Stylus 1, happy start, Wildflowers, butterfly and bee close and super macro

I picked up my Stylus 1 for $499 on ebay otherwise I would have waited too. I actually missed the original listing and sent a message to the seller and he was kind enough to extend me a private listing at that price.

I also enjoy my Fuji X-Pro and X-E1, but they are not practical to take along while rinding. I will take my OM-D E-M1 with a long tele in a trunk pannier-style bag that I padded for doing so, but the Stylus 1 works better for that.

Different cameras, new and legacy glass, photo technology and photography itself is a learning experience that I enjoy, but not one that I care to bicker about with those self proclained experts who find fault with everyone elses shots but their own, or everyone else's equipment but their own, or just want to complain about each camera deficiency while repeating what they heard without ever owning it, but if they offer good suggestions, I listen.

DigitalSparrow said:

Different cameras, new and legacy glass, photo technology and photography itself is a learning experience that I enjoy, but not one that I care to bicker about with those self proclained experts who find fault with everyone elses shots but their own, or everyone else's equipment but their own, or just want to complain about each camera deficiency while repeating what they heard without ever owning it, but if they offer good suggestions, I listen.

Click to expand...

I sure got a dose of that here, and I think it intimidates others from posting, not me obviously,

My thoughts are, IF you are an amateur enthusiast, which I consider myself, and as several of us including OP of this 'detail' discussion indicates he is, Robin's shots are inspiring, and, I see enough shots on the forum, including my own which are improving as I learn it, to find the Stylus 1 an excellent recommendation, for anyone who wants Jacket Pocket size zoom.

Are there any 1/1.7" sensor size zooms that are better?

this got no response, I made it a screen saver, I think it is terrific, OOC jpeg, defaults except Jpeg Super Fine minimum compression, just walking along, keeping up with Ben, handheld. It took no special set up, just my limited knowledge from 5 weeks use, see it, compose, check speed for handshake, shoot.



What could Robin do with it? RAW, custom settings, years of PP experience, total knowledge of results from Oly processors, settings, software,

I don't know, it would be inspiring to see, but I am very happy with this. Learning it's mechanics and from each other here, improved results are expected.

to quote tbcass,

"look at the pictures not the pixels"

--
Elliott

Dpreviewmember said:

Sactojim said:

"Worst (worse) than my Fuji HS50"?

Click to expand...

Sure, thanks !!!

Dpreviewmember said:

Humm, love to see some of your stunning, high IQ images from this Fuji for comparison. Surely you have some to compare? Comments you ask? Sure. I'm viewing these same images on a hi def Sony monitor and they look pretty clean with very little artifacts. Can you be specific on which image(s) you find fault with?

Click to expand...

Hi, I know it is quite difficult to make comparisons (same f, mm, ISO, shutter time, etc.) but the point is that after looking at Robin's photos with Stylus-1, on his teasing post and reading that many, including myself, guessed wrong at that being the OM-D 10, I started wanting this camera because it's smaller, lighter and better IQ, than HS20 and HS50.

BUT after looking around for photos from regular photographers, like us ;-) , I just don't see anything better in IQ than I can currently get from my gear.

I'm totally amateur, have no time do dedicate enough because I have to work.

Your gallery does not have camera info so it make impossible to know what camera did you use. But lets take some examples from the first few photos:

- The one with the truck, tree leaves at the background on top of the truck are really washed and blurry like an oil paint. Maybe NR setting was too aggressive ? after looking at some photos with Stylus1, not only yours, I noticed that at full wide (28mm) the center is OK (like the truck) but borders are really fuzzy, a lens problem maybe. That is less evident in the Fujis even at wider 24mm !

- The closeup with the yellow fruit hanging in the tree is all fuzzy, but that maybe was a problem of focus accuracy ? Couldn't find the focus point.

- On the other hand, the wine bottle and glass seems like a different camera ! Wow, really sharp.

