Olympus PEN E-PL6 vs Olympus PEN E-PL3

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Olympus PEN E-PL6 and the Olympus PEN E-PL3, 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-PL6 was introduced in August 2014 and Olympus PEN E-PL3 was introduced in September 2011. 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-PL6 over Olympus PEN E-PL3.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Olympus PEN E-PL3 over Olympus PEN E-PL6.

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-PL6 and Olympus PEN E-PL3 have 3.0" Tilting screens with 460k dot resolution. Tilting screen makes cameras very useful for photography purposes but not so useful for video shooting. Olympus PEN E-PL6 also features touchscreen which has advantages such as easy menu navigation, intuitive controls, quick setting adjustment and most importantly a Touch-to-Focus functionality 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-PL6 features a 16 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 100 - 25,600. 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 169 mm². Its native ISO range is 200 - 12,800.

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-PL6 is equipped with TruePic VI processor and can take pictures up to 4608 x 3456 resolution. It can also take pictures with lower resolution like 2560 x 1920, 1024 x 768 with 1:1, 4:3, 3:2, 16:9 aspect ratios. 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.

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 Sensor Shift 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.

USB Inputs and HDMI Outputs

Both models have USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec) inputs for data transfer. Olympus PEN E-PL6 has a Mini type C HDMI and Olympus PEN E-PL3 has a Mini type C HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Olympus PEN E-PL6 and Olympus PEN E-PL3 come with BLS-5 battery pack with battery life of 360 shots on Olympus PEN E-PL6 and with battery life of 300 shots on Olympus PEN E-PL3.

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-PL6, and up to 1/4000 sec on Olympus PEN E-PL3. Olympus PEN E-PL6 can shoot continuously up to 8.0 fps. Olympus PEN E-PL3 can shoot continuously up to 5.5 fps.

Flash

Cameras have no built-in flash but an external flash may be connected to both of them via Hot Shoe. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/160 sec on Olympus PEN E-PL3.

Olympus PEN E-PL6 body has dimensions of 111 x 64 x 38 mm (4.37 x 2.52 x 1.5") and Olympus PEN E-PL3 body has dimensions of 110 x 64 x 37 mm (4.33 x 2.52 x 1.46"). Olympus PEN E-PL6 weighs 325 g (0.72 lb / 11.46 oz) and Olympus PEN E-PL3 weighs 313 g (0.69 lb / 11.04 oz).

Olympus PEN E-PL6

Olympus PEN E-PL3

111 mm

64 mm

110 mm

64 mm

64 mm

64 mm

38 mm

37 mm