Olympus Stylus 1 Review

November 29, 2013 | Mark Goldstein | Rating star Rating star Rating star Rating star Half rating star

Introduction

The Olympus Stylus 1 is an advanced super-zoom compact camera with a 12 megapixel 1/1.7-inch BSI CMOS sensor, 10.7x 28-300mm lens with a constant aperture of f/2.8 throughout the zoom range, and a 1.44-million-dot electronic viewfinder. The lens features a built-in VCM image stabilization mechanism and fully retracts when not in use, so the Stylus 1 fits into a coat pocket. The Olympus Stylus 1 also features a touch-screen tilting LCD, built-in wi-fi connectivity, a customisable hybrid control ring around the lens, full manual exposure modes, raw image capture, ND filter, Full HD video recording and 11 Art Filters. Priced at £549.99 / $699.99, the Olympus Stylus 1 will be available in black.

Ease of Use

The Olympus Stylus 1 is a serious super-zoom compact camera which offers full manual control over the picture-taking process, DSLR-styling and a wealth of customisable controls. Given the 28-300mm focal length on offer, it's a remarkably compact camera that be squeezed into a coat pocket, yet still feels substantial due to being made of a combination of metal and plastics that make it feel like a premium product.

The Stylus 1 feels great in the hand, thanks to thoughtful ideas like a substantial thumb rest on the rear panel and a fixed hand-grip on the front,along with the EVF and hybrid control ring around the lens. The design manages to be functional and classy at the same time, closely mimicking DSLRs in general, and more specifically the company's own flagship OM-D E-M1 compact system camera - at first glance it's quite tricky to tell them apart side-by-side. It measures just 116mm x 87mm x 56.5mm, making it much smaller than rivals like the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200.

The main attraction of the Olympus Stylus 1 is undoubtedly its fast, 28-300mm equivalent zoom lens. The company is heavily touting the f/2.8 maximum aperture that's available throughout the zoom range. As you can see from some of our sample images, this translates into a surprising (for a compact camera) ability to isolate the subject from the background, particularly when using the telephoto settings, resulting in images reminiscent of those taken with cameras sporting much bigger sensors.

Subject isolation aside, the biggest benefit of a fast lens - when combined with the camera's very effective VCM image stabilisation - is the ability to take hand-held shots in low light without having to dial in crazy-high ISO sensitivity settings. This is important, as the 1/1.7-inch CMOS sensor, although bigger than most compacts, is still very small compared to the sensors used in compact system cameras and DSLRs, and consequently suffers from too much noise at ISO 800 and above.

A crucial element of the Stylus 1's design is the hybrid control ring that surrounds the lens, which is used to set shutter speed in manual mode, exposure compensation in a number of other modes, and can also navigate menus. It can also be customised to one of 9 settings to suit your own way of working.

On the side of the lens is a handy zoom lever, with two zoom speeds available, low and normal. In addition to the usual finger-operated zoom lever that surrounds the shutter button, this dual lever system is surprisingly versatile and almost (but not quite) as good as having a proper zoom ring around the lens.

Completing the lens setup is an innovative automatic lens cap, which opens up into 4 parts when the camera is turned on, and then closes and protects the lens when it's turned off. You can even remove the lens cap if you want, although we've no idea why you wouldn't want to use it.

Ricoh CX4 Ricoh CX4
Front Rear

The Olympus Stylus 1 uses exactly the same EVF as the OM-D E-M5 compact system camera. It's an impressively detailed 1.44 million dot high-definition unit with 100% field of view and 1.15x magnification. The Stylus 1 actually has two independent image-processing cores, one for the recorded images and the other for Live View images, so the live and recorded image appears very quickly on both the EVF and the rear screen.

There's also a built-in eye sensor which optionally switches between the electronic viewfinder and OLED screen automatically, and the EVF helpfully displays key shooting information along the bottom of the viewfinder. Another boon to productivity is the ability to preview manual and creative adjustments live through the EVF without having to lower the camera to look at the rear screen.

The Stylus 1 has a touchscreen LCD that can be configured in one of three ways - turned off, one-touch focusing, or simultaneous one-touch focusing and shutter release. It also enables you to interact with the camera's key settings in addition to setting the focusing point and fire the shutter via the onscreen Super Control Panel. One small limitation is the inability to focus right at the extreme edges of the frame - you're effectively limited to one of the 35 AF points that the Stylus 1 offers.

The 3-inch LCD screen has a high 1040k-dot resolution and can be tilted by a maximum of 80° upwards and 50° downwards, which helps when shooting from high and low angles. We did miss being able to fully articulate the screen from left to right as well, which always proves useful when shooting video and for closing the screen against the camera body for safe storage. In use, we found the large, high-resolution LCD screen to be eminently usable, with great detail and excellent colour retention even when viewed from the most extreme angles.

