Olympus E-PL9 Review

Olympus E-PL9 Review -- Now Shooting!

by Mike Tomkins and Dave Pardue
Preview posted : 02/08/2018
Updated: 03/14/2019

Updates:
02/22/2018: First Shots posted
04/05/2018: North American availability and pricing added
04/20/2018: Hands-On Gallery
03/14/2019: Changed max fps for Full HD to 60p

Olympus E-PL9 Overview

by Mike Tomkins
Posted 02/08/2018

An affordable, selfie-friendly mirrorless camera

The Olympus PL9 follows in the footsteps of the 2016-model year Olympus PL8, which was itself the seventh-generation model in a line which traces its heritage back to the PL1, back in April 2010. (Wondering why the disparity between generation and model number? Olympus skipped the fourth generation, likely because of the unlucky association for that particular digit in some Asian cultures.)

So who's the PL9 for? Like every preceding model in the line, the Olympus PL9 is an extremely affordable camera aimed at the budget-minded photographer who nevertheless wants interchangeable-lens, mirrorless camera versatility, from bloggers and Instagram-lovers to artists and selfie fans. Priced at just £580 or thereabouts when sold body-only in the UK market (that's roughly US$670 before tax, at current exchange rates), the PL9 is also available with the M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ pancake zoom lens for £650 (US$750 before tax).

For your hard-earned cash, you net yourself a 16.1-megapixel Micro Four Thirds mount mirrorless camera with an articulated, tilting LCD monitor, but no electronic viewfinder nor any ability to add one. If you don't mind shooting at arm's length -- and for the selfie set, that probably feels more natural than shooting through a viewfinder -- then the PL9 gives you quite a bit for your money.

A brand-new body with a familiar control layout

So how does it differ from its immediate predecessor? Well for one thing, there's a brand-new body -- we don't currently know the construction material -- which is indistinguishably larger and heavier than before.

Total weight has increased by a scant 0.2 ounces (6g), to 13.4 oz (380g) including battery and memory card, and dimensions are 4.6 x 2.7 x 1.5 inches (117.1 x 68 x 39mm). Body thickness has increased by a couple of hundredths of an inch (0.6mm) due to new, slightly more generous front and rear grips, while half as much has been shaved off the top of the camera.

A pop-up flash strobe and hot shoe, but no more accessory port

As well as the new handgrips, Olympus has added a new built-in, pop-up flash strobe which replaces the bundled (but separate) flash strobe accessory of the preceding camera. While you can never accidentally leave the new PL9's strobe at home, though, its guide number of just 7.6 meters at ISO 200 is a good bit less generous than the 10 meter guide number of the PL8's bundled strobe.

The addition of an internal strobe comes accompanied by a switch to a standard flash hot shoe, rather than one equipped with Olympus' Accessory Port 2 interface, a change that was likely made to free up space inside the camera for the new flash. The control layout of the camera is almost unchanged, though, with the addition of just one button that's used to raise the flash. (This new button can be found directly above the tilting LCD monitor.) The other two buttons atop the right-hand side of the rear panel are also now angled almost directly upwards, where previously they were on a beveled portion of the camera body and pointed both upwards and backwards in equal degrees.

Wrap-around leatherette trim and new color-keyed controls

But while the controls are otherwise largely unchanged in their locations, those to the right of the LCD monitor diverge from the earlier design aesthetic by featuring trim rings around each button. The reason for this change is that the leatherette trim piece which lines the front and sides of the camera body now also wraps around to the right hand side of the rear deck, but a more durable material was clearly needed alongside the controls. Interestingly, the buttons are now color-matched to the leatherette material, be it white, brown or black. The trim rings match too on the brown version, but not the black and white ones.

The autofocus assist / self-timer lamp has jumped across the lens mount and now sits much closer to the lens itself, while rather curiously, the LCD monitor now no longer sits quite centered within its articulated housing, even though the panel and articulation mechanisms would seem to be the same types used previously. (Or perhaps the press images we've seen are renderings, and the LCD images have not been overlaid accurately.)

The tilting LCD flips down for handheld selfies

As before, the articulation mechanism allows you to tilt the LCD upwards by only 80 degrees but it can flip downwards by 180 degrees for viewing from in front of the camera. This remains our least-favorite articulation style, for the simple reason that it prevents you from shooting selfies with the camera on a tripod or nestled on a convenient surface, and could interfere with visibility when used with selfie sticks too. We far prefer side-mounted tilt/swivels, or failing that, screens which can tilt up by 180 degrees.

