Olympus E-PL7 Performance

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Olympus E-PL7 Performance

Timing and Performance

Excellent overall performance for its class.

Startup/Play to Record
Power on to first shot	~0.5 second	Time it takes to turn on and capture a shot.
Play to Record, first shot	~0.3 second	Time until first shot is captured.

Startup time including taking a shot was excellent, and switching from Play to Record and taking a shot was quite fast.

Shutter Response (Lag Time)
Full Autofocus, Single-area AF mode	0.158 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, with the lens already at the proper focal distance setting. (All AF timing performed with the Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 ED prime lens.)
Full Autofocus, Single-area AF mode Auto Flash Enabled	0.334 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, with the lens already at the proper focal distance setting, TTL Auto flash enabled.
Manual Focus	0.098 second	For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "prefocused".
Prefocused	0.065 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

The Olympus E-PL7's full-autofocus shutter lag in single-area AF mode (center AF position) was 0.158 second when tested with our Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 ED prime lens. That's faster than average for a CSC and competitive with prosumer DSLRs, though keep in mind our test target is static and we don't refocus between trials for this test.

Enabling the flash increased lag to 0.334 second to account for preflash metering, though that's still pretty fast.

When manually focused, the E-PL7's shutter lag time was 0.098 second, also fast. The E-PL7's prefocused shutter lag time of 0.065 second was quite quick.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Cycle Time (shot to shot)
Single Shot mode Large/Super Fine JPEG	0.56 second	Time per shot, averaged over a few frames (we no longer test for buffer depths in single-shot mode).
Single Shot mode RAW + LSF JPEG	0.66 second	Time per shot, averaged over a few frames (we no longer test for buffer depths in single-shot mode).
Early shutter penalty?	No	Some cameras don't snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.
Continuous H Mode Large/Super Fine JPEG	0.12 second (8.68 frames per second); 24 frames total; 6 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 24 shot buffer capacity, then slows to an average of 0.33s or 3.30fps when buffer is full.
Continuous H Mode RAW	0.11 second (8.74 frames per second); 17 frames total; 6 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 17 shot buffer capacity, then slows to an average of 0.39s or 2.54fps when buffer is full.
Continuous H Mode RAW + LSF JPEG	0.11 second (8.72 frames per second); 14 frames total; 10 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 14 shot buffer capacity, then slows to an average of 0.68s or 1.46fps when buffer is full.
Flash Recycling	4.6 seconds	Flash at maximum output.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/sec UHS-I SDHC card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and noise reduction settings can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Single-shot cycle times were quite good for a CSC, ranging from 0.56 second for best quality JPEGs to 0.66 second for RAW+JPEG. (Note that we no longer test just RAW files in single-shot mode, as its cycle-time is usually somewhere between JPEG and RAW+JPEG.)

Continuous H mode performance was very good, at around 8.7 frames per second with any file type. That's noticeably better than Olympus' 8 fps spec. Note that focus, exposure and white balance are fixed at the first frame of a burst in this mode. There is also a "low speed" mode rated at up to 3.7 fps which supports continuous AF and exposure, however we didn't test that mode in the lab.

Buffer depths are quite good for its class at 24 frames for Large/Super Fine JPEGs, 17 frames for RAW files, and 14 frames for RAW+JPEGs. Note that our target for this test was designed to be difficult to compress, so JPEG burst lengths should be longer with typical subjects. (An you'll be able to take longer JPEG bursts by switching to Fine quality.) Buffer clearing was also good, ranging from 6 seconds after a burst of 24 LSF JPEGs or 17 RAW frames to 10 seconds after a burst of 14 RAW+JPEG frames with a fast UHS-I card.

Flash recycle time was about average with the included body-powered external flash, at 4.6 seconds after a full power discharge.

Bottom line, the Olympus E-PL7's performance is generally excellent for its class, with quick startup, fast autofocus speeds, very good cycle times and swift burst performance.

Battery

Battery Life
About average battery life for a CSC.

Operating Mode	Number of Shots
Still Capture, (CIPA standard)	350

The Olympus E-PL7 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with both a single battery and charger. The rated 350 shots per charge is about average for a compact system camera, but well below the capacity of most DSLRs with their optical viewfinders. We recommend getting a second battery for your E-PL7 if you plan any extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))