Olympus E-P3

Olympus E-P3 is Olympus's Entry-Level Mirrorless camera first announced on August of 2011. The camera comes with a 12MP, CMOS Four Thirds sized sensor and has a max resolution of 4032 x 3024.

Olympus released this camera in order to update the earlier Olympus E-P2 (Read Full Comparison) and afterwards brought out the more recent Olympus E-P5 (Read Full Comparison) in an effort to replace this camera.

The E-P3 places at #91 out of 117 in Entry-Level Mirrorless cameras and over-all #401 out of 1465 for digital cameras in our list. You should try out our Smart camera search to find camera rankings based on your personal requirements.

The following is a chart of various factors used in the rating system.

The Olympus E-P3 is part of a family of digital cameras. You can read the complete range below.

You can check the E-P3 from various angles in the gallery below.

Below is a list of good and bad points of the Olympus E-P3 based on criterias that are normally considered necessary in a camera.

The Olympus E-P3 features the TruePic VI processor chip. The specification of the sensor in the Olympus E-P3 is 17.3mm x 13mm (Four Thirds). The 225 mm² sensor can capture 4032 x 3024 pixels and aspect ratios of 4:3. The camera includes Image Stabilization (Sensor based). In body stabilization is more effective than digital stabilization as the latter may cause cropping.

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The CMOS sensor boasts 12 megapixels and gives a native ISO range of 100 - 12800. RAW photos are supported so you have wider room to maneuver in post.

The picture below displays the E-P3's sensor dimensions in comparison to other common sizes. The E-P3 sensor comes with a crop factor of 2.1 and is showcased in green.

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To get a sense of various aspect ratios, you should refer to the visual below.

Olympus E-P3 weighs around 0.81 lb (369g / 13.02 oz) and features exterior proportions of 122mm x 69mm x 34mm (4.8" x 2.7" x 1.3"). The weight of typical Entry-Level Mirrorless camera is 329g so the Olympus E-P3 is more heavy when compared to other rivals.

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The following is a visual of the Olympus E-P3 alongside a softdrink to help you to have a feel for its scale.

The top view below will show you the button layout on the E-P3.

The E-P3 works with the Micro Four Thirds mount and has 162 lenses available on the market. Below is a few of the lenses we have in our database which will work with the E-P3.

ModelVisualizeFocal LengthApertureStabilizedWeight

Sigma 150mm F2.8 EX DG Macro HSM150mmf/2.9-2.8 895g

Samyang 10mm f2.8 ED AS NCS CS10mmf/2.8 580g

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Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 90-250mm f2.890-250mmf/2.8 3270g

Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-200mm F4-5.6 II Power OIS45-200mmf/4-5.6 370g

Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM10-20mmf/4.0-5.6 470g

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f4-5.6 R40-150mmf/4.0-5.6 190g

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Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm f4.07-14mmf/4.0 780g

The E-P3 has the following connectivity:

• USB Yes
• HDMI Yes

Digital cameras that contain NFC and / or Bluetooth support can be controlled wirelessly via smartphones. You can transfer pictures and usually change settings with no need to connect straight to the camera.

Some applications even stream a Liveview and hit the shutter whenever you are not close to the camera. If the camera contains a HDMI out, it can be hooked up to an external screen. The majority of cameras will allow you to charge the battery pack through the USB socket.

The max video quality in the Olympus E-P3 is 1920 x 1080 and it can shoot in AVCHD and Motion JPEG format. 1080p quality can provide a good balance for quality versus file sizes but 1080p will not leave you with much room to crop. The camera does not have a mic and / or headphone port so you have little control over your sound. It is probably best to shop for a different camera should you want better sound in your video clips.

Olympus E-P3 does not include environment proofing so damp conditions could affect the camera.

The Olympus E-P3 comes with a 3 inch fixed screen supporting a resolution of 614 thousand dots.

Moreover the screen is touch friendly so you will be able to switch focus point as well as adjust settings using your fingertips.

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The ViewFinder specs regarding Olympus E-P3 are as follows:

• ViewFinder Electronic (optional)

Viewfinders are pretty handy for bright outdoor conditions which can easily make the camera display washed out and hard to view.

Olympus E-P3 can shoot continuously at 3.0 fps. The max shutter speed is 1/4000 sec.

Olympus E-P3 includes both built-in flash plus external flash support. The maximum flash sync speed is 1/180 sec.

Olympus E-P3 includes just Contrast Based Autofocus and doesn't have Phase Detect Autofocus. Phase Detection autofocusing is a lot snappier & exact when compared to Contrast Based autofocusing. The camera comes with Face detect which makes it handy for portrait photography.

The Sensor comes with 35 focus points to select from. Olympus E-P3 has touch to focus. You can use your fingers in order to adjust focus. It also comes with Tracking Autofocus for objects on the move. Olympus E-P3 features manual focusing in case it is required for low light scenarios or you want to have more precise focusing control.

The battery pack (BLS-5) in the Olympus E-P3 is designed to last for 330 clicks based on the CIPA specifications making it on par with its competitors. The usual Entry-Level Mirrorless camera battery life is 343. Fujifilm X-S20 has got the maximum (750) battery life for this class of cameras.

Below is a listing of Entry-Level Mirrorless cameras that have the strongest battery life:

ModelVisualizeBattery LifeRAWNFCBluetooth

Fujifilm X-S20
E-P3 vs X-S20750 yesnoyes

Samsung NX mini
E-P3 vs NX mini650 yesnono

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Pentax K-01
E-P3 vs K-01540 yesnono

Sony NEX-3N
E-P3 vs NEX-3N480 yesnono

Sony NEX-F3
E-P3 vs NEX-F3470 yesnono

The following diagram provides a outline of the Olympus E-P3 for various kinds of photography. To learn more, go to the specific paragraph below.

The Olympus E-P3 receives a points total of 60 which is moderate, and means the camera is somewhat appropriate for portraits. Photographing portrait images favors greatly towards sensor resolution, RAW support and option to utilize external lighting.

With a great rating of 76, the Olympus E-P3 is a outstanding choice to use in street photography. A good street photography camera features a good balance of picture quality and portability.

A reasonable sports photography score of 49 indicates the Olympus E-P3 is relatively suited for shooting sports. A camera should have excellent autofocus plus fast shutter speeds for sports photography.

Portability is super important in choosing a travel camera. In general, the Olympus E-P3 gets a modest 60 for a travel camera which makes it fairly acceptable to purchase for your holidays.

For anyone planning to purchase a camera for landscape photographs, the biggest aspect is going to be image quality. The Olympus E-P3 and it's nice grade of 65 as a landscape camera is a very decent fit within the current market.

A camera for vlogging should come with a articulating screen, mic port and ideally image stabilization. Taking everything into account, the Olympus E-P3 is not good for vlogging as it comes to a low score of 35.

If you are searching for alternatives to the E-P3, here is a list of the highest scored cameras which fall under the class of Entry-Level Mirrorless.

The line graph down below gives you a bird's eye view of the E-P3 vs it's highest scoring rivals suggested above.

Here are a few more cameras you might take into account as alternate options. To see a detailed comparison, simply click on the "compare" link.