2 thoughts on “Olympus XZ-1 10 MP Digital Camera with f1.8 Lens and 3-Inch OLED Monitor (Black) Reviews”

1. 163 of 170 people found the following review helpful

   
   XZ-1 Wins Out, April 5, 2011

   By 

   Zachary Wagner (Albuquerque, NM USA) –
   
     

   Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

   This review is from: Olympus XZ-1 10 MP Digital Camera with f1.8 Lens and 3-Inch OLED Monitor (Black) (Camera)

   This is my preliminary review for the Olympus XZ-1, which arrived at my house this afternoon. I will update as necessary.

   Over the last two weeks, I have ordered, and returned, two other cameras: the Fujifilm HS20EXR, and the Panasonic LX5. Neither one of them really satisfied me in terms of a total package. The build quality (at least on my copy) of the HS20 was suspect, and worried me a bit. The RAW processing time was quite slow, and I guess I just didn’t like the overall feel of it. The Panasonic, despite all the rave reviews, did not satisfy in terms of IQ. Color blotching crept in far too early (even as early as ISO 200) for my taste, and by ISO 400 it was unbearable. The Jpeg processing on the LX5 wasn’t great, either. So I finally decided to order the Olympus after much reading and staring at sample images on the internet, though I was becoming skeptical it would be able to satisfy me. At least so far, I was wrong.

   The Olympus XZ-1 is a marvel of technology. From the blazing fast Zuiko lens to the quick and slick menu interface, to the conservative beauty of the design, this camera means business. Shooting with the XZ-1 is an effortless joy, and it works so well and so intuitively at times that you almost forget you’re using a camera at all. I’ve read in other reviews that the rear control ring is finicky and annoying, but that is not my experience. I find it to work quite well, with the right amount of tactile feedback. The same is true of the front ring around the lens, used to control various settings based on the mode you are in. Sure, there’s not a dedicated button for ISO, but it’s so easy to set the ISO from the menu that I’m not quite sure what the issue is. The lack of an AFL/AEL button is a bit of a letdown, but I don’t find it to be a dealbreaker by any means.
   The art filters range from quaint novelty effects that I will rarely use to things like the Dynamic Tone filter, which (though the effect is a bit hit or miss) can be incredibly striking.
   As far as all the other modes go, it’s pretty much your standard fare, with the addition of the ‘low light’ mode. But I wouldn’t go too crazy with that mode, as the noise at higher ISOs from the XZ-1 is pretty pronounced. And that leads me to image quality.

   For some reason, though the XZ-1 possesses quite a large sensor for a point-and-shoot, it produces quite a lot of noise. What this creates is the necessity to find the right balance with your RAW processing between noise reduction and image clarity and sharpness. Or, you can just use the Jpegs, which I must say, are very well processed, but when put up against the RAW files, can’t compare to the detail, due to the noise reduction applied to the Jpegs. This is the one bit of a bummer about the image quality of this camera. You will see a decent amount of noise as low as ISO 400, though nothing that can’t be dealt with in post until you pass 800. 1600 might be salvageable, but it’s questionable. The nice thing is that the noise is more luminance than color oriented, because I find it’s more difficult (as with the LX5) to deal with large blotches of inappropriate color. So, bad news dealt with. And it’s really not that bad, because guess what? You’ve got one of the fastest lenses in a compact camera at your command. This means that you will rarely need to jump above ISO 800 to shoot just about anything. The speed of this lens is simply a marvel to behold, and a joy to employ. Not only does it allow you much, much more freedom in ALL your shooting (aperture only hits 2.5 at telephoto, which is still faster than most dslr lenses are at wide!), but the size of the sensor in relation to the aperture capability of the lens also allows for some of the nicest bokeh you’ll find in a compact. Olympus also smartly employs an in-camera ND filter to help you keep those aperture numbers low whilst shooting in bright daylight, which is a godsend.
   And despite what I’ve said about the noise issue, the images from this camera are, in general, pretty spectacular. This is no dslr, but the images are about as close as you’ll get without buying one at this point. While the noise reduction applied to the jpegs definitely reduces fine details, they still look spectacular. The colors from this camera absolutely scream, and even if you’re not fond of the detail loss in jpeg, just go for RAW shooting, which is still really, really fast. Shot to shot times are very fast, seemingly regardless of the file type (though I am using a very fast Sandisk card as well).
   The continuous shooting speed of this camera isn’t wonderful, but honestly, it’s not bad when you consider that you can fire off quite a few pics (even with the images set at Fine Jpeg + RAW) before it gets stumped. You can also reduce the quality of the Jpegs to 5MP to grab some more fps, and even down to 2MP to grab even more fps, but I certainly wouldn’t go that low…