The Olympus Stylus 1 has a fully manual exposure mode, complete with a live histogram and raw file support. This mode is very well implemented in the Stylus 1, and is therefore likely to become the preferred shooting mode for advanced users. In M mode, the click-stop dial encircling the lens housing controls the shutter speed, while the aperture can be set with the rear control dial.

The live histogram - as well as a helpful compositional grid - can be activated with the Info button. The fly in the ointment is that the camera still doesn't offer direct-button access to ISO sensitivity settings. You need to enter the function menu - called “live control” by Olympus - by pressing the OK button to do that.

Ricoh CX4 Ricoh CX4
Front Top

Also present and correct are the usual aperture and shutter priority modes, in which the corresponding exposure variable is controlled via the hybrid control ring, with the rear wheel now serving for exposure compensation. Finally, in P mode you can control Program AE shift via the hybrid control ring, with the ability to change the aperture and override the camera's own settings.

The Olympus Stylus 1 offers a selection of scene modes, most of which are standard fare like Portrait, Landscape, Sport etc. A few of the scene modes are more special though - these include Multi Exposure, Panorama, and E-Portrait. Multi Exposure has nothing to do with HDR imaging - it's a feature inherited from the film era, which allows you to record and combine two completely different images into a single photo.

E-Portrait is an on-board solution to touch up portraits. In this mode, you take a picture of a person, then the camera identifies the face and tries to remove blemishes and other minor imperfections, giving the skin a smooth look in the process. The resulting image is then saved alongside the original.

In the Panorama mode there are three options on offer, including Auto, Manual and PC. In Auto mode, you only have to press the shutter release once. After that, all you need to do is move the camera to the next position, so that the target marks and pointers overlap, and the camera automatically releases the shutter for you. Three frames can be taken this way, which are then combined into a single panoramic image automatically in-camera. In Manual mode, you can also take three frames with the help of an on-screen guide, but you have to release the shutter manually. Finally, in PC mode, you can take up to 10 photos, which can be stitched using the supplied [ib] software after being downloaded to the computer.

The iAuto mode is a fully automatic shooting mode in which the camera analyses the scene in front of its lens, and tries to decide which scene mode to apply. Most of the typical camera controls/functions are inaccessible while you are in iAuto, but there is a live guide featuring on-screen sliders to modify things like saturation, colour, image brightness and depth of field. Additionally, the camera offers up various shooting tips on demand.

The Art setting on the mode dial lets you choose from 11 Art Filters that include Pop Art, Diorama, Grainy Film, Soft Focus, Pinhole and Dramatic Tone. The optimum shooting settings are preprogrammed for each filter, and you have very little control over the final look. Because of this, it is worth shooting RAW+JPEG, as the raw files can be modified later if you do not like the effect. You can see examples of these art filters at work in the Image Quality section of this review.

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Tilting LCD Screen Side

Of probably more interest to serious shooters are the Custom Mode settings, denoted with a “C1” and “C2” on the mode dial. This allows you to retrieve your saved settings, which is great if you often find yourself shooting under the same conditions.

Cameras without wireless connectivity are increasingly at a disadvantage over competitors that offer this feature, so Olympus could not afford to launch a new flagship compact without Wi-Fi. The implementation on the Stylus 1 is actually quite good. You first need to download a free app for your smartphone (Android and iOS versions are both available), but after that, everything is pretty straightforward. You simply touch the Wi-Fi icon on your camera's display to set up a connection. The Stylus 1 will then provide you with an SSID and password, but you do not need to type in either of them – just launch the app on your phone and scan the QR code displayed by your camera with your phone.

This is nearly as fast as using NFC (Near-Field Communication), a feature that the Stylus 1 doesn't offer. Once the connection is established, you can download images from the camera to your smartphone, or use the latter to remotely control the Stylus 1. The level of control provided is quite good – you can choose from a variety of shooting modes, set aperture, sensitivity, shutter speed and white balance, choose a drive mode, and focus on practically any part of the frame, all remotely.

As mentioned earlier, most of the shooting settings and functions are available from the “live control”, a function menu called up by pressing the OK button that sits in the middle of the four-way pad. The range of available functions may differ slightly depending on the shooting mode you are in, but the full list includes the following: image stabilisation, picture mode, white balance, drive mode, aspect ratio, image quality and resolution, movie quality, flash mode, flash exposure compensation, metering mode, auto focus mode, ISO speed, face priority, and ND filter.

Most of these are self explanatory. The ND filter is an integrated 3-stop neutral density filter, which can be engaged when shooting in very bright light - with the top shutter speed being only 1/2000 of a second, it is sometimes necessary to use this filter when you would like to pick a wide aperture for a shallow depth-of-field effect, otherwise the photo would be overexposed even at the lowest ISO sensitivity setting. The Olympus Stylus 1 has a neat little pop-up flash that has to be manually raised via a dedicated button, and there's even an external flash hotshoe too.

