The full metal housing of the Olympus Pen E-PL8 is cleanly processed and looks unobtrusively snug. The leather is available in black, white and vintage brown.
Housing, equipment and operation
Gone are the days when the manufacturers praised the technical advantages of their new models. Today is a camera, yes quite a lifestyle gadget. Example compliant? Well, Olympus, advertises the new Pen E-PL8 on the company's website: "Looking for inspiration? Make the new Olympus Pen E-PL8 your personal muse. In stylish brown tone or other classic colors, this digital camera becomes the It part of the year! "Matching, there are accessories for" Photo Fashionistas ".
Searcher and Monitor
This does not need to be further astonishing. Although the case differs visibly from the previous model Olympus E-PL7. Under the hood, however, is absolutely the same: technology with 16-megapixel Micro Four Thirds sensor, 3-inch folding screen, including touch function, but without viewfinder, from 400 euros
Autofocus and exposure metering
We started with the Olympus E-PL7, a young, stylish and, above all, feminine buyer, targeted, but the chunky bead on the right side of the camera wanted to go so far, not to this Claim to fit.
Image quality
Here, the E-PL8 is much more successful. The survey now adapts to the forms much better. At the back of the camera, the position for the thumb is also designed accordingly. Thanks to a grippy surface in the right places, the camera can be held secure - at least as long as you have rather tender, hands and no paws. With 374 grams, the E-PL8 is a few grams, heavier than the predecessor model, one-touch for the one-hand operation, too hard, but the E-PL7 was already synonymous.
The case is made of metal and not only looks good but also makes a solid impression. All mechanical elements are designed for intensive use and promise robustness and longevity, which also applies to the many mechanical controls.Olympus in white, vintage brown and black, offers the leathering of the otherwise silver camera Br>
The housing is available at a price of almost 450 Euros, together with the Pancake Zoom M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm, 1: 3.5-5.6 EZ will be worth 600 euros. The lens cap covers only the lens and not the whole lens front. There is a lot of fiddling with you on and off.
The main dial, P, A, S, M, iAuto, and four other main settings, including scene programs, and type filters, are provided next to the shutter. To set the desired values use the; dial around the trigger. The structure of the main menu appears to be somewhat individual, but after a short, familiarization phase, it seems quite useful. There are two; recording menus, a playback menu, a user menu, and a setting menu. In all menus, the mechanical controls help to equalize the variety of menu functions and make them more manageable. Values for fast access are being outsourced
Five operating buttons are definable, including two buttons of the small four-directional rocker. The lens selection is generous, as the Micro Four Fourths standard has more than 60 matching MFT lenses on the market.
An integrated flashlight has fallen victim to the compact design, instead of a separate flash unit, with LZ5 for attaching to the accessory shoe. This is indeed an emergency nail, but in many situations it takes just too long, especially since the handling is initially somewhat hakelig. After a couple of steps, the bow is then taken out. The flash settings are OK, too, and long flashes are possible.
For the Blitz shoe, there is an attachable viewfinder as an accessory for, about 200 Euro (VF-4). With the app "Olympus Image Share" the E-PL8 can be remotely controlled by smartphone. In addition to remote control, it also offers various setting options and the possibility to edit pictures. In addition, the GPS data from the smartphone can be transferred to the photos.
The 3-inch display is sharp and can be adjusted for special shooting situations around 80 degrees upwards or 180 degrees downwards Tilt This also makes it possible to take overhead recordings, recordings near the ground or the popular selves without major contortions. The display is not rotatable. The touchscreen function allows you to adjust the settings, as well as focusing with your finger and triggering the camera.
A special feature is the "self-help mode", which is activated automatically when you fold the monitor 180 degrees downwards. The camera selects, then practically self-acting a wide-angle focal length, and the scene program "portrait"
Conclusion
At the autofocus, Olympus focuses solely on a contrast autofocus with 81 measuring fields, which, however, can be fully convincing. The E-PL8 has a lot to do with the delay of 0.22 / 0.29 s at 300/30 Lux. The switch-on delay is 1.0 s - this is fast, but here the E-PL7 was even faster with only 0.6 s. Even in the modes, there is no reason to complain: single autofocus, continuous focus on moving motifs or focus with facial recognition. The manual focus on the lens ring is supported by a magnifying glass that makes focusing very easy.
The shutter allows exposure times of 1/4000 second up to 60 seconds, a measuring system with 324 zones to ensure the correct exposure. If the Bulb mode is used, you can expose up to 30 minutes at a time and with Live Bulb you can follow the development of the image on the monitor during the long-term exposure or end the recording at the right moment. The sensor delivers about 16 megapixels to the True-Pic VIIS sensor. A three-axis mechanical image stabilizer is designed to prevent images from blurring.
Lesetipp: Olympus: All system cameras in the test
The video function can be less convincing: 4K is not in sight, you have to be content with Full HD and a frame rate of 30 full frames per second. The otherwise often usual 60 B / s does not offer the E-PL8, the full-HD movies sometimes seem a little too flat. Well, on the other hand, focus and exposure are quickly tracked when shooting over a scene. An integrated microphone can be used to record stereo sound, but the microphone also records a great number of noise. You can connect an external microphone using an optional adapter set.
In general, the resolution values for the 16-megapixel class are good: 1700 LP / BH at the limit resolution as well as the DL values of 1045 LP / BH and 926 LP / BH at strong And weak, contrasts. However, there are some weaknesses: the DL curves are clearly above 1, which is a visible contrast enhancement. The edge sharpening is very pronounced, especially on the dark side. This can lead to unsightly double contours in critical motifs.
The visual assessment of the images confirms the measurements: The total impression up to ISO 400 is OK, but the edge sharpening is already visible at a relatively low magnification, the faces on our test panel go at ISO 800, just at higher sensitivities It spotty. If you're looking for the best quality, you should get used to this camera to shoot in the RAW mode - even if the stylish snapshot is on the road.
The Olympus E-PL8 may be designed for a young, female target group, but it is also a good thing for the test team - men of the best age - a pleasant impression. It is lightning-fast processed, looks cute and convinces in everyday life. The triggering delay is hardly noticeable, exposure and focus are fast and reliable and, quite at the level of significantly more expensive cameras. Also the picture quality is in principle OK, the JPEGs are, however, exaggerated strong, "optimized", which leads to artifacts in flat motif parts and translated edges. RAW is almost mandatory. But there is no shopping tip in spite of some, but then no highlights.
