The notice, published on Olympus’ website today, announces officially that it has signed a memorandum of understanding to sell its camera division to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), (which is the same firm that acquired Sony VAIO PC’s back in 2014). What does this mean? Well hopefully it means that the iconic camera line won’t simply disappear. In fact, Olympus says the new company will carry on making and selling camera equipment and suggests it will maintain Research & Development and manufacturing facilities around the world. Meaning, the company taking over will also continue to provide support to existing Olympus camera owners.

The sad but unsurprising news comes after three years of steady financial losses and Olympus states it needs a more “compact, efficient and agile” corporate structure. They also state that handing over the camera business is the only way to make sure the brand will survive and grow. Ironically, the company also blames the rise of smartphones as a large factor for the industries market decline.

So what do you think? Are you shocked by this news? Do you think the new owners will continue to grow the lineup or simply put things into a maintenance mode? Do you fear this will happen to some other brands soon as well? Let us know in the comments below.

Read the Full Notice from Olympus Below;

Check Pricing & Availability of Olympus Products Here;

Adorama | B&H | Amazon

For the Vloggers out there, this tiny and powerful system is reported as having one of the best image stabilization systems around, letting you create super stable video while out on the street or simply hand-holding the rig for some footage. This also makes it a very ideal camera for Travel photography since it packs a decent punch and is also incredibly small! While there are other systems out there that may have a larger sensor or higher megapixel count for the price, none offer the 7-stops of image stabilization or the ability to focus on stars and shoot astrophotography without the aid of a tripod like this system allegedly can! Given i’ve been itching to get out and shoot some landscape work again, this is a feature i’m more than excited and ready to test out!

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III Specs:

• Maximum Resolution 5184 x 3888
• Aspect Ratio 4:3
• Sensor Type MOS
• Sensor Size 17.4 x 13 mm
• Image File Format JPEG, Raw
• Bit Depth 12-Bit
• Image Stabilization Sensor-Shift, 5-Axis
• ISO Sensitivity Auto, 200 to 25600 (Extended: 64 to 25600)
• Shutter Speed
  • Mechanical Shutter
    • 1/8000 to 60 Second
    • Bulb Mode
    • Time Mode
  • Electronic Front Curtain Shutter
    • 1/320 to 60 Second
  • Electronic Shutter
    • 1/32000 to 60 Second
• Exposure Compensation -5 to +5 EV (1/3, 1/2, 1 EV Steps)
• Metering Range -2 to 20 EV
• Recording Limit Up to 29 Minutes
• Focus Mode
  • Continuous-Servo AF (C),
  • Manual Focus (M),
  • Single-Servo AF (S)
• Autofocus Points
  • Phase Detection: 121 (121 Cross-Type)
  • Contrast Detection: 121
• Autofocus Sensitivity -3.5 to +20 EV
• Connectivity
  • USB Type-C (USB 3.0), HDMI D (Micro), 3.5mm Headphone, 3.5mm Microphone, 2.5mm Sub-Mini, PC Sync Socket
• Wireless
  • Wi-Fi
  • Bluetooth
• Dimensions (W x H x D) 5.28 x 3.58 x 2.71″ / 134.1 x 90.9 x 68.9 mm
• Weight 1.28 lb / 580 g (Body with Battery and Memory)
• Price – $1,799 – Adorama | B&H | Amazon

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III Reviews

Like I mentioned above, we’re very excited to get our hands on it and complete our original review in the near future.  Until then, here are some of our favorites from around the web from other respected sources:

B&H’s Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III First Look

Endgadget’s Review of the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III

DPReview Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III Review

Vistek Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III Review

Endgadget Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III Review

For comparison, here’s Kai W’s review on the previous OM-D E-M1 Mark II

Conclusion

From what we’ve seen the negative feedback about this system has centered around these things:

1. Issues with the continuous autofocus remaining in focus when shooting (burst image stills and video)
2. The sensor – (Meaning pixel peepers always seem to find issue with a Micro Four Thirds system)
3. Average (at best) performance in Low-Light situations
4. Not a lot of video features
5. The EVF is underwhelming when compared to the competition

Given this system seems to be targeted more for the travel-photography enthusiast, the issues above may not really be that much of, well, an issue? There are likely better systems out there for the price if you’re simply looking for better still or video quality, but this system comes with a very effective weather seal crammed into a very travel friendly package. Meaning, if you want to capture great images on your travels without _having_ to carry around a tripod, this may be a great camera for you. Especially considering it has built-in ND’s.

