Olympus E-PL7 Review - With a compact body and 16.1MP sensor, as well as a tilting LCD screen, the E-PL7 is targeted towards the 'selfie' generation who are looking to travel light.

Product Overview

Overall rating:

88%

Olympus E-PL7

Features:90%
Design:85%
Performance:85%
Value:90%
Image Quality:90%

Pros:

  • Solid metal build; Touchscreen is certainly responsive; 16MP sensor delivers solid results

Cons:

  • Small size means sacrifices have been made with usability; Tilting screen design is poor

Product:

Olympus E-PL7 Review

Manufacturer:

Price as reviewed:

£499.00 (with 14-42mm kit lens)
Olympus’s ‘Pen’ series of CSCs is one of the most established in the market, with a strong history of high quality and compact cameras which impress with both style and specification.

The E-PL, or Pen ‘Lite’, range is now in its sixth generation. The ‘Lite’ moniker is in reference to the smaller, more rangefinder style of design in comparison to the larger OM-D series.

As the sixth model in the range, the E-PL7 benefits from a rich history and has an attractive specification. This includes a 16 MP sensor as seen in the OM-D E-M5, as well as a vari-angle LCD screen and extended connectivity.

So does it continue this rich tradition? Let’s take a closer look…

Olympus E-PL7 product shot 7

Olympus E-PL7

Olympus E-PL7 Review – Features

At the core of the E-PL7’s imaging capabilities sits the same 16MP Four Thirds sensor as utilised in several other Olympus CSCs.

The sensor offers an ISO range of 200-25,600 with a low setting of ISO 100, while it also caters for the videographer with 1920 x 1080 HD video capture at 30p in both H.264 and MPEG 4 formats.

This sensor is accompanied by Olympus’s current top-end processor – the TruePic VII, complete with Fine Detail II technology aimed at correcting for lens aberration and distortion. As well as helping to deliver the best image quality, the processing engine also helps to deliver some solid continuous shooting speeds of up to 8fps.

Despite these serious imaging capabilities, Olympus is keen to stress the style credentials of the camera and as such its suitability to entry-level market.

Olympus E-PL7 product shot 12

Olympus E-PL7 LCD

Rear LCD

One such feature is the camera’s 3in, 1.04m-dot LCD touchscreen. What marks the screen out its vari-angle functionality which allows it to be rotated to a front-facing angle 180-degrees below the camera’s lens.

As well as featuring full manual exposure controls, and the obligatory automatic shooting modes, perhaps another sign of the entry-level appeal of the camera is the presence of some 25 scene modes as well as 14 art filters.

That’s not to say that the E-PL7’s serious imaging credentials end there, as the model also sports full Wi-fi functionality for simple wireless sharing of images and exposure control.

Also, although the model doesn’t feature a flash as standard a hotshoe facilitates the use of the small flashgun which arrives in the box. There’s also an accessory port on hand if you want to attach the optional external viewfinder.

  1. 1. Olympus E-PL7 Review - Features
  2. 2. Olympus E-PL7 Review - Design
  3. 3. Olympus E-PL7 Review - Performance
  4. 4. Olympus E-PL7 Review - Image Quality
  5. 5. Olympus E-PL7 Review - Verdict
  6. 6. Olympus E-PL7 Review - Specification
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