You will find many examples in my gallery, some have processing artifacts also even my settings being all at minimum (NR and Sharpness) plus I never shoot in Auto or EXR modes, only PASM. Makes a difference, like this at ISO400, extreme tele (more than could be achieved with Stylus-1 + TCON17), hand held, 8MP :



Or this, at long exposure with 2 stacked ND filters, the leaves that didn't move a lot are sharp :



And this macro, no converter used :



This at telephoto with converter :



Or even this one, with an old (2006) Olympus SP-320 7MP sensor :



Seems that to get considerable change in IQ it would require stepping to a M4/3, or waiting 10 more year

Cheers.

Click to expand...

I think you are confused as none of my gallery images are from the Stylus. About 90% are shot with p&s small sensor cams of various brands.

I was replying to your previous post on your claim of the Fuji having better IQ than the Stylus. I've had 3 Fuji's: S200EXR (sharpest lens of all), F850EXR a good all around cam, and finally the HS35EXR (same sensor as the HS50EXR, and while I liked it's macro capability, the mid to far end of the range was soft. I've yet to read a review on the HS cams that tout them as able to generate sharp images, especially when compared to the SX50, ZFZ200/1000, or the Nikon P530/600. They score fairly low on Imatest's resolution measurement. That said, you've posted some nice images with the HS20.

Hi Sparrow,

here are my thoughts on this:

1. Comparing results by pixel-peeping is not easy: If scene, lighting and settings are only slightly different, you will get inconclusive results.

2. Current small-sensor cameras are more or less all capable of very good results if used properly. So don't expect huge differences - at most one or two stops.

Sensor sizes of your HS50 and Stylus1 are very similar: 6.4x4.8 mm and 7.44x5.58 mm

This difference is negligible.

16 MP vs. 12 MP can make a difference, but not so much if pics are down-scaled as in your post and as in Robin Wong's tests. So you should never compare a full-size pic to a scaled version on a pixel level.

Here are some quick samples I prepared with my Stylus 1 - hand-held, indoors and down-scaled to the size of your samples.

Both ISO100, first F4@300mm, second F3.5@SuperMacro(42mm).

Hope you like them.

Cheers,
Michael




full zoom 300mm equiv.




super macro

Thanks Michael for the examples they do look good enough for me !

I agree with you for the sensor spec comparisons and here in DPReview there is a lot of technical sensor/camera comparisons since this is the purpose of this website. On the other hand ultimately real life camera performance and the joy you have using a particular camera is was it's all about, from what I've been reading all Stylus users are very happy with it.

Guys I don't consider myself a Pxl peeper it is just that when I print some of my photos taken with the HS20/50 they look bad on paper, mushy like, specially the ones taken at > ISO200 (HS20) or > ISO400 (HS50). That is just one of the reasons that I am looking for photos from the Stylus, if it can deliver better than HS20/50 quality for photos up to ISO800 I'm happy.

Plus the HS20/50 are quite large cams, heavy and as commented here they do have problems (in speed and accuracy) focusing after 500mm, unless light is really good.

Also, I started to realize (by personal experience) that ultra-telephoto is not that useful for 90% of my photographic needs even to get wildlife like the iguana photo I posted as an example. It could be done with the Stylus-1+TCON17 (or Raynox 2.2x probably ?), attaching the TCON17 or similar only if and when needed.

Comparing the HS20 to the HS50 the extra zoom going from 760mm to 1000mm in practice doesn't make an important difference at all, I would be much happier if Fuji didn't touch the HS20 lens actually, it is better for macro and seems to be sharper.

I actually got sharper images from the moon with the HS20 than with the HS50, with and without the TCON17 converter.

DSparrow I really thank you for your sound arguments, specially coming from someone that also has the OM-D with long tele and uses converters (I also like to experiment with them). You seem to prefer the Stylus-1 to take with you most of the time right ? They sure make me lean toward the Stylus because I also though about the OM-D 10 + 14-150mm lens combination. But the convenience of having an excellent bright zoom range on such a small and good quality package seems to make the Stylus a winner. Would you agree with that ?