Some of the shooting functions are mapped onto the four-way navigation pad, including exposure compensation, AF point selection, drive mode and self-timer, and flash mode. To change the active AF point, simply press the Left arrow button, and pick one, nine or all of the 35 auto focus points using the arrow keys - simple and effective.

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Memory Card Slot Battery Compartment

The available focus mode settings are “normal” AF, when the focus range is limited to 1m-infinity, allowing the camera to acquire focus surprisingly quickly; Macro AF, which lets you focus down to 10cm at the wide end and 30cm at full telephoto; Supermacro AF, which disables the zoom and the built-in flash but allows you to focus as close as 5cms from the front lens; Tracking AF, which tracks the selected subject as it moves across the frame; and MF.

The inclusion of manual focus is a nod towards experienced photographers, who will appreciate this feature. Manual Focus is activated via the unmarked switch that surrounds the Fn2 button on the front of the camera. In Manual Focus mode the centre of the image automatically enlarges for accurate focusing. This is intuitively performed with the hybrid control ring and also displays a distance scale, which proves very useful for zone focusing. Shutter lag in MF mode is negligible. For those who prefer auto focus, there is an AF assist light that enables the camera to focus even in low light. This lamp can be disabled if necessary.

As far as drive modes are concerned, there are no less than 3 different continuous shooting modes on offer: the “regular” sequential shooting is at an impressive 7 frames per second at full resolution for up to 7fps up to 70 images in JPEG LN mode and 25 frames in RAW mode, and there's a High-Speed option available at a reduced resolution setting.

Besides capturing stills, the Olympus Stylus 1 can also record 1080p HD videos at 30fps, and has a dedicated movie record button on top of the camera for one-touch video recording. Unfortunately the camera offers precious little in the way of video controls. You can apply exposure compensation before starting to record a video clip, but that's about it. On a more positive note, you can use the optical zoom while filming, and can also have the camera apply any of the Art Filters to movies on the fly. The Stylus 1 tries its best to keep the subject in focus while recording a video clip, but doesn't always succeed. Movies are stored in MOV (MPEG-4AVC/H.264) format and clip length is limited to 29 minutes.

When it comes to playing back your images, the Olympus Stylus 1 offers three main playback views: picture only, photo with image number and date, and a thumbnail with detailed information and a very useful RGB histogram. There is also an optional blinking highlights warning.

The Olympus Stylus 1 is powered by a proprietary lithium-ion battery, which can be charged in-camera via USB. You need to connect the USB cable either to a computer running Windows 7/8, Vista or XP; or to the supplied USB-AC adapter, which must, in turn, be plugged into a mains socket using a mains cable. So unless you want to charge the battery via a Windows computer, you will need two cables, an adapter, and the camera itself. Olympus does offer a conventional external charger as well, but only as an optional accessory.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 12 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.

The Olympus Stylus 1 produced images of very good quality during the review period. JPEGs taken at the base sensitivity of ISO 100 exhibit great colour and nice tonality, and strike a good balance between noise reduction and detail retention.

High-ISO performance is broadly in line with what you could reasonably expect from a sensor of this size. In JPEGs, the effects of noise reduction become apparent at ISO 800 and above, whilst the raw files contain quite a lot of noise (though they do retain detail better than the out-of-camera JPEGs). ISO 1600 and 3200 are borderline usable for small prints, whereas the highest settings of ISO 6400 and 12800 are really only there to make the spec sheet look better.

Thankfully with an f/2.8 lens throught the zoom range and sensor-shift image stabilisation on board, you will hardly ever need to shoot at these high sensitivity settings anyway. The fast lens not only allows you to use low ISOs in dim lighting, it also provides for good subject-background separation, something most digital compacts can't really achieve. Thankfully the 10.7x zoom lens doesn't suffer too badly at all from purple-fringing in areas of high contrast.

Noise

The base sensitivity setting is ISO 100, with the maximum being ISO 12800. You can dial in any value in between these two extremes in third-stop increments. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each “full” ISO setting for JPEG and RAW files.

JPEG RAW

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

iso100.jpg iso100raw.jpg
   

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

iso200.jpg iso200raw.jpg
   

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

iso400.jpg iso400raw.jpg
   

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

iso800.jpg iso800raw.jpg
   

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

iso1600.jpg iso1600raw.jpg
   

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

iso3200.jpg iso3200raw.jpg
   

ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

iso6400.jpg iso6400raw.jpg
   

ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

iso12800.jpg iso12800raw.jpg

Focal Range

The 10.7x i.Zuiko lens offers a very versatile focal range, as demonstrated by these examples.

