Olympus EPL5 review - official thread!

[Gordon Laing]

Hi everyone, this is the official thread for our Olympus EPL5 review!



Gordon

[DavidStahl]

I enjoyed very much the review of the E-PL5; it was posted in a quite timely manner given that my own E-PL5 arrived in early December. So far, I'm enjoying learning what this very capable camera can do with the exception of trying to figure out its treatment of WB (white balance) -- some progress was made when I discovered there was a menu option that made the behavior more normal when in PASM modes. However, in iAuto mode, colors are more saturated than expected (indoors under tungsten light). I was hoping to read about this quirkiness when the review was posted but didn't find any discussion of same. I'd be interested if the reviewer had any comment about this.

[Gordon Laing]

Hi David, the fully auto modes on most cameras boost the colours and contrast and apply punchy picture styles - they're designed to deliver more consumer-friendly results. You'll find this on most cameras, not just Olympus.

Gordon

[rogernuffer]

The most important item I found on the E-PL5 was the factory default reset button. I've gotten myself so lost in all those menus that resetting to the factory settings has saved me time and time again.

The camera is a lot of fun and oh those images are sharp.

RN

[DavidStahl]

I understand Gordon's point about the auto modes being more punchy...but the colors in iAuto for my E-PL5 are oversaturated -- lurid if you will... especially indoors where it fails to adjust properly for tungsten lighting. Recently I acquired an Olympus XZ-2 which, once you learn it, is almost identical to the E-PL5 but with a 12 MP sensor and a (fast) fixed lens. It displays none of this oversaturated color nonsense in iAuto. I beginning to think that either (a) I have a lemon, or (b) deep in the labyrinthine menu system, there's a setting that needs to be on/off though I've scoured the menus and haven't yet found such. I'm not alone in this mystery -- included below is an excerpt from one of the currently posted E-PL5 reviews on Amazon.com.

---------------------------Amazon.com review excerpt -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The automatic white balance is way, way off. I manually set white balance several times during a shoot, so not really a problem, but anyone using the automatic or 'P' photo setting will be sorely disappointed at the off colors when shooting indoors.

UPDATE: The white balance continues to baffle, the auto white balance in "P" (Program) mode seems off on this camera. Even setting white balance with a certified white and/or 18% grey card does not set correct white balance in the shadows outdoors. In comparison, my Nikon D200 and P300 have no problems and the P300 especially has excellent auto white balance.
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