(FT5) An Olympus XZ-1 hands-on report (Price $450?)
A source had the chance to touch the new Olympus XZ-1. He confirms that it is a little bit smaller than the Panasonic LX5. There are plenty of manual controls. You can control the speed or the aperture (in A-mode) directly on the lens. The menu system is different than on other Olympus compacts (it makes more sense now). The OLED screen is awesome, you can see images even in bright sunlight. AF feels quick. Image quality is very good and the lens has no noticeable distortions or vignetting (I guess there is some kind of in camera correction). All in all a very good package and worthy Panasonic LX5 or Canon S95 competitor. Real price should be around $450 (The LX5 costs $400)
The real strength of that camera is that it will be able to use all current (like the external Flashes the SEMA-1 Mic the VF-2 viewfinder) and upcoming PEN accessories. Well done Olympus!!!
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Comment from Voldenuit: So many groundless hyphotheses floating ...
Comment from Four by Six: What excites me about this camera is the...- Comment from Four by Six: Leave the grip to aftermarket... You can...
Comment from Joseph: For $450 I will prefer a E-PL2 body to g...
paq
2 years ago |Does it have a lens cover, or built in?
LGO
2 years ago |It would have been better if it had an auto lens cover like the Canon S95.
RT
2 years ago |Looking at the front element, it will be a lens cap like Lx5.
Looks like a great compact – an lx5 but with oly colours rather than those horrid panny reds!
Boss
2 years ago |The LX5 has Leica colors…
Henrik
2 years ago |Nice reporting on the XZ-1 Admin
. Ill most likely buy this camera if things are going this well!
Henrik
2 years ago |Bah forgot to mention that I really like that they kept the size down. I was holding the LX5 in my hands last week and it felt smaller than I remembered. If XZ-1 is slightly smalller thats good news!
napalm
2 years ago |LX5 launch price was $499
napalm
2 years ago |give it a few months and it might go lower than $400. i’ll be buying mine when that happens hehe
CML
2 years ago |Very nice! Looking forward to getting this!
Steve
2 years ago |Olympus ? It seems more like a Canosonic hybrid. Maybe that’ll be a good thing as Oly have a great jpeg engine.
But still no 1080 video ?
marilyn
2 years ago |another olympus failure to lunch i hope everything is true… but for a $450us is pretty much high… comparing the s95 vs lx5.. the price should be 380 to 420… if the the price goes beyond 420 and up… people will just buy the s95 or lx5
Jeremiah
2 years ago |Marilyn, not sure if you know this but camera always (nearly) start off at a higher price, and then go down in a couple/few months. $450 to start would not be bad! I already have a LX3 and FZ28 keeping me company until I score that GH2 soon, otherwise I would fully consider this camera
Voldenuit
2 years ago |I personally think high end compacts are in a tough spot right now.
Large sensor cameraphones like the N8 (and ironically, the upcoming Motorola/Olympus and Panasonic) can match their image quality at the same price, or lower with contract. You can edit, geotag and upload your photos from the one device, great for updating from the field. And the cameraphone is always with you, so you never miss a shot, which is harder to do with a dedicated camera that requires dedication and foresight to pack with you.
Meanwhile, DSLRs and mirrorless cameras are creeping in from the top end, offering much better IQ at the same price at the tradeoff of a less portable package.
I have an N8, GX100, GF1 and 40D, and the GX100 is definitely the odd man out (the 40D less so, as it can’t be matched by the GF1 in some parameters like lens choice and AF speed). I’ve been very pleased by the image quality of the N8, and at $399 online, it’s been a great photographic tool in addition to all its other functions.
If you can’t live with a prime lens, enthusiast compacts are still viable, but I’m thinking they’re going to have a tough battle ahead of them in coming years as cameraphones get better and better.