28mm

300mm

focal_range1.jpg focal_range2.jpg

Sharpening

The out-of-camera JPEGs are fairly sharp at the default sharpening setting, but still benefit from a little extra sharpening in a photo editor. Alternatively, you can change the in-camera sharpening level to suit your needs better. Here are two 100% crops - the right-hand image has had some extra sharpening applied.

Original (100% Crop)

Sharpened (100% Crop)

sharpen1.jpg sharpen1a.jpg
   
sharpen2.jpg sharpen2a.jpg

File Quality

At full resolution, the Olympus Stylus 1 allows you to choose from two JPG quality settings, Normal and Fine. Additionally, the camera supports raw capture, and simultaneous recording of JPEG and raw files is also possible.

12M Fine (5.10Mb) (100% Crop)

12M Normal (2.44Mb) (100% Crop)

quality_fine.jpg quality_normal.jpg
   

12M RAW (11Mb) (100% Crop)

 
quality_raw.jpg  

Chromatic Aberrations

The Olympus Stylus 1 dealt with chromatic aberrations very well during the review, with just a little purple fringing present around the edges of objects in certain high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.

Chromatic Aberrations 1 (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations 2 (100% Crop)

chromatic1.jpg chromatic2.jpg

Macro

The Olympus Stylus 1 has both a Macro (10cm) and a Supermacro (5cm) mode, albeit the zoom can only be used in the former. The shot below demonstrates how close you can get to the subject, in this case, a Compact Flash card.

Macro

Macro (100% Crop)

macro1.jpg macro1a.jpg

Flash

The Olympus Stylus 1 has a pop-up flash with AUTO, Red-eye reduction, Fill-in, Off, Slow synchronisation with red-eye reduction, Slow synchronisation, and Manual (Full, 1/1.3 - 1/128) modes. These shots of a white-coloured ceiling were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Suppressed Flash - Wide Angle (28mm)

Forced Flash - Wide Angle (28mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64
   

Suppressed Flash - Telephoto (300mm)

Forced Flash - Telephoto (300mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On or the Red-eye Flash settings caused any red-eye.

Forced Flash

Forced Flash (100% Crop)
flash_on.jpg flash_on1.jpg
   

Red-eye Reduction Auto

Red-eye Reduction Auto (100% Crop)

flash_redeye.jpg flash_redeye1.jpg

Night

The Olympus Stylus 1 allows you to dial in exposure times as long as 60 seconds or up to 15mins in the Bulb mode, which is very good news if you are seriously interested in night photography. The example below was taken at a shutter speed of 30 seconds at ISO 100.

Night

Night (100% Crop)

night1.jpg night1a.jpg

Anti Shake

The Olympus Stylus 1 has a lens-shift image stabilisation mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at shutter speeds that are critically slow for the focal length used. To test this, we took 2 hand-held shots of the same subject at both ends of the zoom range with the same settings. The first shot was taken with image stabilisation turned off, the second with it turned on.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length

Anti Shake Off (100% Crop)

Anti Shake On (100% Crop)

1/15th / 28mm antishake1.jpg antishake1a.jpg
     
1/15th / 300mm antishake2.jpg antishake2a.jpg

Multiple Exposure

The Olympus Stylus 1 can combine two seperate frames taken sequentially into one to create a multi-exposure picture.

Multiple Exposure

multiple_exposure1.jpg

Art Filters

The Olympus Stylus 1 offers 11 Art Filters including Pop Art, Soft Focus, Grainy Film, Pinhole, Diorama and Dramatic Tone. These can be applied to both stills and movie clips.

Pop Art

Soft Focus

art_filter_01.jpg art_filter_02.jpg
   

Pale&Light Color

Light Tone

art_filter_03.jpg art_filter_04.jpg
   

Grainy Film

Pin Hole
art_filter_05.jpg art_filter_06.jpg
   

Diorama

Cross Process
art_filter_07.jpg art_filter_08.jpg
   

Gentle Sepia

Dramatic Tone
art_filter_09.jpg art_filter_10.jpg
   

Key Line

 
art_filter_11.jpg  

Picture Modes

Olympus' Picture Modes are preset combinations of contrast, sharpness, gradation and saturation. There are six Picture Modes to choose from, all of which can be tailored to your tastes.

i-Enhance

Vivid

picture_mode_01.jpg picture_mode_02.jpg
   

Natural

Muted

picture_mode_03.jpg picture_mode_04.jpg
   

Portrait

Monotone

picture_mode_05.jpg picture_mode_06.jpg

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Olympus Stylus 1 camera, which were all taken using the 12 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Olympus Stylus 1 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Olympus RAW (ORF) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

This is a sample movie at the jighest quality setting of 1920x1080 at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 20 second movie is 43.6Mb in size.

Product Images

Olympus Stylus 1

Front of the Olympus Stylus 1

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Front of the Olympus Stylus 1

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Front of the Olympus Stylus 1 / Lens Extended

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Front of the Olympus Stylus 1 / Flash Raised

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Side of the Olympus Stylus 1

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Side of the Olympus Stylus 1

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Side of the Olympus Stylus 1

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Side of the Olympus Stylus 1

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Rear of the Olympus Stylus 1

 

Olympus Stylus 1

Rear of the Olympus Stylus 1 / Image Displayed

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Rear of the Olympus Stylus 1 / Turned On

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Rear of the Olympus Stylus 1 / Function Menu

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Rear of the Olympus Stylus 1 / Main Menu

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Rear of the Olympus Stylus 1 / Custom Menu

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Rear of the Olympus Stylus 1 / Wi-Fi Connection

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Tilting LCD Screen

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Tilting LCD Screen

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Top of the Olympus Stylus 1

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Top of the Olympus Stylus 1 / Lens Extended

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Bottom of the Olympus Stylus 1

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Side of the Olympus Stylus 1

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Side of the Olympus Stylus 1

 
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Front of the Olympus Stylus 1

 
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Front of the Olympus Stylus 1

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Memory Card Slot

 
Olympus Stylus 1

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Olympus Stylus 1 super-zoom is a successful marriage of the company's high-end XZ-2 compact and the flagship OM-D E-M1 compact system camera, whilst offering a fast 28-300mm lens in a small and relatively lightweight body complete with an EVF and tilting LCD screen that rather amazingly can be fitted into a coat pocket. Although it uses a much smaller sensor than it's principal rival, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10, the Stylus 1 only costs half as much, while the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 is cheaper but has an even smaller sensor than the Stylus 1.

The Stylus 1 ticks most of the boxes that any experienced photographer is looking for - “sensible” 12 megapixel count, a fast lens, raw file support, a reliable 35 multi-point AF system and a well implemented manual exposure mode complete with an optional live histogram. Add in the excellent electronic viewfinder from the OM-D E-M5, high-resolution tilting LCD screen, touchscreen controls, the innovative lens control ring, and an image processor that's fast enough to avoid any major freeze-ups even when shooting RAW+JPEG simultaneously, and you have a very capable yet portable super-zoom camera that you can take pretty much anywhere.

The Stylus 1 performs very well in the image quality department, owing to that fast and sharp lens, back illuminated 1/1.7-inch CMOS sensor, and the same TruPic VI image processor used in th PEN range, all of which combines to turn out JPEGs with very pleasing colours, excellent sharpness and good overall tonality. High ISO is also quite good for what is after all a compact camera, and with the f/2.8 lens and effective VCM image stabilisation on board, the Stylus 1 can certainly cope with most lighting environments. Video, on the other hand, is still a mixed bag. It's good to be able to use the full range of the optical zoom while filming and apply Art Filters to the footage in-camera, but in a product of this calibre you would expect user selectable frame rates and full manual control over video exposure.

So despite a few reservations about noise at high ISO speeds and the so-so video mode, the Olympus Stylus 1 is another intriguing addition to the ever-growing numbers of "premium" compact cameras that are aimed at the more discerning photographer. It occupies the middle ground in both price and approach between a "traditional" super-zoom like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 and the all-singing, all-dancing Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10. Highly Recommended!

4.5 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 5
Features 4.5
Ease-of-use 4.5
Image quality 4.5
Value for money 4.5

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Olympus Stylus 1.

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS super-zoom camera has an astonishing 50x lens with a massive focal range of 24-1200mm. The Canon SX50 HS also offers a 12 megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor, 2.8 inch vari-angle LCD screen, electronic viewfinder, full manual controls, RAW format support, 10fps burst shooting and full 1080p HD movies. Read our detailed Canon PowerShot SX50 HS review complete with full-size JPEG, RAW and video samples to discover if it's the only camera you'll ever need...

Fujifilm FinePix HS50EXR

The Fujifilm FinePix HS50EXR is a bridge compact camera with a massive 42x, 24-1000mm zoom lens. The HS50 also offers an autofocus lag of just 0.05 seconds, full 1080p movies at 60fps with stereo sound, a 3 inch vari-angle LCD screen, 11ps burst shooting and a 16 megapixel back-illuminated EXR sensor with RAW support. Is this the only camera you'll ever need? Read our Fujifilm FinePix HS50EXR review to find out...

Nikon Coolpix P7800

The Nikon Coolpix P7800 is a brand new premium compact camera for the keen enthusiast. The P7800 principally adds an electronic viewfinder to last year's P7700 model - is this enough to compete with the likes of the Canon PowerShot G16? Read our expert Nikon P7800 review now, complete with full-size JPEG and RAW sample images.

