![]() ![]() It is scheduled to go on sale from late October, 2012. The combination of a good sensor, sharp lens and good image processing is pretty much all you could ask for in a camera this small.Olympus Imaging (Haruo Ogawa, president) is pleased to announce the introduction of the OLYMPUS STYLUS XZ-2, the Olympus flagship model, boasting a bright f/1.8-2.5, large-diameter, 4x optical zoom i.ZUIKO DIGITAL lens, along with the world's first *1 hybrid control ring. The trick appears to be which colors it emphasizes - sky blues are made to look particularly radiant but reds and skin tones remain realistic and convincing. The default 'Natural' setting may be hugely misleading in its name but the results are fantastic: producing bright, punchy images without ever tipping over into cartoonishly vivid. The sensor may be a touch noisier than the one used by Canon, Nikon and Samsung but the slightly brighter lens makes up for some of that difference and it's rare to need to shoot above ISO 800 where that difference starts to become visible. This underlying image quality, combined with the excellent JPEG processing with which Olympus has made a name for itself, makes it easy to take impressive images every time you pick up the camera. This is made all the more useable by that sensor being parked behind such a bright lens. The image quality is exactly in line with what we'd expect from a camera with a sensor of this size - considerably better than most compacts other than its immediate peers. Over that, I’d get an APS-C sensor camera. Image quality is great for web or enlargements to 11 x 14”. ![]() And you can always put the camera on a wall or a beanbag and use the self-timer for a good sharp picture. VERY fast… le ts you take handheld pictures in very low-light places. The menus are only slightly goofy you get used to them in a few days. A LOT less expensive than the VF-2 electronic viewfinder. Took a picture of an airliner coming in, right overhead, got two sharp images real fast, there’s almost zero shutter lag time.Īlso bought the Olympus VF-1 optical viewfinder, which was sold for the Pen cameras, and it works perfectly… its viewing angle is about 35mm-equiv which is close enough to the XZ-1’s 28mm-equiv when wide open. For instant grab shots I use Aperture mode at f/4… sharp from 2’ to infinity. Picture quality is excellent (try Natural mode, Contrast +1, Sharpness +1), ISO 100. It is a wonderful camera that fits in my shirt pocket. This is definitely the best choice when it comes to compacts.īought and XZ-1 a week ago. Nitpicks? I wish it had grip-bump on the right side like the Lumix LX5 for one handed shooting, thought there is a $35-40 after market product that I've seen that appears to be an option, and I can't say that it feels slippery in my hand as it is. The size is also just right-big enough that it feels solid and is packed with features, which means it's not a pocket camera, but its compact enough to easily take with you anywhere, so I actually use it more than I did my SLR with all its heavy, bulky, and expensive lenses. And the view screen is outstanding-I find myself just reviewing photos because they look great on the screen. OR just let its fantastic lens, auto mode, and processing software do all the work for you. The art filters let you do really cool effects without photoshoping, the auto settings perform really well and it's fully set up for more sophisticated manual users, and its ability to shoot in jpeg and raw simultaneously makes it a great stepping s tone camera for a more serious enthusiast who wants to manipulate images. The lens has an excellent range, allowing wide angle to enough zoom to take portrait shots with blurred background. The f1.8 lens is bright and sharp, and paired with a big sensor and image stabilization performs outstanding in low light conditions. Simply put, this camera takes gorgeous photos. Olympus hit the sweet spot between simple point and shoot and expensive, bulky DSLR. Did lots of research online and was nervous about buying something I'd never physically held or tried out, but from the first picture I took, I couldn't be happier. ![]()
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