Olympus E-P5 delivers some welcome design tweaks (pictures)
The E-P5 riffs off of another Olympus film camera, and includes some changes that should streamline shooting.
Lori Grunin
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
Although it keeps the same flash as the E-P3, the E-P5 gains a more traditional front dial. In addition, Olympus prides itself on the dearth of screws on the body -- just a handful on the bottom plate -- but it means that the screw-on grip of the E-P3 has changed to a shallow fixed grip on the E-P5.
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Top controls
The top stays fundamentally the same as the E-P3, but the on/off button is now a switch.
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LCD
Rather than a fixed OLED display, the E-P5's uses a tilting capacitive touch screen, similar to but higher-resolution than that of the E-M5. Olympus tweaked the design with side grips for easier pullout.
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New EVF
The new optional EVF is bigger and higher resolution than the old model, and Olympus offers it in a bundle with the 17mm lens.
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In another more traditional move for the E-P5, Olympus replaced the vertical dial with a thumb grip and added a standard thumb dial on top. The new 2x2 Dial Control allows you to quickly program the dials to toggle between pairs of functions.
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Back design
A view of the entire back.
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Mode dial
The camera retains the same mode-dial options as the E-P3, as well as the same set of Art Filters as the E-M5.
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Three color combos
Not my best photo, but you can see the different offerings. The black has the optional VF-4 EVF on it.