The rearranged Mode dial sports an Advanced Photo mode

The only other changes of note are that the top-deck speaker is gone, its location now occupied by the pop-up flash strobe, while at the same time the Mode dial has been rearranged, with modes both removed and added. New to the list is the same Advanced Photo mode we've seen previously in the E-M10 III, which is great at surfacing more arcane features for beginners, but can feel a bit limiting to more advanced photographers. This new mode replaces the frankly, rather bewildering photo story mode of the earlier PL8, while the PL9 also renames the iAuto mode of the earlier camera to just plain old Auto once more.

Minor changes to performance and sensitivity range

On the inside, the Olympus PL9 is based around a next-generation, double quad-core TruePic VIII image processor, the same type used in the flagship OM-D E-M1 Mark II, and a healthy step forwards from the previous-gen TruePic VII. However, burst capture performance has increased only negligibly by 0.1 frames per second, to a maximum of 8.6 fps according to Olympus' own testing. And that slight increase in performance comes accompanied by a significant decrease in buffer depth, now down to just 14 raw frames, versus 20 in the PL8. The reduced-rate continuous burst mode option, meanwhile, has been given a healthy boost from 3.7 to 4.8 fps.

Also essentially unchanged from the previous generation is the Olympus E-PL9's sensitivity range of 100 to 25,600 equivalents, exactly the same as in the previous camera. And as before, the lowest sensitivity is badged "Low", denoting it as potentially having reduced image quality compared to the camera's native sensitivity. (Specifically, dynamic range is likely reduced in the highlights.)

The only real difference from the PL8 in this respect is that Olympus now includes the ISO 100 (Low) option within the default sensitivity range, where previously it was an expanded sensitivity. At the upper end of the range, the maximum sensitivity by default is ISO 6400.

Contrast-detect autofocus, but now with more AF points

Like its predecessor, the Olympus PL9 achieves its affordable pricetag in part by foregoing a more sophisticated hybrid autofocus system in favor of a more traditional contrast detection-based system. The PL9's AF system does, however, offer a whopping 121 autofocus points covering most of the image frame, a significant step up from the 81 points of its predecessor. You can, of course, focus manually, and you'll now find that in addition to the manual focus-friendly live view magnification function's existing 5x, 7x, 10x and 14x zoom levels, there's now a 3x zoom level.

Just as in the earlier camera, the PL9 includes a three-axis sensor shift image stabilization system which banishes blur from shaky hands. And also just as before, the movie mode allows sensor-shift stabilization to be supplemented with electronic stabilization.

4K video, a choice of frame-rate and even slow-mo / time-lapse

Speaking of movies, you may have found yourself wondering earlier, "If resolution and capture rate are basically unchanged, what's Olympus doing with the faster processor?" Well, for one thing, it's providing support for ultra high-definition (UHD) 4K video capture. And a choice of 24, 25 or 30 frames per second capture rates are offered, a nice improvement from the fixed 30 fps video of the PL8. 4K footage is recorded with a 102Mbps bitrate, and you can still opt for lower-res Full HD and HD resolutions as well, with the same frame rate options as for 4K footage.

Full HD is now available at up 60 frames per second and there's also a swift 120 fps HD capture mode which allows for up to a 5x slow-motion effect while retaining a movie-like 24 frames per second. You can also shoot time-lapse movies for a quick-motion effect, although we don't have specifics on interval times, etc. Movie mode battery life has decreased by some 10 minutes to 80 minutes with zoom and other adjustments, or as long as 140 minutes without.

Advanced Photo: Great for newbies, but may be limiting for experienced shooters

We mentioned the Olympus E-PL9's new Advanced Photo mode earlier, by the way, but it bears a little more discussion since it's a relatively new feature for the company's cameras. Introduced with the E-M10 III last year, this new mode aims to surface and provide quick access to some of the features less experienced photographers would otherwise miss in the menu system.

If you're a less experienced photographer then you'll very likely appreciate the feature, which makes it easier to locate tools like live compositing and bulb modes, sweep panoramic capture (a new addition for the PL9), silent shooting, multiple exposures, exposure and focus bracketing, high dynamic range capture and keystoning compensation. Each tool is shown alongside pictures illustrating its function and why you might want to use it.

