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Olympus XZ-1 camera video review
#219 | 6:14 |
Friday March 11, 2011
Gadget TV
Friday March 11, 2011
A sort of SLR and compact digicam hybrid, the XZ-1 incorporates some of the great features from Olympus' SLR and PEN E-PL1 and E-PL2 cameras including non-destructive art filters. Its massive lens is the real star of the show. The lens is an f1.8 with high-end optics that let in a ton of light making this camera perform well in low-light situations. It also shoots full HD video. One feature we really like is the ability to change the f-stop and other settings using the ring on the lens barrel.
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Olympus XZ-1
$500 - $550
Body and screen
The XZ-1 feels good in the hand. No hand grip and a matte front make one-handed shooting a little precarious. The lens cap is loose which is good in that it's easy to take off and will drop itself if you turn the camera on but not so good in that, well, it's loose.
The hot shoe used Olympus accessory port opening up a range of optional accessories for the PEN cameras; things like the newly announced macro light, the Bluetooth link etc..
The flash is tiny and recessed but clears the lens pretty well and does a surprisingly good job on its own.
The real star of the show on the back of the camera is the 3-inch OLED display, viewable in sunlight.
Enthusiast compact camera
The XZ-1 is an ideal personal and travel camera for a professional photographer. It could also find a way into his or her travel kit as it is effectively an enthusiast's version of a point and shoot camera.
Using the same image processing engine as the PEN cameras, the XZ-1 offers the Art Filters:
Pop Art
Brightens colors up to give a surrealistic, cartoony quality.
Soft Focus
The equivalent of smearing Vaseline on the lens with none of the problems of petroleum products meeting high-end glass.
Grainy Film
Old-school feel with visible film grain.
Pin Hole
Halos the image and adds a dramatic effect to your picture.
Diorama
When shooting down on a scene, adds a toy quality to cars, buildings and even people.
Dramatic Tone
Pops the contrast to make a really bold and striking image. Perfect for clouds in landscapes.
Not quite point-and-shoot simplicity
We found the menu systems a little tough to navigate. However, the mode dial at the top does give access to most oft-used settings and the lens barrel f-stop dial makes it easy for even point-and-shoot photographers to change it up. If you have a bit of an understanding about how f-stop affects photographs you can start to make some creative choices that will affect your end result, narrowing or widening the depth of field, letting in more or less light for a faster or slower shutter speed and the like.
While it's clearly designed with the enthusiast in mind, it would be easy to pass the camera to a less photo-savvy friend or family member and after a brief explanation, have them snapping shots.
Taking control
There are dedicated dial settings for Art, Scene, full auto and low light. You can also store custom settings under the C dial setting, set the camera to manual, aperture or shutter priority. Manual is a little difficult to navigate; changing aperture is easy but shutter speed is not. In shutter priority mode, the lens barrel, usually dedicated to aperture, controls shutter speed which is a good thing.
Recording HD video
Hit the dedicated video button to instantly switch between still and HD video capture. We're dealing with 720p HD at 30fps here, not full 1080p HD.
Olympus XZ-1 sample images
Sample images and a great in-depth review of the Olympus XZ-1 can be found over at Digital Photography Review, DPReview.
$500 - $550
Body and screen
The XZ-1 feels good in the hand. No hand grip and a matte front make one-handed shooting a little precarious. The lens cap is loose which is good in that it's easy to take off and will drop itself if you turn the camera on but not so good in that, well, it's loose.
The hot shoe used Olympus accessory port opening up a range of optional accessories for the PEN cameras; things like the newly announced macro light, the Bluetooth link etc..
The flash is tiny and recessed but clears the lens pretty well and does a surprisingly good job on its own.
The real star of the show on the back of the camera is the 3-inch OLED display, viewable in sunlight.
Enthusiast compact camera
The XZ-1 is an ideal personal and travel camera for a professional photographer. It could also find a way into his or her travel kit as it is effectively an enthusiast's version of a point and shoot camera.
Using the same image processing engine as the PEN cameras, the XZ-1 offers the Art Filters:
Pop Art
Brightens colors up to give a surrealistic, cartoony quality.
Soft Focus
The equivalent of smearing Vaseline on the lens with none of the problems of petroleum products meeting high-end glass.
Grainy Film
Old-school feel with visible film grain.
Pin Hole
Halos the image and adds a dramatic effect to your picture.
Diorama
When shooting down on a scene, adds a toy quality to cars, buildings and even people.
Dramatic Tone
Pops the contrast to make a really bold and striking image. Perfect for clouds in landscapes.
Not quite point-and-shoot simplicity
We found the menu systems a little tough to navigate. However, the mode dial at the top does give access to most oft-used settings and the lens barrel f-stop dial makes it easy for even point-and-shoot photographers to change it up. If you have a bit of an understanding about how f-stop affects photographs you can start to make some creative choices that will affect your end result, narrowing or widening the depth of field, letting in more or less light for a faster or slower shutter speed and the like.
While it's clearly designed with the enthusiast in mind, it would be easy to pass the camera to a less photo-savvy friend or family member and after a brief explanation, have them snapping shots.
Taking control
There are dedicated dial settings for Art, Scene, full auto and low light. You can also store custom settings under the C dial setting, set the camera to manual, aperture or shutter priority. Manual is a little difficult to navigate; changing aperture is easy but shutter speed is not. In shutter priority mode, the lens barrel, usually dedicated to aperture, controls shutter speed which is a good thing.
Recording HD video
Hit the dedicated video button to instantly switch between still and HD video capture. We're dealing with 720p HD at 30fps here, not full 1080p HD.
Olympus XZ-1 sample images
Sample images and a great in-depth review of the Olympus XZ-1 can be found over at Digital Photography Review, DPReview.
Tagged:
camera
,digital camera
,enthusiast
,OLED
,Olympus
,Olympus XZ-1
,photography
,point and shoot
,prosumer
,XZ-1
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