TO HOLD AND TO HAVE OLYMPUS PEN-F

Transcription

1 OLYMPUS PEN-F REPORT BY PAUL BURROWS The new PEN-F pays homage to the original half-frame 35mm camera which first established Olympus s reputation for compactness without compromising capabilities. TO HOLD AND TO HAVE Paying homage to the half-frame camera that established Olympus s reputation for mixing compactness with high performance, the PEN-F is big on both looks and capabilities. t the start of the 96s, it s A probably fair to say that Olympus was one of quite a number of Japanese camera companies looking for ways to expand beyond its home market and, in particular, take on the premier European brands. Like just about everybody else, it had previously built rollfilm folders, TLRs and some interesting, but largely unremarkable 35mm fixed-lens cameras. Then along came a talented young designer called Yoshihisa Maitani. Maitani believed small cameras could be made as capable as bigger ones and he would, of course, go on to prove this with the legendary OM 35mm SLR system and the XA Series of pocket-sized 35mm compacts. But before this, in 959, he came up with the original Olympus Pen which achieved its smallness by recording onto half a 35mm frame. It was a piece of lateral thinking that was subsequently adopted by quite a number 36

2 of other camera makers, but Maitani kept Olympus ahead by devising more advanced Pen models there was a string of them through the 96s and, in late 963, the camera which singled him out as a truly gifted camera designer. It s far less wellknown than the OM- or the XA, but the Pen F was pure brilliance a half-frame 35mm SLR so it was truly compact, but could be fitted with a wide selection of lenses (in the end, 8 models spanning 8mm to 5mm in their full- 35mm equivalents). Additionally, the Pen F used a novel rotary-type, titanium focal-plane shutter which allowed flash sync across its speed range up to /5 second. With the reflex mirror turned on its side so the standard orientation was portrait and a system of mirrors for the optical viewfinder, the Pen F didn t need a pentaprism, allowing for a smooth, slimline RF-style body. The shutter speed dial is on the front panel an arrangement Maitani further refined for the OM- and the half-frame format enabled double the number of shots 48 from a 4-exposure film roll or 7 from a 36-exposure length so the Pen F was also cheaper to run. There were eventually three models the original F, the FT (966) with a built-in TTL exposure meter and the FV (967) which was an updated version of the meterless original with, among other things, a brighter viewfinder. In addition to the extensive lens system for the Pen Fs which included two zooms, a macro and a reflex-type super telephoto Olympus actually offered mount adaptors for Canon, Exakta, Nikon and Pentax full- 35mm lenses plus, later on, its own OM system lenses. Fast forward to 6 and there are clearly plenty of good reasons why Olympus is celebrating the half-frame Pen F with its digital PEN-F, but there are some significant similarities too. The concept is obviously the same (although the Micro Four Thirds sensor is closer to film in size than half-frame 35mm), including leveraging a focal length magnification factor to extract increased telephoto capabilities from physically smaller lenses even if the optical technology of the day didn t allow for ultra-wides. The capacity to fit a variety of other lenses via mount adaptors is also very much a feature of the contemporary mirrorless camera, but perhaps most importantly, Yoshihisa Maitani wanted to prove that a smaller-than-35mm image size didn t necessarily compromise image quality. Today this is very Built-in viewfinder employs a.36 megadots OLED panel. Proximity sensor and dioptre control are located alongside the eyepiece. much the message of the MFT format s proponents, particularly as the PEN-F moves up to a brand new.77 megapixels sensor. PREMIUM PRICED With Olympus s recent activities very much concentrated on its OM-D SLR-style mirrorless system, there was some conjecture that it might be the end of the road for the Digital PEN camera line. Ironically, the PEN-F is not only the most capable Digital PEN model ever, but also the priciest although it s now mostly all about the styling because, thanks to the incorporation of an electronic viewfinder (EVF), the basic recipe is the same as that of an OM-D model. Consequently, it s hard to see Olympus bothering about any more budget-priced Digital PEN models now that you can have the