Olympus Stylus 1 (1 Viewer)

a new camera form Olympus this time a premier compact camera, with a 1/1.7-inch back-illuminated CMOS sensor, a constant f/2.8 lens offering an equivalent focal length range of 28-300mm and a large electronic viewfinder.

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/10/olympus-stylus-1-camera-announced/?utm_source=mainrss

and here is pd review first impression.

It makes more sense to me than the Stylus XZ-2 which while it is an improvement over the XZ-1, really needed an EVF. The VF-2 works well, but makes the whole thing look top heavy and ugly, though in practice it works well.

I guess the success of the Stylus-1 will depend on the real life performance, pricing and promotion. The focal length range will be right for most potential users, though, a lot will depend on them not being seduced by the my lens is bigger than yours syndrome.

It is clearly not designed for the avid superzoom toting bird enthusiast who will actually make good use of the longer reach available on other cameras.

It uses optical stabilisation, which with the 'sensible' zoom range should make for good sharp photos, especially when used with the evf.

Despite the fact that I have been shooting on Olympus since 1966, I can't see it being a must have for me, even for general photography, but I am open to being convinced.
Fuji have been seducing me away recently with their X series but I would love Oly coming up with something to lure me back.

N.B. Still using Oly slrs and a couple of Pens, especially my E-3 but not so much anymore...

Look at the EM1/GX7/GH3 as alternatives in the m4/3?

Niels

I have done, and I don't find them appealing, sorry.

I'm afraid that I am a bit of a control freak - minimalistic high quality cameras that have dedicated shutter speed, aperture, ISO, exposure correction dials, a single af point with focus confirmation for non-af prime lenses and a large bright viewfinder (evf or ovf) would be ideal. Accurate ISO is useful so that I dont have to rely on the camera meter for bif and can use my incident meter instead.

The nearest being the Fuji X series of which I own one or two, but unfortunately don't include an slr, but I am tempted by the EVF models - maybe...

I used the original Pens, but despite several trips to buy one, never bought an F (the slr) as I prefer bigger 'bits' when using an slr under duress. The OM family were far more useful, with a huge range of lenses, most of which I owned at one time or the other.

The E-X00 series were about the right size for me but were never sealed against dust or rain, I still have several bodies which still get used. The E-X series started out the right size with sealed lenses but got too big subsequently. All my macro lenses are 4/3 or OM with convertor, and I still have my weather sealed 4/3 lenses which suit me fine. The in body image stabilisation works for me as well.

I am down to 2 M4/3 bodies now as I really do find the lenses too small, & while the latest bodies are sealed against the elements none of my existing M4/3 lenses are.

And in case anyone thinks that I am totally obsessed by Olympus I have used, owned or still own cameras from most of the major manufacturers and have simply used what I like - and could afford. No Hasselblad just yet (£14,000 - £30,000 body only!).

My real problem are the thousands of photos I have accumulated over the years...

I have an E-620 and despite numerous safaris have never found dust to be a problem. It has also survived trips to e.g. the rainforests of Madagascar, though I do use a little rain cover with it. I use the 50-200 and 1.4 mostly, the former of which is weather sealed of course.

The stylus 1 looked interesting but the zoom seems rather short so I can't really see it fitting in to my bag when I have the E-620 with my existing lens combo.

The EM1 is appealing in a number of ways, but also there are a lot of points that i am not sold on, especially the price! I keep looking at the E-5 but the weight of it puts me off and not that convinced the IQ is enough of an upgrade from my 620..

kittykat23uk said:

I

I keep looking at the E-5 but the weight of it puts me off and not that convinced the IQ is enough of an upgrade from my 620..

Click to expand...

when i upgraded form E 620 to E5 the first thing i have noticed is the improvement in the IQ, in both i use the Sigma 50-500mm, and although here sledom an ISO of 2000 is needed, i have used it once and got some nice results, but sure at ISO 800 the E5 can give almost noise free shots.

the IQ of the E5 IMHO is much better than of the EPL5 that has an improved sensor with more pixels.

OK i know E5 can not be compared with the EPL5 which is made for armatures, but i wanted to tell you how fabulous the E5 is, once again IMHO the best DSLR ever made, too bad i can't afford the 300mm Zuiko prime lens.

but as you said the major disadvantage is its bulky size. i was thinking today to myself, that m4/3 has become an addiction, to a person once one start to use it. guess Olympus made the right thing when the stopped the E7 in the favor of the OM-D1

I am perhaps a little cautious as I seem to have suffered every sort of weather related malfunction, from a frozen shutter to perspiration dropping off my forehead and shorting out a camera. None of these were Olympus which is probably why I always went back to them.

Most of the time I don't worry too much about IQ as I shoot stills to print in the main, as there is more than enough demand and I have full control over colour etc., and anything that may end up on line I usually degrade prior to release. About the only people who pixel peep a print are professional printers and mothers of the bride and the last thing they want to see are high quality wrinkles and pores!

These days, for wildlife use, my still cameras are largely used for habitat detail (Fuji APSC), and macro, and most long range work is on HD video using dedicated video cameras. I don't know if the image stabilisation on current Olympuses has been tuned for video, but certainly on my Pens it is great for still work but horrible for anything fast moving across the image in video.

I might be tempted to an OMD if they have sorted the video image stabilisation and the sound quality is half decent with an external mic. Is there anyone out there using one for significant amounts of video work?

Look at the review in DPReview which just came up. I did not read the details regarding video, but the conclusion did not sound too good. You may be better off with a GH3 for the video (just seen for $799 according to m43rumors).

Niels

I may well wait for the next significant improvement from someone, before parting with more money - as it is I need 12 different types of rechargeable battery just for the cameras I use day to day, - when you add in things like dedicated batteries for Infra Red illumination for night time filming it gets even more ridiculous. At least by sticking to Olympus I will probably have batteries to fit.
The DP review makes the OMD sound attractive for a still camera, but I find a dedicated video camera far easier to use for video work - my video tripods are more useable too, with most of the major controls duplicated on the pan and tilt handle, far easier than having to touch the camera all the time. Don't think that many slr style cameras do IR either.