Olympus Announces New PEN Cameras, XZ-2 Point-and-Shoot

Olympus has updated two of its popular Micro Four Thirds PEN cameras—replacing the E-PL3 $599.00 at Buydig.com with the E-PL5 PEN Lite and the E-PM1 $399.99 at TigerDirect.com with the E-PM2 PEN Mini. Both cameras feature the same 16-megapixel image sensor and processing engine as the OM-D E-M5 $1,279.99 at PRIMOTRONIX and touchscreen rear displays, making it possible to adjust settings, select a focus point, and fire the shutter with the touch of your finger. The top-end PEN camera, the E-P3 is not being upgraded at this point, but it does remain in the lineup.
Like its predecessor, the E-PM2 features a fixed rear 460k-dot LCD. The E-PL5 has a tilting screen with the same resolution and an improved tilt range—it can now face all the way front for self portraits, just like the display on the Sony Alpha NEX-F3 $498.00 at Dell. Both shoot at 8 frames per second with locked focus, but slow to 3.5 frames per second. Neither camera has built-in Wi-Fi, but they do support wireless transfer to an Android or iOS smartphone or tablet via the PenPal $48.95 at Amazon Marketplace Bluetooth adapter, Eye-Fi memory cards, and Toshiba FlashAir memory cards.

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There are also a few new lenses coming for the Micro Four Thirds system. The most intriguing is a 15mm f/8 lens that Olympus is billing as a bodycap lens—at only 0.3 inches in depth, it's even slimmer than a pancake design. Even though it has a very modest maximum aperture, the manual focus lens barely protrudes from the camera body. It produces a 30mm field of view in terms of full-frame photography and can focus as close as 0.3 meters.
Like other recent top-end lenses, the M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mmF2.8 Macro lens is sealed against dust and water, which should make it an appealing macro choice for E-M5 owners. It is capable of 1:1 magnification and has a focus limiter switch. Coming further down the road is the M.Zuiko Digital 17mm F1.8 lens that will serve as a fast wide-angle optic—that lens is currently being developed, so expect it later rather than sooner.
On the point-and-shoot front, the company has updated its well-regarded XZ-1 $289.95 at Amazon compact. The XZ-2 ditches the 10-megapixel 1/1.63-inch CCD sensor for a 12-megapixel 1/1.7-inch CMOS sensor. The lens is the same 28-112mm f/1.8-2.5 design. A changeable hand grip has been added to the front of the camera, as has a switch that allows you to behave how control ring feels—you can use it with detent clicks or opt to disable them for smooth operation.
The rear OLED display now tilts so you can use the camera at waist level or above your head. It uses the same accessory port as the XZ-1, so upgraders can use the same accessories. The display supports touch control, another feature that was absent from the XZ-1.
Pricing and availability for the new cameras and lenses has not yet been set.