I bought one of these as an upgrade from a compact camera. Pretty much left it in Auto so far. Heres a selection of output.

P5310997 by DD247, on Flickr

P5300533 by DD247, on Flickr

The lower light output is a revelation compared to my compact. This is in a church, no flash

P5290328 by DD247, on Flickr

P5290331 by DD247, on Flickr

Ditto nighttime shots like this which had no chance with the compact

P5280258 by DD247, on Flickr

P5280230 by DD247, on Flickr]

P7011710 - Copy by DD247, on Flickr

P7011696 - Copy by DD247, on Flickr

P6231680 - Copy by DD247, on Flickr

P7131874 by DD247, on Flickr

Oooh, very nice. I'm looking to upgrade my compact so might just have to have a look at one of these

I wasn't overly impressed with mine after pushing it a bit. It's not that it's a bad camera, it just doesn't do what I want well enough.

But I am a professional photographer and expect a lot of my gear...

Will be selling it soon as I've seen something more suited to my needs.

Congrats Daiking, I bought the E-P3 a while back as a small light weight cam for street photography. I find it perfect for this application with it's snappy auto focus. The touch screen is a revelation, especially the ability to select a focus point just by touching the screen. Image quality is pretty good and while it can't match my Nikon SLR it's not terribly far behind. I'd certainly recommend one as an upgrade from a point and shoot though the size and weight might surprise some people.

Have you had a look at the Olympus 45mm f1.8 lens? although quite a long focal length on micro four thirds (90mm), it makes a great portrait lens.

Here's a few from the street with the 45mm:

Smoker by chris rs197, on Flickr

Street Seller by chris rs197, on Flickr

Tea by chris rs197, on Flickr

Artist by chris rs197, on Flickr

Peanut Vendor by chris rs197, on Flickr

Edited 25 July, 201213 yr by Chris197

Congrats Daiking, I bought the E-P3 a while back as a small light weight cam for street photography. I find it perfect for this application with it's snappy auto focus. The touch screen is a revelation, especially the ability to select a focus point just by touching the screen. Image quality is pretty good and while it can't match my Nikon SLR it's not terribly far behind. I'd certainly recommend one as an upgrade from a point and shoot though the size and weight might surprise some people.

Have you had a look at the Olympus 45mm f1.8 lens? although quite a long focal length on micro four thirds (90mm), it makes a great portrait lens.

Here's a few from the street with the 45mm:

The L doesn't have a touchscreen :(. One of the compromises to make it significantly cheaper, like the missing flash. Can't complain too much, most of the real functionality is kept. The auto focus is quicker than I am used to but it really struggles in lower light higher up the kit lens range. Not just slow but fails to focus somethimes. Not a problem for me yet but I wonder whether it should work better or I am pushing it beyond normal expectations.

Not looking for additional lenses at the moment but will, in time. Probably go for a longer zoom first. Saw a Panasonic/Cashback/Argos 42-200mm lens for £149 but don't need it yet. I thought the 17mm was recommended for portrait work? Is 45mm too "close" for general use? Presumably the auto focus will be better than kit lens at 42mm? (lower f-number?)

Its nice to be able to get some depth of field in a picture. My compact photos have always been very flat but look at something like my facepaint photo, he really stands out. The camera is in control at the moment although I would like to know how to take a photo like that intentionally. I'm not a photographer and don't tend to go out taking photos for the sake of it, hence the food, homebrew and coffee shots. Got to work with what you've got.

Also need to start editing my photos even if its just cropping and straightening.