Olympus PEN E-PL9: A Pint-Sized Mirrorless Camera with 4K Video

Olympus has just announced the new PEN E-PL9, a camera “to put you in touch with your creative side.” It provides quality and creative control for photographers who want a camera upgrade but don’t want to jump into larger and pricier camera systems.

At the core of the camera is a 16-megapixel Four Thirds CMOS sensor backed by a TruePic VIII processor. It has an ISO range of 200-6400, expandable to 100-25600.

The camera features 3-axis in-body sensor-shift stabilization with 3.5-stops of compensation, allowing both photos and videos to be stabilized regardless of which lens you have mounted.

On the back of the camera is a 3-inch tilting touchscreen with 1.04 million dots. While the camera has advanced creative control, there’s also a powerful AUTO mode that lets you adjust settings like brightness, color, contrast, and more by simply moving sliders on the touchscreen.

Olympus has also introduced a new Advanced Photo (AP) mode that simplifies the process of shooting creative types of photos — things like light painting, HDR, and multiple exposures. Here’s what the company says about AP:

Olympus pioneered techniques like Live Composite used to be buried deep in the camera menus, often lying undiscovered. Want to take a photo of your friend creating a light painting in front of a lit up building at night? Used to be almost impossible, now tap the icon in AP mode, put the E-PL9 on a solid surface and off you go. Explore the delights of multiple exposure, HDR, sweep panorama, even focus bracketing – a technique that is a boon for close ups.

Other features and specs include RAW photos, a 121-point AF system, a built-in flash, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connectivity, 16 Art Filters (including a new Instant Film one), scene modes, 4K video recording, 350 photos per battery charge, and a weight of 380g (13.4oz).

The Olympus PEN E-PL9 will be available in white, black, and brown starting in mid-March 2018. The body will cost €549 (~$585) in Europe and there will also be a kit that includes an M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 EZ pancake lens for €699 (~$674). Pricing and availability in the US have yet to be announced.