Olympus PEN E-PL6 Digital Camera with 14-42mm II Lens

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As others have mentioned, this camera is a steal at this price. Probably the cheapest micro four thirds camera on the market and better IQ than the majority of its kin. Having recently owned a number of cameras including a Canon SL1, Panasonic G5, GX7 and Sony RX100 m3 -- I can safely say the E-PL6 is looking like a keeper and its hundreds of dollars cheaper than those as well. Image quality, especially in low light, trumps all previous mentioned cameras except for maybe the GX7. I find the grain at higher isos from Olympus much more pleasing and easier to work with in Photoshop than the ugly color splotches from Canons DSLRs or the detail smudging Sony does. Remember that this camera has the same sensor as the OMD EM-5, just in a smaller body. Hard to beat. There are a few compromises and cons of course. The default menu setup is just terrible and I can imagine that a lot of people may even give up on the camera before learning it since so many settings are buried. Check bottom of review for changes you should make before even taking the camera out to shoot. Not a big fan of the small buttons but you get used to them after a couple days. Never seen such a small and sensitive shutter button before though. I cant imagine the little rear dial withstanding much abuse either but Im not rough with mine, so it should be fine. An EVF wouldve been nice too but for the price, its hard to complain. All in all, I cant recommend this little camera enough. Even with the quirks, they are far overshadowed by the great images and usability you get out of it. Unlike a lifeless Canon, half-baked Panasonic or boring Sony, I actually enjoy using this pen. Cheap price, fast autofocus, fast startup, great low light, decent kit lens, touchscreen, tilting LCD and body stabilization. Lots of great, nice looking art modes too which are usually useless on most cams. What more can be said? Many people grab one of these low-priced pens as a side camera and more often then not, youll read that they end up using it more than their main cam. Thats for a good reason which I quickly discovered. An easy choice if you dont want to cough up hundreds more for a bigger body thatll have quirks of its own. Better off spending that extra money on lenses. Id also suggest grabbing the MCG-2 grip if you have larger hands. --------------------------------------- 1. Enable the Super User Control Panel Menu -> Setup Menu -> Menu Display and set the top display option to "On" Custom Menu -> Disp/PC -> Control Settings and for each mode, set Live Control to "Off" and Live SCP to "On" 2. Disable Keep Warm Color Menu -> Custom Menu -> Color/WB and set WB Auto Keep Warm Color to "Off" 3. Unlock rear dial (to easily set shutter speed/aperature) Menu -> Button/Dial and set Lock to "Off" 4. Fix LCD colors Menu -> Setup Menu -> Temp Icon (above Rec View) and hit Info button on the back of camera to change it from Vivid to Natural With these small tweaks, youll now be able to access every setting you need by hitting your OK button and not have to dig through menus. Also your reds wont appear overblown and your skintones wont look like burnt tomatos in your images anymore. I have no idea why these were set that way by default but thankfully these changes make a huge difference.

