From the facebook QA session today.

Hi, is the 12 Megapixel Sensor from the E-P3 a tweaked sensor from E-P2?? because base on the online review, the noise still suffer which ISO above 1600, and Panasonic already improved their noise control in there new sensor. and is it the same sensor use in E-5??

Get Olympus

No, the sensor is nothing like the one in the E-PL2. Redesigned entirely. The noise is better at higher ISOs. It's different from that in the E-5 as well. It truly is something to see for yourself..

I hope they improve the noise issues until release. That is my only concern.
For the rest it looks like a dream:)

Yep
I don't see much difference in comparison with my E-PL2,,,,

its scary how smeary and bad the 1so 3200 looks, am i  crazy or does the ep1 generallly look better across the iso spectrum?

i really want to love this camera , whats going on here , ?

I know I don't, ISO 1600 is really plenty for almost anything, even at f/5.6 indoors
But, to gain more DOF inside or on dark streets, it may be an advantage.. but, in RAW, you can overexpose 1/stop and bring it back later w/o a lot of IQ lose in the Highlights.
I think the E-P3 may have a better performance tweak for the initial release date

I always shoot at ISO 200, I think I must have only a few shots at ISO800 

Do you really shoot pictures at ISO 3200?

yes I do. But I admit, that's a very good question. Some people will criticize for the heck of it.

Good sample of ISO comparison on the E-P3.

http://fourthirds-user.com/2011/07/micro_four_thirds_high_iso_noise_compared_g1_ep2_ep3.php

nice find i wish they included something 3 dimensional like a doll face  the cooking algorythms seem to handle
flat art and  3 d contours with eyes and lashes differently or they seem to in my

will return to answer the questoon they pose?

running now

That is true. It is a hell of a camera and perfect for people to get into m4/3 system. But in my case, 50% of the time I have mf legacy lens on it. And if iq is not much better than E-p1 than I skip this one too. The E-p1 is a great cam after all. Btw. I hate noise. That is my case. For people shooting af lenses this is a perfect fast portable cam.

While of course I wouldn't turn down something better, the E-P1 was decent at ISO1600 already. Improvements in anyone's sensor since then haven't really changed that much beyond obsessive pixel peeping.

I certainly did welcome the fast AF. I don't care about the faster than (insert DSLR here) comparisons though, since they're not like for like. And for one shot, beyond a point it doesn't matter how fast it it. We have crossed that point. Job done. Move onto the next feature improvement like continuous shooting depth motion tracking AF.

This thread is turning hilarious to me now....

I haven't been around for a while because of posts just like this. People are falling all over themselves to defend a mediocre sensor that clearly performs, at best, equal to the previous sensors that Oly released. The AF is just a bunch of smoke and mirrors, and it's great if it can focus faster than a D3, but it's no where near the same camera. Try to take that same focus and do it in the dark, you won't be able to do it. Even if you did, you wouldn't be able to shoot at a ISO appropriate for the setting without using flash.

Some of the people on this thread bemoning other's disappointments of the poor ISO performance, are the same people that continue to tout the inflated ISO performance of their own cameras. Some people may criticize for criticisms sake, but it seems like people are also guilty of defending for defending sake. It's been a LONG time for Oly to come out with this camera, and they only have a tricky AF system to show for it. If it was something more I doubt we'd even be having this conversation.

I hate to troll, but sometimes there needs to be a voice of reason. Plus, I like coming by and reading these hilarious threads, as Panther correctly points out.

One more thing, the EP-3 also focuses faster than my Mamiya 7, but the Mamiya is leaps and bounds ahead. Let's start buying cameras because they take excellent pictures. For someone wanting to get into m4/3 on Olys side I'm sure the EP-3 will be fine. But it's not something for people to upgrade to, I'm sorry, the pictures speak for themselves...

Olympus should have just kept the Panasonic sensor if the one that they release is as bad as this.

Seriously, I understand the need to want to defend Olympus, but it's 2011, and DSLR sensors stopped being that noisy at ISO 3200 in 2003.

http://pekkapotka.com/

1)  The new Olympus m4/3 kit zoom lens 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 II R. Tested at 42mm focal length.
2)  Olympus m4/3 zoom lens 40-150mm 1:4-5.6. Tested at 50mm focal length.
3)  Olympus 4/3 zoom lens 12-60mm 1:2.8-4 with Novoflex m4/3 adapter. Tested at 50mm focal length.
4)  Panasonic Lumix G 20mm 1:1.7

        E-P3    E-P2        E-P3 is faster by
1)    0,82s    1,41s            42%
2)    0,89s    1,46s            39%
3)    1,96s    2,26s            13%
4)    0,87s    1,54s            44%

So how responsive E-P3 is then? Olympus claims it to be the fastest focusing camera of all system cameras. Lets see!
I repeated the same test with Nikon D3x and three Nikon lenses:

5)   AF-S Micro Nikkor 105mm 1:2.8 G
6)   AF Nikkor 85mm 1:1.4 D
7)   AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm 1:2.8 G. Tested at 24mm focal length.

D3x
5) 0,97s
6)1,15s
7)0,70s

Same test with the new Olympus M. Zuiko 12mm 1:2.0 lens. This lens is Olympus´ first lens that which they consider as belonging to the top level in their three level lens grading.

Test result with E-P3 0,74s.

Not bad results using legacy lenses.  Even the adapted 4/3 lens performs decently.