Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1 Hands On

Olympus announced the new Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1 - a whole new line of PEN Micro Four Thirds cameras, it will be available in Autumn this year, and is the smallest Olympus PEN yet. The camera has a large 3 inch touch screen, and lacks the mode dial of the E-PL3 and E-P3. The compact size means that the flash is not built in, but instead, the camera comes with a flash that attaches to the top of the camera.



On the top you can see where Olympus has simplified things by removing the mode dial, and instead there is simply stereo microphones, speaker, flash hot shoe, shutter release and power button.



On the this really early pre-production model (they did not have any functioning Pen Mini's on display), the back of the camera looks a little un-finished, and the quality is quite likely to improve on the production version. The back features the large 3inch touch screen, a limited number of buttons, and the 4-way scoll wheel and middle OK button.



The external pop up flash is very similar in design to the flash seen on the Sony NEX-3/5 and fits neatly on top of the camera without adding much size or weight. However, with the improved 12 megapixel sensor with improved noise reduction, it's possible that the lack of flash may be much less noticeable on this PEN camera.

Click to enlarge - white	Click to enlarge - purple
Click to enlarge - brown	Click to enlarge - optical viewfinder

The Olympus Pen Mini E-PM1 really is impressively small, and rather good looking.

Have a look at our size comparisons, or have a look at the full Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1 announcement.
Read our hands on preview and first impressions of the new Olympus PEN Lite E-PL3!
Read our hands on preview of the new Olympus PEN Mini E-P3!

Olympus PEN Mini E-PM1: Specification

Price:	£TBC
Contact:	www.olympus.co.uk
Resolution:	12.3 megapixels
Sensor size:	4/3 inch
Sensor type:	Live MOS sensor
Max. Image size:	4032 x 3042
Aspect ratio:	4:3 / 3:2 / 16:9 / 6:6 / 3:4
Focusing system:	Contrast detection AF
Focus points:	35 points / Automatic and manual selection
Focus types:	Manual focus, Single AF, Continuous AF, Single AF + MF, AF Tracking
Lens mount:	Micro Four Thirds
File types:	JPEG, RAW
ISO sensitivity:	ISO200 - 12800
Metering system:	TTL open aperture light metering
Metering types:	ESP light metering, Spot metering, Centre weighted metering, Highlight, Shadow
Exposure compensation:	+/- 3EV in 1/3, 1/2 and 1 step increments
Shutter speed range:	60sec - 1/4000sec
Frames-per-second:	4.1fps (5.5fps when IS is switched off)
Flash sync speed:	1/160 s / 1/4000 s (Super FP Mode)
Image stabilisation:	Sensor shift
Live view:	Yes
Monitor:	3in LCD, 460,000 dots
Movie mode:	Full HD 1920 x 1080 (16:9) 60i, 17Mbps (AVCHD) Full HD 1920 x 1080 (16:9) 60i, 13Mbps HD 1280 x 720 (16:9) 60p, 17Mbps HD 1280 x 720 (16:9) 60p, 13Mbps HD 1280 x 720 (16:9) / 30fps (AVI Motion JPEG) 640 x 480 / 30fps (AVI Motion JPEG) 14min
Media type:	SD, SDHC, SDXC
Interface:	USB 2.0. HDMI Mini
Power:	Li-Ion battery
Size:	109.5 x 63.7 x 34.0mm
Weight:	216g (body only)