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Returning XZ-1, disappointing NR

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ncsakany

ncsakany

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Like many of you, I've been waiting and waiting for the XZ-1 to arrive. After all, it had killer specs on paper, and I figured it would be the perfect companion to my DSLRs.

It finally got here on Friday, and 20 shots later I had arrived at the decision that I want to return it. The noise reduction is absolutely heavy-handed, giving a plastic-like look to people even at ISO 200. The loss of detail and texture is just uncalled for. Why, o, why, Olympus, did you decide to not implement a NR settable option?

Yes, I know, I could shoot raw, but I got the dslr for that. I wanted something small, with a phenomenal lens, to quickly shoot JPG when I don't want to bother with the bigger cameras.

For P&S I have the Canon G12 and the Samsung EX1. Canon beats it at IQ at all ISOs, but it's got the slower lens. The EXI beats it too, its lens (at least in my copy of it) is much sharper than the XZ-1 at base ISOs.

The image stabilization is a joke compared to Canon's.

I guess I'll wait for the XZ-2.

Nick
 
Could you please show us a shot or two with what you are talking about that made you send the camera back? I haven't seen that with any of the other photos posted here, maybe you got a bad copy?
 
Thank you for sharing your initial impressions of the XZ-1. I am in a similar situation where I am looking at a lighter alternative to my DSLR gear.

In another thread, I read exactly what you have written here about the NR implemented in the XZ-1, resulting in detail smearing. I hope that this is just problematic with a few samples. Was looking forward to purchasing the XZ-1, but now I am a bit confused.

Cheers.
 
Any smart purchaser does his homework in advance. Otherwise facing the risk of being labeled a wimp, if buying and frequently returning halfhearted impulse buyings.

You don't need to go that far, since even this site do camera tests.
If I remember correctly, the XZ-1 actually got a 'Gold Award' from dpreview.com.

It's always good to get a second opinion, and even a third opinion. Here photographyblog.com and ephotozine.com both awarded the XZ-1 with 'Highly Recommended'.

Ref :
--

Ludwig Wittgenstein; British philosopher born in Austria; a major influence on logic and logical positivism (1889-1951):

“What can be said at all can be said clearly; and whereof one cannot speak thereof one must be silent”
 
Knight Palm said:
Any smart purchaser does his homework in advance. Otherwise facing the risk of being labeled a wimp, if buying and frequently returning halfhearted impulse buyings.
Click to expand...
Well, considering I've had a preorder for 3-4 weeks, that hardly qualifies as an impulse buy. I don't care about labels one bit, feel free to call me whatever makes you happy.
Knight Palm said:
You don't need to go that far, since even this site do camera tests.
If I remember correctly, the XZ-1 actually got a 'Gold Award' from dpreview.com.
Click to expand...
While I do read the reviews, to me they are a guide assisting me in the purchasing decision. They aren't the end to all means and I never drink kool-aid. What matters to me is how I feel about the camera, and what does it do for me. I had high hopes for the XZ-1, but their NR approach is, well, a letdown, to put it politely.
 
Here you go. I get better details at ISO 800+ on my G12

This was taken at ISO 200 with the XZ-1

 
I appreciate you uploading the photo. I shoot mostly Nikon, and so I am not too familiar with how Oly processes their images. Is NR typically applied even at lower ISO settings such as ISO 200? I think I have read that there is no option to turn off the default NR in the XZ-1. Something for Oly to consider as part of a firmware update. Thanks again.

Cheers.
 
Thank you: This is a $500 proposition; I want to hear all complaints before;
Heavyhanded NR and no way to protect lens, so far are major drawbacks !

And I know I can, and do, Raw...BUT....

Love Vjim
 
don't abandon us yet, vjim! I would miss your presence around here :-)

--
Flaming June from Georgia

"She glances at the photo, and the pilot light of memory flickers in her eyes." Frank Deford
 
FlamingJune1967 said:
don't abandon us yet, vjim! I would miss your presence around here :-)
Click to expand...
Abandon ! I've just begun to fight !

I'm an Oly Man: I have the Magical E PL 1; sharp as a tack !

Thanks June, Vjim ;)
 
I saw a post on another site where someone mentioned the same lack of details in their photos. Someone else suggested he bump up the in-camera sharpness setting from the default. He tried it and said it helped a lot and totally changed his opinion of the camera.

You may wish to play with the sharpness setting before shipping it back to see how much the photos improve.
 
This is correct...I just saw that post. It was on Amazon - part of the comments on this camera

You may want to check that out....I would be interested in what you find....if the change in settings alter your opinion.
 
I've been spending more time with the XZ-1 and fully agree that the NR is far too heavy handed. As an enthusiast's compact I expected it to not control the NR so forcefully, but JPG images at any ISO look unpleasingly plasticky. I'm not confident that Olympus will provide a firmware update any time soon.

I have yet to get a sense for RAW files as Lightroom, PSD and RAW Developer don't support it yet; I tried the demo of Capture One Pro, but I don't have a handle on that app by any means yet.

The color rendering is very pleasing, but the NR kills it for me. I am more than willing to trade noise to preserve detail. My Ricoh GX100 is noisy but the RAW images render sharp and beautiful. If I can get that out of a several years old compact why I can't I get it out of one today?

The XZ-1 is a great camera otherwise, but Olympus just needs to pull back on the NR, and hopefully enable user control over it. And I certainly hope the RAW files don't have any NR on them. I firmly believe that RAW should be RAW - give me the ability to develop the digital negative in whatever way I choose.
 
Andrewteee wrote:
"I'm not confident that Olympus will provide a firmware update any time soon."
-------------------

The forums will soon all be abuzz with the smearing issue. I bought my XZ-1 yesterday from the local Ritz retail shop. I am (like you) aghast at the magnitude of the problem.

If Olympus isn't working on a firmware update already, they soon will be I think.

I'm wondering why the dpreview test missed this issue, which is NOT subtle. And I have found that shooting RAW and precessing them in Olympus Viewer with noise reduction OFF has no effect in eliminating the problem.

--
Allan
 
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