*UPDATED read about my new post on lenses I’ve brought for the Olympus.
It’s finally here! If you remember from my Christmas gift guide post, I included the Olympus PEN E-PL8. I was about to purchase the E-PL7 when I suddenly saw Olympus posted an announcement with the newest model being available. Photokina is the biggest camera and video show in the world and Olympus dropped the new model.
Olympus PEN E-PL8
I hesitated if I really needed another camera; if you personally know me I am a gadget geek. I have a collection of cameras, but I just love photography so much. The Olympus PEN E-PL8 is my second non-Canon branded camera. I’m a loyal Canon customer my first digital point and shoot was the Canon izoom, and I’ve gone and brought a DSLR and mirrorless camera.
Lately, I found lugging my DSLR and huge lenses in a backpack were getting too heavy and I just wanted something smaller to carry around and fit in my handbag.
The specs
That’s when the Olympus Pen E-PL8 camera comes in. It’s a micro four-thirds camera. The weight is around 326g only 117.1mm in width and 38.4 wide. Even with the interchangeable lenses attached it’s still lightweight and easy to carry around additional lenses. I went for the brown one, as it’s a new colour and I just loved the vintage feel.
LCD screen
It’s 3.0” tilting touch LCD screen makes taking a selfie a breeze. Whilst you look at the screen downward it looks more natural than looking upwards at a screen. You can tilt the screen at awkward angles to compose that great shot. You can use the touchscreen to take a photo and there’s an option to smooth out your skin without post editing.
What also appealed to me is the wifi connectivity; once I shoot a photo I can use the Olympus image share app to upload to my iPhone. You can also use this app to shoot remotely.
olympus pen generation
Marketed as the blogger camera, with their own hashtag #olympuspengeneration the Olympus team took a bunch of top influencers to a #penparty in Greece. The EPL-8 gets a slightly small design makeover from the older EPL-7 model. It still has the leather skin with aluminium metal body casing.
Inside the box, you get the camera, battery, charger, camera strap, USB cable and manual. The lens that comes with the camera is the pancake version of the 14-42mm lens.
Since the official Olympus, had an amazing array of accessories to style up your camera. I went and purchased an additional leather strap and camera bag.
lenses
The marketing team from Olympus kindly sent me some extra lens cap, macro converter, and 15mm lens body cap. My instagram photo has been used on Olympus pen generation profile.
The only con I found so far with the camera is the shutter bleep sound, it is way too loud and can draw attention to yourself when you at a quiet restaurant and there is no way to lower the volume. I’ve now turned the sound completely off.
Sample photos
Below are sample photos I took with the kit lens some have been post edited in Lightroom. As you can see the quality is amazing and I highly recommend the Olympus E-PL8 to everyone.
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