Olympus E-P2 Is Official, Better Than the E-P1 as Expected

The Olympus E-P1 micro four thirds camera wowed photography enthusiasts as much for its retro look as for the pictures it could take. It wasn’t perfect, though, and Olympus promised to address several issues the E-P1 had. Now Olympus has officially announced the E-P2, and sure enough, many of the problems are gone. Unfortunately, that makes the E-P2 less of an improvement because it’s basically what the E-P1 should have been.

Besides being painted black, the E-P2 is very similar to its predecessor. Same basic design, same 12.3MP image sensor and no integrated flash. What’s new is a viewfinder, the VF-2 Electronic View Finder, that plugs into a new port on the backside of the device. The port can also support the EMA-1 audio input module (tired of all the capitalized letters yet?), but you can’t use both at the same time. Basically, you can decide between the viewfinder or audio, and if you’re shooting in movie mode you’ll obviously want to pick the audio input module.

Internal changes to the E-P2 include the addition of manual shutter and aperture controls in movie mode as well as the Continuous Autofocus tracking system for video or photos. Both will improve your shots, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience customizing the settings before a shot.

There will be two kits of the Olympus E-P2, the E-P2 Body with ED 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens and EVF or the E-P2 Body with 17mm f2.8 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens and EVF. Both kits will sell for $1100. Yes, that means it’s around $300 more expensive than the E-P1. Apparently progress isn’t cheap.

If you want more lens options, Olympus is developing two more, a wide 9-18mm f4.0-5.6 lens and a 14-150mm f4.0-5.6 lens for additional zoom. Obviously, those lenses will cost extra, too. If you just want good performance, you can get a good entry-level DSLR for less. But if you need style, the E-P2 is what you want.

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