OLYMPUS E-PL7

Review and Photo example of the E-PL7 digital camera.

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Review

Overview
Usability
Add info

1．Overview

The E-PL7 is a low-end mirrorless camera released by Olympus (now OM-SYSTEMS) in 2014.

Its main specifications are a 4/3-inch Live MOS sensor with a total pixel count of 17.2 million pixels and a recording pixel count of 16.05 million pixels, a 3-inch 460,000-dot LCD on the rear, and the ability to attach an external LCD viewfinder, EVF2, EVF3, or EVF4.

2．Usability

I tried shooting with the E-PL7 at the 14-42mm and 40-150mm that came with the double zoom kit.

The results were neither good nor bad, and the performance was sufficient for general use.

One thing that bothered me while shooting was that although the camera has an in-body image stabilization function, I rarely felt the benefit of it in low-light scenes where I wanted the benefits of image stabilization.

I don’t know if it was because of the image stabilization function, but the response after pressing the shutter was poor, and the display on the rear LCD screen was delayed by one beat, and the captured image seemed to be out of sync, so I felt doubtful whether the moment I pressed the shutter was being captured. It was unfortunate that the shooting tempo was poor.

In addition to the autofocus lens, I also tried a manual focus Leica M-type lens using a mount adapter, but it was difficult to determine the focus position of the captured image on the 460,000-dot rear LCD screen, and it was a bit troublesome that I couldn’t determine the focus position unless I enlarged the image.

When I tried using the external LCD viewfinder, the VF-2, I found that in order to display the image on the VF-2, I had to press the display switch button on the VF-2, which was an extra step and a bit of a hassle.
I have never used this, but the VF-4 is equipped with an eye sensor, and the E-PL7 is a compatible camera, so it may be possible to avoid this hassle.

	VF-2	VF-3	VF-4
Display Pixels	1.44 million dots	0.92 million dots	2.36 million dots
Field of view	100%	100%	100%
Finder magnification (when using M4/3)	1.15	1	1.48
Viewfinder magnification (35mm equivalent)	0.575	0.5	0.74
Eye Point(mm)	18	17.4	21
Diopter adjustment range(m-1)（dpt）	-3～+1	-3～+1	– 4～+ 2
Eye Sensor	No	No	Yes
Weight (g)	32	28	41.8
Size (width x height x depth mm)	29.4×48.5×46.3	25.4×44.1×48.3	30.4×48.2×47.8
Tilt Mechanism	Upward angle up to 90 degrees	Upward angle up to 90 degrees	Upward angle up to 90 degrees
Shoe lock function	No	No	Yes
release date	December 2009	September 2011	June 2013

・Finder magnification: 50mm lens, infinity
・The unit of diopter adjustment range (m-1) (dpt) is expressed in “diopter”, which represents the refractive index of the lens
・The VF-4 eye sensor is compatible with E-P5, E-PL8, E-PL7, and E-PL6

Considering the positioning of this camera, it is not a camera for playing around with manual focus lenses, but a camera to be used with autofocus lenses.

And, although it may be unavoidable considering the year the camera was released, one of its drawbacks is that it does not have an electronic shutter. The E-PL7’s mechanical shutter makes a fair amount of noise and can be noisy in some scenes, so it is not suitable for people who want to shoot quietly.

The successor model, the E-PL9, was the first to feature an electronic shutter, which added an electronic shutter function for quiet shooting.

3．Add Info.

The basic system has not undergone any major improvements since the E-PL5 released in 2012, and the series has continued with minor changes, from E-PL5 to E-PL7 to E-PL9 to E-PL10.

The reason why the basic components have not been updated is probably because the high-end Micro Four Thirds models are limited to 20 megapixels, so this model has no choice but to remain at 16 megapixels. The image sensor seems to have changed from the E-PL5 to the E-PL7, but since the number of pixels is the same, it would be difficult to tell the difference if you were to compare photos taken with the same lens.

It seems that they are trying to somehow make changes to the camera, but in the end, the changes are only minor, and it is unfortunate that it is difficult to feel that the camera has made any progress.
The E-PL9 does not have a terminal for attaching an electronic viewfinder (hereinafter referred to as EVF), which has reduced the cost of the camera. However, when you consider how many photographers actually attach EVFs to cameras of this class, there should not be many, so this change is a rational decision.

Although it is an older generation, I sold the E-PL7 because I couldn’t see any difference in image quality compared to the DMC-GM5, which also has 16 megapixels.

Specification

Items	E-PL5	E-PL7	E-PL9
Camera effective pixels	16.05 megapixels	←	←
Lens mount	Micro Four Thirds Mount	←	←
Image sensor	4/3-type Live MOS sensor, total pixel count 17.2 million pixels	←	←
Electric Shutter	none	←	Supported in “silent shooting” in SCN/AP mode 1/16000 to 60 seconds
Image Stabilization	Built-in (image sensor shift type image stabilization) Angular stabilization (XY axis)	In-body image stabilization (image sensor-shift type 3-axis image stabilization)	←
EVF	EVF-2/EVF-3/EVF-4	←	なし
Back LCD	3.0-inch movable LCD* approx. 460,000 dots (16:9), capacitive touch panel	3.0-inch movable LCD (approx. 1.04 million dots (3:2) capacitive touch panel)	←
Include flash	なし	←	Built-in TTL flash GN=5.4
Battery	BLS-50 Compatible battery (Ads by amazon)	←	←
Size W x H x D(mm)	110.5 × 63.7 × 38.2	114.9× 67 x 38.4	117.1 × 68.0 × 39.0
Weight(g body only)	279g	309g	332g
Body color	White, black, silver	←	White, black, brown
Release date	2012.10.12	2014.9	2018.3.9
Price(Yen/No-tax/only body)	¥90,000-	¥66,000-	¥70,000-