OLYMPUS Launches Its New Compact System Camera – PEN Lite E-PL7

BY Editor

OLYMPUS Launches Its New Compact System Camera – PEN Lite E-PL7 – Aug 29, 2014– Tokyo, Japan (Techreleased) – Olympus Imaging Corporation is pleased to announce the OLYMPUS PEN Lite E-PL7, scheduled for release in late September 2014. It is a Compact System Camera that confirms to Micro Four Thirds System standard with specialized functions for selfie and enhanced smartphone linkage function.

OLYMPUS PEN Lite E-PL7

Main Features

1. Downward-opening touch panel monitor and Selfie mode for comfortable and enjoyable “Touch Selfie”
2. Built-in Wi-FiR^*1 and OI.Share to control the camera freely from your smartphone
3. 14 Art Filters, including the new “Vintage” and “Partial Color”, to heighten emotive powers of expression
4. Basic performance inherited from the OM-D and premium PEN design carried down from the E-P5

The OLYMPUS PEN series combines high-quality designs, portable, compact and lightweight bodies, and varied functions for expanding the powers of photographic expression to produce a “camera for expressing yourself.” Since the series was launched, in a camera marketplace where needs and uses are diversifying it has consistently provided the new leading styles of photography and the ways of enjoying the photographic expressions.

By enhancing the smartphone linkage function and the specialized functions for selfie that only comes from PEN Lite series, the OLYMPUS PEN Lite E-PL7 offers the market a new “use with smartphone” style.

One of the features of PEN Lite series, the tilting monitor, incorporates a large, high definition touch panel. Tilting 180o downward^*4 , it enables touch operation for taking photos with the same feel as one has when operating a smartphone. The “Selfie mode” activates when the monitor is tilted downward, allowing the use of a setting optimized for selfie with just a single touch. This feature addresses the “selfie” trend much noted as a new genre of photographic expression, and allows the user to take a varied and beautiful selfies that could not have been captured with a smartphone alone.

The OI.Share remote shooting functions have likewise evolved, making it possible to easily operate self timer sequential and selfie interval shooting. This helps users to control the camera’s functions using their own smartphones to which they’re accustomed, and take selfies with rich variations of movements and expressions. Thanks to the useful remote shooting functions, not only the person who is being taken but also the person who takes the photo can capture the precious moments together and leave them behind in a beautiful form for future memories.

New “Vintage” and “Partial Color” is added to the Art Filter, unique to Olympus Compact System Cameras. With these two new types of filter that reflect trends in social networking services being added, 14 Art Filters are now available. The possibilities for photographic expression is further expanded by combining it with types and effects functions.

The OLYMPUS PEN Lite E-PL7 is a Compact System Camera that satisfies users with the ways they want to enjoy taking their photos today.

We at Olympus will continue to enhance our lineup of Compact System Cameras and related equipment to create and enlarge new markets.

Product Summary

Main Features Details

1. Downward-opening touch panel monitor and Selfie mode for comfortable and enjoyable Touch Selfies

1) Touch panel and downward-opening monitor
As the result of a quest for the optimal monitor for taking selfies, the OLYMPUS PEN Lite E-PL7 uses a large, high definition touch panel with a downward-opening monitor that rotates 180o downward. This brings the monitor closer compared to when opened upward and alleviates the need to worry about the lens’ position, allowing for comfortable photography. The monitor is bigger and easier to view with 3:2 aspect ratio and 3.0-inch, 1.04 million dot screen. Moreover, the monitor is easily checked and operated even when the bundled flash is attached, so users can take beautiful touch selfies in any setting or situation.

2) Selfie mode
The “Selfie mode” activates when the monitor is tilted downward, and the image shown on the monitor automatically turns into a mirror display. When an electronic zoom lens is attached, the zoom automatically moves to the wide-angle end^*5 so that the users can quickly start taking selfies with the optimal angle of view. e-Portrait button^*6 , shutter release button, and custom self timer switching buttons are displayed on the monitor, making it possible to switch among options with a single touch to take a variety of beautiful selfies. The shutter release button are set to take photos 1 second after being touched; so the line of sight can be returned from a fingertip to the lens and thus enable the best selfies capturing the camera’s line of sight. The number of seconds until the shot is captured, the number of shot, and interval between shots can be set on the custom self timer button, makes it easy for selfie interval shooting with the user adopting a variety of poses. A countdown display shows the number of seconds remaining on the self timer so you won’t miss the instant a photo is taken. The auto focus is adjusted for each frame taken, so it’s possible to take shots that are precisely focused even if the composition is changed.

