Am torn. SH-1 or Stylus 1 ?

I'm looking for a mate for my XZ-2. The SH-1 seems the logical candidate because of it's increased focal length complimenting the XZ-2. However, the Stylus 1 has a lot of good things going for it, which includes, and is important, a faster AF which allows for possible sports action shooting. The XZ-2 is also capable in that regard, just not long enough.

I've read that the shorter Stylus 1 does work well with adapters. So it might be a worthy consideration to utilize tele (and maybe wide angle) adapters?

Which would you recommend, and especially, why? Thanks.

I'm a Stylus-1 user, and only know SH-1 from the specs.

Lets see, the SH-1 features seem to be:

• If you are price sensitive, SH-1 wins (it is about 1/2 the price of the Stylus-1)
• If you need the camera to fit in smaller pockets, the SH-1 doesn't have the EVF (electronic viewfinder), external flash port, and other features that the Stylus-1 has, so it is much smaller.
• As you note, the SH-1's native equivalent focal length is 600mm compared to the Stylus-1's 300mm. You can program one of the Stylus-1's buttons to do an in-camera digital zoom of 2x. I use it quite often, and for pictures on the web it is sufficient. I would feel comfortable printing pictures at 8x10. Note, the SH-1's lens is f/6.9 at the long end, and the sensor is smaller, which means you are in territory where diffraction becomes noticeable, so I don't know how a 2x digital zoom from the Stylus-1 would compare to a picture at 600mm equivalent from the SH-1. I suspect the Stylus-1 might produce the better image.
• If you want to do in-camaera panoramas, the SH-1 can do it, while the Stylus-1 currently cannot.
• If you want to do in-camera time-lapse photography, the SH-1 has support for it now, the Stylus-1 does not. However, with the Stylus-1 you can use third party shutter releases that can provide timer support.

Now, the Stylus-1 features:

• The Stylus-1 has an electronic viewfinder (EVF), which means you can shoot with the camera up to your eye, instead of at arms length. This allows you to use your head to block out the sun, so you can see the EVF on a bright day. There is a sensor to enable the camera to switch to the EVF when you put the camera up to your eye, but I disable it on mine, since the sensor thinks when I have it on a neck/shoulder strap that an eye is close by, and it prevents the camera from going to sleep. Like a lot of Olympus viewfinders, the EVF has problems with polarized sunglasses when shooting in landscape orientation. I find in practice, that while there is some parts that are hard to read with sunglasses, it is adequate to take the pictures (the previous EVF I used, the VF-2, completely blocked the light in landscape orientation).
• The Stylus-1 supports external flashes, both mounted on the hot-shoe, or using the pop-up flash, external wireless flashes that use the Olympus remote flash infrared control method. I find the FL-36R is about as big of a flash as I want to put on the Stylus-1, but it does work.
• The Stylus-1 has a bigger sensor (1/1.7" vs. 1/2.3" -- note the size there is not the size in inches, but related to an old broadcast standard for sensor size), and the lens is f/2.8 across the zoom range (SH-1 is f/3 - f/6.9). This means you can take no-flash pictures in lower light than you can with the SH-1. At wide angle, the Stylus-1 probably has a 1 stop advantage, but as you zoom out, the advantage probably becomes 3 1/3 stops (2 1/3 stops due to the aperture differences, 1 stop due to the bigger sensor).
• The Stylus-1 can shoot in RAW, if you want more options at post processing.
• The Stylus-1 has full aperture/shutter priority modes, the SH-1 does not. I don't know if one has more art/scene modes than the other.
• As I mentioned above, the Stylus-1 can be controlled with an external shutter release (RM-UC1 and its clones).
• The quoted battery life for the Stylus-1 is slightly higher (410 vs. 380). Note, the BLS-5 battery is bigger on the Stylus-1 and you charge it via an external charger that is included with the camera. I believe for the SH-1, you plug the USB cable into a USB plug (one is provided in the package) to charge the battery (LI-92B) in the camera. You can get external chargers for the SH-1's battery if you want to have several batteries.
• The back LCD for the Stylus-1 tilts, so that you can do overhead shots and shots on the ground easier than the SH-1. It only tilts in one direction, so it isn't as flexible as older Olympus cameras (E-5) or some other cameras. The Stylus-1 LCD has more pixels (1040k vs. 460k), so presumably the LCD is more vibrant for the Stylus-1. The EVF has 1.44m pixels.
• You can add the CLA-13 and Tcon-17x to the Stylus-1 to give it more telephoto range. The Tcon-17x multiplies the focal length by 1.7, so with the Tcon-17x, you can reach 510mm equivalent focal length, and 1020mm if you use the x2 digital zoom. However, the Tcon-17x does bulk up the camera quite a bit. If you were routinely wanting to shoot at that end, I would recommend getting the SP-100 instead, since that goes to 1000mm directly. While the Olympus CLA-13/Tcon-17x is somewhat expensive, you can use a third party adapter, and possibly find a used B-300 or Tcon-17 (no suffix) on the market to bring the price down.
• Speaking of adapters, there is a CLA-14 adapter and a Wcon-08x that is now available that reduces the focal length by 0.8x to give you an equivalent focal length of 22.4mm. At the moment, the Stylus-1 does not have a firmware action to note that you are using the Wcon-08x, but it is expected that a future firmware release will add this (there is a Stylus-1S available in Japan, where the Wcon-08x was introduced, and Olympus has said that the Stylus-1S software features will be in a future Stylus-1 firmware release).

