In my previous post Snaps: Olympus PEN Lite E-PL7, I briefly mentioned about my first impression of the EPL7 (I’ll refer it as the EPL7 from here on). In that post too, I talked about the features and upgrades that the EPL7 has over my EPL5. One of the main differences is the screen that tilts downwards now, instead of one that flips upwards.
In terms of movement of the screen, the EPL7 is easier to tilt and to move the screen. What you need to do is just, lightly lower the screen (from the top) and then invert it / flip the screen downwards. In the EPL5, you need to push the screen upwards and the pull it outwards and push it back upwards. If you can’t imagine how it is like, it is okay because all you need to know is that Olympus has definitely improved on the tilting of the screens which now makes it even easier to take a selfie.
When I received my camera, the EPL7 it didn’t come with a user manual but instead consist just of a simple guide. I wanted to show you better on how the screen and the new beauty mode, so I went online to download the user manual. You can find all of Olympus cameras/lenses/flash user manuals here: http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/support/imsg/digicamera/download/manual/pen.cfm.
Before I continue about the EPL7, I just wanted to stress the importance of reading the user manual before actually using the camera. It doesn’t take that long to do so, and it really helps in first understanding the very basic and sometimes more advanced features of your camera. It will most definitely help you make the most of the camera. I have to admit that I, myself have yet to finish reading the manual, but I will because I know that there is so much that this camera can do, that I do not know of yet.
So, back to the EPL7 and selfies! Here is a page of the user manual (page 19) which explains in detail how to shoot self portraits using the EPL7. As I mentioned earlier, with the new LCD screen which tilts downwards, it makes it easier to take a selfie. The movement of the LCD is swift and smooth, which feel rather solid.
As you can read from the page of the manual above, you’ll find every other useful bit of information on taking ‘selfies’ using the Olympus EPL7. The One Touch e-Portrait here is in other words, the beauty mode, which many (especially girls) welcome with open arms. It is very convenient to have that feature in built with the camera, because then there is no need to use another app purposely to smoothen the skin. I can say, just how easy it is now and how amazing it works.
From this point onwards, I’ll be posting pictures of my ‘selfies’ attempt using the Olympus EPL7 and that is to show you the difference between using the e-Portrait mode as compared to the normal ones. Hence, to better illustrate it, all the pictures posted here will be SOOC (straight out of camera) with no edits whatsoever to be better show the difference.
Even without the caption, you’ll be able to tell which picture has the e-Portrait mode turned on and which one doesn’t. The effect of the e-Portrait or the beauty mode as I like to call it, is that it smoothens the skin (including the neck and my body, if you look closely). It also made my skin looks more vibrant and healthy compare to the picture without the beauty mode.
But what I love the most is that other than my skin, everything else is still as sharp and is in focus. More often than not, when using apps with beauty mode, it tends to blur the whole image. But this isn’t the case with the in-built e-Portrait in the Olympus EPL7. Look at the details in my eyebrows and my eye shadow as well.
To better illustrate my point and to show the stark difference, I decided to do another test. This time around, the lighting condition is controlled along with the same angle taken for both pictures with the similar setting for both. In other words, everything in the picture is the same except one had the e-Portrait mode turned on. I decided to do an almost naked face ‘selfie’, just to show that you no longer need thick foundation and Photoshop to get flawless skin. :p
Again, only my skin is smoothen out but details like my hair, eyebrows and the eyelashes too, if you look closely enough. In all honesty, this e-Portrait mode works better than my skills of brushing and blur in Lightroom and Photoshop. And to think that this was all done within the camera with just one click.
Would you believe if I told you that the picture above has no edits or post-processing done and it is just straight from the camera? For this shot, I enabled the e-Portrait mode along with the One Touch Custom Self Timer, since I was shooting with the 25mm lens. With the self timer enabled, I pressed my shutter slightly to set the focus area and then with the timer enabled, I pressed the shutter and got three shots taken, which means you can pick your best ones.
However, a point to note is that the features I mentioned in this post only works in the iAUTO mode. There are no option for e-Portrait for other shooting modes. Also, if you take multiple shots at the same time with the e-Portrait mode enabled, then it will take a longer time to write/record the image down since the camera is doing some in house post-processing with the camera itself.
Other than that, I found the e-Portrait mode extremely useful and amazing, because while it gives me that flawless face/skin tone finish, I am still able to get clarity from my pictures. The picture above is a great reminder of how sharp the prime lenses are.
I hope you found this post to rather useful or informative or amusing even, because now you know of such technology and *gasps* the secret to my beauty ‘selfies’. :3 Oh wells, here is another ‘selfie’ taken with e-Portrait mode and using the 9mm Fisheye Body Cap.
Now that you read the post all the way till here, you’d be glad you did because here’s your chance to owning a brand new Olympus EPL7, by joining the Celebrating Life with Olympus contest. For more information, click on the link or refer to the picture below. So, what are you waiting for? Take a selfie and submit it to contest page!
PS – I’ll be posting my pictures on Instagram with the hashtag #PENfie, so if you want to see my other selfies … do follow me on Instagram ; @itscarmenhong or click on that hashtag!
Till next time,
xoxo
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