Sactojim said:

I think you are confused as none of my gallery images are from the Stylus. About 90% are shot with p&s small sensor cams of various brands.
I was replying to your previous post on your claim of the Fuji having better IQ than the Stylus. I've had 3 Fuji's: S200EXR (sharpest lens of all), F850EXR a good all around cam, and finally the HS35EXR (same sensor as the HS50EXR, and while I liked it's macro capability, the mid to far end of the range was soft. I've yet to read a review on the HS cams that tout them as able to generate sharp images, especially when compared to the SX50, ZFZ200/1000, or the Nikon P530/600. They score fairly low on Imatest's resolution measurement. That said, you've posted some nice images with the HS20.

Click to expand...

Thank you for clearing that doubt. Glad that the photos where not from the Stylus !

If you ever though about buying the HS50EXR don't. I wouldn't do it if I had the HS35 like you do. The reason I bought it was for the faster cam performance in general (HS20 is slow), usable eyepiece and better noise handling that HS20 from ISO>=400. HS20 from ISO800 also has terrible chroma-noise while HS50 only shows luminance noise up to ISO1600 and detail degradation. 1000mm zoom makes little difference from 720mm plus HS50's lens seems not as sharp as HS20 one, HS50 has faster autofocus but less accurate at long telephoto. I would keep the lens of the HS20 to build the next HS model if I was a Fuji engineer.

I've reading some other posts that show the Stylus has several customization settings options, some call it a mini-OMD for this, so I guess IQ will be affected greatly from settings but it should have equal or better IQ than Fuji HS20-50 in most situations.

After all the talk in this forum I think the Stylus would be a good buy for me. Smaller and lighter than HS50, IQ and size/weight seems pretty similar to Fuji X20/X30 but the convenience of 28-300mm zoom, touch screen, etc. tips the balance in favor of the Stylus.

Dpreviewmember,

Yes I prefer to carry the Stylus with me when I ride my elliptigo (4x a week for 20 miles/ride). My recumbant trike (2x week for 20 miles/ride) has a nice trunk bag where I carry the OM-D E-M1 with either the 70-300 along with the 1.4 and 2.0 converters, but sometimes I just put the 50-200mm in there instead. I will also sometimes take a Fuiji X-Pro1 and 10-24mm and 55-200mm back there. It all depends on how I feel.

For a walk-about camera last year it was the Fiji X20 or XF-1, but now because of the Stylus these two excellent cameras do not see as much use. I am enjoying the Stylus 1 as much as I enjoyed the Olympus E-100RS and SP-570UZ in their days.

Hi Dpreviewmember,

and sorry for confusing you with Sparrow in my previous posting.


I've read a bit more about your HS50 and it is a fine camera with good IQ but one weak spot:
Its glass does not fully match its 16MP sensor. One German site even states that its resolution is lower than that of Stylus 1 (with 12MP).

Still, I doubt that you will see much of a difference between both @ISO400 on a print. Have you tried to turn off NR?

What speaks in favor of the Stylus1 is of course its combination of features and size:

- Constant F2.8 is pure fun and helps to avoid ISO800.
- EVF is excellent for such a small camera.
- speed and ease of use incl. touch screen are simply great

As you say, it is a winner here and good fun to use and if this is your main factor, then you should try it, but don't expect miracles from the small sensor.

Cheers,
Michael

DigitalSparrow said:

For a walk-about camera last year it was the Fiji X20 or XF-1, but now because of the Stylus these two excellent cameras do not see as much use. I am enjoying the Stylus 1 as much as I enjoyed the Olympus E-100RS and SP-570UZ in their days.

Click to expand...

Good to know I think this will definitely be my next camera :-D

I also enjoyed the Oly SP-510UZ, but his 1/2.5" sensor limited it to strictly good light conditions (noise free only at ISO50 and 100). I thought of the Stylus-1 as a substitute of my old SP-510 which was so easy to carry around. HS20/50 are large and heavy, I think HS50 is probably heavier and larger than an OMD-10+14-150mm and without it's great low light IQ.

