Olympus has added a third camera to the Pen line-up with the Olympus PEN E-PL1. The PEN E-PL1 may become the favorite for many fast for two reasons, a lower price (est. street $598 for the kit) and a pop-up flash.

The 12.3 megapixel little wonder packs a wallop of a punch. It rivals larger DSLRs  on features and lenses while competing with higher end point and shoots on size and price. The PEN E-PL1 is my idea of the perfect walking around camera. Small versatile, interchangeable lens bright viewing screen, with no limits on control. I could easily take this camera on an assignment or out for a weekend outing.

The Olympus PEN E-PL1 features include, but are not limited to:

♦ 12.3-megapixel Micro Four Thirds Live MOS image sensor
♦ Supersonic Wave Filter for dust-reduction
♦ Picture file formats: RAW (12-bit lossless compression), JPEG, RAW+JPEG
♦ RAW file size: 4032(H)x3042(V) (approx. 1/1.5 lossless compressed) Approx. 13.9MB
♦ Video capture format: AVI Motion JPEG (30 FPS)
♦ Max video resolution: 720p
♦ Live View with 100% filed of view
♦ Built-in IS with three modes
♦ 2.7-inch HyperCrystal LCD with anti-reflective coating and 230,000 dots
♦ Improved image contrast detection AF system
♦ 11 AF areas, including face detection
♦ ISO range: 200-3200
♦ Computerized focal-plane shutter operates form 60 seconds to 1/2000 second and Bulb.
♦ Max framerate: 3 fps up to 10 in RAW format
♦ Built-in flash with guide number 10at ISO200,  7at ISO100
♦ Wireless flash control for other Olympus E system flashes
♦ 19 shooting modes
♦ HDMI out
♦ BLS-1 Li-ion battery