Is the Olympus PEN E-PL7 just jumping on the ‘selfie’ bandwagon?

Olympus looks like it’s the next brand to jump on the ‘selfie’ bandwagon, having announced a compact camera complete with selfie mode and 14 filters, primarily designed for fashion bloggers and selfie fans.

The very good-looking Olympus PEN E-PL7 will have a 3-inch touch-sensitive LCD screen, which can be tilted and flipped down entirely to face the subject. When flipped down, the camera automatically goes into selfie mode, offering a self-timer option, e-Portrait and shutter release, meaning you don’t have to worry about pressing the button and smiling at the same time – one of the main worries when taking a selfie.

Like most compact cameras these days, the PEN E-PL7 can be linked to an iPhone or Android smartphone via Wi-Fi for remote control, with a dedicated app to show you what the camera sees on the phone’s screen in real time. The phone can also be used to zoom or adjust key settings, such as aperture and shutter speed. Jumping on to the Instagram bandwagon too, the app gives you 14 filters you can apply before or after your picture’s taken.

The PEN E-PL7 comes with an interchangeable 12-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 EZ lens, along with a 16.1-megapixel Live MOS sensor and the camera uses Olympus’ TruePic VII image processing, which claims to have fast autofocus and start-up.

While there’s no denying this is a beautiful camera, we’d be interested to see how good it actually is, and whether the flip-screen is just a gimmick taking advantage of our love of selfies.

The Olympus PEN E-PL7 will be available from October for £499 in white, silver or classic black. The OLShare app is available for Android and iOS for free.

Hayley Minn

One thought on “Is the Olympus PEN E-PL7 just jumping on the ‘selfie’ bandwagon?

  • Ive owned two of the earlier Pen’s and they are amazing compact cameras. Although this screen is nothing new. You have been able to rotate the screen on most high end DSLRs for years now

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