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" The Promise The new PEN E-PL2 is the fourth in Olympus&amp;#039; line of mirrorless, PEN micro four-thirds cameras. Like the others in its class, it is among the smallest digital cameras that take a detachable lens. Image quality doesn&amp;#039;t suffer much\u2014the PEN series has a 4/3-inch live MOS sensor that is smaller (by as much as half) than digital SLRs\u2014but it is much, much larger than those in point-and-shoots and mobile devices. A digital SLR has a mirror sandwiched between the lens and the image sensor that allows you to look in the viewfinder and see directly through the lens. The mirror snaps up as you take the picture to allow the light to hit the sensor. That mirror box adds a lot of size and weight to the camera. Micro four-thirds cameras toss out the mirror and show you a digital representation of the world through the lens, just like a point-and-shoot or a camera phone.  This class of camera is popular right now and deservedly so. Mirrorless cameras deliver much of the freedom and many of the options of digital SLRs but at about half the size and weight. The draw for experienced photographers is the prospect of a lightweight camera bag and prolonged shoots without the nuisance of sore wrists. For beginners, mirrorless cameras can be less daunting\u2014they look more like point-and-shoots and, in automatic modes, they can behave exactly like one, too. Only four companies are making this kind of mirrorless system now. Olympus consistently impresses with its retro styling and compatibility with a wide range of lenses and accessories. With the new model, the company boosts its line of lenses, introducing two nearly silent zoom lenses with internal focusing mechanisms, and two peripherals. The E-PL2 improves on the E-PL1 with a higher resolution LCD screen; faster maximum shutter speed\u20141/4000 versus 1/2000\u2014and more ISO sensitivity\u20146400 compared to 3200\u2014for better low-light photos without flash. It now allows for previews of effects such as grainy black and white or soft focus in HD video, not just still images. It should retail at $599.  Our Take We like the whole mirrorless trend in photography, so much so that we gave Sony&amp;#039;s NEX-5 a Breakthrough Award last year. And we readily admit that we&amp;#039;re smitten with the PEN series and its retro looks. And though we have to say that the newest PEN has made only incremental improvements over its predecessor, that&amp;#039;s largely because the lineup is so good. These cameras have full manual control and a ridiculous range of preset settings. You can even add artistic effects, like &amp;quot;diorama,&amp;quot; which replicates a tilt-shift lens and wide aperture to make shots appear flat, like toys. And you can add all of those effects to HD videos.  Other mirrorless cameras offer some of the same features, but what sets Olympus apart is its compatibility with the huge range of four-thirds lenses. Add an adapter and PEN cameras take both Olympus and Panasonic four-thirds lenses; add other adapters and they&amp;#039;ll take Leicas, Sigmas and more third-party lenses, adding up to dozens of lenses spanning the whole range of quality\u2014from cheap to some of the finest available anywhere. And, with flash hot shoes on every PEN, you can add the detachable flash of your choice. Do your party shots look washed out? Try using an off-camera flash cord and hold the flash at arm&amp;#039;s length to one side of your subjects for interesting shading when taking pictures at close quarters. If the new camera&amp;#039;s improvements aren&amp;#039;t really notable, the two new lenses are. Olympus took two of its micro four-thirds lenses and gave them a silent focus and a trimmer profile. They are the 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 (the diagonal size of the four-thirds image sensor is half that of a 35-mm film camera, so you double the lens&amp;#039; focal length to get its 35-mm equivalent\u201428-84-mm) and the 40-150-mm f/4-5.6 (80-300-mm equivalent). The new MSC (Movie and Still Compatible) lenses focus internally, so you can&amp;#039;t see the ends extend and retract, and they really are much quieter than their predecessors. In a quiet room, we can hear the older lenses run the paces of autofocus, but to hear the MSCs, we had to hold them right up to our ears. The payoff will be in higher quality video recording with less noise from the camera that can ruin a shot. These are kit lenses with builds that won&amp;#039;t impress professionals, but their tiny stature fits neatly with the PEN style. Olympus also released a new device for photo sharing called the PENPal. It&amp;#039;s a Bluetooth-enabled device that plugs into the accessory port (unfortunately, it blocks the hot shoe) that allows you to send photos from the camera to a phone. Your Twitpics will never look better. With no mirror behind the camera lens, there&amp;#039;s no optical view, only a digital world on the LCD. While that may annoy purists, it offers an advantage: You can apply the effects you want and see how they&amp;#039;ll look before you take a shot. That goes for manual exposure adjustments, white balance, aperture and shutter speeds and artistic filters. The Bottom Line This camera is great on its own with a kit lens and priced right. But, even more importantly, it&amp;#039;s a solid centerpiece around which to build a collection of lenses and accessories. Nobody in the mirrorless class beats Olympus on the sheer number and quality of lenses available to its cameras. And, with its two new lenses, the company has shown its commitment to fill out the line of micro four-thirds lenses, too. The newest PEN is an improvement over the old one, even if not by much, and, at $600, it&amp;#039;s an affordable midpoint between professional cameras and point-and-shoots. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/reviews/a6505/olympus-pen-e-pl2-mirrorless-camera-review/>