Build and handling
Being an upgrade of the Olympus Pen E-P1, the E-P2 shares a nearly identical body. The only difference is the addition of that accessory port under the hotshoe on the rear of the camera. Without the addition of an optical viewfinder and a mirror box, the E-P2 is small and sleek, being around the same size as the Canon PowerShot G11.
As small as it is, the E-P2 is a slightly awkward size. With the supplied M Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 lens attached, it is still a little too big to fit in all but the largest coat pockets, yet it’s too small for most over-the-shoulder cases. It left a lot of space in my shoulder bag, and while it seemed excessive having just the camera and kit lens in a shoulder bag, it did leave enough room to carry a full complement of Micro Four Thirds lenses. This would require a much larger bag if it were an APS-C system, and would have been far heavier. Those who do want a very slim, pocketable camera should consider the Olympus M Zuiko 17mm f/2.8 pancake lens. This combination makes for a perfect travel companion.
The menu system is unchanged since the E-P1 and I found it straightforward to use. My only complaint is that while the camera is capable of taking Superfine JPEG images, to select this option in the shooting menu you must first set it to be made available via a setting in the custom menu. This was also true of the E-P1 which seems odd, because most users want the default setting to allow them to take the best possible images. Reducing image quality to save space shouldn’t be an issue.
