Alternative to Olympus XZ-1

izzop · 12 Aug 2012 at 12:32

Hi & Good Afternoon,

I'm in the market for a half decent compact camera and whilst searching through the forum came across the Olympus XZ-1.

Looking at it both on the Olympus site and some reviews it looks ideal for a forth coming wedding and a short trip to New York.

Has anyone got any experience of using it or any recommendations for similar cameras to consider?

Thanks & Regards

mattx2 · 12 Aug 2012 at 12:35

Have a look at the cannon s95 it's on offer at the rainforest place for £199

J1nxy · 12 Aug 2012 at 13:05

Depends on budget, I just picked up the Sony RX100 and its a great little camera. Small, light and good for pictures and video.

izzop · 12 Aug 2012 at 17:18

Thanks for the replies, I'll have a look at both.

Temi_D · 12 Aug 2012 at 17:42

I have the XZ-1 as my main camera and, from picture point of view, I have nothing but praises for it. The bright lens across the entire zoom range is excellent and always comes in handy.

Others to look at are the Samsung EX2F and the already mentioned RX100 (although the lens isn't bright at the long end)
Edit: The panasonic LX7 too

42zx · 15 Aug 2012 at 18:41

My first camera was an XZ-1, it was great but dont expect DSLR like performance from any of the high end compacts in low light.

If I was buying a good compact now though I'd either get a second hand Canon S95 or S100 for its size and, like the XZ-1, a front dial.

Another option is something like a Panasonic GF-1 with 20mm pancake lens or a Fuji X100 (my choice!) but they're much more expensive.

J1nxy · 15 Aug 2012 at 19:22

I'll post some low light pictures from the rx100 when I get home as you'll be shocked how good in low light it performs. No flash required in a restaurant setting and very fast focus.

J1nxy · 18 Aug 2012 at 23:10

Few shots from the RX100 that I got a week ago

Untitled by j1nxy, on Flickr

Nymins · 19 Aug 2012 at 11:33

S100 or Sony HX20 if you want more zoom. Both cost around the same.

The S100 has better overall image quality, but if you don't pixel-peep, they are both pretty much on par. The HX20 is slightly more bulkier due to its 20x Optical Zoom, but its not massively bigger.

chaparral · 19 Aug 2012 at 12:07

Nymins said:
S100 or Sony HX20 if you want more zoom.

I own a sony HX20 and i couldn't believe it when i was playing around with the zoom and it zooms in to x151.......... :eek:

Nymins · 19 Aug 2012 at 12:44

chaparral said:
I own a sony HX20 and i couldn't believe it when i was playing around with the zoom and it zooms in to x151..........

How are you finding it overall? I was dead set on getting the S100, then I noticed the HX20/30V was released not too long ago and it looks really good!

Seems to have very fast focus, really nice LCD screen and quite a lot of built-in image features (HDR, background defocus etc).