excellent OM-D E-M Mark II for instance. Mind you, in the case of the PEN-F, the styling is a pretty important element of its overall appeal. It is gloriously retro, although ironically, looks a lot less like the original than the earlier Digital PEN models. Like the film cameras, these were quite dainty in their styling while the PEN-F is a whole lot more purposeful and vies with Fujifilm s X-Pro as to which can do the most with traditional dials and switches. It s still comparatively compact smaller, incidentally, than Panasonic s rival GX8 but feels very solidly built and, quite frankly, looks fantastic in both the black and chrome finishes. The bodyshell is a combination of magnesium alloy and aluminium covers with milled dials. Interestingly, there isn t an exposed screwhead to be seen anywhere. The PEN-F isn t, however, weather sealed. There s an OM-style power switch, dials for the main shooting modes and exposure compensation, front and rear input wheels; the former encircling the shutter release which, like Fujifilm s cameras, has a cable-release socket. Additionally, a new, dial-like selector switch is THE PEN-F S STYING IS GLORIOUSLY RETRO AND VIES WITH FUJIFILM S X-PRO AS TO WHICH CAN DO THE MOST WITH TRADITIONAL DIALS AND SWITCHES. Menu system is the same as is used in the OM-D cameras. Monitor screen has both tilt and swing adjustments, and incorporates capacitive touch controls. Rear control panel layout is straightforward and centres around a four-way navigator keypad. 37

3 ON TRIAL located on the front panel in the same location as the original s shutter speed dial. This is called the Creative Dial and it essentially centralises all the camera s image manipulation functions such as the Art Filter effects. We ll go into more detail about the Creative Dial s operations shortly. The EVF is the same.36 megadots OLED panel as is used in the OM-D E-M5 II and is very neatly integrated into the top panel with both the proximity sensor for auto switching with the LCD monitor screen and the The On/Off switch reprises the original Pen F s film rewind crank. The PEN-F is more of a premium product than the previous Digital PEN models and, ironically, also looks less like its film-era predecessor. ON THE INSIDE, THE PEN-F PRETTY WELL FOLLOWS THE LATEST OM-D RECIPE INCLUDING FIVE-AXIS SENSOR- BASED IMAGE STABILISATION, A SENSOR SHUTTER AND UP TO FPS CONTINUOUS SHOOTING. Well-built bodyshell uses a combination of magnesium alloy and aluminium covers. Construction technique eliminates visible screw heads. dioptre control located alongside, but separately from the eyepiece. As on the OM-D cameras, there s the option of using the Simulated Optical Viewfinder (S-OVF) mode which by-passes any settingrelated adjustments (such as ISO or exposure compensation) to give a real-world view. The monitor screen is a 7.6 cm LCD panel with a resolution of.4 megadots, adjustments for both tilt and swing, and touch controls. The rear control panel is a straightforward arrangement of a four-way navigator pad which incorporates function keys, and a small collection of buttons for replay, menu and info settings. There isn t any room for a builtin flash so the PEN-F comes Front input wheel surrounds the shutter release which, incidentally, has a traditional cable-release socket. packaged with Olympus s compact FL-LM3 accessory unit which has a tilt/swing head. The battery and memory card share a compartment in the camera s base. The latter provides UHS-II speed support with SDXC devices. RECIPE FOR SUCCESS On the inside, the PEN-F pretty well follows the latest OM-D recipe as currently baked in the E-M5 II including five-axis sensor-based image stabilisation, a sensor shutter to give a top speed of /6, second, up to fps continuous shooting and 8/5p video shooting at a bit rate of 77 Mbps (see the Making Movies panel for more video info). Olympus says the IS The exposure compensation dial has a setting range of +/-3. EV, but up to +/-5. EV is available if this function is transferred to one of the input wheels. system is, in fact, updated again, allowing for up to ten non-mft lenses to be registered in-camera to optimise stabilisation with these set-ups. Up to five stops of correction for camera shake is potentially available (depending on the lens focal length) and there s the choice of vertical and horizontal panning modes plus auto detection. Derived from the IS system is the PEN-F s High Res Shot mode which is also borrowed from the OM-D feature inventory and employs pixel