In general, the majority of settings you're likely to want to change are available either immediately or with very little fuss. ISO and White Balance have to be accessed via the function menu, which is a shame - an extra button or two would make it faster/easier to change the settings - but, on the whole, the function menu is quick and simple enough to use that this still doesn't unbearably interrupt the shooting process. And yet, it's so simple to quickly adjust aperture, shutter speed and exposure compensation that you don't feel much control is being denied to you. It doesn't bristle with dials or buttons and only the most basic shooting settings have direct access. In terms of direct controls, the XZ-1 sits towards the minimalist end of the spectrum in its class. 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. 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. At F1.8-2.5 it's brighter at every point than either the Panasonic or Samsung, and is in a completely different league to the F2.0-4.9 offered by the Canon S95 to which it's otherwise so similar. With a maximum aperture that can't be matched. Not only does it offer a very versatile lens range (28-112mm equivalent), but it does so The XZ-1 steps in towards the more compact end of this spectrum and does a great job of balancing flexibility with pocketabilty. This now includes a fairly broad range of cameras, varying from the 'point-and-shoot with manual-override' of Canon's S95 up to the big, bulky, button-and-dial-covered Nikon P7000 and Canon G12, via the middle-ground option offered by Panasonic's LX5 and Samsung's TL500 (EX1). But it's a very welcome addition to what's become an exciting part of the market for the keen photographer. The XZ-1 is a rather late addition to the burgeoning enthusiast compact sector and, in some respects, a surprising one - the XZ-1's potential market can't help but overlap with the E-PL2's, to an extent.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |