Pixiq

Digital SLR cameras are very popular because they accept interchangeable lenses for great versatility and are loaded with features. But a DSLR with a lens is somewhat bulky and heavy. That's why Panasonic and Olympus developed the Micro Four Thirds system of smaller cameras in 2008. The downsizing was achieved by removing the reflex mirror and the pentaprism; this also shed quite a bit of weight. (Since then, Sony and Samsung have also introduced non-reflex or "mirrorless" cameras.) Recently I tested the latest Micro Four-Thirds models, the Olympus E-PL2 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2.

Small Body/Large Sensor: In spite of the term "Micro", both employ the same size sensor you'd find in a DSLR. The 17.3 x 13mm chip area is roughly 8 times larger than the one you'd find in a typical point-and-shoot camera. That allows for oversized pixels that can capture more light particles in a split second. Because less signal amplification is required, images made at ISO 400 and above are "cleaner". They exhibit less digital noise -- "graininess" or colourful speckles -- so there's less need for strong Noise Reduction processing that can smudge intricate detail.  

 Olympus E-PL2 PEN

This compact 12.3 megapixel (MP) camera features a large 3-inch LCD screen with 460,000 dot resolution that makes it a pleasure to compose images and videos. There's also a built-in low power flash and a hot-shoe that accepts larger optional flash guns. Regardless of the lens you use, the in-camera image stabilizer provides camera shake compensation. For maximum portability, check out the slim high-grade 17mm f/2.8 lens, a 34mm equivalent. Its very wide maximum aperture is great in dark locations for faster shutter speeds. 

Features/Operation: The E-PL2 offers the numerous modes, functions and overrides you'd get with a DSLR, making it a fine choice for the photo enthusiast. It also encourages creativity with six special effects digital Art Filters; you can even modify the effect of a Filter to a desired intensity. There's no viewfinder but the E-PL2 accepts a tilting electronic viewfinder VF-2 with ultra-high 1.44 million dot resolution. This accessory is a great alternative to the LCD on sunny days when glare obliterates the external display.

This enthusiast-level camera offers DSLR style controls, including a rear input dial, a mode dial and various well marked buttons. Press [OK] to reveal a sub-menu of the most frequently used items. Select a picture style such as Vivid, Natural, or Monotone. You can also set the desired level of Sharpness, Contrast, Saturation and Gradation (highlight/shadow detail) but that requires a visit to the full Menu. Or you might prefer to modify JPEGs later, with one of the features that are available in Playback mode.

The full Menu contains numerous items; some of these will require reference to the owner's manual, except for owners of an Olympus E-series DSLR.

Novices will appreciate the Intelligent Auto mode and the 22 Scene modes that make suitable settings for many types of subjects. Switching to iAuto mode and pressing the OK button activates a Live Guide interface. This allows for setting certain overrides without the need to understand complicated concepts.

Movie Mode:  The Olympus camera produces very nice 1280 x 720 HD video clips with mono sound or in stereo with an optional external mic. Several functions can be set before actual video recording. While shooting a clip, the aperture and exposure can be manually changed if desired. Overall, this is greater than average versatility. Continuous autofocus is available too but it's not very fast in movie mode. For the best AF, use the 40-150mm MSC lens with its fast/silent AF motor.

Performance: The E-PL2 responded quickly and was able to blast off numerous still photos at 3 frames/sec. Image processing was adequately fast -- unless certain Art Filters were used -- so the camera was usually ready to shoot another burst. Autofocus was reliable in daylight but in dark locations,  and focusing time increased to about a second. Tracking focus worked well with the 40-150mm MSC lens for cyclists moving at a leisurely pace; it was not as reliable during a high speed snowmobile race.  

Low ISO JPEGs: My Large/Super Fine ISO 100 to 400 JPEGs made at default are crisp and smooth, with great definition of intricate detail and great color accuracy but with low sharpness and color saturation. I was able to make beautiful 13x19" prints from my best shots. Highlight areas were sometimes too bright in photos made in harsh sunlight. That can be minimized by setting -1/3 exposure compensation and later lightening mid-tones in imaging software. For the most striking low ISO JPEGs, I recommend setting Noise Reduction to Low, activating the Vivid picture style for richer colors and setting in-camera Sharpness to +1.

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High ISO JPEGs: At higher sensitivity, image quality is quite impressive at the default level for Noise Reduction. My ISO 800 photos look very nice as 11x15" prints. By ISO 1600 some softness and digital noise speckles are apparent, but 8x10 glossies look great after some careful sharpening in software. The ISO 3200 JPEG's are quite smooth but even softer; after Edge Sharpening in software my 4x6" prints are highly acceptable. Even better (superlative) results are possible with RAW capture and tweaking the Noise Reduction level in RAW converter software.  

E-PL2 Evaluation: The latest Olympus non-reflex camera is adequately rugged and its DSLR-style controls are convenient and logical.  It's competitive with some DSLRs in feature set but some of the advanced functions and menu items do call for study of the instruction manual.  This camera should not intimidate novices in the family because it provides many user-friendly features and a very helpful Guide mode. (And it provides gorgeous photos in iA mode.) On the other hand, the E-PL2 is even more appropriate for the experienced shooter who will find plenty of advanced capabilities, customization options and creative features.

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2

 The GF2 is even smaller and lighter in spite of its metal body. For maximum portability get it with the very slim 14mm f/2.5 (28mm equivalent) wide aperture lens. The body is equipped with a tiny built-in flash and a hot shoe for external flash but there's no viewfinder. Panasonic does offer an optional electronic finder, the tilting DMW-LVF1 with 201,600 dot resolution. Designed for ease of use, this camera offers point-and-shoot style controls for apparent simplicity but you'll find plenty of extra options if you dig a bit deeper.

In order to make the GF2 look uncomplicated, the mode selector dial was omitted. Serious shooter will miss that control but the same options are revealed on the LCD after pressing the MENU button. There's a Q.Menu button for quick access to frequently-used functions. The single input dial can be used for setting exposure compensation and for selecting an aperture or shutter speed. Many options and overrides are provided in the Menu; it's worth reviewing the purpose of some of the high tech functions in the owner's manual.

Touch-Screen Control: While all features can be accessed with the few buttons, the GF2 features a 3-inch (460,000 dot) touch-screen LCD. Certain aspects of operation can be achieved via the touch screen. For example, you can point at an area that should be in sharpest focus, drag functions to the quick menu, move the grid lines, adjust the amount of background blurring, and take a photo. In Playback mode swipe your finger to move to the next photo or tap the screen to enlarge it.  While you may prefer to use the more conventional controls, the touch-screen interface works very well. 

Features: While it resembles a point-and-shoot camera, the 12 megapixel GF2 is well equipped with manual, automatic and semi-automatic modes. Overrides are also available for ISO, exposure, white balance and more. The My Color mode provides eight special effects options for creative shooters and overrides for color, contrast and brightness. Panasonic also provided a very versatile autofocus system that includes Face Recognition for people pictures and fast Continuous predictive AF for action photography.

For great simplicity, select one of the 13 subject-specific Scene modes or Intelligent Auto mode. The latter will select a suitable Scene mode, detect faces, minimize motion blur, improve highlight/shadow detail and provide intelligent resolution (sharpening). While any or all of the Intelligent features can be activated in other modes, the iA mode uses only the most appropriate of the options for any scene.   

Movie Mode: The GF2 is also great for video with its full HD 1080i mode and built-in stereo mic. You can pre-set a desired  exposure compensation and any of the My Color modes and overrides. Aperture control is also possible with peripheral defocus mode. Continuous autofocus is quite fast in movie mode, especially with the optional HD 14-140mm zoom with a nearly silent AF motor. Video quality on a large HD TV is absolutely fabulous.

Performance: The Lumix GF2 responds instantly and can shoot dozens of JPEGs at 3.3 frame/sec. in high speed mode. You might prefer the 2.6 fps mode instead since that provides true live view for greater framing accuracy with moving subjects. (It displays a photo before, not after, it has been taken for a real-time view.) In truth, I got many sequences of great shots with either burst mode during a snowmobile race. The autofocus system had no difficulty keeping up with the competitors' motion especially when I used the HD 14-140mm zoom. Low light autofocus for static subjects was quite quick, taking about a half second.

Low ISO JPEGs: Novices will get beautiful JPEGs in iA mode thanks to the automatically-applied Intelligent features. When testing in P mode without overrides or intelligent features, my JPEGs  exhibited nicely saturated colors, very snappy contrast, moderately high sharpness and slightly cool (bluish) white balance. Entirely different effects are possible with overrides.

Intelligent Resolution works particularly very well, selectively smoothing or sharpening certain parts of a JPEG image. The GF2 tends to underexpose. That's easy to prevent with a bit of plus exposure compensation but take care not to get excessively bright highlight areas. My best ISO 100 to ISO 400 photos are very smooth, suitable for impressive 13x19" (Super B) prints.

High ISO JPEGs: Even at ISO 800, colors are rich and JPEGs are crisp making very nice 8x10" glossies. By ISO 1600 however, the images are soft and the colorful speckles are apparent; even so, 5x7" prints are quite decent after some edge sharpening in software. For even better quality at high ISO, use the RAW capture mode and optimize Noise Reduction in RAW converter software.

The Bottom Line

The "mirrorless" interchangeable-lens cameras are rapidly gaining in popularity because of their great portability. Granted, a DSLR does have some advantages, including a built-in optical viewfinder, an even wider choice of lenses and accessories and even faster autofocus (though the GF2 comes very close).  But whenever you do not want to carry a heavy camera bag, a smaller camera would be a suitable alternative. Regardless of your photographic style and experience level, one of these new Micro Four Thirds models is likely to satisfy your expectations.

E-PL2 vs. DMC-GF2 Pros and Cons

There's no obvious "winner" in this shootout since both cameras have their own pros and cons. The one that's likely to be right for you depends on your experience level and the types of subjects you often shoot. I preferred the Olympus camera's controls/operation and its high ISO quality but found that the Lumix contender was faster and provided more pleasing JPEGs without overrides.

Construction: The Panasonic Lumix GF2 features a metal body but the Olympus E-PL2 is adequately rugged for most users.

Feature Set: Check the full Specs and it's clear that the E-PL2 offers the most functions and its in-camera Image Stabilizer is effective with any lens.This is the camera that serious enthusiasts will probably prefer.

However, Panasonic's Intelligent Resolution, Intelligent D-Range and Intelligent ISO with motion detection are unusually sophisticated and effective. When you must shoot quickly and want beautiful images, the Intelligent features can be very useful.

Controls: Anyone first moving up from a point-and-shoot digicam will appreciate the apparent simplicity of the GF2. Its touch-screen operation will appeal to owners of other touch-screen devices. But experienced photographers will prefer the more conventional interface of the E-PL2.

Note: For maximum versatility -- and DSLR-style controls, plus touch-screen controls -- in a Lumix camera, check out the larger DMC-GH2. http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/systemcamera/gms/gh2/index.html

Speed: The GF2 responds even more quickly than the E-PL2 to a touch of the shutter release button. Its autofocus performance is slightly faster and more succesful in tracking fast/erratic action. It's also quicker to focus in low light perhaps because the E-PL2 is not equipped with a focus-assist lamp.

JPEG Quality: It's a tie at low ISO, although the GF2 provides more punchy photos at default in creative modes. (Both cameras produce very striking images in their iAuto modes.) At ISO 800 and above, the E-PL2 is the leader. It provides JPEGs with better definition of fine detail, perhaps because of its superior processing engine.

Switch to RAW capture mode however and use some expertise in optimizing the photos in a versatile RAW converter and the GF2 will provide very fine quality at ISO 1600 and decent at ISO 3200.

Movie Mode: The GF2 can shoot at full 1080i HD making it preferable for serious video capture. It also provides two video formats, including AVCHD. On the other hand, only the E-PL2 accepts an external stereo mic for superior audio quality. And the Olympus camera's 720p HD videos look great; not everyone needs 1080i resolution.

For another opinion re: the pros and cons of each camera visit the http://snapsort.com/compare/Olympus-E-PL2-vs-Panasonic_Lumix_DMC-GF2 Web site. Ignore their comment re: sensor size since both employ the same (17.3 x 13mm) area for actual image capture.

Specifications

It's well worth checking out the full list of features and technology for both cameras. Visit the Panasonic Web site at http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/systemcamera/gms/gf2/index.html and the Olympus Web site at http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1552