You turn the control ring to adjust different in-camera settings depending on the shooting mode you’re in, which generally saves valuable seconds of menu-diving: Aperture priority mode lets you adjust the f-stop using the ring, shutter priority mode lets you adjust shutter speeds using the ring, program mode lets you dial in the ISO, and so on. Those familiar with the control ring around the lens ofĬanon’s PowerShot S95 will understand how to use the Olympus XZ-1’s own version of the feature. In addition to full manual controls over aperture and shutter speeds (5 seconds to 1/2000 of a second), the XZ-1 also has a dedicated “low light” setting accessible via the top-mounted mode dial, which opens up the aperture and uses the fastest possible shutter speed to capture a usable low-light shot without using the pop-up flash. Low-light mode Macro mode struggles in low light Good macro mode in bright light orf files, anda Raw+JPEG option saves both image formats. The camera has a Raw capture mode that lets you get the most out of your shots when editing and retouching them in raw, the camera saves images as. Like most of its premium point-and-shoot brethren, it offers a 10-megapixel CCD sensor that’s physically bigger than the sensors found in most compact cameras, but nowhere near as big as the sensor found in your average DSLR. It has a separate lens cap that fits on kind of loosely when you power it on, the lens movement forces the cap off, and it fits more like a plastic canister lid than a form-fitting lens cap. Its 4X optical-zoom lens reaches from 28mm to 112mm in 35mm film equivalent. No doubt about it, the marquee feature of the Olympus XZ-1 is its F1.8 lens the camera offers that very wide aperture at its widest angle, as well as an impressive F2.5 maximum aperture at full telephoto. The good news is that most of the XZ-1’s drawbacks can be fixed by using the camera’s array of manual controls, but accessing those controls sometimes takes more effort than it should. The result is a very good camera that’s likely to please its owners, but one that requires quite a bit of “quality time” to get the hang of. Some of its more-enticing features-the control ring around its lens and its manual focus controls, in particular-are better implemented in some of its direct competitors. This camera leaves quite a bit to be desired in Auto mode, and accessing most of its features requires a fair bit of menu-diving. The Olympus XZ-1 ($500) is certainly a versatile camera with a great range of features, but it falls short of similar high-end cameras in one way or another, and novices might have a hard time getting the most out of it. Premium compact cameras is that, despite outclassing the lion’s share of point-and-shoots, they ultimately have to compete with one another.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |