Just took a look at some high ISO samples from the Olympus E-P3 on Digital Photography Review and they're looking a little rough. In my judgment, based purely on the DPReview studio shot, the E-P3 is well behind the Fuji X100 and also in back of the Sony Nex-5 and Panasonic G3.
Micro four thirds cameras have always been at a disadvantage when it comes to high ISO but it's a little bit surprising to see the Panasonic G-3 pulling ahead of the Olympus E-P3.
In the short history of the genre, Olympus micro four-thirds cameras have generally had at least a one-stop advantage over Panasonic models (though they too utilize Panasonic-made sensors). Olympus also held the line at 12 megapixels even as Panasonic increased its specs to 16 and 18 megapixels in new cameras, so you wouldn't think they would be lagging.
This observation conforms with what some reviewers have said in the early critiques of the E-P3: though the new camera has made a huge advance over Olympus' previously sluggish autofocus, its come with a tradeoff of slightly disappointing image quality.
In my opinion, the E-P3 samples aren't terrible- actually, the E-P3's IQ is better than some other recent Olympus models- but the new Olympus camera is not exactly something you're going to attempting to shoot in the dark with either.
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