The Olympus PEN E-PL3 announced on 30 June 2011 is Olympus Corporation's seventh camera that adheres to the Micro Four Thirds system design standard. The E-PL3 succeeds the Olympus PEN E-PL2, and was announced in concert with two other models, the Olympus PEN E-P3, and the Olympus PEN E-PM1. The E-PL3 is commonly said to be the "Lite" version of the E-P3, much as the E-PL1 and E-PL2 were "Lite" versions of the E-P1 and E-P2, respectively.
Technology
The E-PL3 addresses some of the concerns that critics had about previous PEN models, notably, slow handling, due to slow autofocus speed and difficulty seeing the LCD panel under certain conditions. The E-PL3 increases autofocus speed through use of a 120 Hz refresh rate for its sensor, similar to the technology used in the recently released Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 and G3 cameras. Olympus claims, based on in-house testing, that the E-PL3, along with its E-PM1 cousin, have similar characteristics to the flagship E-P3, which according to Olympus has the world's fastest autofocus speed of any camera as of the product announcement date. The benefits of the 120 Hz refresh rate also provides the ability for continuous autofocus tracking during bursts of exposures, a faster shutter response and less blackout time between exposures. The E-PL3 lacks the E-P3 capacitive touchscreen for creative camera control, and the E-P3 OLED type display that is supposed to vastly improve performance in sunny conditions, and off-angle viewing. Instead, the E-PL3 has a tiltable LCD, which allows easy above the head, waist level, or low off the ground viewing. The E-PL3 continues with the proprietary Accessory Port, a power and communication port, which allows the use of various accessories, such as an external stereo microphone for HD video recording, LED macro lights, and a bluetooth communications adapter. The accessory port continues to be compatible with the high resolution, optional hotshoe mounted VF-2 electronic viewfinder. The VF-2 had a flip angle eyepiece, allowing viewing from 0–90 degrees. The VF-2 had been criticized for being very expensive and for not having a locking device, with some users reporting easy dislodgement of the VF-2 from the hotshoe. To address these criticisms, in July 2011, Olympus announced the introduction of an optional VF-3 EVF, which has a lower resolution and a locking device.