3) 3-axis VCM image stabilization
Equipped with the same 3-axis VCM image stabilization mechanism as the OM-D E-M10. Powerfully corrects camera shake even when the camera is being held one-handed to take a selfie, a posture that easily produces rolling blur. With in-body image stabilization mechanism, camera shake can be prevented with any lens, allowing users to take beautiful dynamic selfies even when Body Cap Lens BCL-0980 (9mm f8.0 Fisheye) is attached to incorporate a wide background. The powerful image stabilization helps with taking better selfies even when the iAUTO mode selects flash photography for night scenes. Also facilitates taking photos using the included flash FL-LM1.

2. Built-in Wi-Fi and OI.Share to control the camera freely from your smartphone

1) Built-in Wi-Fi and OI.Share
Using the built-in Wi-Fi together with the OI.Share smartphone app, you can connect your smartphone to your camera wirelessly and share the photos you take right on the spot. Initial settings are no more troublesome with a simple scan of the QR code that is displayed on the camera monitor. Touching the Wi-Fi icon on the monitor to connect to OI.Share allows you to quickly send the photos on your camera to your smartphone. OI.Share is also packed with other useful features such as remote shooting with a smartphone, and adding GPS tags to photos. You can control the camera as you wish from your smartphone, take as many photos as you want, and easily share those you want to share.

2) Remote shooting function expands the varieties of shooting
The remote shooting function in OI.Share have been further advanced, allowing you to take photos with even greater variation of movement and expression. Furthermore, the new method of taking photos by smartphone makes both the person who takes a photo and the person who is being taken a photo to capture and share precious moments together and leave them behind in a beautiful form for future memories. Take a variety of selfies easily and with perfect command.

2) -1. Self timer sequential shooting
The self timer functions now include a setting that enables sequential shooting. Setting the number of seconds before shooting begins and the number of seconds for which sequential shots are to be taken allows you to take selfies with a motion. This function is best for taking selfies when you are jumping or otherwise moving around.

2) -2. Interval shooting
Interval shooting is now possible by setting in advance the number of shots and the intervals between them. The user can take selfies using different expressions and photo compositions for each shot.

2) -3. Self timer movies/interval movies
The self timer option now includes a setting that enables movie shooting. Setting the number of seconds before filming begins and the number of seconds in which shooting is to take place allows the user to take selfies with motion. Combined it with interval shooting, interval movie shooting in which the user has set the interval between shots, the number of snaps, and the length of shooting is available.

2) -4. Live Bulb shooting
The user can check the process of Live Bulb shooting on the Live View screen on their smarthphone and release the shutter. It is optimal when using tripod, or when you have difficulty in checking the monitor or waiting near the camera for a long period of time.

3. 14 Art Filters, including the new “Vintage” and “Partial Color”, to heighten emotive powers of expression

Art Filter is the Olympus-original function that can make the images a photographer has taken to stand out even more and enable more artistic photographic expression. They allow anybody to easily express themselves creatively whether doing still or movie shooting. Two new types of Art Filter, “Vintage” and “Partial Color,” have been added to the E-PL7. These new Art Filters from the minds of designers are not rigid color process, but rather take the user into more emotional kinds of expression.

1) New Art Filter: “Vintage”
Gives a nostalgic expression to casual everyday scenes, transforming them into “a special photo that has stood the test of time.”

1) -1. Three types of finish
type I: Produces a vintage look in photos by adding effects like discoloration as in a burned print. The disrupted balance among the shades results in a snap that strongly makes one sense the presence of the light.
type II: Nicely faded colors lend the nostalgic feel of an old photograph. This effect beautifully brings out the appeal of a woman’s skin and is the optimal filter for selfies.
type III: Produces a sophisticate feel like an old print through the use of gently faded tones. Effectively renders metallic textures and the like.

1) -2. New Art Effect: “Shade Effect”
This effect gives a sense of wideness by inserting bands of shading on the left and right sides (or tops and bottoms).

2) New Art Filter: “Partial Color”
Emphasizes a specific part of photo, done by choosing one specific color and leaving all the rest in black and white. Makes your photographic subjects more impressive.

2) -1. Color Ring for intuitively selecting what color to leave behind
Rotate the main dial to select which color you want to leave (the color you want to emphasize) from among the 18 colors available, including neutral hues. The effects are shown on the Live View, so you can make your color choices intuitively.

2) -2. Three types of finish
type I: Leave colors with natural gradations based around the color you have selected to make your photographic subject stand out.
type II: Leave a slight amount of colors in addition to the one you select to finish the snap in a style like a scene from a movie.
type III: Leave only the color you have selected to finish the snap for a stronger emphasis of a single color.

3) 14 Art Filters and 8 Effects
Outfitted with all of the Art Filters and Effects equipped on previous models, along with two new Filters and one new Effect. Makes it possible to create a greater variety of works and forms of photographic expression.

