Photography Gear News

"The classically-styled PEN series has given Olympus the opportunity to draw attention to its film-era history of making small, popular cameras. But it wasn't just the size and style of the PEN and Trip cameras that helped their success - it was also their simplicity. And it's this ethos that explains the E-PM1, or PEN Mini as it is likely to be promoted to its target audience.

The logic behind the design is undeniable - the collapsible zoom and slightly smaller sensor of the PEN series (compared to Samsung's NX or Sony's NEX cameras), helps make the E-PM1 an impressively compact package, so far as large-sensor mirrorless cameras go. There'll still be arguments that it's not truly pocketable, but it's undeniably more convenient to carry than any DSLR.

So, depending on how you look at it, the PEN Mini is either the most simplistic mirrorless model yet, or most of the company's flagship E-5 DSLR for the cost of a high-end enthusiast compact. Either way, its combination of being both relatively small and relatively inexpensive is worth looking closely at...."