Presuming it's been implemented similarly to its E-M10 III equivalent, though, more knowledgeable shooters may find it frustrating as there are artificial limits such as an inability to shoot with exposure bracketing and priority-mode capture together, or to use less than full stop-sized bracketing steps. Fingers tightly crossed some of these limitations which we described in our E-M10 III review have been addressed.

New scene modes and art filters for the PL9

Also new to the Olympus PL9 are a couple of additional scene modes and art filters. The new scene modes, which can easily be applied through a new touchscreen interface, include Light Trails, Backlight HDR, Silent Mode and Multi-Focus. To make way for these, the earlier High / Low Key, Digital Image Stabilization, Fisheye Converter, Wide Converter, Macro Converter and 3D modes of the PL8 have all been removed from the new model.

Meanwhile, there are now a total of 16 Art filters, with two new additions: Bleach Bypass and Instant Film.

Wi-Fi connectivity is joined by Bluetooth for always-on sharing

The earlier PL8 already included Wi-Fi wireless networking connectivity, but it's supplemented by a Bluetooth radio in the Olympus PL9 for a low power, always on connection. You smartphone and camera remain connected, even when they're on standby. When you want to transfer images, you can do so near-instantly, since there's no need to manually reconnect devices each time.

A couple of important provisos, though: 4K content can only be transferred wirelessly to recent iOS devices. Phones including the iPhone 5 and 5c or earlier will not be able to transfer 4K content at all, while Android devices will do so only after first downsampling the footage to Full HD resolution.

Olympus E-PL9 price and availability

The Olympus E-PL9 is available in Pearl White, Onyx Black or Honey Brown color schemes starting from April 5, 2018, for a street price of US$599.99 (CAD$699.99) for the body only, and for US$699.99 (CAD$899.99) bundled in a single lens kit. The kit includes the camera body, M.Zuiko 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 EZ lens, custom camera bag, custom camera strap, 16GB memory card, Quick Tip Card, and Quick Start Guide.

• • •

Olympus E-PL9 Hands-on & Gallery

by Dave Pardue | Posted: 03/30/2018 | Updated: 04/20/2018

Before the Olympus PEN E-PL9 was officially released here in the US, our contacts at Olympus Tokyo were kind enough to send a sample our way for the sake of IR readers in other parts of the world who had the privilege of acquiring one before North American general availability. Having previously posted our signature laboratory First Shots, we wanted to now bring you a sampling of real-world gallery images for closer inspection from this latest Pen model, as well as some early notes on general handling.

[Special Editor's Note: After the initial shooting of a our real world gallery, an astute reader noticed there was something not-quite-right regarding the images when pixel-peeping. Our Technical Editor discovered that "digitial zoom" had been accidentally left engaged (a holdover from lab shooting) and because this isn't something reported in the Super Control Panel, it was not discovered by our photographer in the field. We were able to recover some of the original images for you by re-converting from the RAW files in-camera (which is certainly a handy feature!) since digital zoom does not apply to RAW files. We therefore now have a revised initial gallery for you, and a slightly shorter piece here than we'd originally posted.]

This PEN's particulars

The E-PL9 is an attractive little camera, and quite lightweight. Our sample model is white, though it also comes in tan and black. The camera has a rather luxurious look to it, right down to the gold-stenciled inlay branding, and would certainly be welcomed in the high-end worlds of Bond Street in London, 5th Avenue in New York City, and the renowned Champs-Élysées in Paris.

I had an Olympus PEN film camera back in the day, and marveled at the blend of sleek lines and svelte size blended with 35mm capability. And yet, in my first year with Imaging Resource, I was surprised to lay eyes on the PEN E-PM1, which was in the smallest line of digital PENs at the time. This represented so much power to me, in such a tiny package, that I was (and frankly still am) blown away by that model and lineage. However, it does appear to have ended with the E-PM2, with all smaller PEN models now being PEN Lite (E-PL) models.

As my years with IR have evolved, and the Olympus PEN line too, I've been privileged to have had the chance to shoot with and write about many of them, including the E-PL7, E-PL8 and the nearly instant classic PEN-F. Having also written extensively on the OM-D E-M10 II, I certainly prefer the viewfinder and twin control dials of that line and the PEN-F more for all-purpose photography than the PEN-Lite line, and yet this one very much represents a different intended purpose in its elegant simplicity.

