The Olympus Pen EP3 in 2025 and other 12MP Micro 4/3 Cameras

[Jake Mongey]

Good evening all, I have recently picked up photography again as a hobby after a long haiatus and have been taking an olympus Pen EP3 with me everywhere and It got me thinking how many people are really using the 12MP bodies these days?

This Pen was bought by my mother in 2011 and was her camera for most of my teenage years until I talked her into a sony A6000 in 2017 and I have had the pen with me since but I cant remmeber ever having actually used the thing! Its knackered, grip is missing and there is a HUGE dent on the top cover that had to be pried out with a screwdriver to get the flash to clear.

I have found the images refreshing and have been shooting at some pretty high ISO with it, it certainly does not hold up remotely well but I cant say its put me off many of the images taken with it - although I have only been using it to shoot black and white. However the thing with olympus cameras I have always liked is that they just take lovely pictures - I never feel like the colours are particularly accurate but they always look lovely!

I have shared some images below taken from a trip to london this weekend with an even more battered 17mm 2.8 which at this stage in life is effectively uncoated on account of scratches. If you are still using an old olympus pen please share some work below!





These ones dont particularly, paint out the image quality in a good light but the p*ss poor ISO is something ive been quite growing to enjoy in shots like this:





I think this specific camera will stay with me for a while but it is triggering an itch for either an EP7 or an EM5 MK1 - that was the first new camera I ever had and it was a cracking thing! It was stolen from me on a bus when I was about 16 and I foolishly used the insurance money to buy a Sony A7 which was junk as the MKII had come out at a higher price point so I got much more money than I originally paid for it!

 

[Prest_400]

Fun memories, I really like that first frame and your mention of the Olympus colors reminds me of how particular these sensors were processed. And how the memories of a trip to London, such as yours.

I got an EPL2 for a fantastic sale price in 2012 and it was my first "serious" digital camera. A couple years later, the 14-42 broke so I slapped in a Sigma prime.
Pocketable enough in jackets, traveled quite a bit.
As you close the post with a nod to it, the EM5 is good; In 2019 I got a good deal on a EM5 mkI and have been using it and forgot about the Pen in a drawer. 16MP sensor in the mkI is good enough, lovely for telephoto work with the 35-100mm, and the color is quite good with natural presets. But I've niched it just for tele work in my household. The phone plus an RX100 just substituted it for wider angle range and snapshooting. I am surprised to find that the m43 has been sitting for some months and just used for concert pictures, or plane spotting while traveling.

Mostly from the want to have HiRes mode for film scanning I have had an interest for a much newer body, but also with perhaps reigniting my use of m43.

 

[Muggins]

I'm mostly useing a Nikon D7000 at the mo, and I think that's 12MP. My D200 is about 10.

 

[aw614]

As much as I enjoy using the early 12mp and 16mp Olympus models, I've been burned twice on a failing Image stabilizer on my EP1 and EPM2. Both times left the sensor slightly off centered and a noticeable vignette on my widest lens, the Rokinon 8mm.

 

[Godfrey]

If it works and make photographs that satisfy you, why not use it? That's all.

My oldest digital camera is a 2003 Olympus E-1 ... the 5 Mpixel pro DSLR. Terribly slow to write to card, but otherwise a delight to shoot with, and it makes beautiful photos. Next to that is my 2013 Olympu E-M1 ... FAR FAR more features than the E-1, 16 Mpixel, fast and extremely capable; again it makes beautiful photos. For what I could get selling them and the lenses, it wouldn't be worth selling them. So I keep them and occasionally use them.

My next oldest digital camera is the 2018 Light L16 (50Mpixel max) ... And then the Hasselblad 907x/CFVII 50c "Moon Landing" edition from 2019 (50 Mpixel), and then the two Leica M10s (M10 Monochrom + M10-R, both 40 Mpixel) purchased in 2022 and 2023 respectively. All these cameras get frequent use, the M10 Mono most of all.

But there's nothing to say against using the elder pair at all.

G

 

[Rick Waldroup]

For the longest time I shot a couple of Lumix GF1s, which are 12mp. Great little camera and it was the first m4/3 camera I ever bought. I bought it and paired it with the 20mm 1.7 lens and that combo was great. I am now in the process of selling off my m4/3 gear, except for the LX100 compact. That one, I will keep.

 

[joe bosak]

People shoot grainy film, with plastic lenses, others like "digicams", and a few buy new gear - really, shoot whatever pleases you. You won't please all of the people all of the time anyway, so why worry.