shifting to give JPEGs with a resolution of 5 megapixels and RAW files with a massive 8 MP. These are the result of eight images four recorded with a half-pixel shift in each direction Olympus finally got to grips with video with the OM-D E-M5 Mark II. After a string of mirrorless models which only really delivered the minimum capabilities here, the E-M5 II shot straight into the big league having enough to go head-to-head with the classleading Lumix GH4. The good news is that the PEN-F is packed with plenty of good stuff too, but the bad news is that there s at least one key omission which really compromises its appeal for video-makers. Not having a stereo audio output is forgivable just but not having a stereo audio input is hard to fathom in this day and age. The camera s built-in stereo microphones may be reasonably good, but they re no substitute for using a dedicated external microphone. Obviously then, you can t with the PEN-F which means recording soundtracks separately and, if you re this keen, you re going to be looking elsewhere for your camera. This is a pity because elsewhere the PEN-F is pretty competent, starting with its five-axis image stabilisation, continuous AF (with the convenience of touch focus); the availability of 4 Art Filter effects, the film-look profiles and the Colour Creator. The PEN-F records Full HD at 6 fps, 5 fps, 3 fps, 5 fps and 4 shooting is with progressive scan and the option of All-Intra intraframe or IPB interframe compression regimes (although All-I is only available with the three slower speeds). All-I compression optimises image quality and is really the only option is you re planning to do a lot of editing while IPB delivers smaller, more manageable files. With All-I compression, the bit rate is an impressive 77 Mbps and when using IPB it s still a very acceptable 5 Mbps. 38

4 As on the OM-D cameras, there s an extensive Custom Menu as Olympus chooses to put the vast majority of settings here. Replay/review screen options include a thumbnail with a full set of histograms. The live view screen can be configured with guide grids and a real-time histogram (above) or a dual-axis level indicator. (i.e. up/down/left/right) to boost the resolution and four with a full-pixel shift to boost the colour being combined in-camera to give JPEGs with an image size of 86x6 pixels (around 5 MB in file size) or RAW files sized at a whopping,368x7776 pixels (and around 5 MB in file size). This is essentially digital medium format territory, but there s no such thing as a free lunch in image so the limitations are that the subject matter needs to be static, the camera has to be on a tripod, and the maximum ISO that s useable is 6. Nevertheless, in the right situations, High Res Shot is a powerful tool for optimising image quality and Olympus says it will only get more versatile in the future as sensor-based IS systems become further advanced in their capacity to correct for different types of movement and at everlower shutter speeds. As noted earlier, the PEN-F s sensor is new and the highest resolution device seen so far in an Olympus mirrorless camera. It s mated with the latest True Pic VII processor which, among other things, gives the five-axis IS system its grunt and has a sensitivity range equivalent to ISO to 5,6 with a.3-stops pull to ISO 8. The effective resolution is.3 megapixels, giving a maximum image size of 584x3888 pixels at the standard 4:3 aspect ratio. The aspect ratio can be set to 3:, 3:4, 6:9 or : and, as on all Olympus mirrorless cameras, there s a big choice of image sizes for JPEG capture plus four levels of compression. Any combination of four can be preset in the main menu, via the custom menu. The top shooting speed of fps is achieved with the autofocusing (and metering) locked to the first frame, and it slows to 5. fps with continuous adjustment. However, when using the sensor shutter, there s an H+ mode which gives continuous shooting at up to fps. The sensor shutter s speed range is /5-/6,, but if you want the fps speed then obviously the lack of slower speeds isn t going to be an issue. The sensor shutter also enables silent shooting. DIALLING IN CREATIVITY The PEN-F s selection of JPEG processing options is extensive, starting with a set of seven Picture Mode presets which, except for the e-portrait option, have adjustable parameters and a provision for saving one user-defined preset. Each colour Picture Mode can be adjusted for sharpness, contrast, colour saturation and tonal gradation which, in turn, has