Here’s a shootout between the N8 and the 550D, where the N8 requits itself nicely (though part of that is the poor quality of the kit 18-55):
http://thehandheldblog.com/2010/10/04/shootout-nokia-n8-v-canon-550d-dslr/
MJ
2 years ago |If you use a DLSR like a compact on auto (and the kit lens), yes the results will be shitty. The 550D has more /potential/ than the N8, that’s all it is. It /is/ not better, it just /can/ do better. Potentially !
Here’s a nice photoshoot with the iPhone.
http://fstoppers.com/iphone/
Totally pointless non-proving point with all the extra equipment he uses and especially the professional retouching, but hell as we’re sharing links proving nothing anyway.
And you have to keep in mind, a phone is made to work on auto and only on auto so it has to do well. The 550D is not, ‘with lots of power comes lots of responsibility’, there’s just endless things you can do wrong with a DSLR that a phone isn’t bothered with. Resulting in all those shitty exposures i see in there. Apparently the N8 /does/ have awesome auto-exposure and along with its great sensor there is just not much to go wrong.
So anyway, a high-end compact or a pro-slr are only better if you are too.
Voldenuit
2 years ago |I definitely agree that ‘point-and-shoots’ (including cameraphones and most compacts) have to get their exposure correct without user intervention (especially since most don’t even allow said intervention).
So the N8 has (in my experience) more robust exposure and metering algorithms than my GF1 (or for that matter, 40D). Fortunately, the metering on the GF1 is very predictable, so I know when to dial down a stop in bright light and overexpose in dim light.
That said, you can control exposure on the N8, so it’s still a capable tool in the hands of an enthusiast. Are the controls as comprehensive as on an enthusiast compact? No, you’re limited to ISO (100-800 only) and EV compensation (+/- 2 EV in 0.5 stop steps), and you can’t do things like slow-sync flash (unless you force night portrait mode). But it’s still something. And I like how it uses ND filters instead of controlling the aperture for exposure – this is a clever way to get around the diffraction limit of small sensors in bright light.
I’m not saying the XZ1 is a bad camera, quite the reverse, just saying that there is a lot more competition for enthusiast compacts today than there was when the GX100 or LX3 came out, and some of it from unexpected directions.
Dummy00001
2 years ago |> Here’s a shootout between the N8 and the 550D
Wow. The IQ is catching up faster than I could have expected.
DOF IMO isn’t a big concern. 3D photography at the moment a gimmick, but theoretically should allow to manipulate DOF in software when rendering 3D images into a plain 2D one. Adding more blur depending on the object’s distance (extractable from 3D image) is definitely easier than trying to make OOF object sharper.
Boss
2 years ago |I have the foresight to bring my LX5 when I travel, so it is nearly as convenient as a camera phone, with far better quality, and control, of course.
marilyn
2 years ago |honestly the 550d is better… u feel its almost the same but in reality its not… get a closer look… i’m sure in low light condition the N8 is worthless
Henrik
2 years ago |Although the camera phones indeed are getting better I cant see myself owning just a phone for taking pictures. Id feel extremely limited.
Voldenuit
2 years ago |Having used the GX100 extensively, I can attest that compact cameras can be limiting even with full manual controls.
The small sensor (it uses a 1/1.7″ sensor) and limited dynamic range means that you don’t have much headroom to work with when processing (or even capture). I tried shooting RAW exclusively for the first 6 months of owning the GX100, and eventually realised that I was just wasting storage space and processing time (both in-camera and in post).
The trick to using these cameras is to play to their strengths and downplay their weaknesses. But the gains over a regular (and much cheaper) compact are a lot less than the jump from an enthusiast compact to a DSLR or m43 camera.
Yes, the GX100 is a dinosaur by today’s standards, but it can still take some very nice pics in good light thanks to the good lens (and low light if you don’t mind crushing your blacks in post). It’s just that they’re no better than the N8 (in fact, the N8 is noticeably better in my book) and both are a significant ways off the GF1.
You can still control settings with the N8 – ISO, EV compensation. For most compact camera scenarios, that’s been more than enough creative control for my needs. If I need more, I bust out the GF1 or 40D.