Before delving into the E-PL9 gallery, let's take a closer look into handling as well as ergonomic comparisons with the predecessor.

Olympus PEN E-PL8 vs E-PL9

The E-PL8 had ushered in some fairly significant physical changes to the PEN-Lite line as compared to the E-PL7. Now, with the E-PL9, much of the general rounded aesthetic remains, but there are some slight cosmetic tweaks to things like the top-deck beveling, as well as a few significant changes to discuss.

The most obvious immediate difference in these two models is the addition of a pop-up flash. I ended up using it several times for this piece, as seen below on a few occasions, and found it handy to have on-board. It's certainly not an overly powerful flash, but that's generally not an issue for me, as I find a little flash usually goes a long way. (And when you need a lot, I find external flashes like the Olympus 900R preferable anyway.) The only unfortunate consequence is the loss of the accessory port under the hotshoe, and you therefore can no longer mount the VF-4 viewfinder, for instance.

The mode dial has been beefed up, and some of the settings and icons tweaked or altered. Most notably, "iAUTO" or Intelligent Auto is now just plain "AUTO", while "AP" or "Advanced Photo" has been added to help users gain immediate access to the deeper settings more directly. With both models there is only one control dial, and having only one is the single biggest thing I feel I am giving up with this line compared to the OM-D line and higher-end models like the PEN-F.

A subtle but noticeable alteration with the E-PL9 is the addition of a slightly more pronounced grip. Admittedly the E-PL8's looked more "sleek" or perhaps "artsy," but the E-PL9's is for sure more user-friendly as an actual grip. The rubber thumb rest on the rear, which I find useful, keeps the same "just enough" touch as before. And the rear controls remain virtually identical, so there are no surprises there to discuss.

One additional thing I'd like to mention is that the E-PL9 shares what I found in the E-PL7 and 8, which is a marked increase in precision when it comes to the general controls, especially the dials, as compared to the E-PL6 and previous models before that. It may sound like a small thing, but it's not. The tighter feel of the controls is reassuring, feels professional, and also helps to ensure that modes and settings won't get bumped too easily in a bag.

So there's a brief overview of basic handling and some general comparisons. Now let's grab a few lenses and hit the road!

Heading into the wild

Just a few days after our sample arrived, I was slated to head out with my son and his friend in quite a different direction from those glamorous cities mentioned earlier. We were heading out to hike and explore an area along the border between Georgia and Alabama, in and around the Talladega National Forest, nested in a remote area within the natural geographical triangle created by Atlanta, Chattanooga and Birmingham. And while Bond Street in London could not be a more distant cry from this area (trust me) the light weight and portability of the PEN-Lite series was exactly what I wanted for this little excursion.

(Images have been resized to fit this page, cropped and/or altered in post-production, primarily to balance shadows and highlights as needed. Clicking any image will take you to a carrier page with access to the original, full-resolution image as delivered by the E-PL9. For additional images, access to RAW files and EXIF data please see our Olympus E-PL9 Gallery page.)

We didn't receive a kit lens with the sample sent from Olympus Japan, and still have no idea how it might be configured for sale here in North America if and when it comes this way, but I packed their most "standard" kit lens, the 14-42mm M. Zuiko, for the trip. I also tossed in a variety of additional M.Zuiko selections to spruce up the possibilities. It has been suggested that putting nice lenses on a mid-level line makes no sense, but to me it does. After all, some of you may be considering this model as your back-up to a PEN-F or an OM-D body. And others may simply want to save money for lenses knowing that this camera is already plenty of firepower for most purposes.

Storm's rolling in

As we moved farther west, the clouds started to roll in. This was OK, as it's nice to show both worlds from a camera. This is especially true as natural sunlight fades into a cloudy late-afternoon, as we see in some of the shots down below. Smartphones are fine when the light is abundant, but as it fades, it's nice to have a much larger sensor with you, as well as the potential for larger apertures, to capture the light.

Closer to home

Before concluding this initial gallery supplement I wanted to show a few more shots, one from a Disney show, and one from around the house to round out this initial gallery piece.

Conclusion

And so, my brief few days with the attractive Olympus PEN E-PL9 came to an end. It is light, versatile and captures wonderful images when you consider the affordability of the PEN Lite line. The addition of a pop-up flash and a slightly beefier grip, while not diminishing the overall svelte ergonomics, are welcome. This model is now available here on North American shores, so we'll bring you more to come soon.

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