Olympus E-P2 Performance

The Olympus E-P2 is somewhat slower than average compared to consumer SLRs and many point & shoot cameras, though AF speed is slightly improved over the E-P1.

Startup and shut-down times are slower than those for most SLRs. The long startup time is likely due to the SSWF cleaning that takes place on power-up. Unfortunately, there is no way to shut that off with firmware V1.0. (We'd prefer to have control over when sensor cleaning takes place, or at least have the camera abort cleaning when the shutter release is pressed.)

Mode switching is also slow. Displaying recorded JPEGs is pretty fast though.

The Olympus E-P2 showed full-autofocus shutter lag (with the subject at a fixed distance) that ranged from 0.909 seconds at full telephoto to 0.956 seconds at wide angle when using the 14-42mm kit lens in Single-area AF mode. This is a noticeable improvement over the E-P1 which ranged from 0.983s to 1.187s , but still slower than most digicams and much slower than SLRs. The lag was much better in continuous mode AF, at about 0.288 second, though your subject may not be in focus in this mode. (Release Priority is on by default in this mode.) When manually focused, the E-P2's lag time drops to 0.180 second; fast enough that it won't likely cause you to miss any shots. Manual focus lag also varied a lot more that autofocus lag (11% versus 1-2%). The E-P2's prefocused lag time of 0.072s is quite fast thought, besting some SLRs in its general price range. That's partially because there is no mirror to move out of the way first.

Although full AF shutter lag has improved over the E-P1, it's still one of the weakest points of the Olympus E-P2 value proposition. That said, if you can prefocus by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button prior to the shot itself, you'll have no problem capturing critical moments. That's not possible with every subject, but for those that it does work with, the E-P2 will respond quickly enough.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance. We also use the same Sigma 70mm f/2.8 macro with every camera (on all platforms except Four Thirds/Micro Four Thirds and Nikon consumer models lacking an in-body focus motor), to further reduce variation, and because our tests showed that focus-determination time with this lens was close to the fastest, across multiple camera bodies from different manufacturers. Being an older design with a non-ultrasonic motor, it wouldn't be the fastest at slewing from one focus setting to another, but that's exactly the reason we measure focus determination speed, which is primarily a function of the camera body, vs focus adjustment speed, which is primarily a function of the lens.

Single-shot cycle times are rather slow, at 2.00 seconds for large/superfine JPEGs or RAW files, 2.06 seconds for RAW + LSF JPEGs. Continuous mode, however, was faster and quite consistent. The camera managed about 3.1 frames per second no matter what image size or quality before the buffer filled. Buffer depth was also quite good for its class, at 14 frames for large/superfine JPEGs, 10 frames for RAW and 9 frames for RAW + large/superfine JPEG. Note that our test target for this was designed to be difficult to compress, so JPEG burst lengths may be longer with simpler subjects. (Particularly in the case of buffer depths, we're careful to test under worst-case conditions.)

Download speeds were fast, quick enough that you probably won't feel the need for a separate card reader, even with large memory cards. (Note that this test was performed with a SanDisk Extreme III 30 MB/sec SD card: Slower cards would likely show slower transfer times.)

Bottom line, just like the E-P1, the Olympus E-P2 is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to performance.  Despite a small improvement over the E-P1, startup time and full autofocus is quite slow, though prefocused shutter lag is very good. Burst speed remains about average, and buffer size is pretty good. If you prefocus, you can capture some action shots, but the E-P2 is best suited for relatively static subjects.

Battery
Below average battery life, but not atypical of SLR-style cameras operating in Live View mode.

The Olympus E-P2 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with both a single battery and charger. The rated 300 shots per charge is the same as the E-P1 and below the capacity of most SLRs and Point & Shoots, especially considering the E-P2 has no built-in flash. - But this relatively short battery life isn't atypical of SLR-style cameras being used in Live View mode: Live View operation burns a fair bit of power. (The CIPA standard normally tests battery life with 50% of the shots taken with flash, so this isn't strictly a CIPA number, given that there's no internal flash to fire.) We do recommend getting a second battery for your E-P2 if you plan any extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

Storage
The Olympus E-P2 accepts SD/SDHC memory cards, and does not ship with a card.

We strongly recommend buying a large capacity SD/SDHC memory card at least a 2GB card, preferably a 4 or 8GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings, or when shooting RAW or video files. -- If you're going to shoot much video, you'll definitely want a large, fast card; look for a card with "class 6" speed or better. (Check the shopping link above, memory cards are really cheap these days, so no reason to skimp.)