Voldenuit
2 years ago |Take a close look indeed – at the fringing and corner softness in the 550D shots.
I’m not saying the N8 is as good as a DSLR (that would be silly), but it’s a surprisingly good photographic tool.
Yes there are tradeoffs involved over a DSLR or enthusiast compact – less control over parameters, no RAW, but these tradeoffs are (I feel) the right ones to get good usable IQ in a portable package. If you need pixel perfect output, you need a DSLR anyway – no compact, enthusiast or otherwise, is going to deliver.
It’s also been pretty good at low light – the noise/detail ratio is very well balanced. Here are some I took in near total darkness:
http://techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=74677&start=30#p1051165
marilyn
2 years ago |i have a n8 b4 but i sold my n8 and bought the iphone4… first if u crap and resized the pictures of the n8 yes its good but in full sized in prints haha i would not stressed it….
WT21
2 years ago |I’ve read these threads, and I think Voldenuit is correct. This new Oly looks like a fantastic camera even a year ago (or preferably two years ago). I’m sure it’s still a GREAT camera today, but the question is — is it great enough for a dedicated device between your DSLR, cell phone and m43 compact? We shall see I suppose.
Boss
2 years ago |I carry an LX5 and DSLR, no need for MFT camera, although if they make a pro model sometime this decade I might buy one…
marilyn
2 years ago |to be honest you cant compare a sensor of a phone to a camera… unless its a low end compact camera… (let me remind you the full sized 8megapix cellphone camera VS. a LX5 or S95 in full sized megapix you will see the difference…
Voldenuit
2 years ago |The N8 uses a 1/1.8″ sensor, similar in size to the 1/1.6-1/1.9″ sensors seen in high end compacts, and larger than in most travel compacts or superzooms.
Voldenuit
2 years ago |There are also full-sized N8 samples on flickr (search for them). I don’t have a pro account so can’t upload full size samples. It’s pretty decent when pixel peeping, definitely equal to, say, a S95 (discounting the lack of zoom on the N8).
It also has a 1:1 mode for HD video, which is something seen in much more advanced gear like the GH2.
marilyn
2 years ago |the prints will show you… my friend.. tnx
Voldenuit
2 years ago |Are you printing A4? For 4×6, most any compact is more than adequate, and the most likely use for a compact camera today would be uploading to facebook or flickr rather than printing (at all, let alone large).
If you need to print large, get a DSLR. The XZ1 will not be any better than a N8 (or S95, or LX5, or GX200) if you’re printing large.
Yes, the camera on most phones is crap (small sensor, pinhole lens), but there is a wave of new phones with good lenses and larger sensors (N8, Motorola/Olympus, Panasonic Lumix phone) that is going to change the competitive landscape.
If you’re going to spend upwards of $400 on a camera, it’s definitely worth looking at the alternatives before making snap judgements.
Robin
2 years ago |I’m with marilyn yes it’s true when you print them they will show you what you don’t see in monitors and tv screens… N8 is a good camera phone but printing it with full sized is like 3 out 10, high end cOmpact cameras 6.8 out 10 and dslr 8 out 10.
Boss
2 years ago |I agree with Marilyn and Robin, a premium compact like the Oly or LX5, will have far better results than a cell phone… They have a bigger sensor than a G12 to start with, which is twice a large as a point and shoot, and probably even bigger than a camera phone.
Voldenuit
2 years ago |So many groundless hyphotheses floating around by people who don’t bother to check figures. The sensor on the LX5 and XZ1 is only ~25% bigger than on the N8. Bigger, yes, but they’re in the same ballpark. And only marginally bigger than the G12 (although the G12 sensor is not 16:9, so it’s not a straight comparison).
If you were to compare it to, say, an iPhone 4, then the difference is much bigger (about 6x). But the N8 is not your average cameraphone sensor. Is it better than an XZ1? No. As good? Probably not. Is it close? Yes. Is the XZ1 worth a $100 premium over the N8? That should be up to the informed consumer to decide.