a selection of sub-settings called Normal, Auto, High Key and Low Key. The monochrome Picture Mode replaces the saturation adjustment with a set of contrast control filters (yellow, orange, red and green) and a choice of toning effects (sepia, blue, purple or green). After a slow start with in-camera special effects Olympus has now gone overboard so, like the E-M5 II, the PEN-F offers a total of 4 Art Filters, most of which are adjustable with up to three variations (giving 8 options in all) and can also be combined with a number of Art Effects. There s a bracketing function which allows for every effect and variation plus the Picture Modes, the Colour Creator setting, and the new Colour Profile and Monochrome Profile settings (three of each) to be included in the sequence. This means, should you so desire it, there s the possibility of actually having a grand total of 4 versions of an image! The new Creative Dial is designed to make all this a bit easier to manage so it s here that the Art Filters and the Colour Creator are accessed plus the new Colour Profile and Monochrome Profile settings. Beyond the control itself though, Olympus s thinking here is that as many more images are being uploaded directly from the camera (i.e. via WiFi), there s a need for more scope for making adjustments in-camera. The Colour Creator we ve seen before and it works pretty much like Photoshop s Saturation/Hue adjustment. Also familiar is the Curves-style Highlight & Shadow Control which, as before, allows for adjustment of the highlights and/or the shadows, but now also includes the mid-tones. After setting the Creative Dial to its CRT setting, a lever located below the main mode dial switches between the Colour Creator and Highlight & Shadow Control with the front and rear input wheels then used to make the various adjustments (and pressing the INFO button selects the midtones control). You can go further with the profiles adjustments which can subsequently be saved essentially as D-I-Y picture modes. The colour profile option allows for colours to be individually or collectively adjusted over ten steps (i.e. plus/minus five steps), again using the front and rear input wheels. And you can again adjust the highlights, mid-tones and shadows, as is the case with the mono profiles which also have a colour filter wheel for adjusting contrast (eight colours each with three levels) and a shading or vignetting control which ranges from white to black. Additionally, you can add a grain effect namely Low (i.e. fine), Medium (as it says on the tin) or High (coarse). Again, there are a lot of options here which take a bit of exploring and each process involves using a number of controls, although once you ve performed them several times it should become second nature. Three profile settings are each provided for colour and B&W, the first fully customisable from scratch, the other two adjustable, but with default settings. The Monochrome profile defaults are for classic B&W film and infrared B&W film, while the two Colour profiles are called Chrome Film Rich Colour and Chrome Film VS which has enhanced saturation. If you think these profiles look a bit like Fujifilm s Film Simulation presets, you re probably right. OFF THE MENU The PEN-F essentially has the same interface as the OM-D models so it s not without its idiosyncrasies, and the instruction manual even the full 39

5 % Doc:.8mb Info Test images made with the M.Zuiko Digital -4mm f.8 PRO lens. Best quality JPEGs exhibit excellent detailing and definition, well-controlled noise up to ISO 6, and a good dynamic range without any correction. The options for varying colour saturation and hue are numerous and now include a fully customisable Colour Profile. 4 ON TRIAL

6 PDF version can be frustratingly light on detail. The menu system puts pretty well every adjustment into the Custom section which, subsequently, comprises a total of 6 items, many of which should really be in the main Shooting menu (which, consequently, is just two pages long). This includes things like noise reduction, shading compensation (for lens vignetting) and the colour space settings plus more regularly used items such as the ISO, white balance, metering and drive modes. That said, there s also direct access to these via the navigator pad and, more conveniently overall, the camera s Super Control screens which can be navigated traditionally or by touch. Back in the main Shooting menu there are further image processing functions, namely Keystone Compensation (for