My take away is if you currently use another point & shoot, the SH-1 is probably what you want. If you currently use a DSLR or mirrorless camera, and shoot with features other than just shooting in auto/program mode, then the Stylus-1 is probably what you want.

<edit>

This last summer, I decided to do a quick test. I had the Stylus-1. I got the cheaper ebay CLA-13 clone adapter, and used the Tcon-17 that I've had for 10 years or so with the Stylus-1. I decided to test my other long lens options (70-300mm on the E-M5 with the MMF-3 adapter gives an equivalent focal length of 600mm, and the 50-200mm/EC-14 on the E-5 gives an equivalent focal length of 560mm). At the time, I did not realize I could program the E-M5 to also do the in-camera digital zoom, so I didn't test it. I have not done any post processing of the pictures. Note, given the aperture differences (70-300mm at 300mm is f/5.6 at the long end, 50-200mm/EC-14 is roughly f/5 at the long end), the E-M5 is shooting at ISO 640 and the E-5 is shooting at ISO 800, while the Stylus-1 can use ISO 100 (i.e. you might see more noise in the DSLRs). http://www.the-meissners.org/2014-large-albums/2014-telephoto/index.html

Thank you, Michael.

For the record, I do have BOTH DSLR and a mirrorless system. However, my interest in one of these Oly cameras was with the thought of maybe reducing some of that gear to-- fewer and lighter. I currently have:

Canon T2i DSLR with 3 GOOD lenses

Canon EOS-M mirrorless and another 3 GOOD lenses

Canon SX50HS (50X super zoom)

Oly xz-1

Oly XZ-2

Canon SX230HS

I really don't need all this. Actually don't need 1/2 of it. So I continue to ponder just how and what that I can cut back on.

BobT said:

I'm looking for a mate for my XZ-2. The SH-1 seems the logical candidate because of it's increased focal length complimenting the XZ-2. However, the Stylus 1 has a lot of good things going for it, which includes, and is important, a faster AF which allows for possible sports action shooting. The XZ-2 is also capable in that regard, just not long enough.

Click to expand...

The Stylus 1 can be customised extensively, and its user base is well represented here at DPReview. The closest that I still have is the SP-570UZ from 2008, which just about disqualifies me from discussing the Stylus 1 in any depth.

The SH-1 has a smaller sensor than the Stylus 1 has. In practice this means I can print an un-cropped frame with a full dynamic range to A1 size (33x23 inch). But pixel-peeping at a screen magnification larger than such a print (I have done about six by now) shows up camera artifacts from 1.5x that print size and above. This can be a serious health risk for you.

There are three settings on the top line of the LCD which adjust saturation, contrast and sharpening all at the same time (My SP-570UZ allows me to set those separately) -


The 'Muted' setting I am choosing gives me more detail retention with less sharpening for those large prints.

For a minimum of post-processing for all the quick and small stuff, setting 2 'Natural' is perfectly ok.

I do get a manual setting on the top dial -



To set it, I have to press the 4-way rocker up, which took a couple of tries to get it in the auto pilot of my brain -


Once I am there, the 4-way rocker acts like I am expecting it to.

I am regularly playing with HS video -


I set here the EV to minimum -2 so you can see the screen prompts.

Time Lapse is more involved -


The shooting period here is 10 minutes, and the video will play back in 20 seconds.

I have spent up to an hour recording time lapses on the SH-1, and real-time sound on my SH-50 for later dubbing in -


There is more stuff on the SH-1. Some people like the art filters. I have gone through them only once.

Mainly, I find the SH-1 utterly reliable. The battery charge now lasts through a typical Morris dance gig of two half hour brackets. While previous models did get better and better, the SH-50 let me down at the Easter Show, shutting down after the second last item in our second bracket (but it did save that item before dying on me!!!!).

BobT said:

I've read that the shorter Stylus 1 does work well with adapters. So it might be a worthy consideration to utilize tele (and maybe wide angle) adapters?

Click to expand...

The SH-1 has no adaptors, and up to this point I have not made a safe adaptation of the home made adaptor I knobbled together for the SZ-30MR.

BobT said:

Which would you recommend, and especially, why? Thanks.

Click to expand...

I am happier with fewer buttons and less duplication of functions than my SP-570UZ has. Hence I feel no urgency to get another bridge camera.

I have walked home more than once with the lens out after the batteries expired on my C-750UZ (it appeared in 2003). I feel that this is a feature that should not have been re-invented, as it appears to have been done on the Stylus 1.

Henry

--
Henry Falkner - SH-1, SH-50, SP-570UZ
http://www.pbase.com/hfalkner

BobT said:

Thank you, Michael.

For the record, I do have BOTH DSLR and a mirrorless system. However, my interest in one of these Oly cameras was with the thought of maybe reducing some of that gear to-- fewer and lighter.

Click to expand...

For the record, I got the Stylus-1 in February, the E-M5 in March (I had the E-PM2, TG-2, and E-5 at the beginning of the year). In 2014, I have the following shots in my albums. This does not include pictures I wound up deleting, but it includes some pictures that I haven't processed yet (and so may delete some more):

• Olympus Stylus-1: 1,172
• Olympus E-5: 740
• Olympus E-M5: 590
• Olympus TG-2: 318
• Olympus E-PM2: 116
• Samsung S-2 cell phone: 12
• Olympus E-1: 4

So for me, the Stylus-1 is my goto camera for general/causal shooting.