Olympus SP-820UZ

The Olympus SP-820UZ is a bridge compact camera that boasts a 40x zoom lens with an incredible focal range of 22.4-896mm. The 14 megapixel Olympus SP-820UZ also offers a 3 inch LCD screen, 1080p movie recording and a Backlight HDR mode. Read our in-depth Olympus SP-820UZ review to find out if this super-zoom is worth the £280 / $330 asking price...

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200

The Lumix DMC-FZ200 is Panasonic's premium super-zoom compact camera. Stand-out features of the FZ200 include a 24x zoom lens with a constant aperture of f/2.8 throughout the 25-600mm range, 1080p HD movies, a high-resolution LCD and EVF, fast auto-focusing, 12fps burst shooting and a 12 megapixel MOS image sensor. Read our expert Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 review now...

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 is a new premium super-zoom camera. Featuring a 28-200mm lens with a constant aperture of f/2.8, a 20.2 megapixel 1.0-type CMOS sensor, Full HD 60p/50p/25p/24p video recording, wi-fi and NFC connectivity and support for the Raw format and full manual controls, the Sony RX10 certainly seems to have every box ticked. Is this the best ever superzoom camera? Read our expert Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 review to find out...

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Olympus Stylus 1 from around the web.

ephotozine.com »

The Olympus Stylus 1 is the latest serious compact camera from Olympus and features a bright f/2.8 10.7x optical zoom lens with optical image stabilisation, an electronic viewfinder, a 12 megapixel backlit CMOS sensor and full manual controls. The Stylus 1 is priced at £549.99, and is available in classic black.
Read the full review »

Specifications

Type

  • Body material

    Metal

Image Sensor

  • Type

    1/1.7'' BSI CMOS sensor

  • Effective pixels

    12 Megapixels

  • Filter array

    Primary colour filter (RGB)

  • Aspect ratio & area

    4:3 / 7.3 x 5.5mm

  • Full resolution

    12.76 Megapixels

Lens

  • Focal length (equiv. 35mm)

    28 300mm

  • Maximum aperture

    2.8

  • Focal length

    6.0 64.3mm

  • Optical zoom

    10.7x

  • Structure

    12 lenses / 10 groups

  • Aspherical glass elements

    8

Engine

  • Type

    TruePic VI

Characteristics

  • Viewfinder type

    Electronical Viewfinder

  • Pixel number

    1440K dots

  • Field of view

    Approx. 100%

  • Eye point

    18mm at 1 dioptre from eyepiece lens

  • Brightness adjustment

    +/ 7 levels

  • Correction of colour temperature

    +/ 7 levels

Live View

  • Displayed information

    • Aperture
    • Shutter speed
    • Auto bracket
    • AE lock
    • Focus mode
    • IS activating mode
    • Shooting information
    • Battery check
    • Custom
    • Internal temperature warning
    • Face / Eye detection mode
    • Histogram
    • Number of storable pictures
    • Record mode
    • ISO
    • Sequential shooting mode
    • Self timer
    • White Balance
    • Metering mode
    • AF confirmation mark
    • Exposure compensation value
    • Spot metering area
    • WiFi
    • Flash mode
    • Flash status
    • Flash intensity
    • Super FP
    • Focal length
    • Tone control
    • Eye-Fi condition
    • Digital Teleconverter
  • AF type

    Contrast detection system

  • 100% field of view

    100%

  • Display modes

    • Histogram
    • Grid (4 types)
    • Level Gauge
    • Standard information

Image Stabiliser

  • Type

    Lens shift

  • Modes

    Twodimensional

Focusing System

  • Method

    Contrast Detection AF system

  • Focus areas

    35 points / All target, Group target (9areas), Single target

  • AF lock

    Yes , Locked by first position of shutter release button in single AF mode

  • Modes

    • Manual focus
    • Single AF
    • Continuous AF
    • AF Tracking
    • Face Detection AF
    • Super Macro Mode
  • AF illuminator

    Yes

  • Manual focus

    With enlarged focusing area

  • Standard mode

    0.1m ∞ (wide) / 0.8m ∞ (tele)

  • Super Macro Mode

    Closest focusing distance: 5cm

Exposure System

  • Modes

    • Programme automatic
    • Shutter priority
    • Aperture priority
    • Manual
    • i-Auto
    • Custom 1
    • Custom 2
    • Photo Story
    • Scene Modes
    • Movie
    • Art Filter
  • Exposure compensation

    +/ 3EV ( 1/3 steps )

  • Exposure bracketing

    2 / 3 frames ( +/ 1/3, 2/3, 1 EV steps )