Until we get to test this system out ourselves, please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions about the camera below and we’ll be sure to tackle them in our own review soon!

Check Pricing & Availability Here

Adorama | B&H | Amazon

“It is total instability now in camera division, in various countries people are running and looking for new positions.

Lot of rumors and talks that we can hear sudden closure press release within January-March time.

Some talks are that development team and some equipment can be picked either by Sony or Samsung.”

This news comes as a bit of a shock given the company just announced its long awaited update to the OM-D line with the E-M5 Mark III, (we just covered a few weeks ago in fact, check the link below). It’ll be interesting to see how much of this (if any), pans out as truth. Especially since we’ve seen this trend with nearly every camera manufacturer on the market these days..however, Olympus does seem to be the only one with rumblings about selling the line to Sony or Samsung.

[Related Reading: Olympus Introduces The New OM-D E-M5 Mark III Mirrorless Camera – Compact, Customizable, and Versatile]

So what do you think? Do you think Olympus will sell off its camera line to Sony, Samsung, or another 3rd party? Do you think this is just some super high-level fear mongering and nothing will change? While I’m personally hesitant to make any assumptions on this, it would be insanely interesting to see what would happen if say Sony were to buy them out. Would they discontinue entirely? Incorporate it into their lineup? Or Cannibalize the technology to create something entirely new? The rumors and possibilities are almost endless right? Either way, let us know what you think in the comments below, especially if you’re already an Olympus user. We’d love to hear your thoughts

Virtually the same size and weight as its predecessor, the Mark III, however, offers improvements that bring its major specs in line with those of its higher-end companion cameras in the Olympus OM-D series. In terms of its internal photographic features, the E-M5 Mark III now resembles the OM-D E-M1 Mark II but maintains the easy handling and form factor for which the E-M5 cameras are known.

The new E-M5 Mark III employs the TruePic VIII Quad Core image processor and a 20.4 MP Live MOS sensor, compared to the 16MP sensor in the Mark II. It also upgrades its focusing system from 81-points to a Dual F.A.S.T. AF 121-point on-chip system. This Contrast and Phase detection system features all cross-type focus points for faster and more accurate autofocus. There are six AF Target Options: Single, Group 5-point, Group 9-point, Group 25-point, 121-point, and small.

The 5-axis in-body image stabilization that Olympus is revered for is maintained in this camera, but with Sync-IS now providing up to 6.5 shutter speed steps of compensation to realize sharp images even in difficult lighting situations. At its highest image quality, the camera enables 10 fps sequential shooting with its mechanical shutter, including AF/AE tracking, and 30 fps with its silent electronic shutter. The OLED viewfinder offers 2.36M dot resolution and a 3″ Vari-Angle touchscreen LCD allows for clear viewing in bright light and flexibility when shooting at odd angles. Rounding out its impressive specs, the OM-D E-M5 Mark III has 4K video capability, which supports C4K and 4K 30 fps video capture.

The camera body will be weather sealed to protect from dust, splash, and freeze/frost damage. Additionally, there’s a bunch of new and unique features built into this rig to make it stand out from it’s previous generations and current competition. One interesting thing that stands out is the addition of a 50MP “triod hi-res” function that is designed for creating incredibly detailed images, a Pro-Capture function, focus bracketing, focus stacking, and a simplified multiple exposure mode. Finally and awesomely, the E-M5 Mark III will have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities!

