E-PL3 vs my trusty E-PL2

stuntman · #1 September 5th, 2011, 08:27 PM

I had a great opportunity to demo an EP3 for a week to see if I wanted to upgrade. Here's what I found and this is my own opinion and not worth a grain of salt.

What I liked about the EP3:
1 Heft (My E-PL2 is lighter)

2 Quality of build (It feels like it's made of metal)

What I didn't like:

1 Cost difference

2 Touch screen ( I personally hate this! I can't stand touching and getting finger smear all over the thing to look through! And , Who NEEDS this? I would rather have more manual buttons for presets.)

3 Extra size and weight combined to make it almost over the line to decide whether to just go DSLR.

I found zero difference in image quality and as far as focusing speed, only a computer could verify the difference.

Me, I am sticking with my E-PL2 until it dies or Olympus comes out with something radically better. I don't jump ship because of "It's the latest thing", especially when it costs a lot more and it isn't any better. As a matter of fact, I don't like the added clutter with a touch screen. This is a Camera not a Phone.... I like buttons!

Just my 2 cents

Cheers
Ed

krugorg · #2 September 5th, 2011, 08:39 PM

Ed, did you get a chance to handle the E-PL3 also? My wife is using this currently and I find it quite a bit smaller in the hand than the E-P3 (more than the specifications would indicate). I think this with the custom grip by Richard Franiec (http://www.mu-43.com/f92/richard-fra...s-e-pl3-15781/) would be pretty interesting.

klrman · #3 September 5th, 2011, 08:41 PM

Join the club, I don't like touch screens either, but many people feel it is a must have and love it. I think right now Olympus is trying to get people in a fever pitch by constantly upgrading different models so rapidly etc etc, but that is why I personally chose the E-PL2. It is camera that I searched long and hard for and that can satisfy me for years to come without ever feeling the need for another.

WT21 · #4 September 5th, 2011, 08:50 PM

On the touch screen, I wouldn't call it a must have, but it's great for fast action shooting, especially if you want the subject off-center. If you don't do that, then you have no need. For me, it's gotten me shots that I couldn't have gotten with any other camera, except maybe a PDAF DSLR with the right focus points.

Also, in terms of the touch screen, Oly put nothing into the touch screen that the removed from a button. The touch screen is for focus and click-to-shoot. Also, moving to review in playback. No buttons were removed and, in fact, the EP3 has more controls than the EPL2, not fewer.

If it seems I'm defending the touch screen, I guess I am, but it's also easy to shut it off. But if you don't need or want it, I could see not wanting to pay for it.

CarlB · #5 September 5th, 2011, 08:52 PM

I just turn the touch screen off. As far as faster ... It's very fast with the 12mm f2.0, much more so than the E-PL2.

ZephyrZ33 · #6 September 5th, 2011, 08:53 PM

1. Understandable
2. The oled screen does not smear. I use my touchscreen primarily to touch focus...something that would take awhile to scroll on my e-pl1's d-pad.
3. It barely fits in the same half-case as my e-pl1, which was designed for the e-pl2. You may be perceiving the heft with the metal.

Your rationalization is reasonable but i wouldn't go as far as comparing the e-p3 to a camera phone. Touch is a convenient and modern feature, not its primary function.

And i agree, if you have an e-pl2 there is very little reason to justify an upgrade unless you value quick auto-focusing.

mach330 · #7 September 6th, 2011, 01:02 AM

I came from epl2 as well. I happen to like the touchscreen feature. I also find the af noticeably faster. Its the first thing I noticed.

jim_khoo · #8 September 6th, 2011, 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WT21

... especially if you want the subject off-center... (touch to) focus and click-to-shoot...

+1.

with the touch screen, one do not need to play checkers
or move the head/ body if the box position is slightly off.

anyway, i am keeping both the epl2 and ep3 (because of
the 12mm

).

Yotsuba · #9 September 6th, 2011, 04:27 AM

The touch screen (AF + shutter), nice body and buttons are what I find most attractive of the EP3....other than that, I believe the image quality is the same.

anidel · #10 September 6th, 2011, 04:30 AM

The touch screen would have been handy if you could setup few virtual buttons (assigned to whatever you liked) on the right side. Not sure if there's something there already.