4.11.2011

Oh Fun. Olympus sent me another camera to play with.

I came back from somewhere this morning to find a nice, brown cardboard box sitting in front of the door to my house.  I shuffled into the studio and grabbed my Bowie knife and slashed it open.  Inside, with no notes or invoices was a small box containing the new Olympus ZX-1.  Now I've been around the block with Canon G-10's and G-11's and I've played with the G-12 but the intriguing thing about this tiny camera is that I can use the EV-1 finder from my Pen EP2 kit to get a full bore, eye level, state of the art finder image and I don't have to hold the little beast at arm's length like a goon.

Give me a couple of week's play time and I'll try to write something.  But as you know, I'm not very prolific and it may take me some time to really do it justice.....

The battery is charging.
Posted by at

17 comments:

  1. Gordon FApril 11, 2011 at 2:59 PM

    Can't wait - your EPL-2 musings were legendary!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Daniel FealkoApril 11, 2011 at 5:30 PM

    I'm looking forward to your review, Kirk.

    Of course, don't rush it on my account. I know it could take some time to fully exercise all of its capabilities. *wink* *wink*

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bold PhotographyApril 11, 2011 at 7:50 PM

    Hmm.. I hope the same mojo rubbed off and that there's a nice box with a wonderful new toy on my doorstep when I get home!

    Thanks for your time this morning - as always, a very interesting discussion. I saw this today: http://www.profoto.com/us/profoto-continuous-light-overview ... I really think they're missing the LED boat, though...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Godfrey DiGiorgiApril 11, 2011 at 8:14 PM

    I'll be interested to hear your comments about this camera. I was handling the E-PL2 and ZX-1 side by side with the VF-2 fitted at the store last week. Both are appealing ... For different reasons.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousApril 12, 2011 at 2:06 AM

    Don't forget to charge the camera battery too. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. CedricApril 12, 2011 at 5:12 AM

    Cool! Looking forward to it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. mike rApril 12, 2011 at 8:45 AM

    Yes, really looking forward to hearing about this one. for years now my wife has been asking for a decent small camera with a real viewfinder.

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownApril 12, 2011 at 10:28 AM

    'But as you know, I'm not very prolific'

    err, don't take this wrong way but pardon!?!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Alan FairleyApril 12, 2011 at 12:05 PM

    I'll be curious to hear your take. In my own opinion, the camera is not smaller enough than the EPL-2 to justify the tradeoff to the smaller sensor. So for now, my Canon S90 is still my pocket cam. I do drool over the Oly's VF, though.

    ReplyDelete
  10. J. GilbertApril 12, 2011 at 4:53 PM

    Actually, I would say that the camera is much smaller than the E-PL2 if you consider that it has an f1.8 28-112mm lens. The E-PL2 would need several lenses and adapters to match that.
    On the other hand, it is clearly bigger than the S90/95, but you don't have to hold it at arm's length 8^)
    If the viewfinder is a requirement, there is not much pocketable choice. I don't think the G12 or P7000 peep holes qualify as viewfinders.

    ReplyDelete
  11. DaveApril 12, 2011 at 5:26 PM

    This is an intriguing little digicam but I micro four thirds has curbed my appetite for these. Pretty nice for a vacation though.

    ReplyDelete
  12. jorgeApril 12, 2011 at 8:01 PM

    Looking forward to your thoughts. I got an XZ-1 and viewfinder a month ago, and have been very pleasantly surprised. I love the fast lens. I got shots of several cooperative tiger swallowtail butterflies and the blue bonnets near Blanco, TX. Tough stuff to get butterflies at just 100mm (I usually shoot them at 400 - 600mm). At any rate, I was amazed by the results with some cropping, even on 8x10 prints. To boot, this camera fits in large pockets. Just wish the lens took a filter, UV or skylight, to protect it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. UnknownApril 13, 2011 at 1:27 AM

    Oh, your life is so rough. :-)

    I'm eager to find out about the red dots issue. I hope you thoroughly test the camera in every possible way to make sure there are never any red dots.

    ReplyDelete
  14. mfbernsteinApril 13, 2011 at 3:53 PM

    Shot in RAW at base ISO, I don't think there's a digicam out there that bests the XZ-1. In fact the lens is actually sharper than the standard Pen kit. About the only thing they got better in the Pen was the JPEG engine.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Danny ChathamApril 14, 2011 at 7:51 AM

    Kirk,
    I dont understand the concern over
    those notorious RED DOTS,after all
    dosent all leicas have them?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Skip HuntApril 15, 2011 at 11:47 PM

    Got mine about a month ago and took it motorcycle touring in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi: http://www.kaleidoscopeofcolor.com/lsms-2011

    I really like being able to do some creative effects in camera while traveling ultra-light and being able to charge it off my usb port connected to my motorcycle battery. Here's a gallery of my first 2 weeks traveling with the XZ-1: http://www.kaleidoscopeofcolor.com/galleria/txlsms-2011/

    ReplyDelete
  17. Andy SmithApril 16, 2011 at 11:42 AM

    Can't wait. The XZ1 is sure intriguing ..no doubt. I would love to see is assessed against other P&S cams, but also from a perspective regarding older film rangefinders. One of my first, a Minolta ..gave me lots of just plain fun before I aspired to become a 'real' photographer and bought a number of Canon SLRs. When I think back though, there seemed to be more fun with the Minolta.

    ReplyDelete

We Moderate Comments, Yours might not appear right after you hit return. Be patient; I'm usually pretty quick on getting comments up there. Try not to hit return again and again.... If you disagree with something I've written please do so civilly. Be nice or see your comments fly into the void. Anonymous posters are not given special privileges or dispensation. If technology alone requires you to be anonymous your comments will likely pass through moderation if you "sign" them. A new note: Don't tell me how to write or how to blog! I can't make you comment but I don't want to wade through spam!

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)