  • Enhancement function

    Mechanical Image Stabiliser

  • Face Detection Technology

  • Shadow Adjustment Technology

Scene Modes

  • Number of scene modes

    12

  • Modes

    • Portrait
    • e-Portrait
    • Landscape
    • Sports
    • Night Scene
    • Night Scene with portrait
    • Sunset
    • Documents
    • Panorama
    • Fireworks
    • Multi-Exposure
    • Beach and Snow

Multi-Exposure

  • Max. number of frames

    2 frames (shooting)

  • Frame assistance

    Live View

Light Metering

  • Method

    TTL open aperture light metering

  • Detection range

    0 20 EV Digital ESP, centreweighted average metering, spot metering

  • Modes

    • ESP light metering
    • Spot metering
    • Centre weighted metering
    • Highlight
    • Shadow

Art Filter

  • Modes

    • Pop Art
    • Soft Focus
    • Pale & Light Colour
    • Light Tone
    • Grainy Film
    • Pin Hole
    • Diorama
    • Cross Process
    • Gentle Sepia
    • Dramatic Tone
    • Key Line
  • Variation / Effect

    Available

Photo Story

  • Modes

    • Standard
    • Fun Frame

Sensitivity

  • Auto

    ISO 100 12800 (ISO 2500 for modes Indoor, Available Light Portrait and Candle)

  • Manual

    ISO 100 12800 (adjustable in 1/3 EV step)

Shutter

  • Modes

    • Single frame
    • Sequential shooting
    • Bracketing
    • Self timer
  • Self timer

    12s / 2s / Custom

Shutter Speeds

  • Shutter speed range

    1/2000 60s (up to 15 min in Bulb mode)

White Balance

  • AUTO WB system

    Yes

  • One-touch white balance

    2 custom settings can be registered

  • White balance adjustment

    +/ 7 in each AB / GM axis (in Auto WB, preset WB mode & onetouch WB)

  • Custom WB

    1 setting can be registered at Kelvin temperature (2000K 14000K)

  • Preset values

    • Tungsten
    • Flourescent 1
    • Sunlight
    • Flash
    • Overcast
    • Shade

Sequence Shooting

  • Speed

    7fps

  • Recordable frames

    200

Image Processing

  • Colour space

    sRGB / AdobeRGB

  • Black & White filter

    Neutral, Yellow, Orange, Red, Green

  • Black & White toning

    Sepia, Blue, Purple or Green in Black & White mode

  • Picture mode

    iEnhance, Vivid, Natural, Portrait, Muted, Monotone, Art Filter

  • Gradation

    4levels (auto, high key, normal, low key)

  • Noise Filter

    4 levels (Off, Low, Standard, High)

  • Noise reduction

    Yes (On, Off, Auto)

Internal Flash

  • Type

    popup

  • Modes

    • AUTO
    • Red-eye reduction
    • Fill-in
    • Off
    • Slow synchronisation with red-eye reduction
    • Slow synchronisation
    • Manual (Full, 1/1.3 - 1/128)
  • Working range (wide)

    0.1 10.3m (ISO 1600)

  • Working range (tele)

    0.8 10.3m (ISO 1600)

External Flash Control

  • Type

    TTL Auto for Olympus dedicated flash, Auto or Manual

  • Modes

    • Auto
    • TTL Auto
    • Manual

Wireless Flash Control

  • Control method

    Triggered by builtin flash light

  • Compatible external flash

    FL36R, FL50R, FL300R, FL600R

  • Modes

    • Auto
    • FP TTL Auto
    • FP Manual

Monitor

  • Monitor type

    Tiltable LCD Touch Panel

  • Monitor size

    7.6cm / 3.0'' (3:2)

  • Resolution

    1040K dots

  • Colour balance

    Vivid (default) / Natural

  • Brightness adjustment

    +/ 7 levels

  • Touch Control fucntions

    • Shutter release
    • Live Guide
    • AF area selection
    • Frame forward/backward
    • Enlargement playback
    • Super Control Panel

Level Gauge

  • Display

    Rear display and viewfinder

  • Detection

    2axis

Super Control Panel

  • Displayed information

    • Battery indicator
    • Shooting mode
    • Shutter speed
    • Aperture value
    • Exposure compensation value
    • Exposure mode
    • ISO
    • Exposure compensation indicator
    • Flash compensation value
    • Date
    • AE bracketing
    • Noise reduction
    • White balance
    • White balance compensation value
    • Record mode
    • Flash mode
    • Image Size
    • Drive mode
    • Metering mode
    • Number of storable frames
    • Focus mode
    • AF frame
    • Colour space
    • Sharpness compensation value
    • Contrast compensation value
    • Saturation
    • Internal temperature warning
    • Gradation
    • IS activating mode
    • Face detection
    • My Mode
    • Multi-Exposure
    • Aspect ratio
    • Super FP

