Olympus PEN-F Review: Blending modern Micro Four Thirds features with premium style
posted Thursday, March 31, 2016 at 12:53 PM EDT
The Olympus PEN-F is a unique direction for Olympus and its PEN line of Micro Four Thirds cameras, one that puts a focus on premium features, build quality and styling. In years past, the PEN has run the gamut from ultra affordable PEN Lite models to the rather expensive E-P5 (US$999 at launch), but the new Olympus PEN-F goes a step beyond in both price and build quality -- plus in sheer technological goodies.
The modern PEN-F takes after its 1960s-era PEN-F quite a bit with a similar, compact rectangular design and metal construction and corner-placed viewfinder. This is perhaps the most "film-like" digital camera that Olympus has created thus far. They put a major focus on the design and build quality for this premium PEN, and we think Olympus pulled it off. The camera looks fantastic and feels great in the hand, though we're still scratching our heads about the lack of weather-sealing for such an expensive camera.
We've just wrapped-up our in-depth Olympus PEN-F review, and overall the new PEN-F checks-off a lot of boxes on our list for what makes an excellent camera. It offers great image quality, snappy performance, fast autofocus, and a stylish design. In a decidedly retro-inspired camera, there are tons of modern amenities, too, including a crisp EVF and a raft of in-camera image processing features. There's not a lot to dislike about the Olympus PEN-F, to be honest. It's not a perfect camera, though, and there are a number of drawbacks, apart from the lack of weather-sealing, but overall we feel the pros very much outweigh the cons.
For all the details, check out our full Olympus PEN-F review, or cut to the chase and jump right to the Review Conclusion. Don't forget to check out our recently-added Image Quality Comparison and Print Quality Analysis, as well as our PEN-F Field Test, too.