Key Features & Technical Specifications of the E-M5 Mark III

• 20.4MP Live MOS Micro Four Thirds Sensor
• TruePic VIII Image Processor
• 2.36m-Dot 0.67x-Magnification OLED EVF
• 3.0″ 1.04m-Dot Vari-Angle Touchscreen

Imaging

• Lens Mount Micro Four Thirds
• Camera Format Micro Four Thirds (2x Crop Factor)
• Pixels Actual: 21.8 Megapixel
• Effective: 20.4 Megapixel
• Maximum Resolution 5184 x 3888
• Aspect Ratio 4:3
• Sensor Type MOS
• Sensor Size 17.4 x 13 mm
• Image File Format JPEG, RAW
• Bit Depth 12-Bit
• Image Stabilization Sensor-Shift, 5-Axis

Exposure Control

• ISO Sensitivity Auto, 200 to 25600 (Extended: 64 to 25600)
• Shutter Speed
  • Mechanical Shutter
    • 1/8000 to 60 Second
    • 0 to 3 Hour in Bulb Mode
  • Electronic Front Curtain Shutter
    • 1/320 to 60 Second
  • Electronic Shutter
    • 1/32000 to 60 Second
• Metering Method Center-Weighted Average, Multi-Zone, Spot
• Exposure Modes Aperture Priority, Auto, Manual, Program, Shutter Priority
• Exposure Compensation -5 to +5 EV (1/3, 1/2, 1 EV Steps)
• Metering Range -2 to 20 EV
• White Balance Auto, Color Temperature
• Continuous Shooting
  • Up to 10 fps at 20.4 MP for up to 150 Exposures (Raw)
  • Up to 10 fps at 20.4 MP for Unlimited Exposures (JPEG)
  • Up to 6 fps at 20.4 MP for Unlimited Exposures (Raw)
  • Up to 6 fps at 20.4 MP for Unlimited Exposures (JPEG)
  • Up to 30 fps at 20.4 MP for up to 23 Exposures (Raw)
  • Up to 30 fps at 20.4 MP for up to 26 Exposures (JPEG)
• Interval Recording Yes
• Self-Timer 2/12-Second Delay

Video

• Recording Modes
  • MOV/H.264
  • DCI 4K (4096 x 2160) at 24.00p [237 Mb/s]
  • UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p [102 Mb/s]
  • Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/119.88p [18 to 202 Mb/s]
  • HD (1280 x 720) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p [10 to 102 Mb/s]
• External Recording Modes
  • 4:2:2 8-Bit
  • DCI 4K (4096 x 2160) up to 24.00p
• Recording Limit Up to 29 Minutes
• Video Encoding NTSC/PAL
• Audio Recording
  • Built-In Microphone (Stereo)
  • External Microphone Input (Stereo)
• Audio File Format Linear PCM (Stereo)

Focus

• Focus Type Auto and Manual Focus
• Focus Mode Continuous-Servo AF (C), Manual Focus (M), Single-Servo AF (S)
• Autofocus Points Phase Detection: 121 (121 Cross-Type)
• Contrast Detection: 121

Viewfinder and Monitor

• Viewfinder Type Electronic (OLED)
• Viewfinder Resolution 2,360,000 Dot
• Viewfinder Eye Point 27 mm
• Viewfinder Coverage 100%
• Viewfinder Magnification Approx. 0.67x
• Diopter Adjustment -4 to +2
• Monitor Size 3″
• Monitor Resolution 1,040,000 Dot
• Monitor Type Articulating Touchscreen LCD

Final Thoughts

Initial reports from the show floor are very promising and positive, with the only “negative” feedback being the commonly known “battery life isn’t great” on mirrorless cameras that plagues most every single mirrorless on the market. so there’s nothing surprising there. If you’re on the show floor, be sure to snap some shots, and send us your feedback on this camera and everything else newsworthy that’s going down!

