Olympus PEN E-PM1 review (with 14-42mm lens, Pink)

But at 2.2 seconds, the flash takes a relatively long time to recycle. It's very zippy for its class at continuous shooting, but without a viewfinder I find burst shooting awkward. Still, for the occasional action emergency, kids, and pets it should fare well.

The E-PM1 has a solid build, with an attractive body that consciously looks like a point-and-shoot. My only real problem with its design is the lack of a grip on the front; its brushed metal chassis feels especially slippery as well. It also has a very point-and-shoot-like set of physical controls which should make it feel familiar to use for upgraders. These include a dial on the back with integrated buttons that control exposure compensation, focus area, flash and burst mode. There's also a thumb-operated movie record button. You adjust frequently-needed settings via the typical scrolling options around the edges of the display. In auto mode it uses Olympus' simplified slider-based scheme for adjustments.

Olympus bundles a small flip-down flash with the camera like the NEX-C3 rather than a built-in one like the GF3, and its connector supports an add-on viewfinder, microphone and other PEN accessories.

As the least expensive of the current crop of compact ILCs, I wouldn't expect the E-PM1 to have a huge feature set, but it offers more than just the basics. As I've said previously, I really like Olympus' Art Filters, which are more flexible and render better results than most other implementations. It also supports up to seven frames for bracketing (and you can bracket the Art Filters). If you're into panoramas, though, I wouldn't recommend this; the E-PM1 has a clunky, old-fashioned interface for panoramas that isn't as easy to use as other cameras'.

Conclusion
The Olympus PEN E-PM1 is priced right for an entry-level interchangeable-lens model and it's a solid, if somewhat unassuming, model. I just found myself missing features like a touch screen and tilting LCD, and the photo quality is a bit too inconsistent for my taste. That said, it's better than a point-and-shoot, and if you're looking for a step-up model that's still pretty compact, this is a good, affordable alternative.

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Time to first shot

Raw shot-to-shot time

Typical shot-to-shot time

Shutter lag (dim)

Shutter lag (typical)

Nikon 1 J1

1 

1.3 

1.1 

0.4 

0.2 

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3

0.6 

0.6 

0.6 

0.6 

0.3 

Olympus PEN E-PL3

1 

0.8 

0.7 

0.6 

0.3 

Olympus PEN E-PM1

1.5 

0.8 

0.8 

0.6 

0.3 

Sony Alpha NEX-C3

0.7 

0.8 

0.8 

0.8 

0.4