iZuiko and XZ-1: More Impressions... ~ Thru the Eye of the Zuiko

6mm, f/1.8, 1/60s, ISO800, -0.3ev

Another round of getting the mileage out of this little pocket rocket... Mostly put to the test were the focus accuracy and low light performance.

For a compact camera to have very shallow DoF, focus accuracy could be a problem. The comparative real-estate for the measurements might be much smaller than a DSLR; thus, might exhibit some frustration to get pin-point accuracy, more so due to the larger sensor area of the CDAF system. I am not to comment further on this, because I just felt it that way. Maybe some other guys can elaborate more; I might be incorrect on this, though.

6mm, f/1.8, 1/20s, ISO400, -0.3ev

I found focusing to be hit and miss, and I must confess I used a lot of lock & pan technique. Well, a good thing the 11-point AF navigation was made quite easy to control, more akin to a DSLR. I might have to adjust my shooting style by playing with the 4-way navigation pad to get higher AF accuracy rate.

As for low light shooting at higher ISO, I wouldn't dare to go past 800 with the XZ-1. It's just a hunch, mostly coming from the Canon S90 experience. I limit at 800 with that pocket darling. So far, the image looks promising indeed. Upon quick check using Olympus Studio, the Noise Filter setting was defaulted at Standard (it is not possible to change the strength in-camera).

Since I have the FL-20 lying around since my C-750UZ days, I gave the flash a shot. And, boy did it do wonders!!

Some new findings so far:

Navigating the AF was much easier than thought; the left keypad have direct access to the 11-AF points, and consecutive pressing the Info button have direct access to the AF modes (there are 5: auto, macro, supermacro, tracking and manual)
For low light, I think it's more user friendly to use P-mode rather than A-mode. The ISO speed control was more practical where the XZ-1 would put aperture at the brightest exposure.
While the FL-20 was attached to the camera, the built-in flash can be accessed. But, it didn't fire while the FL-20 did. So much for E-330 multi-flash capability. The XZ-1 didn't dance the tune.
The XZ-1 would retain the setting for a particular shooting mode after selecting a different mode with different settings. Once the previous mode was reselected, the settings would be reset to the previous mode.

More shots in various conditions, mostly indoors.

*** NOTE ***: All shots were in RAW, and post-processed in-camera for the desired effects (Natural, Monotone, Art Filters, Cropping, Aspect Ratio, Sharpening, etc.)