![]() ![]() The XZ-2's metering and white balance are dependable, to the point that you can concentrate on making the photographic decisions. There's every reason to think it shares its BSI CMOS sensor with the Nikon and Samsung models, but combines it with an impressive JPEG engine that produces very likeable images. The XZ-2's bright lens helps the little camera live up to the potential offered by its handling - it's able to keep using low ISOs for a little longer than most of its competition. iAuto mode includes the same touch-screen-operated, results-orientated Live Guide system as the company's PEN cameras, making it easier to control the camera's results, even if you don't understand the full implications of aperture or white balance. If you prefer not to take control and use the camera as a point-and-shoot, the iAuto mode will look after you well. As well as being able to customize the lens dial, the XZ-2 also has two Fn buttons, the second of which can have up to 14 functions assigned to it pressing the button cycles through the selected options. This makes it one of the most enjoyable photographers' compacts that we've used - it can be set up to provide the information and control that the shooter wants, with plenty of flexibility to tailor that to different shooting styles. The XZ-2 isn't the smallest or prettiest camera in this group, nor is it the largest or most control-covered - instead it sits in the middle-ground, offering all-round capability with plenty of customizable direct control. ![]() This means you can set the preview image to warn of under/over-exposed areas (with user-defined thresholds), and use the company's Super Control Panel user interface, once you've mastered the menus' custom options. The XZ-2 also offers most of the customization control of the company's flagship OM-D E-M5. The touch features can be disabled if you don't want them. It's also touch-senstive, allowing you to focus or fire the shutter, or interact with the on-screen control panel. The flip-out screen offers a higher resolution than its predecessor, and will now flip up and down. In stepless mode it can control zoom or manual focus - flick the surrounding switch and it controls whatever discrete setting you've assigned to it (with different choices available for each shooting mode). ![]() The additional bulk stops the camera being truly pocketable but adds considerably to the camera's versatility.Ī small switch on the front of the camera changes the lens rings' function between controlling two user-definable settings. The XZ-2 is a larger camera than its predecessor, having gained a large, flip-up touch-screen LCD. ![]() The result is a camera with a lens that offers more flexibility than a standard DSLR kit lens (with greater range and slightly more scope for blurring backgrounds), with at least the same ease of changing settings as most DSLRs. The XZ-2's control ring has a click mode for controlling discrete settings and a smoothly-rotating mode for continuously variable settings. However, the XZ-2 also features arguably the biggest step forward in ergonomics since Canon's S90 introduced the lens ring as a means of adding control to this class of compacts - a two-mode control ring. Accessory port compatible with VF-2 and VF-3 electronic viewfinders.3.0" tilt LCD touch screen with 920k dots.Dual mode (click/clickless) lens ring control dial and four-way dial.Stabilized 12.0MP 1/1.7" BSI CMOS sensor (mm).But these come at the expense of compactness and take the camera out of truly pocketable territory. The camera also gains a higher-resolution, flip-out touch screen and removable front handgrip. More significantly, in response to improved competition, the XZ-2 has addressed all our major concerns over its predecessors' shortcomings - adding more external control and greater customization, both in terms of controls and image processing. The XZ-2 retains much of what made that camera good, including a well-performing lens that remains bright across its entire range. The XZ-2 is a fairly significant re-working of the XZ-1, that was one of our favorite enthusiast compacts when it was launched at the start of 2011. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |