Olympus E-PL7 Test and Review
The following review and test of the Olympus E-PL7 was done by the TIPA affiliated testing lab, Betternet. I serve on the Technical Committee of TIPA and have edited the test results for this posting. Visit www.tipa.com for more on the organization.
The Olympus E-PL7 is the newest camera in the PEN series. Like all PEN
cameras, it lacks an integral viewfinder, but offers a large LCD screen on the
back, a 3-inch screen with a resolution of 1.037.000 RGB dots. It has a
sophisticated swivel mechanism that can be used to turn the monitor up- and
downwards. It can also be tilted to the front when using the camera for
“selfies.”
The E-PL7 is the
newest model in Olympus PEN series. The camera offers a 16MP sensor, a swivel
LCD for better image and menu control, a Wi-Fi module and a very easy handling.
The camera has a standard accessory shoe for add-on flash systems. Olympus
supplies the E-PL7 with a small, compact flash, but in addition the camera can
use standard flash systems or remote triggers for studio systems. The E-PL7 has
an additional electronic interface on its back, right below the accessory shoe.
This is where optional electronic viewfinders or external microphones can be
mounted.
The Olympus E-PL7 is very small. Although not as small as the Panasonic GM series, it is
nevertheless a very compact system.
The camera offers all standard exposure modes such as P, S, A and M, but is
really designed for easy handling with numerous Scene modes. There are 25 image
modes including such standard modes as portrait shot or “enhanced portrait.” There
are very specific modes like
“candlelight,” “high key” or “documents,” the last being for images of printed
pages that can be used with OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software.
The camera has a
large mode dial on the top. In addition to standard modes it offers Scene mode
settings with 25 programs and an ART mode for special filter effects. The dial,
which encircles the shutter release button, is used to set up image parameters.
The camera is equipped with an integrated image stabilizer. Based on sensor
shift technology, it can be used with every lens attached to the camera. The
camera uses a 3-axis system and during tests we gained a 3EV advantage.
The camera has a
swivel monitor that can be used for selfies. Of course, it is also helpful for
all other scenes or when recording videos.
The camera offers a
3-inch monitor with 1,037,000 RGB dots. The interface for an optional EVF,
which can be mounted on the accessory shoe, is covered by a cap.
E-PL7 Image Quality Tests
Color: The E-PL7 created slightly under-saturated images, like nearly all Olympus
PEN models. The error level is very low. Compared to many other camera systems
(Nikon, Pentax), the dark blue nuances are reproduced very naturally. The white
balance system causes a slightly bluish character and only the brightest gray
patterns in our test chart show a shift into the yellow/green direction. Skin tones
match nearly perfectly to their given values.
The standard test box
shot shows natural colors and a good resolution result. Differentiation of red
and green colors is very good, the colors of the Kodak test pattern are reproduced
correctly.
Sharpness: The camera showed a good performance in our resolution and sharpness
tests. The test chart was reproduced with 2848 of 3456 lines in picture height,
which is an average result for a compact system camera. The camera could have
gained a higher result if the image processor would use a little higher
sharpness filtering and contrast line enhancement. Compared to other cameras
the over- and undershot effects are very low. The graph of the edge profile shows
a slight and very soft buckle/bulging form. Chromatic aberration effects also
reduce the resolution result, but are on a good/acceptable level. All tests
were done with the provided camera lens, the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 14-42mm
1:3.5-5.6 EZ Pancake.
The Olympus E-PL7
showed a good performance in our portrait shot. The exposure resuts (P mode,
lowest possible ISO mode “200”) are perfect. Skin tones are reproduced very
naturally.
Noise: The Olympus showed an excellence performance in our noise tests. The
luminance noise factor is extremely low. Between ISO 200 and ISO 1600 it is
nearly 0.3 percent. The color noise artifacts get visible in images taken with
ISO 1600 and higher. They get really annoying at ISO 25,600. Limiting your ISO
to 6400 or 12800 would be the best bet.
The white balance
system causes a slightly bluish character and only the brightest gray patterns
in our test chart show a shift into the yellow/green direction.
The dynamic range
results are very good: The camera gained a maximum of 10.9 f-stops and keeps a
high level of about 10 f-stops up to ISO 3200 mode.
E-PL7 Video Quality Tests
The Olympus showed only
average results in the video tests. The test chart was reproduced with 714.3
lines of 1080 lines in picture height, which is acceptable, but a little less
than the top results created by Panasonic cameras with comparable sensor
technology.
The color reproduction is
similar to the color reproduction in photo mode: Colors have a very natural
look, the white balance system hits the correct colors (only bright colors have
a slightly yellow shift). Dynamic range is also comparable to the photo
results. The camera gathered a maximum of 10.7 f-stops and about 9-10 f-stops
in higher ISO modes. This is a very good result for a video camera.
Pro
compact body;
stylish retro design
very good color
reproduction
Con
missing optical view
finder
missing integrated flash system (small external flash system is provided
with the camera)
only 3 axis image stabilizer (Olympus offers cameras with 5 axis
stabilizer)
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