Recording Formats

  • RAW

    12bit

  • RAW & JPEG

    Yes parallel recording

  • JPEG

    Yes

  • Aspect ratio

    4:3 / 3:2 / 16:9 / 1:1

Image Size

  • Aspect ratio

    4:3 / 3:2 / 16:9 / 1:1

  • RAW

    3968 x 2976 compressed / 13.9MB / frame

  • Large

    3968 x 2976 Fine (compression: 1/4) / 5.9MB / frame

  • 3968 x 2976 Normal (compression: 1/8) / 2.7MB / frame

  • Middle

    2560 x 1920 Normal (compression: 1/8) / 1.1MB / frame

Still Image Recording

  • EXIF

    2.2

  • PIM

    III

  • DPOF

    Yes

  • DCF

    Yes

Movie Recording System

  • Recording format

    MOV(MPEG4AVC/H.264), AVI(Motion JPEG)

  • Image Stabilisation Mode

    Multimotion Movie IS

  • HD Movie quality

    1080P 30p, 20Mbps Recording time: 29min.

  • 720P 30p, 13Mbps Recording time: 29min.

  • High-Speed Recording

    QVGA / 240fps Recording time: 20sec.

  • VGA / 120fps Recording time: 20sec.

  • Frame rate

    30fps

  • Art Filter

    • Cross Process
    • Diorama
    • Dramatic Tone
    • Gentle Sepia
    • Grainy Film
    • Key Line
    • Light Tone
    • Pale & Light Colour
    • Pop Art
    • Pin Hole
    • Soft Focus
  • Max. file size

    4GB

Sound Recording System

  • Recording format

    Stereo PCM/16bit, 48kHz, Wave Format Base

  • Internal microphone

    Stereo

  • Microphone functions

    • Wind Noise Reduction
    • Audio Dubbing
    • Recording Volume
  • Image footage

    30s

View Images

  • Modes

    • Index
    • Zoom
    • Slide show
    • Movie
    • Single
  • Auto rotation

    Yes

  • Histogram in playback mode

    Yes

  • Highlight/Shadow point warning

    Yes

  • Shooting information

    Off / On

  • Image protect mode

    Yes

  • Index

    4, 9, 25 frames

  • Zoom

    14x

Erase / Protect / Copy Function

  • Erase modes

    Single, All, Selected

  • Image protect mode

    Single, Selected

Image Editing

  • RAW data edit

    Yes

  • Red-eye reduction

    Yes

  • Sepia

    Yes

  • Resize

    Yes

  • Correction of saturation

    Yes

  • Shadow Adjustment

    Yes

  • Trimming

    Yes

  • e-Portrait

    Yes

  • Aspect ratio

    -

Menu

  • Menu languages in camera

    39 languages (Japanese, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese (BR + PT), German, Italian, Russian, Czech, Dutch, Danish, Polish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Croatian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Greek, Slovak, Turkish, Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Korean, Simple Chinese, Traditional Chinese,Thai, Arabic, Bulgarian, Romanian, Persian, Indonesian, Hebrew, Malay, Vietnamese)

Customisation Options

  • Fn Button

    Yes

  • My Mode

    2 settings storable

  • Factory reset

    Full / Basic

  • Programmable button

    Yes

Interface

  • Media

    SD Memory Card (SDHC, SDXC, UHSI compatible) Class 6 is recommended for Movie shooting

  • HDMI™

    Yes Micro connector (Type D) *

  • USB 2.0 High Speed

    Yes

  • Combined V & USB output

    Yes NTSC or PAL selectable

  • Hot shoe

    Yes

  • Wireless connectivity

    • Eye-Fi Card compatible
    • WiFi
  • * "HDMI", the HDMI logo and "HighDefinition Multimedia Interface" are trademarks or registered trademarks of HDMI Licensing LLC.

Wi-Fi Functions

  • Easy Connection

    QR code setting

  • Wireless Shooting

    • Live View
    • Power off
    • Rec View
    • Self timer
    • Touch AF & Shutter
    • P/A/S/M exposure modes
    • Bulb mode
    • Zoom

Other Features

  • Premium functions

    • iHS Technology
    • ND Filter
    • Zoom Framing Assist

Power Supply

  • Battery

    BLS5 LiIon battery (included)

  • Sleep mode

    Available (1min, 3min, 5min)

Environment

  • Temperature

    0 40°C operating temperature / 20 60°C storage temperature

  • Humidity

    30 90% operation humidity / 10 90% storage humidity

Size

  • Dimensions (W x H x D)

    116.2 x 87 x 56.5mm (with Automatic lens cap attached, without protrusions)

  • Weight

    402g (including battery and memory card)

 
 
 

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