perspective control), a multiple exposure facility, an intervalometer for creating timelapse sequences and a multi-shot HDR function. The intervalometer allows for up to 999 frames to be recorded at intervals of up to 4 hours. The HDR function has two auto modes which capture four frames at two different amounts of exposure variation and then combines them into the one image with either high or super-high contrast. Alternatively, there s a choice of presets three, five or seven frames at +/-. EV; and either three or five frames at +/-3. EV. Multiple exposures actually only double exposures can be made with the option of automatic exposure adjustment. The white balance control options include auto correction with a Keep Warm Colour option for use when shooting under tungsten lighting, seven presets and provisions for storing up to four custom measurements. All have fine-tuning over the amberto-blue and green-to-magenta colour ranges. Manual colour temperatures can be selected over a range of to 4, degrees Kelvin. Auto white balance bracketing is performed over a sequence of three frames with the choice of two, four or six steps of adjustment per frame. As with the OM-D models, all the auto bracketing functions are collected in one menu selection and the other options are for exposure, flash, sensitivity and focus as well as the previously described combinations of Art Filters, Picture Modes and Colour/Mono Profiles. FOCUS AND EXPOSURE The PEN-F has the same main camera control systems as the E-M5 II, starting with a conventional contrast-detection autofocusing system which employs 8 measuring points arranged in a 9x9 pattern to give pretty extensive coverage across the frame. Point selection can be left to the camera or performed manually with selectivity varied via a choice of two target sizes or a group setting which uses a cluster of nine (3x3) points. Face detection AF can also be finetuned to focus on either the left or right eye or whichever one is nearest the camera. Over 8 points are available when using the Zoom AF mode which magnifies the image by 3x, 5x, 7x, x or 4x. Retro styling includes a heavy reliance on traditional dials. 4

7 ON TRIAL Switching between single-shot and continuous AF operation is performed manually and a fulltime override is available for the former, plus an auto tracking option with the latter. Manual focusing is assisted by a magnified image (with the same choice of settings as Zoom AF) and a focus peaking display which can be set to red, yellow, black or white; and low, normal or high intensity. Exposure control is based on the 34-point Digital ESP multi-zone metering that s used across the Digital PEN and OM-D ranges. Alternatively, there are centre-weighted average or spot measurements, the latter maintaining the Olympus tradition of being adjustable for either the highlights or the shadows. Additionally, the spot can be linked to the active AF point. The main auto exposure control modes are backed by an AE lock, the aforementioned auto bracketing and up to +/-3. EV of compensation if you use the designated dial, up to +/-5. EV if you assign this function to another control such as one of the input wheels. There s a selection of 5 subject/scene modes (including panorama, high- or low-key and panning), but access to these first needs to be assigned to the main dial s C4 setting which presumably means that, if you never use them, you don t need to bother and can save this custom set-up slot for something more useful. Alternatively, automatic THE DYNAMIC RANGE IS ALSO EXTREMELY GOOD WITHOUT MAKING ANY ADJUSTMENTS, FURTHER EVIDENCE THAT THE MICRO FOUR THIRDS SIZE SENSOR CAN BE MADE TO WORK AS WELL AS THE LARGER FORMAT TYPES. The new Creative Dial on the PEN-F mimic s the original camera s shutter speed dial. It s designed to centralise access to a growing suite of in-camera image editing options for JPEGs. scene selection is available when the PEN-F is in the full-auto iauto mode (which does have its own position on the main dial). While iauto is designed primarily for point-and-shoot operation, it s supplemented with a set of basic manual overrides called Live Guides. These are accessed via a touch tab in the monitor s display and provide a small degree of control over the colour saturation, colour balance, brightness, background blur and the blurring/ freezing of moving subjects. These adjustments are applied via touchoperated slider-type controls. MAKE IT YOUR OWN The scope for customising the PEN-F s controls is also