Olympus PEN E-P3 vs Panasonic Lumix DMC G5 — Which Is Better?

The Olympus PEN E-P3 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC G5 are both mirrorless cameras built around the Micro Four Thirds format, so every lens made for that mount fits either body. The E-P3 arrived in 2011 as a slim, style-led design, measuring 122 x 69 x 34 mm. The G5 followed in 2012 with a chunkier, grip-first body at 120 x 83 x 71 mm, which suits a more conventional shooting hold with a viewfinder at your eye.

The E-P3 is also the lighter camera at 369 g, against 396 g for the G5. The 27 g difference between them is modest.

The G5 is the stronger choice when you want room to crop or print large, with 16.05 megapixels against 12.3 on the E-P3. That extra resolution gives wildlife and travel shooters more latitude to tighten a composition after the fact. The E-P3 counters for handheld stills in dim interiors, because it has in-body stabilisation while the G5 does not, steadying the sensor with any lens you attach.

The G5 also doubles the E-P3's continuous shooting rate at 6 fps versus 3 fps, which helps with children, pets and other fast-moving subjects. The E-P3 offers more autofocus points, 35 against 23 on the G5, giving more positions to place over a subject. For framing, the two differ sharply: the G5 offers a 1,440,000-dot electronic viewfinder, while the E-P3 has no built-in viewfinder at all and relies on its rear screen.

If your editing workflow favours MP4 clips, the G5 is the easier camera to work with, because it records in both AVCHD and MP4 while the E-P3 offers AVCHD only. An MP4 clip drops straight into most editing and sharing workflows without a conversion step. The recording limits match, with Full HD maximum video resolution and a 60 fps maximum frame rate on both bodies.

Neither camera includes a built-in timelapse mode, so interval work requires external triggering on both.

The G5's articulating screen is its standout handling advantage, letting you tilt the 3-inch display for waist-level or overhead angles that the E-P3's fixed screen cannot reach. The G5's LCD also resolves 920,000 dots against 614,000 on the E-P3's OLED panel, so fine detail when checking focus is easier to judge.

Both cameras keep touch control on their 3-inch screens, plus a built-in flash and an external flash shoe for bounce lighting. Neither offers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or GPS, so wireless transfer and geotagging are unavailable on either body.

Card storage matches, with both cameras taking SD, SDHC and SDXC cards in a single slot, so any card you buy works in either body. The E-P3's BLS-5 battery is rated at 330 shots under its test conditions, against 320 shots for the G5's DMW-BLC12, a marginal difference between the two ratings.

Neither camera charges over USB, so both need a mains charger or a spare battery when travelling.