Michael_13 said:

Hi Dpreviewmember,

and sorry for confusing you with Sparrow in my previous posting.

I've read a bit more about your HS50 and it is a fine camera with good IQ but one weak spot:
Its glass does not fully match its 16MP sensor. One German site even states that its resolution is lower than that of Stylus 1 (with 12MP).

Click to expand...

Yes, I once got into a site that had a studio test of the HS20 and HS50 with resolution chart photos and clearly showed that in good light HS20 lens was sharper, specially at ISO200, 400 and 800. I wasn't happy with Fuji's change in lenses, there is little gain in going from 720mm to 1000mm specially with a trade-off in IQ and size/weight :-(

The German site is probably right, Fuji's sensor "real maximum resolution" is about 10.5MP, calculated as how many lines can be resolved per unit of length and height, while Stylus sensor is actually ~12MP, to me that proves that it is an optimal IQ designed camera. That is why I rarely use my Fujis at 16MP but use 8MP instead which gives me extra 'dynamic-range resolution', important to have better overall IQ in situations when you have a wider DR scene. That is the only good side of EXR sensors.

Michael_13 said:

Still, I doubt that you will see much of a difference between both @ISO400 on a print. Have you tried to turn off NR?

Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I only use NR and sharpness at it's minimum values but there is no way of turning them off in Fuji's HS cameras. Only if I shoot in RAW and the do PP but that is simply not an option for me, I want a good JPEG camera. Can you turn NR completely OFF in Stylus ?

Michael_13 said:

What speaks in favor of the Stylus1 is of course its combination of features and size:

- Constant F2.8 is pure fun and helps to avoid ISO800.
- EVF is excellent for such a small camera.
- speed and ease of use incl. touch screen are simply great

As you say, it is a winner here and good fun to use and if this is your main factor, then you should try it, but don't expect miracles from the small sensor.

Cheers,
Michael

Click to expand...

Michael, I'm practically convinced, after doing some research in forums and blogs, that for now I'm going to go with : Stylus-1 + my current adapters (RaynoxM250 and TCON17) and maybe in the future, if my photographic skills improve enough to justify the $$$, also buy an OM-D 10 or similar with lens set like : 9-18mm, 14-150mm and even the 60mm macro (unless the 14-150mm+RaynoxM250 do it for macro).

Best.

For me (when it comes to older Fuji) the Fuji S-100FS was a great camera too, but kind of big to lug around... but you did so because it was a great bridge camera for its time (especially when adding converters). The S-200EXR never impressed me when I got one. I kept going back to the S-100FS. I eventually gave away the S-200EXR to my neice and she loves it in spite of her tiny size and the camera's bulk, and I keep the S-100FS around just for the memories I guess.

I am also a happy Stylus1 owner.

As others mention, don't go above iso800 unless it's a important night shot of somebody stealing your car.

The camera is a joy to use and since I got the Stylus I will never again buy any camera without evf.

I need a smaller carry always camera as a supplement to my Stylus, Sony R100 m3 most likely but will wait for Photokina as see how big that Panasonic LX100 really is but very tempting by looking at the specs.

guzzi850m2 said:

I am also a happy Stylus1 owner.

As others mention, don't go above iso800 unless it's a important night shot of somebody stealing your car.

The camera is a joy to use and since I got the Stylus I will never again buy any camera without evf.

I need a smaller carry always camera as a supplement to my Stylus, Sony R100 m3 most likely but will wait for Photokina as see how big that Panasonic LX100 really is but very tempting by looking at the specs.

Click to expand...

Pana LX100 seems too big for my taste plus it doesn't use the entire sensor, so I think I would prefer to buy a OM-D M10 with 14-150mm and/or 9-18mm lenses, or even with the tiny kit 14-42mm EZ lenses for U$800. It looks like you will get better IQ and more flexibility for the future.

My current dream (not extremely expensive) gear is having a Stylus-1 for portability and take anywhere cam + OM-D 10 with wide zoom and tele+Raynox for macros/zoom for better IQ and learning photography.

Best.