Olympus E-PL7 Flash

Coverage and Range
A weak flash with very narrow and uneven coverage. Our standard indoor portrait shot required more than average exposure compensation and still came out dim.

Coverage. Flash coverage is very narrow and uneven at wide angle (14mm), leaving very dark corners in our flash coverage test image. We no longer test at full telephoto is coverage is invariably better, making wide angle the worst case. (Note, this shot taken with the E-PL5 with the same bundled flash and kit lens.)

Exposure. Our Indoor Portrait test scene came out dim even with +1.0 EV flash exposure compensation at ISO 200, and additional flash exposure compensation didn't make much difference. The average amount of flash exposure compensation required for this scene is +0.7 EV, so the E-PL7's bundled flash performed below average here. The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode produced bright results with +1.0 EV flash exposure compensation, though with a strong orange cast in the shadows from the ambient room lighting.

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Olympus E-PL7's bundled flash has a Guide Number (GN) of 10 meters at ISO 200. That works out to a distance of about 5.9 feet at f/5.6, the maximum aperture of the kit lens at full telephoto. In the shot above, the E-PL7 did not perform as Olympus says it will, producing a dim exposure at the rated distance, aperture and ISO. (Note, this shot taken with the E-PL5 with the same bundled flash and kit lens.) We shoot this image using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.