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My New Favorite CameraOlympus PEN E-PL7

Influence Central was invited to attend an event to discover the Olympus PEN E-PL7 camera and received the camera to facilitate this post. All opinions are our own.

I’ve always loved taking pictures. I’ve never taken any professional photography classes, so I’m certainly speaking as an amateur. Yet great photos go so far to capture both treasured memories and everyday happenings. Despite loving my smartphone and its camera functionality, there are definitely occasions where I’ve longed for a higher quality camera device to capture special moments – whether it’s a vacation or an amazing dessert I order at dinner.

What’s hindered me from making the switch to something beyond my phone has been the mobility factor. I love taking photos and sharing them in real time on Instagram and Facebook. Even point and shoot cameras with WiFi capability can take an awfully long time to load and often time-out when I’ve been using a hotel WiFi connection that’s not as strong as the one I have at home.

The newest Olympus camera – Olympus E-PL7

Enter the Olympus E-PL7 camera, the newest addition to the PEN series of Olympus cameras.

I was fortunate enough to attend an event at The Ritz-Carlton Battery Park where Olympus introduced the attendees to the camera, its features, and had professional photographers on hand to help walk us through various portrait and landscape photography tips using the E-PL7. I was so excited to discover this camera with one of New York’s most iconic backdrops as my subject – and be taught how to use the device from some true professionals who were on hand to answer any questions I had about using it.

The Olympus E-PL7 camera allows you to manually adjust the aperture and shutter speed, but I love that the Auto function of this camera really takes a lot of the guesswork out and makes it incredibly easy to take the perfect photograph based on available light and relevant subjects.

What are your photography pitfalls?

One of the photographers asked what my “photography pitfalls” were. The first thing that came to mind was taking blurry images. She showed me how the PEN series cameras have really strong image stabilization and fast shutter speeds. So it’s easier than ever to capture sports, kids running, or other fast-moving scenes, even while you yourself are walking. The autofocus system shoots up to eight frames per second with an 81-point grid so that you can focus in on really any area of the picture.

The image quality is also so incredibly sharp! The same advanced core image processing technology – including the TruePic VII™ image processor and in-body three-axis image stabilization – found in Olympus’ critically acclaimed OM-D E-M10 is also included in the E-PL.7

Another pitfall I shared was taking awkward selfies (with the stray arm in the way, people not looking at the camera lens, etc.) One of my favorite features of this camera is the downward opening monitor. The screen can pull down from the back and be shifted around to the front of the camera. It’s a touch screen, so simply look into the lens and tap the monitor below you, and voila – the perfect selfie you can see before shooting!

Transfers pictures via wifi

One of the many amazing things about this camera is how easy it is to transfer these pictures to your phone and share them with your friends and on social media. The OI.Share app allows for a quick and seamless connection from the camera to your smartphone. Simply download the app and link your camera with an easy QR code scan. Once you’re connected, you can easily tap the WiFi button on the camera and all the photos you take can be seamlessly seen on your phone. Select the ones you’d like to edit or share, and they’re saved in an Olympus folder in your images gallery. It’s as fast to upload these high quality shots as it is photos taken on your smartphone.

Even though you can edit your images with the app, the filters on the camera make it easy to craft the perfect frame directly from your camera. The camera comes equipped with 14 art filters – from dramatic tone to vintage to watercolor. It’s so fun to play around with these filters and see which is the best for your scene.

Here’s a shot of a model I took at the event using the vintage filter.

Here, I used the Dramatic Tone filter to capture the looming clouds in the sky over the Hudson River.

It’s also easy to put borders around the photos right on the camera.

Partial Color allows you to pull just one color in the shot. Here I focused on orange, which brought out the color in the Staten Island ferry and an autumn tree.

For those of us who love making photo collages, you will love the Photo Story Feature on this camera. You pick the layout, and can take consecutive corresponding photos that will automatically save in collage format.

For zooming in, the macro function helps you capture the smallest details –and nature macro is great for plants, animals and other natural life. I liked using the feature along with the cross-hatching feature for this shot of shells.

If you’re looking to get into more advanced photography, this camera is compatible with 15 different lenses! So if you’re looking for wide-angle and telephoto zooms, you’re in luck.

We ended the event with the team from @psimadethis showing us some fun ways to customize our camera bags with sequins, sequins and more sequins (and in this image I’m demonstrating the storyboard feature with some photos I took during the workshop).

For more information on this exceptional camera, visit getolympus.com. It’s a great product to have on hand to capture life’s special moments, and would make an amazing gift idea for the photographer – or want-to-be photographer – in your life!