extensive warrantying a whole chapter of the Custom Menu and can be performed mode by mode for dials, function by function for the buttons. Likewise the displays which can also be varied depending on the shooting mode i.e. PASM, iauto or the scene modes. Then you can individually configure the live view elements, image replay/review screens and thumbnail pages. Olympus adopts an opt in approach to this so, if you want everything with everything, you re going to be doing a lot of box ticking. Of course, the good news is that you only have to do this once and, alternatively, there is the option of being more selective. Two custom set-ups are available for the live view screen and the selectable components include a real-time histogram, dual-axis level display and highlight/shadow warnings. The highlight and shadow warnings have adjustable thresholds and the real-time histogram includes an internal section displayed in green which shows the brightness values within the selected focusing point or cluster of points. There s also a choice of five guide grids. The review/replay screens can be configured to include a thumbnail image with a full set of histograms (i.e. brightness and RGB channels), a larger brightness histogram superimposed over the image, highlight and shadow warnings and a Light Box display for the side-by-side comparison of two images (complete with zooming which is very handy). The thumbnail pages comprise four, nine, 5 or images plus a calendar display. Touch controls are available for browsing, zooming and scrolling through the thumbnails. The in-camera editing functions remain the same as before and comprise Shadow Adjust, Red-Eye Fix, Aspect, B&W, Sepia, Saturation, Trimming Resize and e-portrait. In-camera RAW-to- JPEG conversion is also available. SPEED AND PERFORMANCE In the light of the continued increase in camera speeds and data handling capabilities (including 4K video), we ve again upgraded our reference memory card which is now Lexar s 8 GB SDXC UHS- II/U3 (Speed Class 3) Professional device which is tagged x, meaning it has a data read transfer speed of 3 MB/second and a writing speed of 6 MB/second. This is the fastest 8 GB UHS-II card on the planet at the moment (and comes with its own dedicated reader) so it s going to cope with whatever data-crunching demands we throw at it. Thus armed, the PEN-F captured a sequence of 39 JPEG/ large/super fine files in 3.65 seconds which represents a shooting speed of.7 fps, a little better than Olympus s quoted spec. The average file size in this test sequence was MB. The hike in the resolution versus the OM-D system cameras is reasonably significant (well, it represents a 5 percent increase) so detailing is 4

8 enhanced as well as its definition. The absence of an anti-aliasing (or low-pass) filter helps here too, albeit with the risk of encountering moiré patterns with some subjects, most notably fabrics. The colour reproduction is excellent across the spectrum, but obviously only serves as a starting point for the myriad of adjustments available via the Picture Modes, the Colour Creator and the customised colour profiles. And now there s rather more control over the look of B&W images as well, including the granularity and tonal range as well as sharpness and contrast. With a bit of practice, it s possible to recreate a convincing representation of a classic B&W film negative. Noise is very well controlled up to ISO 6 and still not a significant issue at either ISO 3 or 64 where some graininess starts to become evident, but overall the colour saturation and definition remain pretty good. The dynamic range is also extremely good without making any adjustments, further evidence that the MFT size sensor can be made to work as well as the larger format types even with the slight reduction in pixel size that s enabled the increase in the PEN- F s resolution... achieved without any significant compromises. THE VERDICT Here s a Digital PEN model that s as desirable as any OM-D. OK, so the PEN-F s premium pricing puts it in the same league as the top-of-the-line E-M which boasts, among other things, a weathersealed bodyshell, the convenience of a centralised EVF and the performance benefits of a hybrid autofocusing system, but it s still got plenty going for it as a realistic alternative. While the E-M is arguably more of a workhorse, the PEN-F is all about having some fun with your photography. It still delivers on a technical level, of course, but the more overtly retro styling is really all about