I would like to start off by saying that I truly know absolutely nothing about cameras. In fact until I about a week ago, I had only ever used my iPhone 6 and had never even heard of the term DSLR (bad for a blogger I know!). However, I have dreamt about this camera for the last few months, pining over Lydia Elise Millen and Emma Hill's blog photography for far too long and therefore decided that I needed it. So when my birthday rolled around and I got a lovely bonus pay check from work, I walked into Jessops in Meadowhall Sheffield with a very decided heart but a very undecided head, which all thanks to my lovely encouraging boyfriend I bit the bullet and all my blogging fangirl wishes came true - the Olympus Pen E-PL7 was mine.
I thought long and hard about how I should write this post and decided on telling you all the little things on why I love this camera was my best option, as I could tell you all the technical stuff but thats what the Olympus website is for - which you can read here, and you would probably know more about what it meant than I do anyway, so this is simply a personal review on my thoughts.
*This post was not in anyway sponsored by Olympus or Jessops, all words and views are my own and the camera was bought with my own money*
The look - Firstly just look at how pretty it is. In all honesty thats what really sold me as like I said before I know nothing about cameras, and because of that all the features didn't really mean that much to me then! I chose the white body as even though the black was classic, I felt that the white was much more me and also very different to any other camera I had seen before. It is also worth mentioning here that the Pen comes with a detachable flash which I think is an excellent idea as it keeps the camera compact and small for when travelling etc, but is also very easy to attach and use when you need to. It really is so aesthetically pleasing and I just want to wave it about at everyone and show it off - crazy I know.
Picture Quality - Now anything I'm sure is better than an iPhone, but I really was taken aback with how amazing the picture quality was. The image is so sharp and clear which is easily seen when the photos are uploaded onto my Macbook, which just astounds me. I had read reviews previous to buying the Pen about how the white balance when indoors can be a little on the yellow side, and that may be true but with just a little edit which I would do anyway, the photos always come out perfect for me. My boyfriend, friends and family that I have shown the picture quality to have all been amazed with how clear and brilliant it is.
It is easy to use - I was a little scared at first, especially when the store assistant was going through all its features, but I found that when on Auto it is very straight forward which really helped me when I first started playing with it. It was also easy to put together for the beginners like me who have never used a lens before, and its easy to then turn on a take a snap. I have now started playing around with the aperture and other features which are what makes the camera so amazing, and even those settings are easy to fiddle about with and you can always revert back.
The screen - Just wow. it flips down, it flips up, it flips out, it basically flips everywhere. No matter what angle you need - the Pen has got your back. With all the ways you can flip the screen, you can always see what is in the frame and get really low when taking pictures to get the great angles. I also love the touch feature which even though most cameras have this now, it was so easy to navigate which after half an hour or so I had easily mastered how to work the menu on screen, and made it super easy to do quick adjustments when taking photos. You can tap on the screen to focus and take the photo with just one touch which I think is amazing, and I later found out you can touch the screen to select focus points which is great for those shots when you want to focus on a specific detail and get that bokeh background we all crave for. The touch can also be turned off completely for those who don't get along with it, but I love it.
Built in wifi - This is probably my most favourite feature. You can download an app called OI Share which when the camera wifi is turned on, acts as a remote meaning you can easily get that photo when no one else is around to help. It shows you on your phone screen what is on view on the camera lens if that makes sense, which makes it brilliant for photos that can be tricky to capture if just out of your reach. The wifi app also means that any photos that you have taken can download straight onto your phone and ready for instagramers like myself within seconds - no annoying wires and laptops needed!
Overall thoughts
The camera has really got me looking forward to going out and taking pictures and definitely got my blogging inspiration back, so if you are looking for a camera that looks amazing, has amazing features and takes amazing photos - look no further. Olympus stated that this camera was designed in mind of bloggers and I can totally see that. I can't tell you how much I have fallen for this amazing piece of equipment, and I am so excited to learn more and really get into the photography skills that this camera can teach me. Now that I have played around with the Auto settings I have started to play around manually and change the features to suit how I want them, which I believe is important if you want to make the most of what the Pen has to offer. Whilst I haven't done any videos yet and I know there are so many other features that I need more practice on, I fully aim to get to know the Pen inside out and have it work to my advantage which I would highly recommend considering the amount that you would have spent on the purchase. On that note I can gladly go as a far to say its probably the best thing that I have ever bought myself to date, and whilst I'm a newbie to all of this and know very little in comparison to many others I see the Pen as worth every penny.
You can buy the Olympus Pen E-PL7 at Jessops for the best price currently - £299, which really is a bargain compared to other stores. You can also get some really lovely accessories from the Olympus website - here, that are definitely now on my wish list. Hope this review helped some of you!
