses some of the concerns that critics had about previous PEN models: slow handling, due to slow autofocus speed and difficulty seeing the LCD panel under certain (e.g., bright, sunny) conditions. The E-PL3 increases autofocus speed through use of a 120 Hz refresh rate for its sensor, similar to the technology used in the recently released

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 The Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 is a digital camera with HD video recording capability that is part of the Micro Four Thirds system. Though commonly referred to as a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera, it has no mirror or optical viewfinder, ...

and G3 cameras. Olympus claims, based on in-house testing, that the E-PL3, along with its E-PM1 cousin, have similar characteristics to the flagship E-P3, which according to Olympus has the world's fastest autofocus speed of any camera as of the product announcement date. The benefits of the 120 Hz refresh rate also provides the ability for continuous autofocus tracking during bursts of exposures, a faster shutter response (less lag) and less blackout time between exposures. The E-PL3 lacks the E-P3 capacitive touchscreen for creative camera control, and the E-P3 OLED type display that is supposed to vastly improve performance in sunny conditions, and off-angle viewing. Instead, the E-PL3 has a tiltable LCD, which allows easy above the head, waist level, or low off the ground viewing. The E-PL3 continues with the proprietary Accessory Port, a power and communication port, which allows the use of various accessories, such as an external stereo microphone for HD video recording, LED macro lights, and a bluetooth communications adapter. The accessory port continues to be compatible with the high resolution, optional

hotshoe Canon EOS 350D Hot shoe Proprietary hot shoe used by Minolta and older Sony cameras (Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D">Sony.html" ;"title="Minolta and older Sony">Minolta and older Sony cameras (Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D) A hot shoe is a mounting poin ...

mounted VF-2 electronic viewfinder ( EVF). The VF-2 had a flip angle eyepiece, allowing viewing from 0–90 degrees. The VF-2 had been criticized for being very expensive and for not having a locking device, with some users reporting easy dislodgement of the VF-2 from the hotshoe. To address these criticisms, in July 2011, Olympus announced the introduction of an optional VF-3 EVF, which has a lower resolution and a locking device.

Differences over Olympus PEN E-P1

* Addition of an Accessory Port that can be used for an electronic viewfinder, external microphone or external flash * Two new Art filters-simulating

Diorama A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle mode ...

and

Cross process Cross processing (sometimes abbreviated to Xpro) is the deliberate processing of photographic film in a chemical solution intended for a different type of film. The effect was discovered independently by many different photographers often by mist ...

in camera * Black finish widely available * Auto focus tracking * Colour boosting function named i-Enhance

Specifications not in the infobox

* 1080 Full HD video at 60i frames per second in AVCHD format with Fine and Normal modes (frame/s)

Micro Four Thirds Camera introduction roadmap

References

External links