Olympus XZ-1: Pulled the trigger, but for my better half

Djarum

All-Pro
Location
Huntsville, AL
Name
Jason
So, My girlfriends Canon A560 finally gave up a few weeks back. Lens just wouldn't come out when powered up. I was looking last year for a birthday gift for her, but other financial needs took priority. The Canon S100 had been in the running for the longest, but the lens error issue really turned me off from touching it. If it were for me, I probably wouldn't mind risking it, but not for my girlfriend. Her birthday is coming up again, and Unique Photo had these on sale for 329, which I thought was a great price. I know, I know, the lx7, the ex2f and probably the XZ-2 are on their way, but probably at a higher asking price. I think the IQ will be fine for her since she'll just shoot in P mode most times.

For those who own it, any prefered settings? I'm also looking for some aftermarket batteries/chargers? Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Jason
 
What a lovely gift, Jason - perhaps you might encourage your girlfriend to join us in here...and post some of her own photographs?

As for P Mode and the like, some of my own favorites from the past were taken with a little Canon Elph with nary a single control, except a zoom and a shutter button.(y)
 
BBW,

I've encouraged her many times into not only getting into photography, but also joining serious compacts and mu-43.com. She's going back to school right now, so she doesn't have a whole lot of free time. She just wants something for vacations and parties. Something that will make a reasonable 8x10 print. She actually has a good eye for photography, but she gets lost in the whole aperature and shutter settings and what they exactly do.

Andrew and Lili,

Shooting RAW isn't much of an option for her. I don't shoot RAW much myself, but she wants something that she can just grab the pictures off the card and post to facebook or look at. While I realize the camera has a good bit of in camera NR, I weighed this in when choosing. Honestly, I think the S100 has the best jpeg output in that regards, however, I like Olympus colors and renditions, and so does she, at least from all the E-P1/E-PL2 pictures I've taken over the last few years. As I also mentioned, I don't like the lens issue one bit on the S100. I'd hate for the camera to be inoperable while on vacation or at some special event.

I've been in analysis paralysis for quite some time on this, even last year when I was looking. No perfect camera, lol.

Sue, let me know how those batteries work. I'm also looking to get an external charger too.

Thank you all.
 
Just to let everyone know, my girlfriend really likes the XZ-1. She played with the S100 several months ago, but she says she likes the feel of the XZ-1 better. I had an extra flipbac grip I used for another camera, and she likes the extra grip it provides. The build quality is really good. The screen is outstanding in outdoor light. We had it out yesterday, sunny at 1pm here in the south, and it was still visible.

The only quirk so far is that Auto ISO in P mode really isn't very "AUTO". It seems to stay at 200. Even in low light, it will bump it, but using 1/2 second shutter speed which is way out of the realm of hand held capabilities. I know panasonic puts in a maximum shutter speed setting, but this camera doesn't seem to have one. It does have a low light mode, so maybe that is the ticket? I'm just not sure why they don't start bumping the ISO after 1/10 or 1/20 second shutter speed. Overall, its a nice camera. The images look really good so far. I'll have to post some when I can pry it out of my girlfriends hands ;)

Jason
 
Yes Auto ISO on the XZ-1 really only works for static subjects in A and P mode. What I did was just to switch to S mode when I wanted to control the shutter speed, if you use A mode for normal shooting you can leave the shutter speed set to 1/100 or something similar so it's basicly ready to go when you change to S.
Since you control the shutter speed, there's no problem with auto ISO, it just does what it's supposed to and sets the ISO to balance the exposure, and you'll probably want to be using the maximum aperture anyway in those situations.
 
I think the batteries are good :) Just haven't been out with them yet. They are a higher capacity than the included one so thats a plus, lord knows you dont get many shots out of one of those. I don't shoot heaps but I really really HATE it when i forget to recharge and end up with a dead battery. Thats why I got the extras, more than having heaps of capacity for one session. An external charger and an EVF are on my shopping list, as is a flipbac grip, but they have to wait a while.
 
I brought along a few cams for my seaside vacation, and the XZ-1 has risen to the top spot for taking family pics on the beach. The VF-2 has been the tiebreaker; no way any LCD is going to work in bright sunlight magnified by reflection off the sand. Very happy so far here!
 
Shoot RAW, use the included Olympus Viewer to process them, it lets you turn off the NR, It is a superb gift!

Oh why oh why didn't Olympus allow adjustable NR in JPEGs? Their Micro 4/3 cameras are great in this regard, and give a nice wide latitude to allow for user preference- even the most 'consumer oriented' 4/3 bodies...
 
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