Check Pricing & Availability of the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III Here

B&H

“The Olympus OM-D E-M1X is packed with industry-leading speed, performance, reliability and high-quality image output that rivals that of full-frame DSLRs.”
– Olympus

The 20.4 megapixel OM-D E-M1X touts a new vertical grip, which yields a redesigned interface. It also provides photographers with the convenience of shooting with dual batteries as well as a more ergonomic design for a more comfortable shooting experience. The camera also includes dual SD card slots that support UHS-II media, power delivery via USB-C (which allows photographers to charge both batteries in camera), temperature and acceleration sensors, as well as built-in GPS and compass.

Boasting an impressive 60 fps continuous shooting with exposure and focus locked at the first frame as well as 18 fps in continuous AF mode courtesy of its electronic shutter, the E-M1X is the company’s newest high-performance offering aimed toward sports-oriented and wildlife photographers.

The autofocus system is inspired by that of the E-M1 Mark II and includes 121 all-cross-type phase detect points that can be utilized by either the 3” rear touchscreen display or joystick. In addition to faces and eyes, the Intelligent Subject Detection AF system can also detect and track all types of subjects in motion.

The image stabilization system of the E-M1X features 7 stops of body stabilization compensation and up to 7.5 shutter speed steps of compensation when paired with the M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm F4.0 IS PRO lens. According to Olympus, the image stabilization system offers the highest performance in the world. Other notable features include Live ND, Pro Capture mode, and High Res Shot mode, which captures 80MP equivalent images by shifting the sensor.

For all things video, the Olympus E-M1X offers full HD recording at 60fps, 120fps high-speed video, stabilized 4k video and OM-Log400 video.

Olympus OM-D E-M1X Highlights

• 20.4MP Live MOS Micro Four Thirds Sensor
• Precise Autofocus system with AF Multi-Selector, All-Cross-Type On-Chip Phase Detection AF Sensor, and Intelligent Subject Detection AF
• Pro Capture Mode and 60fps High-Speed Sequential Shooting
• Dual TruePic VIII Image Processors
• Integrated Vertical Grip, Dual Batteries
• The World’s Highest Performance Image Stabilization System

The Olympus OM-D E-M1X is priced at $3,000 and is available for pre-order now with delivery in late February 2019.

It’s very easy for gear-geared photographers to get caught up in the seriousness of it all; the speeds and feeds; the almost imperceptible real-world quality differences – the ‘Top Trumps’ of it. But contrary to what many of us like to think, ‘we’ does not a camera market make. There is room, perhaps even more than there is for us, for cameras that are lifestyle pieces rather than pieces of utility. Leica gets it. Fujifilm gets it, and Olympus surely does, as exemplified with the release of their ‘Blue Denim’ version PEN E-PL9.

We reviewed the E-PL9 recently, and the final opinion was that it was a camera for the aesthetically inclined – a camera to greatly elevate shots you’d otherwise take with your phone whilst encouraging you to keep it similarly at hand and to take it all the places you’d never be caught dead carrying a hideous DSLR. And that makes sense. There is room for that.

This new version was apparently meant to evoke or reflect the blues of Miami, though, as a Miami native who is writing this from Miami Design District, I haven’t a clue what they’re on about. but despite that, it is pretty, and if you’re looking for a stylish camera with good image quality that’s unobtrusive and inexpensive, this might just be your ticket. Check out our full review of the PEN E-PL9 below:

Olympus E-PL9 Review | A Camera To Effortlessly Fit Into Daily Life

PRESS RELEASE:

Denim love: Olympus launches special edition of their latest PEN camera model in blue

London, 01.06.2018 – To quote the British Elle Magazine in March, “denim is a fabric that suits everyone”.* To celebrate the ongoing love affair with this perennial material, Olympus is introducing a special blue edition of their recently launched PEN E-PL9 camera.
This special edition of the compact and lightweight PEN E-PL9 not only takes great pictures and movies but is also an easy and stylish addition to any denim outfit.

Already a firm favourite with the blogging community, the Olympus PEN series combines performance, superb build quality, and discrete take-anywhere size with a visual style that makes it as much part of an outfit as any key accessory. The new special edition blue version joins the existing white, black and brown models launched in March.

We sent lifestyle blogger and photographer Debs Stubbington of @bangonstyle to Miami with fashion photographer Jay McLaughlin to bring the blue colour to life:

“Miami’s sunny skies and blue waters were the perfect backdrop for the blue Olympus PEN. With all the incredible features and image quality of the
E-PL9 but a new bold colour, the blue model has fast become my new favourite”

Pricing & availability
> Olympus PEN E-PL9 blue with M.Zuiko Digital 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 EZ Pancake lens at £649.99 RRP** from early June 2018

If it survives, it will mature. And as a product matures by outliving its trendy novelty and enters into perpetual product cycles, its repeated use teaches us something important about ourselves. If a camera like the Olympus E-PL9, now after 8 product cycles (there was no E-PL4) can live in our volatile marketplace what does that say about the photography industry?

When cellphones ate away at the point-and-shoot camera sales, there was still a market for people who wanted a more deliberate relationship with their camera than their phones offered. At the time, many didn’t know they wanted interchangeable lenses, because when point-and-shoot sales were thriving, DSLRs had a steeper learning curve. Mirrorless cameras solved an important learning curve problem by replacing the optical viewfinder with an all-digital image preview.

And so, while many tech writers have become fascinated with the recent flagship competition levels that mirrorless offers against DLSRs, we forget that camera companies have been reinventing the point-and-shoot experience around new entry level interchangeable lens cameras, like the E-PL9.

Product Highlights

• 16.1MP Live MOS Sensor
• TruePic VIII Image Processor
• UHD 4K Video Recording at 30 fps
• 3.0″ 1.04m-Dot 180° Flip Touchscreen
• Up to 8.6 fps Shooting and ISO 25600
• 3-Axis Sensor-Shift Image Stabilization
• 121-Area FAST AF, Face/Eye Detection AF
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Connectivity
• Advanced Photo Mode and Art Filters
• M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II R Lens
• Price: $599 USD (Body Only)

The Olympus E-PL9

The E-PL9 was designed to give style to the point-and-shoot buyer and introduce them to interchangeable lenses, but more interestingly, it focuses the experience of photography around the photographer, and that is daring because it directly attacks the cellphone user experience.

Its existence after 8 product cycles means that there is a real persistent desire for some people to take images that are created with deliberate and intentional choices, more so than the set of choices their cellphone offers, but that also are still automated and simple enough to create. For that reason, it may be one of the more important cameras for our industry; not because it delivers the widest dynamic range or the cleanest ISO performance, but because it highlights that many camera buyers want the experience of photography to be easy and pleasant. And they value that experience against the value of having the most expensive industry leading image quality.

Design and Handling

The Olympus E-PL9 is designed to be sumptuous, with lines that curve and never cut – it failed geometry class because it hates right angles. It has a new, thicker grip on the front, with a shape that looks inspired by a Porsche Carrera. And so, the camera balances well in hand, as long as the lenses stay compact.

The lenses can, in fact, stay compact thanks to the decision of Olympus  to stick with a m4/3 sensor. The aspect ratio of the sensor in the Olympus is different than what you’ll find in DSLRs or other larger-sensor mirrorless cameras, and while the size may affect low light performance, there are benefits and uniqueness to the look.

The smaller sensor combined with short flange distance allows the lens mount to be smaller, and in turn the lenses typically are small. Olympus lenses are, on average, half the size of a typical DSLR lens. This translates to better hand-holding the camera, requiring less strain, which will probably reduce vibration, which will probably produce sharper pictures at any given shutter speed. Smaller sensors also tend to provide a ‘sharper image’.