Valk
2 years ago |I am almost certain that Olympus have absolutely nothing to do with that Motorola phone, it’s called the Motorola Olympus…It’s just the name of the phone – kinda like a toyota prius – prius is just the name of the car, not an external company…
Voldenuit
2 years ago |Dang. You’re right. This definitely looks like a pinhole camera to me
http://www.phonearena.com/image.php?m=Articles.Images&f=name&id=35166&name=motorola-olympus-4.jpg&caption=&title=Image+from+%22Motorola+Olympus+smiles+for+the+camera%22&kw=android&popup=1
Oh well, there’s always the Lumix phone, right? ^_~
Valk
2 years ago |Having said that, Olympus does have a holding stake in a phone company right?
http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20101105D05JFA13.htm
Henrik
2 years ago |Im gonna go with the first post that you posted. I doubt Olympus has anything in common with that phone except the name.
I cant find anything about the phone that has anything to do with Olympus.
Boris
2 years ago |Just came to me, it’s a hybrid between Panasonic LX (3,5) and Canon S (90,95).
Hopefully, not a bastard!
Zonkie
2 years ago |When comparing with the Canon S95 we shouldn’t forget that the lens are not exactly in the same league. While at the wide end Olympus only has 1/3 of an f-stop advantage, at the long end it has 2 f-stops. Honestly, 2 f-stops in a compact camera is a BIG deal. It’s not just a number in the specs sheet, it allows you to take pictures that you simply won’t be able to take with the S95.
Zaph
2 years ago |It’s more like 2-1/2 on the long end.
Boss
2 years ago |Agreed, this Oly should be better than the S95…
panasonic
2 years ago |boring camera
waiting for more power camera!
Barney
2 years ago |Nice camera, but for me wide angle is more important. It’s fast but it’s 28mm. So my choice is the lx5 with the 24mm. F2 vs 1.8 is not a big difference (for me)
zen91
2 years ago |2 stop if four times less light on the sensor for the Canon S95 (and four times more the Olympus)… thet is effectively enormous.
That I expect is that this Olympus is as small as possible, like the Canon S95 for example (but I think that is not).
That I would prefer is a other x4 zoom : a 24-96mm would be better for me (and the perfection would be a 21-84 mm).
Barret
2 years ago |http://photorumors.com/2010/12/29/olympus-xz-1-compact-camera-with-a-fast-f1-8-zuiko-zoom-lens/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PhotoRumors+%28PhotoRumors.com%29
More pics of the XZ-1. Its actually the mockup model but till now it seems to be identical
Looks good, smaller but cheaper than the lx5.
KB
2 years ago |It needs a grip, like the one on the LX5. Where am I going to put my fingers to grip this thing one handed?
Boss
2 years ago |This new Oly looks good in many ways, but they should have added a hand grip, like on the LX5, people with fairly large hands will surely prefer the LX5 over the XZ-1… And does it have a dial on the back for aperture, etc….? Also, is it using a Zuiko lens, as originally stated???
Joseph
2 years ago |For $450 I will prefer a E-PL2 body to go with my 14-35 instead
Four by Six
2 years ago |Leave the grip to aftermarket… You can always add a handgrip, but if they mold it in, you cannot take it off. I boosted the levels of the photo of the backside of the XZ-1 in Photoshop and noticed a nice molded area for thumb, with grippy surface material, and bumps molded in, so I am hopeful a one hand hold will be OK without handgrip.
Nonetheless, the best handgrip I have used was an old Pentax 35mm film camera where it had a flush thumbscrew. You could remove it for a flat body profile when using pancakes, or add it back when using longer front heavy lenses.
Four by Six
2 years ago |What excites me about this camera is the relatively large aperture ~2.0 at 85mm equivalent focal length. The DOF will still be massive, due to small sensor, but the portraits should still look nice, and there is always Photoshop to blur the background if needed.