Latest camera models offer plenty of visual effects

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GONE are the days when photography was merely the act of capturing still images of precious moments.

Nowadays, new and improved technology allows us to jazz up our pictures with a simple click of a button or change of lens.

Such is demonstrated by the new Olympus Pen EPL3 (Lite) and EPM1 (Mini) that boasts a faster auto-focus and responsive shutter lag.

Vibrant: As its name implies, the Pop Art filter adds extra saturation to bright colours and make them pop in photos

Its compact size and light weight only adds to its attractiveness.

The fun part about these two cameras are its in-built art filters namely Grainy Film, Pin Hole, Pop Art, Soft Focus, Diorama and Dramatic.

Additional filters that include the Star Dust or White Edge effect are available with the Lite version and it also comes with direct access buttons, preferred by gadget-lovers.

Apart from that, the cameras come with in-built Live Guide function that enables direct control of photos such as capturing motion, vividness, colour balance and blurred background that adds a somewhat professional dimension to photos.

Easy to use: Slowly explore these cameras and you will find you can produce all kinds of interesting shots without the use of photo editing programmes, like this one that uses the red eye slow sync function.

Novices will be glad to hear that simple layman language is used for these functions, making it easy to use.

For instance, under the capturing motion aspect, the range is between Blur Motion and Stop Motion or vividness that is between Vivid and Muted.

The camera is also built to prioritise the focus on the eye rather than face for close-up portraits and the e-Portrait feature will even soften facial features to produce a photo showing brighter and smoother skin.

Those who wish to further explore photography can even buy converter lenses priced between RM259 and RM599 each for various effects including wide angle and fish eye.

Vivid: A night scene of a city landscape taken using the combination filters of Dramatic and Star Dust for that sparkling light effect.

One can also shoot HD videos and each camera’s battery charge will last for roughly 330 photos.

At the end of the day, users can also view their photos in a slideshow accompanied by a selection of background tunes to match various kind of moods.

The retail price for the Pen Lite is RM2,499 while the Pen Mini is RM2,099.