Name: Olympus E-PM2 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 14-42mm f/3.5 II Lens, 16MP, 3" Touch LCD, Full 1080i HD Movie, White
Brand: Olympus
SKU: IOMEPM2W142S
Price: 399.00 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 4.12 (8 reviews)

Olympus E-PM2 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 14-42mm f/3.5 II Lens, 16MP, 3" Touch LCD, Full 1080i HD Movie, White

Olympus E-PM2

Olympus

Olympus E-PM2 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 14-42mm f/3.5 II Lens, White

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Photography

Cameras

Mirrorless Cameras

Olympus Mirrorless Cameras

Olympus E-PM2 

Buy: Olympus E-PM2 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 14-42mm f/3.5 II Lens, 16MP, 3" Touch LCD, Full 1080i HD Movie, White Configuration: Body & Lens, Resolution: 16 MP

While I mainly use my DSLR, I needed a compact camera to carry around when the DSLR with lenses is too bulky and heavy to carry.  This fits the bill, and the 4/3 system is more functional than point and shoot cameras in the same price point

Olympus E-PM2 -- Nice walkaround camera

I mainly use the camera to take pictures of my 2 years old son.
The focusing is quick. It got good resolution with good noise control up to ISO 3200.
Controls are not much user friendly. Most of them are menu driven and you have to go through menus to change even the simplest settings.
Finally if you got big hands you may have difficulty using this camera.

Olympus P-EM2 is a must have camera

Camera used as a substitute for DSLR when wanting to travel light.  Very quick shutter no shutter lag and 8 fps  when shooting.  You can get action shots with this just like your DSLR but in a smaller package. 

Would love it if it had built in viewfinder but you can add an attaqchment.  I have not purchased the attachable view finder.

Great substitute for DSLR when traveling

If you are looking for a camera in this format, this is a GREAT improvement from the first version. I had a PM1 in the past for travel and loved it. 
Now I wanted a smaller SLR for casual use, and got the PM2. With the touch screen to navigate the menus and updated 16 MP sensor, it way more functional in its use.

Great Update to the first PM1

Very good to as a second camera or as the family camera.  Nice handling with small form factor.  It's not a replacement for a professional grade camera, but it should fulfill most people's needs.

Very Nice Companion Camera

It is an amazing little camera!  Can easily put it in the side pocket of my coat. Until I got the camera, I did not even realize how small it is. The sensor can rival some chips found in semi pro bodies. High iso (I routinely use it at 3200) image quality is great, and the dynamic range is improved probably by 2 stops over the DR of sensors found in older 12mp pen cameras. In my opinion, it is the best 4/3 sensor. The kit lens is also nice. It is not fast, but sharp at all focal lengths. Autofocus is at least as fast as FD systems found in entry level dSLR cameras. Love the face detection feature! It works well even on cats :-) Small size of the camera makes it easy to carry, but it also makes it too easy to push buttons accidently. The interface is not the most intuitive or efficient. Look up on youtube how to enable "Super Control Panel". It will make your experience with the camera much more enjoyable.

My wife and I purchased the E-PM2 as a Christmas present to each other in early December. We had seen the commercial on TV, and we investigated further. Everything we read was good. We decided to purchase strongly based on our history with both Olympus film and digital SLRs. We didn't open the package until Christmas morning. After reading the very limited instruction book, which allowed me to set the basic system up. It then advised to just shoot iAuto until I was familiar with the camera operations. All I have to do is push several buttons and the camera takes over, but I digress.

There were several references to a Super Control Panel, but absolutely, no instructions as to where it could be accessed. I also learned the the "Semi-Complete" Instruction Book was located on the accompanying CD. For me that meant sitting at my computer reading a manual, so I can learn to use the more interesting camera operations. I chose to go to an office supply store to have the book printed and bound, so I could sit anywhere reading the manual with the camera actually in my hands while learning. After three days of reading the manual, I finally had to call Olympus Technical Support to get an answer as to how to access the previously mentioned Super Control Panel. It's an area sadly lacking in the basic setup manual.

The camera is really very full featured. There are far too many "howevers" for me to give it anywhere near a passing grade. First is the lack of an included optical eye level viewfinder. I have grandchildren and, I find it difficult to follow any action while holding the camera in front of my face effectively blinding me to what's happening except through a small image.

The touch screen is very, very responsive, however, my finger tips are not small enough to easily touch the correct icon on the screen to use it. When I use the swipe function to review images, 3 to 4 frames slide by instead of a single. Fortunately, the  function on the manual control wheel functions as expected. Same goes for the zoom function. More often the not the image slides forward or backwards instead of zooming, so I rotate the wheel once again.

Shooting in the manual mode is my last and greatest issue. It's the way I use any camera. Once I set all the parameters on the Super Control Panel, it is very difficult to change either the shutter speed or f/stop easily. Even after a great deal of practice using the Control Dial, which is "mini," I can't change either on the first try.

I can't say much about the HD capability because I've only tried it once. Still waiting to decide, whether, we want to spend the money to buy yet another connecting cable. The only video I shot was some fireworks at New Years. An optical eye level viewfinder would have helped enormously. I got about 7 seconds of good image out of a total of 47.

For the techno geek this might be a fine camera, but to anyone with an extensive photographic background it's little more than a novelty. This is the first Olympus camera we have owned that is a disappointment.