The Olympus sensor has an advantage by being taller than the average DSLR camera. The sensor aspect ratio is 4:3 instead of a typical DSLR 3:2 ratio. A taller 4:3 aspect ratio gives different compositional head-room for photographers who prefer a more square style native sensor size, and shooters of medium format will be all too familiar with that aspect ratio, as it’s the default of what you’ll find in cameras like the Hasselblad X1D. These images transfer easier to 5×7 and 8×10 prints than traditional DSLR cameras and require minimal cropping for the titled, square look on Instagram.

[REVIEW: Hasselblad X1D Review | It’s Less Mr. Sulu & More Captain Kirk]

The E-PL9 was designed to celebrate the selfie. Compared to a 35mm film or full frame equivalent size sensor, this E-PL9 will produce a depth of field that looks like f/5.6 when shot at f/2.8. And from arm’s length, a smaller sensor helps create the appearance of more depth. So besties can huddle together for a group pic without the back row of friends being out of focus because of the larger-than-necessary sensor. 

Significant care and focus would need to be taken to get enough sharpness out of a larger sensor for a layered group selfie. But the smaller sensor combined with crop factor makes this more effortless. Even when shooting solo, many selfies are layered with important information in the background, and having the appearance of a shallow depth of field would be losing some storytelling details.

*Editor’s note: Smaller sensors (all things being equal) –given the smaller circle of confusion– have a shallower depth of field than their larger counterparts, contrary to what’s commonly said.  But because of the crop factor and ‘equivalency’, the smaller sensor will have a  deeper focus only when creating an equal FOV even with the smaller sensor’s smaller circle of confusion. 

That being said, this is not the camera to use on a mid-level or high-end commercial shoot. Not because it suffers some fatal image-quality flaw, but because the art director who hired you and is on site orchestrating is probably using this camera: you never want to wear the same outfit to a party.

Actually, art directors at high-production commercial shoots are going to be drawn to cameras like the Leica TL2. This Olympus camera is for an art director on a tight budget. Or maybe she owns a coffee shop that is moonlighting as an art gallery, or maybe she is a marketeer at a trendy local t-shirt company, but even more likely: she is a blogger or an Instagram fashionista who works at a coffee shop with a bunch of art on the wall pretending to be a gallery.

Features & Performance

Olympus lenses are relatively pocket sized, and this helps make the camera system appear less intimidating and more usable. But it is hard to make a camera that is designed to be cute and approachable and yet offer the room to learn and command more technical fingertip control of image exposure. And even though the E-PL9 offers a nice entry point for interchangeable lenses, it does not offer the most effective pathway to growing as a better photographer because some of the minimalist style design choices interfere with the needs of exposure manipulation.

For example, there is only one command dial, so that means lots of exposure controls are at least a couple button clicks away in a menu.

There are some other unfortunate omissions too. This year’s blogger is next year’s vlogger, and yet this camera, aimed at bloggers and the insta-famous, is not forward thinking enough to have a headphone jack or external mic input. Why? It offers sensor-stabilized 4K footage, but no way to capture a line of audio from a mini-shotgun mic for the vlogging community. Puzzling, since it has a popup flash and hotshoe alternative.

Over the years, Olympus has pioneered some major camera tech innovations. They were the first to produce robust sensor stabilization, and still offer among the best. This camera has 3-axis sensor stabilization that very accurately controls for camera vibration while shooting,  but integration is not the same as innovation, and with some of their integration there is confusion.

For example, the E-PL9 restricts some manual control in certain “Advance Photo” modes. The only way to access silent shutter was by turning the command dial to AP mode then tapping “Silent,” but now the only settings you can control are exposure compensation and aperture. The ISO becomes automatic, as does the shutter. The problem is, there are many cases where a photographer would want both a silent shutter and complete manual control over exposure.

The integration here is odd and speaks to the challenges faced by a camera company trying to offer advanced features but also automate some of the adjacent features to make the whole thing easy to use.

