Aug 5, 2024

Olympus PEN E-P3 - How This Camera Revolutionized Mirrorless Camera AF

The Olympus PEN E-P3 was the second camera that Olympus Malaysia loaned me for review on this blog, so that camera does have a special place in my heart. It was a bold attempt by Olympus to break expectations and redefine what mirrorless cameras can do, especially when it comes to autofocus performance. Before E-P3, all mirrorless cameras from various camps had a similar issue - AF was sluggish and unreliable when compared to DSLR counterparts with faster and more accurate AF. This changed with E-P3, as Olympus doubled the data captured (120fps images captured for contrast detect AF calculation instead of 60fps previously), increased the processing power by using a dual core processor in the camera and also boosted the buffer to handle the higher operations workload from the new autofocus system. The drastic improvement was evident, indeed at that time Olympus boldly claimed the E-P3 to be the fastest AF camera - with a caveat of course, it was true for Single-AF, not continuous AF or tracking. Ever since E-P3, the AF got better generations after generations, and everyone else also adopted similar technique to improve their AF system, and now we even have Ai subject recognition incorporated into AF systems in modern cameras. It all started with E-P3, and I found one used unit at a good price in the used market, and here are some images from my recent shutter therapy session! I have a video made to discuss this topic in further length as well, click here. 

























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1 comment:

  1. Just purchased this camera used off if ebay and I'm part excited and part nervous. Anxious. Having thought I did my research leading to to purchase, I'm now learning of all the stabilization issues this camera has had. I don't make a ton of ebay purchases and this is why. Fingers crossed that I have good luck with this camera when it arrives.

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