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2. 63 of 64 people found the following review helpful

   
   A point & shoot that can be both serious and fun!, April 10, 2011

   By 

   D. Turkmen –
   
     

   Amazon Verified Purchase(What’s this?)

   This review is from: Olympus XZ-1 10 MP Digital Camera with f1.8 Lens and 3-Inch OLED Monitor (Black) (Camera)

   My girlfriend and I were tired of carrying all the DSLR gear with us whenever we go somewhere, so we started looking for a lighter alternative. After reading some reviews and comparisons online (dpreview.com is a great source for that) we decided to buy Olympus XZ-1.

   Pros:
   – It has a bright f/1.8 lens which is pretty good at low-light situations (or just taking shallow pictures)
   – The screen has live view where you can see the depth of field in Aperture mode before taking the photo
   – OLED screen is bright enough to see in day light. It also isn’t that power-hungry.
   – The big sensor can capture the subject in great details.
   – Anti-shake mechanism works pretty well. I tested 1/40, 1/25, even 1 second exposures which turned out better than I expected. With my DLSR’s anti-shake off, those pics would be more blurry.
   – Charges through USB (this may be a con for you if you use card readers) simply keep your camera plugged in to your computer after transferring the images, and you don’t have to take out the battery for charging anymore.
   – The dial around the lens is easy to use. Depending on the mode it changes aperture, shutter, scene mode; or rotates images.
   – 6 Art filters which applies digital effect to your photo/movie in realtime.
   – 18 Scene modes which will make taking any occasion easy. For example, “pet” will track the moving animal in the frame. Or “panorama” scene mode will help you take 3 consecutive images and stitch them together auto-magically.
   – Macro mode can focus even at the closest distance possible (be careful, your lens may be easily touching that flower!)
   – It fits in a pocket (maybe not jeans or shirt pockets)
   – (ADDED) Built-in ND filter lets you have longer exposures (1/10 seconds, for example) during day time. See the waterfall picture as an example.
   – (ADDED) Splash-proof. Used under heavy rain where water drops were all over the place (lens, dials, screen) with no problems.

   Cons:
   – Art and Scene modes are on the top dial along with P/A/S/M modes, so you cannot combine those (e.g. cannot apply an art filter while in Aperture Priority. But I guess some of those filters are meant to overwrite aperture/shutter)
   – Shutter lag is definitely noticeable if you are a DSLR user. If the timing is important, try sequential mode. Luckily there is even a hi-speed burst shooting mode.
   – The lens is too bright sometimes. Shutter speed cannot go faster than 1/2000s. In a bright day light at f/1.8, you’ll start seeing overexposure and fringing. EDIT: With the built-in Natural Density Filter on, this is not the case anymore!
   – Some of the art filters need more processing power than others, which makes the screen (live view) refresh slower. For taking photos this is not a big deal. But if you record a movie that way, you will get lower frame rates. But again, this camera is not meant to replace your camcorder or your post processing software.
   – No viewfinder.
   – (ADDED) Lens cap is pretty lose. We ended up buying an after-market cap that fits around the lens (you can see the threads if you look carefully) with spring-powered blades that will automatically open/close when lens is in/out.
   – (ADDED) RAW version of the photo looks pretty dull comparing to JPEG. We had hard time editing the RAW to match the colors to the JPEG. It would have been nice if some color profile was provided with the camera.

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