Olympus XZ-1

[fotomatix]

Not sure there is any sort of thread on this point and shoot cam. This camera belongs in the category of "advanced point and shoot", which is one of the fastest growing segments.

I purchased it as my back up, and quick 'bring along' to fit nicely in my wife's purse. It's not tiny by any means but much slimmer than an ILC (EVIL) and obviously a DSLR.

I was intrigued by the Zuiko F1.8 lens....I'll post some photos eventually. It performs quite well for a point and shoot in low light settings.

I checked with 3 different suppliers in the city and compared with LX5 from Panny, Canon S95, and Nikon P300. Although all these cameras are above average or 'as good as a point and shoot' can get for the moment, the XZ-1 was recommended as the leader among the others in terms of low light performance. I'm also a big fan of the 'art filter' as per my E-PL2.

The top 3 'pros' stated at DPreview about this camera are:

Fastest (brightest) zoom lens of any current compact
Really useful 28-112mm lens range
Lens impressively sharp with generally good corner sharpness at wide apertures

Any comments welcome.

[SmartWombat]

There are plenty of threads in the Olympus forum the most recent two posts are about the XZ-1.
Mine is also a pocket backup camera, and it performs quite well.
Far better in low light that the E-P1, and the GH-1 that are in the travel camera bag.
I haven't compared it to the 1DmkIIN and 1DSmkII yet, but in low light I expect it to be comparable for noise - better despite the small sensor.

[fotomatix]

hard to find those posts....oh well...

this little cam will surprise many.....the expert at the specialty store I go to said it would outperform the Leica DLux 5 any day...for $300 less.....