Olympus Stylus 1 - The Pied Piper (Part 3)

The Olympus Stylus 1 did not produce any darkening of corners even at 28mm with the lens wide open, which is very good. The lens produced slight barrel distortion up to 55mm equivalent focal length. Auto White Balance performed reasonably well under most lighting conditions and any cast produced could be easily corrected in post-processing.

 

The STYLUS 1 might look like a compact camera, but it produces outstanding
quality shots to rival top-end cameras and allows you to excel in these more specialist styles.

The images were 9.92 x 13.23 inches large at 300 ppi. At 25 percent of this native size, images were noise-free up to ISO 1600. We observed slight noise at ISO 3200, and ISO 12,800 was not usable due to chroma noise. Viewed at 50 percent, images were free of noise up to ISO 800, and were perfectly usable up to ISO 1600. Enlarged to 100 percent, all images showed some noise as expected, but it became a concern only from ISO 1600.

With a resolution up to 1.04 million dots, the display also has a tilt mechanism
so you can comfortably shoot from unusual perspectives like extreme high and low angles.

On the negative side, the lens produced prominent flare in strong against-the-light shots, along with purple fringing. But how many times do you point your camera at a light source peeping from the corner of the lens?

Olympus Stylus 1 Dramatic tone images

Value for Money

The Olympus Stylus 1 retails at an MRP of Rs.44,990. At this price, the camera is fair value for money.

Specifiactions: ·         Effective pixels: 12 million ·         Memory: SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory Card, Eye-Fi Card ·         Sensor type: 1/1.7-inch CMOS ·         Lens Construction: 12 elements in 10 groups (8 aspherical elements) ·         Focal length: 28 mm to 300 mm equivalent ·         Image Stabilization: Optical (Lens shift image stabilization) ·         Maximum aperture: f/2.8 ·         Focus range: W: 10 cm to infinity, T: 80 cm to infinity, Super Macro: 5 cm to 60 cm ·         Recording format: DCF, DPOF compatible / Exif, PRINT Image Matching III ·         File format: Still: Raw (12-bit lossless compression), JPEG, Raw+JPEG ·         Max. image size: Still: 3968 x 2976 pixels ·         Viewfinder Type: Eye-level electronic viewfinder, approx. 1.44 million dots ·         Field of view: Approx. 100% ·         Diopter adjustment range: -4 - +2 m-1 ·         Monitor: 3.0-inch tilting capacitive touch LCD monitor, Approx. 040k dots ·         Touch function: Touch shutter release, Touch Live Guide, AF area selection, frame advance/backward, Enlargement playback, Touch Super Control Panel ·         Tilting angle: Upward: up to 80 degree, Downward: up to 50 degrees ·         Focus mode: Single AF (S-AF), Super Macro Mode, Continuous AF (C-AF), AF tracking (C-AF + TR), Manual Focus (MF) ·         Face Priority AF: Available ·         Eye Detect AF: Available (Off/Nearer eye priority/ Right side eye priority/Left side eye priority) ·         Focusing point: 35-area multiple AF ·         Focusing point selection: All target, Group target area (9- area), Single target ·         Metering system: Digital ESP, Centre-weighted average , Spot ·         Exposure mode: iAuto, P (Program AE), A (Aperture priority AE), S (Shutter priority AE), M (Manual), Custom (C1 and C2), Photo Story, Scene select AE, Art Filter ·         Scene select AE: Portrait, e-Portrait, Landscape, Sport, Night, Night + Portrait, Sunset, Documents, Panorama, Fireworks, Multiplex exposure, Beach & Snow ·         Art Filters: Pop Art, Soft Focus, Pale & Light Colour, Light Tone, Grainy Film, Pin Hole, Diorama, Cross Process, Gentle Sepia, Dramatic Tone, Key Line ·         Art Effects: Soft Focus, Pin-Hole, White Edge, Frame Effect, Star Light ·         ISO sensitivity: Auto, 100 – 12800 ·         Exposure compensation: ±3 EV in 1/3 EV steps ·         Shutter speed: 60 to 1/2000 sec., Bulb ·         Flash intensity control method: TTL Auto, Auto, Manual ·         Built-in flash: Available ·         Flash mode: Auto, Red-eye reduction, Fill-in, Off, Red-eye reduction slow sync., Slow sync, Full, Manual ·         Flash intensity control: Up to ±3 EV in 0.3 EV steps ·         External Flash control mode: TTL Auto, Auto, Manual ·         Wireless Flash Control: Available with compatible external flashguns ·         Control method: Triggered and controlled by built-in flash ·         External Flash control: TTL Auto, Auto, Manual ·         Channels/ Groups: 4 channels / 4 groups ·         Drive mode: Single, Sequential shooting, BKT, Self-timer ·         Movie Recording format: Full HD/HD: MOV (MPEG- 4AVC/H.264), HS: Motion JPG ·         Best Movie quality: 1920 x 1080, 30p ·         Maximum recording time: 29 min ·         Picture Mode: Mode i-Enhance, Vivid, Natural, Muted, Portrait, Monotone, Art Filters ·         PC interface: USB2.0 Hi-Speed ·         TV interface: HDMI (HD/Stereo Sound), VIDEO-OUT (SD/Mono Sound)- ·         Power Requirements Battery: BLS-5 Li-ion battery (included) ·         Dimensions: 116.2 x 87 x 56.5 mm