Olympus E5 DSLR Review

The Olympus E5 DSLR sports a compact body with splash and dust protection, a TruePic V+ image processor and a 3" swiveling LCD screen for only $1,700. Kevin Pereira and Candace Bailey check out the DSLR to see if the pictures are as detailed and vivid as Olympus promises!

What You Need To Know

• The Olympus E5 is heavy, weighing almost 2 lbs without the lens.
• The camera measures 6" long.
• The number of buttons and switches on the E5 looks really intimidating and can be hard to use.
• Olympus tried to make a shortcut button for every frequently used function but they're all in weird places so using this DSLR is more complicated than it should be.
• The E5 is missing features we've come to expect from DSLRs, like a mode dial.
• The directional pad doesn't always do what you want it to.
• The manual controls make the DSLR very powerful but it will take a while for you to know how to use it efficiently.
• Olympus says the E5 has the world's fastest auto focus, which beeps every time it's being used.
• The auto focus is a little slower in Live View mode but we were still pretty impressed by how fast it was.
• The E5 records HD footage at 30 fps and the footage looks good.
• Colors are bright and details are sharp, though we did see a bit of digital noise when moving the camera a lot.
• The video only records at 720p, which is weird because we've seen better video features on cheaper cameras (like the Canon 60D).
• We are also fans of Olympus' art filters like pinhole, miniature and cross process, which you can use for pictures and movies.
• The pictures look good: colors are accurate and exposure is balanced. Though the focus may be a little soft at times, everything else is practically perfect.
• Low light photos were also very good, with or without the flash.
• The E5 managed to let in enough light to illuminate even the darkest of places.

Price

• $1,700 without a lens.

Rating

• 3 Seals of Approval out of 5. (How do we rate gadgets?)
• The design and interface are a little wonky and even though the pictures look good, they aren't as good as we want them to be.
• We would recommend the Canon 7D instead which costs only $1,700 with a lens, has excellent video quality and is easier to use.

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