PETALING JAYA: Barely five months since the release of the E-P1, Olympus (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd has just announced the Pen E-P2, an updated version of their popular Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens digicam.

The major new feature of the E-P2 is the addition of an “Electronic Accessories Port” near the flash hotshoe which accepts an electronic viewfinder (EVF), one of the most requested features for the E-P1, which only used its Live View LCD display exclusively.

The EVF is a 1.44-million dot colour display which Olympus claims is the highest resolution add-on EVF currently found on the market.

The EVF can be flipped upwards so the user can use the camera at low angles and still be able to look into the EVF.

The accessory port isn’t only for the EVF, however — it also accepts a microphone input accessory that allows you to attach a regular stereo mini-jack microphone, thus eliminating the lens focusing noise that the built-in microphone picks up during video recording.

The E-P2 now features an AF tracking feature — once the camera locks on to a subject, the autofocus system will track it even if it moves around within the frame.

On the software side, Olympus has added two new Art Filters to the already extensive list found on the E-P1, bringing it up to eight in total.

The Cross Process Art Filter mimics another popular technique used by Lomo camera users, which originally produced surrealistic colours in images by processing negative film in positive film chemicals.

The Diorama Art Filter is particularly interesting — it selectively blurs images and enhances colours in a way that makes the final image look as if it were a shot of a miniature diorama. It’s difficult to explain the effect, but the final result is actually quite convincing.

Apart from these changes, the E-P2 is largely the same as the E-P1 in features — it has the same body (but now comes in a black finish), 12.3-megapixel high-speed Live MOS sensor, HD Movie recording, HDMI output, Live View, dust reduction system and accepts SDHC storage cards.

Together with the announcement of the camera, Olympus also announced the imminent release of a couple of new Micro Four Thirds lenses, namely the M.Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm f/4.0-5.6 (equivalent to 18-36mm in 35mm format) and the M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-150mm f/4.0-5.6 (equivalent to a 28-300mm lens in 35mm format).

The two lenses will be available separately in the first half of next year.

The Olympus Pen E-P2 is slated to appear in stores early next month, and will come in three bundles — RM3,799 for just the E-P2 body and VF-2 electronic viewfinder; RM3,999 for a kit with the E-P2, VF-2 and 14-42mm lens, or RM3,999 for the E-P2, VF-2 and the 17mm f/2.8 pancake lens. — TAN KIT HOONG

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www.olympusimage.com.my