The first camera from Olympus since its transfer in ownership looks great, but does it deliver what enthusiasts want? Angela Nicholson takes a look

Price: £749 (approx. $1038) body only

Just over a year ago, Olympus sold its camera business to a private equity firm and subsequently a new company called OM Digital Solutions was formed. The Olympus Pen E-P7 is the first camera to come from the new company, but its planning and development were largely done under the original owner’s tenure.

Prior to this, the most recent Olympus Pen camera was the E-PL10 (Pen Lite 10), which was announced in October 2019. However, the most recent Pen E-P camera was the Pen E-P5 in May 2013. So the E-P7 is long overdue and it combines elements of the E-P line and the popular Pen-F announced in January 2016.

In a significant upgrade on the E-PL10 and E-P5, the E-P7 steps up from a 16MP sensor to a 20.3MP chip combined with the TruePic VII processing engine. It’s a Four Thirds type sensor paired with the Micro Four Thirds mount.

It seems likely that the Pen E-P7 uses the same sensor as the Olympus OM-D E-M10 IV as it (and earlier Pen models) has a contrast detection autofocus system. Olympus’s more advanced OM-D series cameras have a hybrid system that uses phase detection pixels. As usual, there are 121 individually selectable points.