Olympus PEN E-PL5

The much-copied Olympus retractable zoom also helps keep the size down and produces one of the better kit-zoom performances.

Thanks to the Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5's large sensor, you can achieve pleasing shallow depth of field effects.

It means the cameras will make use of the lens' stabilization system, rather than using their in-body systems when available.

Colour rendition in Natural setting is good, with colours accurate and bright, without being overly punchy.

But the Live Guide interface, now bolstered by the addition of the touch screen, looks like it might do its core job well.

One of the best new features of the Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5 is the addition of a capacitive touchscreen.

If this is something you'll want to do, one recommendation is to shoot in raw format with low resolution JPEGs, which will be quicker to transfer across.

Olympus was one of the first manufacturers to provide the option to re-process a Raw file, if you decided you wanted to apply different processing parameters or if you needed a JPEG of a Raw shot you'd just taken.

When the Olympus OM-D was launched, Olympus was keen to point out the improvements it had made both to the sensor and to high sensitivity performance.

There are several shooting options you can choose from - for instance, you could use Vivid when shooting an autumnal scene to really make colours pop.

For instance, should you find yourself shooting autumnal trees, you can opt to shoot in 'Vibrant' mode to emphasise colours, while you can shoot in 'Neutral' for other subjects, such as portraits.

colours. It struggled ever so slightly with some indoor conditions when under artificial light, but changing the white balance mode is easy and soon sorts this particular problem out if you feel the results aren't accurate enough.

One of the best things about the PEN/OM-D series is that the art filters can be applied when shooting in semi-automatic and manual modes, making sure that you retain full control over shooting parameters.

Olympus has become well known for its wide array of art filters, and the Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5 has the most available on any Olympus camera to date.

It extended to providing the chance to apply different art filters, after you'd taken the shot or apply a different one if you didn't like the one you first chose.