Olympus PEN E-PL3 vs Olympus PEN E-P5

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Olympus PEN E-PL3 and the Olympus PEN E-P5, highlighting the advantages of each over the other, discussing their pros and cons, shared strengths and weaknesses, and providing a rating based on their available features and specifications to assist you in choosing the one that best suits your needs.

Olympus PEN E-PL3 was introduced in September 2011 and Olympus PEN E-P5 was introduced in October 2013. Let us first list highlights of the models.

Now that we've looked at the most essential specifications and gained a basic understanding of these cameras, we can delve into more details and see the differences between them.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Olympus PEN E-PL3 over Olympus PEN E-P5.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Olympus PEN E-P5 over Olympus PEN E-PL3.

We already listed pros and cons of each model. However, you may also find useful to look at their common strengths and weaknesses shown side-by-side.

Screen

Olympus PEN E-PL3 and Olympus PEN E-P5 have 3.0" Tilting screens with 460k dot and 1,037k dot resolutions respectively. Tilting screen makes cameras very useful for photography purposes but not so useful for video shooting. Olympus PEN E-P5 also features touchscreen which has advantages such as easy menu navigation, intuitive controls, quick setting adjustment and most importantly a Touch-to-Focus functionality (available only on Olympus PEN E-P5) allowing users to select a specific point on the screen where they want the camera to focus. This feature can be helpful for achieving precise focus in both photo and video recording.

Cameras does not have built-in viewfinders but optional viewfinder can be attached.

Olympus PEN E-PL3 features a 12.3 megapixel Micro Four Thirds CMOS sensor with dimensions of 17.3 x 13 mm and a total area of 224.9 mm². Its native ISO range is 200 - 12,800. Olympus PEN E-P5 features a 16.1 megapixel Micro Four Thirds CMOS sensor with dimensions of 17.3 x 13 mm and a total area of 169 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 25,600.

Here is a sensor size comparison chart where you can see how different sensors compare with each other:

Sensor size chart

	Sensor	Dimensions	Area	Aspect Ratio	Crop Factor
	Medium Format	44 x 33 mm	1452 mm2	4:3	0.79x
	Full Frame	36 x 24 mm	864 mm2	3:2	1x
	APS-H	27 x 18 mm	486 mm2	3:2	1.3x
	APS-C	23.6 x 15.6 mm	368.2 mm2	3:2	1.5x
	APS-C (Canon)	22.3 x 14.9 mm	332.3 mm2	3:2	1.6x
	Micro Four Thirds	17.4 x 13 mm	226.2 mm2	4:3	2x
	1-inch	13.2 x 8.8 mm	116.2 mm2	3:2	2.7x
	1/1.7-inch	7.44 x 5.58 mm	41.5 mm2	4:3	4.7x
	1/2.3-inch	6.17 x 4.55 mm	28.1 mm2	4:3	5.6x

Olympus PEN E-PL3 is equipped with Truepic VI processor and can take pictures up to 4032 x 3024 resolution. It can also take pictures with lower resolution like 3200 x 2400, 2560 x 1920, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 1024 x 768, 640 x 480 with 4:3, 16:9 aspect ratios. Olympus PEN E-P5 can take pictures up to 4608 x 3456 resolution.

Lens Mount

Cameras have Micro Four Thirds lens mount. Due to their Micro Four Thirds sensor their crop factor (also called lens multiplier) is equal to 2x. This means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length times 2.

In-Body Image Stabilization

The cameras have a built-in in-body image stabilization (IBIS). This means that you are still getting vibration reduction when cameras are paired with non-image stabilizied lenses. It also works with lenses with optical image stabilization and in combination can achieve even better compensation.

Built-in Wi-Fi on Olympus PEN E-P5

Olympus PEN E-P5 has a built-in Wi-Fi which allows to easily transfer photos and videos from the camera to other Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as smartphones, tablets, printers, or computers. This eliminates the need for cables and allows for quick and convenient media sharing and social media integration. It gives you the ability to control your camera remotely using a smartphone or tablet. This is particularly useful for taking self-portraits, group shots, or capturing images in challenging conditions without having to touch the camera. Firmware updates can also be downloaded and installed wirelessly.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in WiFi.

USB Inputs and HDMI Outputs

Both models have USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec) inputs for data transfer. Olympus PEN E-PL3 has a Mini type C HDMI and Olympus PEN E-P5 has an HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Olympus PEN E-PL3 comes with BLS-5 battery pack with battery life of 300 shots.

External Storage Slots

Cameras have a single SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot.

Shutter

Shutter speed can go up to 1/4000 sec on Olympus PEN E-PL3, and up to 1/8000 sec on Olympus PEN E-P5. Olympus PEN E-PL3 can shoot continuously up to 5.5 fps. Olympus PEN E-P5 can shoot continuously up to 9.0 fps.

Flash

Olympus PEN E-P5 has a built-in flash with maximum range of 7.00 m at ISO 100 and also accepts external flash which can be connected via Hot Shoe. Olympus PEN E-PL3 has no built-in flash but an external flash may be connected via Hot Shoe. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/160 sec on Olympus PEN E-PL3 and 1/320 sec on Olympus PEN E-P5.

Olympus PEN E-PL3 body has dimensions of 110 x 64 x 37 mm (4.33 x 2.52 x 1.46") and Olympus PEN E-P5 body has dimensions of 122 x 69 x 37 mm (4.8 x 2.72 x 1.46"). Olympus PEN E-PL3 weighs 313 g (0.69 lb / 11.04 oz) and Olympus PEN E-P5 weighs 420 g (0.93 lb / 14.82 oz).

Olympus PEN E-PL3

Olympus PEN E-P5

110 mm

64 mm

122 mm

69 mm

64 mm

69 mm

37 mm

37 mm