3) -1. Art Filter types
(1) Pop Art (I/II), (2) Soft Focus, (3) Pale and Light Color (I/II), (4) Light Tone, (5) Grainy Film (I/II), (6) Pin Hole (I/II/III), (7) Diorama (I/II), (8) Cross Process (I/II), (9) Gentle Sepia, (10) Dramatic Tone (I/II), (11) Key Line (I/II), (12) Watercolor (I/II), (13) Vintage (I/II/III), (14) Partial Color (I/II/III)

3) -2. Effect functions
(1) Soft Focus Effect, (2) Pin Hole Effect, (3) White Edge Effect, (4) Frame Effect, (5) Star Light Effect, (6) Black and White Effect, (7) Blurring Effect, (8) Shade Effect

4. Basic performance inherited from the OM-D and premium PEN design carried down from the E-P5

1) Full range of basic features
The superb image quality of a top-grade interchangeable lens camera has been inherited from the superior lineup of the OM-D series.

1) -1. 16.05 megapixel Live MOS Sensor
Like the OM-D E-M5, this model is equipped with a 16.05 megapixel Live MOS sensor. This preserves details from dark settings and reproduces the colors, helping to beautifully render night scenes, the insides of dark rooms, and the like. The broad dynamic range and smooth expressions of gradation beautifully express lights and shadows where the contrast is great. Furthermore, the large aperture lens can be used for the widest aperture setting even on bright days thanks to the ability to use an ISO LOW (equivalent to ISO 100) setting.

1) -2. TruePic VII
Equipped with the same TruePic VII image processing engine as used for Olympus’ flagship OM-D E-M1 Compact System Camera. Olympus-original Fine Detail II image processing technology gets the most out of a lens’ performance. It provides the sharpness correction and chromatic aberration of magnification correction that is optimal for the aperture (f no.) and optical characteristics of each lens, and performs false color removal and high-precision demosaicing for the low-pass filterless sensor. The photos that result are clear and of high resolution. Additionally, thanks to Olympus-original Real Color image processing technology, certain specific hard-to-reproduce colors like emerald green and yellow are more faithfully reproduced.

1) -3. 81-point FAST AF and 8 fps high-speed sequential shooting
Equipped with the 81-point FAST AF of the OM-D E-M10 and high-speed sequential shooting functionality capable of taking 8 shots a second. The AF target can be set to widescreen or cover details, making it possible to instantaneously focus on small photographic subjects no matter where they are positioned within the area. Moreover, a photographic sensor that can read input quickly combined with a high-quality sensor make it possible to capture 8 frames a second?the fastest in this camera’s class. Sequential shooting performance at a rate of 3.7 fps is still possible in the C-AF mode, which adjusts focus on the fly during sequential shooting. Opportunities to capture moving photographic subjects will not be lost when combining this function with the group target AF or C-AF+TR options. ^*7

2) A PEN design that evokes high quality
Inherits the premium design of the OLYMPUS PEN E-P5, the flagship of the PEN series. The new direction of a “PEN design that leaps up to the next level” that was established with the E-P5 has been carried on to produce a design that evokes both the PEN line and high quality as a product. Additionally, the camera is approximately 60mm thick when outfitted with the world’s thinnest^*8 standard zoom lens, the M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ that is bundled in a lens kit, helping it to faithfully maintain the compact body that is the hallmark of the Lite series. Thanks to the compact and slim body with a premium design, it makes it especially portable, carrying the camera around has become even easier and something that is a familiar part of life.

2) -1. Premium PEN design
Incorporates the character lines on the upper part of the body that are part of the OLYMPUS PEN identity and the OLYMPUS PEN logo that carries on the line’s history. The front of the body-also a key element in the design-is covered with a leather-styled material to evoke a textured object and produces a design with a sense of superior quality. The OLYMPUS PEN brand is one that since the days of film cameras has been marked by continued innovation and regularly offered new value. This design is an appropriate symbol of its evolution condensed into the compact, lightweight body expected of the PEN Lite series. It has been finished in such a way that not a single screw can be seen on the front or top of the body, showing off the superior sense of completion that the PEN line evokes.

2) -2. Design focused on the operability
In terms of usability, too, this camera has a finish that incorporates the essence of the new PEN design and is a development that is in line with the Lite series as it stands. We performed aluminum machine processing on the metal dial around the shutter release button-the most frequently used element-in our quest for superiority in terms of feel, ease of rotation, and usability. All of the buttons for operating the camera have been grouped together on the camera’s lower right, and have been arranged so they can be easily pressed when used as well as prevent unintended operation when holding the camera. We did everything we could to make the camera comfortable to use, giving thought even to the height and graspability of the grip, so that it is easy to operate even though the body is small.