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This is my official replacement for the greatest camera I ever owned. The world renowned Olympus E-PL1. First off, my E-PL1 was getting up there in age. I LOVE that camera, but its a little slow to focus with my newborn son and pictures of my animals (both dogs and cats.) So I actually briefly went back to the point and shoot market. I figured it would be nice to have the extra zoom plus surely the image quality would be better then years ago due to improved technology. Boy was that a mistake! I bought a Nikon S9700 with whopping 30X zoom. I was horrified to realize the picture quality had actually taken a step backwards when compared to some of my old point and shoots (Panasonic ZS7 and Kodak Z1012.) Ugh! I kept it due to getting it for a cheap price and use it as a duffle bag camera to take with me on my numerous traveling as a Railroad Conductor. Decent video but the pictures are quite bland, somewhat noisy, and camera has poor auto focus and low light ability. Not much positive to say about it other then it has a long zoom. Realizing theres no way this Nikon could fill the void when it came to the picture quality of my E-PL1. I began searching for the proper upgrade without breaking the bank. Came across a great deal on the E-PL5. Was about to buy it, but then found out I could get the newer updated E-PL6 for the same price! So I jumped and here we are. First impressions based on getting it out of the box and holding it. Not too happy in the beginning. Noticed the body felt kind of small and cheap. E-PL1 feels so sturdy and you feel like you have a substantial quality camera in your hands. The E-PL1 has an amazing hand grip on the side that feels so good in your hands and was a pleasure to hold, it also featured vintage retro good looks. The E-PL6 has dumped the handsome retro body in favor of a small generic boxy look. I got several compliments on the looks of my old E-PL1, Dont think I will with this one, kind of sad. Also the hand grip on the side is gone, in favor of a screw in cheap little tiny grip that feels like a tacked on after thought. Possibly the worst change is the flash. Instead of the quality, beautifully working built in flash of the E-PL1, you get an external cheap little flash that you must manually put on the hot shoe anytime you want to use the flash. I used to always add my Sema 1 Microphone in that hot shoe for added quality sound in case I felt like shooting some video, but now that spot is hogged by the external flash. Now the good. much improved and faster Auto Focus. Shots are much quicker and look considerably better when in motion. Much improved LCD screen, wider and more vibrant, also flips out and can be aimed forward for selfies. Now features a touch screen also. 12 built in art filters instead of 6 on the E-PL1. This was a big deal for me because I love street shooting fun pictures. I like artistic freedom when doing so. I dont believe in photo shopping or enhancing pictures after the fact in any way. What I see is what I get. My favorite filters are still Pinhole, Grainy film, and Sepia ,(which were all available on the E-PL1.) But I still enjoy some of the new filters too. Still love my cheap Holga Lens to use with the filters. Amazing retro shots. I feel the picture quality (from a retro standpoint) was a little better with the E-PL1. With the Holga lens and the pinhole or Sepia filters youd have sworn some of my shots were actually shot with old film. On the E-PL6 they look a little more digitally. On the plus side the E-PL6 is lightning quick with the Holga lens on it. You can shoot at a feverish pace where as on the old camera the shots were slow and labored. Neither camera is very good in low light, but the E-PL6 is definitely better. If anyone has any settings that would help speed up and improve low light performance without the use of a tri-pod or flash please post them. The video of the E-PL6 is now 1080p but I wouldnt say it looks substantially better then the E-PL1. Also I was disappointed to see that the E-PL6 still records video at a stuttered frame rate when recording with the art filters on. Really kills the fun when trying to make what would have been some fun looking vintage footage. It also seems inexcusable for a camera made to sell for about $600 just a couple years ago. Overall Im decently pleased with my new camera at the price point of $299. If Id paid much more I think Id be a bit more disappointed. I just wish I could take the electronics and new lcd touch screen, and put them in the old body of the E-PL1. UPDATED!! 5/18. Im updating my original review from a reluctant 4 stars (was really more of a 3.5), to an enthusiastic 5 stars! First off I tended to jump the gun on my original review without spending enough time with, but most importantly I was reviewing a defective camera! I want to start by amending my review portion pertaining to build quality. The E-Pl6 is actually quite nice. I was just originally taken back by the shrunken down size (from the E-PL1) and the fact they took out the internal flash. But the PL6 really does feel good in the hands once you get used to it. It is constructed of nice quality, just not as tanky as the PL1. But most importantly my first one turned out to be defective. I was complaining about the low light ability, well it got worse and worse and I couldnt crank up the ISO at all. The camera was performing slow and blurring almost every shot in just indoor lighting, let alone in really low light. I knew there was a problem so I contacted Amazon. Replacement was rapidly sent. MUCH MUCH better. Turns out my first one was never at full potential to begin with. This one shoots way faster, and even handle itself WAY better in low light situations. Now this is the camera Ive been hearing other people raving about! I also spent some more time shooting and comparing video, and this one really is considerably higher quality when shooting video then the E-PL1. The Low light the pictures AND VIDEO blow the doors off the PL1 (and all my point and shoot cameras for that matter.) Cant imagine a better deal at $299! What a steal at that price....

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I like this camera much more than I expected to. I bought the two lens kit with the 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 IIR and the 40-150mm f4-5.6R. the short/normal zoom isnt a low-light performer but it works well outdoors and is reasonably sharp. The 40-150mm was a pleasant surprise. I took it to shoot at a zoo and I was able to get very clean images (see attached hippo pic). As another reviewer mentioned, the default screen layout is nearly incomprehensible, but if you customize it so that the Super Control Panel is the default screen for P, A, S and M modes it becomes one of the best camera operating systems of any manufacturer. I also took the additional steps of changing the FN button to ISO and the magnifying glass button to aperture (both of these behaviors only happen when the camera is in shooting mode). The camera really became "alive" with the Olympus 25mm f1.8 prime lens. That lens in combination with the m43 sensor (the same one as in the Olmpus OMD E5) creates sharpness, contrast, color and bokeh takes my breath away (see attached Christmas-themed picture).