In this latest version of the Olympus EPL series, there are 121 autofocus points available. But that should not give you the impression that this offers autofocus tracking that can capture fast action. Despite optimizing my settings for movement, I could not get accurate focus on fast moving subjects. I get much better autofocus tracking performance with the Olympus E-M1 Mark ii. But AF performance is one of the most difficult demands you can ask of a camera. Expensive flagship cameras compete over autofocus speed and accuracy as a matter of priority, and it’s a challenge.

Speaking of challenges, for $100 above the body-only price, the E-PL9 can be had with the 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens, but it is a throwback to less innovative times. This kit lens has the same sluggish electronic zoom operations of a point-and-shoot camera. Not recommended. 

Selfie Making: The Great I Am

The one remarkable feature of this camera aside from it’s outward appeal is how effortlessly it offers selfie position portraits. The selfie has become its own genre of photography even though industry leading photographers have been making self portraits with their cameras since the beginning. The E-PL9’s LCD screen was not only designed to flip down and forward for selfies, but was engineered to be pulled down from the position of being in front of the camera. Instead of having the LCD screen fly out to the side, this puts the LCD and the lens along a vertical line so that eye contact looks more natural.

By putting the screen below the camera, it encourages photographers to hold the screen at eye level and raise their gaze higher, towards the camera, at a more flattering angle. Vloggers may dislike this because it makes the reverse camera only useful while handheld at the expense of the tripod mount. (Maybe this explains why Olympus did not include a mic and headphone jack), as they knew that that this camera’s screen movement does not allow it to be used in that way unless handheld. And so this is a subtle way of discouraging vlogging and encouraging stills.

But after using this camera, you will notice how other camera LCD screens that swivel out to the side are not optimized for the self portrait like this. Add to that, a new popup flash that can also be bent back and upward to bounce-flash off the ceiling, and now we are talking about one of the most thoughtfully designed self-portrait machines ever made.

Conclusion

This camera is a cost effective, elegant, accessory to a life that is focused on taking pleasure in the little things. Using it to create technical images will require some care and understanding.

In the world of blogs, Instagram-paced image scrolling, and compressed web-ready image viewing across the Internet, pixel peeping image quality is not a crucial issue for understanding this camera’s 16 megapixel promise. This camera’s promise, if successful, is that the heir to the throne of the point-and-shoot camera are mirrorless interchangeable cameras that celebrate more (or less) than just image quality. This little camera is one of those few that claim photography is a way of life, knowing that this way of life is simple, effortless, and leisurely.

Get it here

The E-PL9 is a compact interchangeable lens micro four thirds camera that takes position as the company’s entry-level offering and replaces the outgoing E-PL8, with which it shares a lot. It also shares the same ‘essence’ as Olympus Pen cameras of yore with a focus on simplicity.

[REVIEW: Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 Review | Wedding & Portrait Photographers’ Review]

The two primary changes are that the new E-PL9 has a built-in pop-ip flash and will shoot 4K, likely due to the new processor, but there are other changes too, including the overall aesthetics. The E-PL9 looks like a luxury item, perhaps more so than its more expensive brethren. It would certainly be at home at any social occasion.

While the changes from the E-PL8 from the E-PL7 were obvious and significant, in this transition Olympus has focused on refinement, and practical functionality in handling: the dials are larger and the grip is a significant improvement. However, this has come at a cost, as there is no accessory port for the VF-4 viewfinder. However, this is not going to be missed by most.

The rest of the feature set focus point would be the inclusion of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for easy file transfer, tilting touch LCD, in-body image stabilization, and a fast 8.5 second burst shooting mode. This set and price-point put it squarely in the competition realm of the Sony A6000, and that’s stiff competition, but there are reasons to get each over the other, and we suspect that even as they may be in the same tier the people looking to buy each are placing different value on each.

Overall this looks like a compelling day-to-day and travel camera and we’re excited to get it in.

You can get it here.