appearances although the functionality is very good while the extra in-camera tweaks for JPEGs are all about creativity over practicality so just let your hair down and have a play. In practice though, the Creative Dial isn t nearly as gimmicky as you might first suppose and actually becomes a bit addictive especially for B&W. And it really makes sense to experiment with these elements while actually shooting rather than applying them as an afterthought (which, of course, you can still do if you also capture a straight shot). However, in the end, the premium price ensures that the PEN-F is a buying decision made from the heart rather than the head (the oh-so-similar Panasonic GX8 is quite a bit cheaper), but nevertheless it s still a purchase that won t disappoint. This is a camera that you simply don t want to put down. VITAL STATISTICS $999 with M.Zuiko Digital 7mm f.8 prime lens. Type: Fully automatic, interchangeable lens digital camera with Micro Four Thirds System bayonet lens mount. Focusing: Automatic 8-point wide-area using contrast-detection measurement via the imaging sensor. Focus points may be selected manually or automatically by the camera. Manual switching between one-shot and continuous AF modes. Face/eye detection and auto tracking. Continuous manual override available with single-shot mode. Focus assist via magnified image (3x/5x/7x/x/4x) and focus peaking display (Red, Yellow, White or Black; High, Normal or Low intensity). Metering: 34-point Digital ESP (i.e. multizone), centre-weighted average, spot (.%) with highlight/shadow bias, and TTL flash. Metering range is EV -. to (ISO /f.8). Exposure Modes: Continuously-variable program with shift, shutter-priority auto, aperturepriority auto, metered manual, TTL auto flash and TTL flash. Plus 5 subject/scene programs. Automatic scene detection in iauto mode. Shutter: Electronic, vertical travel, metal blades, 6-/8 second plus B and T (both up to 3 minutes). Flash sync to /5 second. Sensor-based shutter has a speed range of 6-/6, second. Exposure compensation up to +/-5. EV in /3, ½ or full stop increments. Viewfinder: EVF OLED-type with.36 megadots resolution, percent coverage and.3x magnification. Variable-angle 7.6 cm TFT LCD monitor panel (.37 megadots) with touch screen controls. Both have scale/ grid, real-time histogram and info displays plus a zoom function. Auto/manual switching between EVF and monitor. EVF has Simulated Optical Viewfinder (S-OVF) setting which mimics the appearance of an optical finder. Flash: No built-in flash, but FL-LM3 accessory flash is supplied with the camera and connects via hotshoe. Tilt/swing adjustable flash head. GN 9. power (ISO ). Auto, red-eye reduction, fill-in, slow sync and first/second curtain sync modes. Manual control down to /64 of full power. Additional Features: Magnesium alloy bodyshell, AE/AF lock, auto exposure bracketing (up to +/-. EV over two, three or five frames; up to +/-.7 EV over seven frames), depth-of-field preview, programmable selftimer ( to 3 second delays, to frames, variable intervals), audible signals, auto power-off, hard-wired remote triggering, silent shooting mode, 6 custom functions. DIGITAL SECTION Sensor:.77 million (total) pixels Live MOS with 7.3x3. mm imaging area and 4:3 aspect ratio. No low-pass filter. Sensitivity equivalent to ISO -5,6 (extendable to ISO 8). Focal Length Magnification:.97x. Formats/Resolution: Four JPEG compression settings, RAW output (lossless compression) and RAW+JPEG capture. Eight resolution settings (four may be preset at any one time) at 4:3 aspect ratio; 584x3888, 3x4, 56x9, 9x44, 6x, 8x96, 4x768 and 64x48 pixels. Eight resolution settings (four may be preset at any one time) at 3:4 aspect ratio; 9x3888, 84x43, 44x9, 4x47, 864x5, 7x96, 576x768 and 384x5 pixels. Eight resolution settings (four may be preset at any one time) at 3: aspect ratio; 584x3888, 36x44, 544x696, 9x8, 584x56, 96x864, 8x67 and 64x46 pixels. Eight resolution settings (four may be preset at any one time) at 6:9 aspect ratio; 584x9, 3x8, 56x44, 9x8, 536x864, 8x7, 4x576 and 64x36 pixels. Eight resolution settings (four may be preset at any one time) at : aspect ratio; 3888x3888, 4x4, 9x9, 44x44, 6x6, 96x96, 768x768 and 48x48 pixels. 