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I havent even owned this camera for a week and weve already gone through a rollercoaster of emotions together. When I first unboxed the camera, I was in love. The camera has a slightly vintage look. Not as vintage-looking as the rest of the models surprisingly, but still a really nice look. Its lightweight, but doesnt feel too light in your hands. Awesome weight for wearing around your neck all day, doesnt strain at all. Great camera for carrying around all day, traveling, etc. On to actual camera quality. I basically went from 8mp Kodak digitals during the flip phone era straight to "iPhone photography" for the last few years, so I dont have much experience with even point and shoots, let alone DSLRs. However, quality seemed good upon first using the camera. I was quite disappointed in the camera clarity because Im very interested in nature macros. I considered returning the camera and purchasing a more expensive DSLR, but decided to give the camera a few days before returning! Im so glad I did because just some playing with the settings and understanding aperture better made a world of difference, but discovering the nature macro setting in the "scene" category was a miracle! I can finally take my sharp, nature macros. Sunset setting and e-Portrait are also awesome. Ive included a few un-edited examples using nature macro, sunset, and iAuto because, wow! Color quality is amazing even straight off the camera. I cant imagine how great this camera would be with a good photo-editing program. The possibilities are endless. My only other complaint is that the settings on this camera do come pre-loaded a little funky and colors show up super warm/orange. There is another review listening 6 steps or so to change these funky settings before you start taking photos. I would look through the previous reviews for that before anything! If not, make sure you at least change "keep warm colors" in the settings under WB. Makes a world of difference! This camera always captures amazing color now and I cannot complain at all about any of it. This camera is a complete success for what I want it for, beginners nature photography and just everyday living photos. Settings are easy to understand and fun to play with. Awesome shutter speed, awesome auto focus. Just an awesome camera for a great deal. I feel like I will be an Olympus camera holder for life. I would recommend this camera to anyone looking for a great $300 range camera, who is maybe a little afraid of DSLRs. This micro 3/4ths sure packs a punch!

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What an excellent camera. I bought this specifically for my upcoming multi-city trip to France, so that I do not have to schlep a DSLR around, but still take photographs that are several notches above what my iPhone 6s could take. The E-PL6 did not disappoint. On auto, the photos were sharp and were well-saturated (I did increase the saturation manually), and the few video clips I took also were crisp and in HD. What I enjoyed using the most, however, are the filters. Each photo I take is registered in four versions: Pop Art, Vivd, Dramatic (bleach bypass) and original; eliciting four different emotions from each image. (Although I will concede that there are some photos not meant for a specific filter no matter how well-composed the shot.) During my trip, I had the camera set on this mode, which left me to just go ahead and take pictures. Obviously, as a prosumer-level camera, I am only touching the surface by defaulting to the E-PL6s "auto" modes. For the nature of my trip—a whirlwind one—I thought that it performed great. Now that I have time to sit down and play around with its manual modes, I am optimistic that it will please me just as well.

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This camera is fantastic, and at just shy under $330 (w/taxes) it is definitely worth it. I was a bit skeptical when I first purchased it, and although changing the ISO can be a bit annoying (to my knowledge you have to access the main menu to do it), its been very fun to shoot with. I cant wait to spend some money on some fixed lenses for this baby. It might just replace my Canon DSLR for photo shoots!