2) -3. Color Variations
The camera is available in three colors: the classic silver that evokes both the PEN line and cameras more generally; a white that suggests the Lite series with a gentle form and gentle color; and a black that makes you strongly feel that you have an interchangeable lens camera as a tool for taking photographs. The colors help you to pick the camera that best suits your lifestyle and matches what you want from a camera.

Other Features

1. New Photo Story
   A new “Layout” theme option has been added. The addition of a hold function has also made it possible to do temporary saves while shooting.
2. Live Guide
   It is now possible for multiple effects to be applied simultaneously. ^*9
3. New Scene Mode: “Panning”
   Set the optimal shutter speed automatically to match the movements done to pursue the subject.
4. New Movie Effect: “Old Film”
   Turn your videos into flickering images with noise, scratches and dust and the like appearing at random, like old movies shot on film.
5. Two HDR modes
   Automatically combine 4 images with different exposures to create a single image rich with gradation.
6. Hand-held Starlight mode
   Permits capturing blur-free night scenes without using a tripod by merging 8 shots.
7. Live Composite
   Light trails of stars can be captured while observing them through the Live View.
8. Touch panel monitor
   Equipped with a monitor that can be tilted upward about 80o and downward 180o.

Separately-sold Related New Products

1. Genuine leather accessories that protect your camera and be coordinated totally with the same colors and materials

1) Genuine Leather Lens Cover, LC-60.5GL
A genuine leather lens cover especially for the M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ. It completely protects the lens, and wards off shocks, scratches, and blemishes while it is being carried around. It can be used even with a lens cap, an automatic opening lens cap, or a protection filter attached. The large swivel can be attached with the strap, meaning the jacket does not get in the way while taking photos or being lost when detached. The lens cover is available in light brown, brown, and black, allowing for coordination with the Genuine Leather Body Jacket CS-45B simultaneously released and with the Genuine Leather Neck Strap CSS-S109LLII already on sale.

Genuine Leather Lens Cover, LC-60.5GL (Brown/Light Brown/Black)

2) Genuine Leather Body Jacket, CS-45B
A genuine leather body jacket made especially for the OLYMPUS PEN Lite E-PL7. This body jacket also covers the camera’s grip. In addition to the utility of protecting the camera body from damage, it also offers a robust feel thanks to the luxuriousness and craftsmanship that comes with the use of genuine leather. The jacket is available in light brown, brown, and black, allowing for coordination with the Genuine Leather Lens Cover LS-60.5GL simultaneously released and with the Genuine Leather Neck Strap CSS-S109LLII already on sale. The special snap buttons are used to attach the jacket to the body, making jacket smooth and easy to remove. The jacket can also be quickly removed when you want to use a tripod or insert or remove batteries or an SD card. You can also take selfies even with the jacket attached. ^*10

Genuine Leather Body Jacket, CS-45B (Brown/Light Brown/Black)	OLYMPUS PEN E-PL7 (White) + LC-60.5GL + CS-45B + CSS-S109LLII

2. Next-generation compact and lightweight underwater systems

1) Underwater Case, PT-EP12
A waterproofing case optimized for the OLYMPUS PEN Lite E-PL7, rated to handle water pressure down to 45 m. Works with the M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ, M.Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f2.0, M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f1.8, M.Zuiko Digital 25mm f1.8, and M.Zuiko Digital 45mm f1.8. Updating the specifications to the standard of the M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ electronic pancake zoom lens make it possible to achieve outstanding miniaturization. Usable with the external flash bundled with the E-PL7, you’ll be ready to do underwater photography with a single PT-EP12. You can also now switch to underwater mode using the arrow pad, allowing you to concentrate on taking photos stress-free even underwater. An even greater variety of underwater photos can be taken if you use the Underwater Macro Converter PTMC-01 or the Underwater Wide Converter PTWC-01, both of which can be attached directly. This is a next-generation all-in-one underwater photography system that condenses all of the options needed for underwater shooting in a compact body.

2) Underwater Flash, UFL-3
A dedicated flash that corresponds to the Olympus Wireless RC Flash System installed as standard equipment on all Olympus cameras (excepting some compact cameras). This GN22 flash is compact but boasts of superior performance, water pressure resistant up to 75 m and recharging in 2 seconds. It responds perfectly to directions from the camera, so there are no problems when it comes to working in tandem and no variation in terms of the amount of light. The power that comes from using 4 AA batteries means you can take photos for long period of time without having to change them.

Underwater Case PT-EP12	Underwater Flash UFL-3

3. Other new accessory

1) Lithium Ion Rechargeable Battery, BLS-50
A rechargeable lithium ion battery that is a standard part of the bundle for the E-PL7. The same shape as the BLS-5, but with battery capacity increased to 1,210 mAh. It permits taking approximately 350 shots when used with the M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ. Can be repeatedly charged and used with the Lithium Ion Charger BCS-5.

Summary of Related Accessories