4-bit RGB colour for JPEGs, 36-bit RGB colour for RAW files. RAW files captured at 584x3888 pixels. Video Recording: Full HD at 9x8 pixels; 6, 5, 3, 5 or 4 fps and 6:9 aspect ratio, MOV format with MPEG-4/H.64 AVC compression. Superfine, fine and normal image quality modes with IPB compression; or A-I quality mode with ALL-Intra compression (at 3, 5 or 4 fps). HD at 8x7 pixels; 6, 5, 3, 5 or 4 fps and 6:9 aspect ratio, MOV format with MPEG-4/H.64 AVC compression, IPB or ALL-I. HD at 8x7 pixels, 5 fps and 6:9 aspect ratio, AVI format with Motion JPEG compression. Built-in stereo microphones with adjustable levels and a wind filter. No stereo audio input. Maximum recording time is 9 minutes and 59 seconds, but a new file is automatically started when the 4. GB size limit is reached. Movie clips limited to. GB file size in AVI. Video Features: Five Movie Effects (Art Fade, Old Film, Multi Echo, One Shot Echo and Movie Tele-Converter), My Clips mode (up to 99 short clips maximum of eight seconds assembled in-camera), Movie+Photo mode, silencing function, time lapse recording, time code support (rec run/free run or drop frame/ non-drop frame), hybrid sensor shift/electronic image stabilisation. Recording Media: SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards with UHS-I and UHS-II support. Continuous Still Shooting: Up to 45 frames at up to fps (JPEG/large/super fine) or up to 39 RAW frames. Low speed continuous shooting at 5. fps with continuous AF/AE adjustment. White Balance: TTL measurement via image sensor. Auto measurement, auto warm, seven presets and four custom settings. White balance compensation (amber-to-blue and/or green-to-magenta) in all presets plus white balance bracketing over three frames. Manual colour temperature setting from to 4, degrees Kelvin. Interfaces: Multi-connector (USB. and NTSC/PAL composite video) and micro HDMI (Type D). Additional Digital Features: Body-based image stabilisation with five-axis correction, built-in sensor cleaning, dual-axis level display, High Res Shot capture (pixel shift gives 5 MP JPEG image or 8 MP RAW from eight combined images), Anti-Shock shutter release delay, Adobe RGB and srgb colour spaces, long exposure noise reduction (Auto, On, Off), high ISO noise filter (Off, Low, Standard, High), seven Picture Modes (i-enhance, Vivid, Natural, Muted, Portrait, Monotone and e-portrait), one user-defined Picture Mode, adjustable Picture Mode adjustments (Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation and Gradation Auto, Normal, Low-Key, High-Key), Colour Profile Control ( colours, +/- five steps of saturation, three presets), Monochrome Profile Control (eight contrast/colour filters, Shading Effect, Film Grain Effect, four toning shades, three presets), Highlight & Shadow control, Colour Creator control (3 colours with adjustable saturation), 4 Art Filter effects applied at capture (Pop Art, Soft Focus, Pale & Light Colour, Light Tone, Grainy Film, Pin Hole, Diorama, Cross Process, Gentle Sepia, Dramatic Tone, Key Line, Watercolour, Vintage and Partial Colour), nine Art Effects (Soft Focus, Pin Hole, Frames, White Edges, Starlight, Filter, Tone, Blur and Shade Effect availability varies according to the filter effect), Photo Story function (with Variation, Composition, Aspect & Window Pattern settings), multiple exposure facility (with auto exposure adjustment), intervalometer (up to 999 frames), auto bracketing modes (AE, WB, ISO, flash, Art Filters and focus), sweep panorama mode, multi-shot HDR capture (two auto modes, five manual settings for three, five or seven frames), Live Composite mode, Live Time and Live Bulb modes, Super Control Panel screen, highlight and shadow alerts (adjustable thresholds via histogram), guide grids (choice of four), Shading Compensation vignetting correction, Keystone Compensation correction, long exposure noise reduction, high ISO noise reduction, adjustable image display time, auto image rotation, slide show (with a choice of music and transitions), playback zoom (up to 4x), 4/9/5//calendar thumbnail displays, calendar thumbnail display, index display, My Clips display, Lightbox side-by-side comparison display, in-camera editing functions (Gradation, Red-Eye Fix, Aspect, Monochrome, Sepia, Saturation, e-portrait, Image Overlay and Resize), in-camera RAW-to-JPEG conversion, in-camera RAW image overlay, copyright info, DPOF and PictBridge support, built-in WiFi for remote camera control and wireless image transfer. Power: One 7.6 volt/ mah rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack (BLN- type). Dimensions (WxHxD): body only = 4.8x7.x37.3 mm. Weight: body only = 373 grams (without battery pack and memory card). Price: $799 body only. $999 with M.Zuiko Digital 7mm f.8 prime lens. Distributor: Olympus Imaging Australia Pty Ltd, telephone , 43