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This was a gift for a beginner, a tool for learning photography. The value of this camera bundle is unbeatable. As a student, I worked in a camera shop, and was impressed with the beautifully executed Olympus OM film cameras. I bought the compact XA rangefinder for travel, and that was the unbeatable deal at the time. If youve read the other reviews, you already know this is a darn good camera at a great price. Thus, my comments below are more tangential. I prefer the 4:3 aspect ratio of this camera to the APS-C 3:2. The 4:3 is more useful for portraits and works better with print sizes like 8.5x11. Those extra pixels on the edges of 3:2 end up discarded. This camera allows shooting square format, which I think is great for beginners since it allows the camera to always be held in a comfortable horizontal position. Shooting at waist level with the flip out screen is a nice option. The square shooting mode crops out the optical image area that has the lowest quality, especially important when using a kit lens. You end up with 12 mpix images, so a compromise. The small included flash may not be as convenient as a built-in one. But, in either case, these flashes have limited value as main lights since they approximate an on-axis point source and generally produce harsh results. The low-light capabilities of this camera, based on the sensor and in-body image stabilization, are good enough that you can quite often shoot with available light and get more aesthetic results than using flash. The flash can actually be useful as a fill light when shooting outdoors. The $99 kit lens is the limiting factor in this package. It is generally a good compromise. But, for portraits, it is about 10mm too short and 2 f-stops too slow on the long end. It is not optimal for travel since it is somewhat deep compared to the slim camera body. It does retract a bit for storage, but not much. For more options, a handful of good primes in the $200-300 range are available from Panasonic and Olympus. As long as you dont put a low quality UV filter on the kit lens, the optical performance should meet expectations. I did not buy a filter to protect the lens, but got a rigid lens hood instead. The only filter I bought was a polarizer for landscapes. A linear polarizer can be used on a mirror-less camera. It cost less than the circular kind, but is hard to find. Of course, this camera shoots raw format, which I use exclusively. If you dont like to post-process raw images, then using the raw+JPEG format is a good option - storage is cheap. You may want to someday process those digital negatives, and JPEG is a poor choice for editing. Olympus Viewer software is included for organizing and processing your images. It allows non-destructive editing, an indispensable feature. It has functionality similar to Adobe Lightroom, but is more limited, less refined, and slow on some raw operations. The software should be sufficient for non power users, and for general work flow is more practical than software like Photoshop. Using the slide show feature to tag and discard images is a good way to get started. No video editing functionality is provided. An (optional) type A to type D HDMI cable is useful if traveling without a laptop, to view images on a big screen. On a TV with the feature enabled, HDMI-CEC will allow control of the camera slide show playback using the TV remote. You can use the < and > menu keys on the remote, as well as the red and green buttons if available, for more features. I wish there were a way to delete images as well. To improve the travel friendly nature of this camera, a means to charge the battery in camera would be welcome. The external charger works fine, but takes up too much space. On the other hand, the battery has good capacity, so you may be able to get away with carrying two batteries and no charger. To complete the camera kit, I purchased these minimalist accessories: Sony 32GB UHS-1 SDHC card Lowepro Courier 80 bag - camera fits pointing downward or sideways Fotasy LW37 lens hood Polaroid 62mm lens cap for the lens hood Panasonic polarizing filter DMW-LPL37 - priced lower on that auction site Wise Tiger 5ft Micro HDMI to HDMI cable Pros: Compact camera body Better sensor than other cameras in its price range Respectable build quality Responsive controls, both mechanical and touch Useable controls, even for large hands In body image stabilization, no extra $$ for IS lenses Tilting screen Touch screen focus point selection and shooting Lens choices from Olympus and Panasonic Good battery life Electronic 2-axis level Cons: Cumbersome menu system No OEM lens shade ($$ option) No viewfinder. But at the price, I didnt expect one. Optional EVF is $$$ Inconvenient SD card access Only one kit lens option

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I didnt expect to love it as much as I do because I am such a novice and I have never been able to take the picture I want, but... even I can take the picture I want now! Totally awesome camera. I am looking forward to reading the book and knowing everything about it, but I dont have to know anything to take a great picture. Thanks Olympus! Thanks to Amazon customer service to for fixing the cluster that surrounded the delivery. It wasnt the fault of either one of us, but you guys are the best!

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After reading other reviews, I decided to give Olympus a shot even though Im a Canon lover. I was looking for a smaller and lighter camera to take with me for a 4-month trip to Europe instead of dragging my bulky and heavy EOS everywhere. Not only was this way easier to transport but it also gave me gorgeous photos and the flexibility to adjust my settings manually. Night photos also turned out great and I never felt the need to use the tiny flash adaptor that comes with the camera. Photos came out sharp and with beautiful colors. I did change my settings according to the recommendations from another popular review here so that might have helped with the quality of my photos. The camera itself is pretty adorable though maybe a little fragile, but I usually take good care of my cameras and I havent had any issues after a year of use. Could not be happier with it! Totally recommend it.

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Cant beat this little camera for the price, It is good enough that I have left my larger DSLR at home on several trips. The menu system is frustrating to use but once you have it set the way you like, the camera is easy to use and takes great vibrant pictures. The kit lens is nice enough but it is far too large to do this little camera justice, I immediately purchased the Olympus 17mm f2.8 lens and have never put the kit lens back on the camera after that.

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