A reader just sent me a link to the first pictures of the new Olympus XZ-compact camera (via Tinypic). We also have been told by other sources that the sensor size will not change. It will use a similar [shoplink 19904]Olympus XZ-1[/shoplink] sized sensor and not a larger 1 inch sensor like you see on the Sony RX100 camera. But this is going to be a real nice camera and as you see form the picture you can even customize the grip like you do on the [shoplink 23568]Olympus E-P3[/shoplink]!
UPDATE: One more pic of the front of the 15mm m43 lens at mu-43.com
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106 Responses
The grip looks like it doesn’t belong to the camera. The Pana/Sony design is way nicer. Hoping the PL5 gets Sony Nex6 looks…
“The grip looks like it doesn’t belong to the camera. The Pana/Sony design is way nicer. Hoping the PL5 gets Sony Nex6 looks…”….the nex6 has the worse camera design ever made!!! it’s a Lego camera!!!!
1. Design is a matter of taste!
2. How old are you? 6?
“How old are you? 6?”…I like people with strong arguments….;)
Thanks! I think we were at the same level 😉
If you think the Nex 6 is ugly then you have never seen the Pentax K-01 LOL. Though personally I could care less how a camera looks it is the performance that matters
The K-01 is funny, but I think the Q10 is funnier. The grip does look out of place on the XZ-2 though. I wish I could care less about how cameras look, but I just can’t do it.
+1
…like PL-3 that looked a bit like NEX-3.
The size looks quite a same than XZ-1:
http://kuva.termiitti.com/v.php?img=26885
I’d go for the black grip! The bevel below the zoom switch is OK!
XZ-2 is longer than XZ-1:
http://kuva.termiitti.com/v.php?img=26892
rather ugly: did Oly engage the Pentax design department??
;-))))
“rather ugly: did Oly engage the Pentax design department??”
Ha-ha, best of today!
Looks more like they engaged Sony’s design department. At least it doesn’t look like the abomination that is the E-PM1, though I do prefer the look of the XZ-1…
Actually, you are the abomination. What a moron. There is nothing wrong with the E-PM1 design.
Wish they bumped up the sensor size. Maybe not to an R1… Still, it has it’s market and no doubt wills ell well for a good pocket cam 🙂
1″ is much too close to the 4/3 sensor size. I very much doubt Olympus (or Panasonic) will ever release a compact with a bigger than 2/3″ sensor as that would compete with their 4/3 offerings.
i think just the opposite. i’d really like to see a xz-n with a 4/3 sensor and fixed lens. why should it have to do any harm to the pen/omd line?
and it looks like i’m not the only one with these ideas since sony is selling compact cameras with ff sensor.
That is the difference between Sony and everyone else. Sony has no problems overlapping their products lines. Only Sony would release a Full-frame compact and DSLR on the same day. Good for Sony I say.
…but isn’t Sony struggling making profit?
@BLI “…but isn’t Sony struggling making profit?”
Sony is a conglomerate with losses mainly attributed to their ailing TV business. I haven’t seen any data that shows how the camera division is performing. Have you?
I saw something a few weeks ago. It was said that the sony imaging business was making a profit but not how much nor was a source given.
I quite like the stealthy look. I wonder if the new PENS will have similar design.
I suppose they will take some design cues from XZ-2, removable grip and slightly raised hot shoe for example. So far, so good.
If that eyesore does not have a 24 mm equivalent FL at the wide end, I will scream. 😛
I wonder if the black grip will cost extra (LE).
black is extra, only silver is standard, as always 🙂
Black will be available in a year’s time, as a part of limited edition kit ;).
I should update this then:
http://i.imgur.com/mc13Q.jpg
🙂
My friggen eyes! AHHH!
good picture!! but you can add the silver versions of the 40-150 (normal and R), of the 14-42 II (not R) and I think that I also saw a silver 14-150!!
Oh, you are right, I missed a few products, but the point of the image is not about grey products, I don’t have a problem with grey products themselves, it is about how it seems that at Olympus they can’t settle on a grey, and thus we have a wide range of non-matching grey products from almost champagne grey to blueish grey to almost white grey… it’s crazy. I can understand that a metal lens will have a different shade than a plastic one, but when they are of the same material? That’s not serious. So… grey products? Yes, why not, I love the grey EM-5, I just hope they stop experimenting with variations.
Wow i can customize my grip – doesnt matter that the image quality will be “not so good” again 🙂
You show us your pictures on the web and we’ll tell you if it’s good enough for you. The XZ-1 is a brillant camera and I’m sure the XZ-2 will be at least as good.
Actually I think they look very nice, quite aspirational for its target market….
I think so too. I’m surprised that they went for such an industrial or masculine aesthetic. I expected it to look more like the E-PM1 considering the target market of the lower-end PENs.
@stickytape
Olympus stated earlier in the year that they were moving away from the camera joshi market probably because they have already saturated it and competition has become stronger in the target market (as well as there fast adoption of the latest smartphones)…
I think this design looks more unisex and classier which I think is the right thing to do…
Cannot see the lens brightness.
No chance to compete LX7 unless having a similar max. aperture (1.4÷2.3)
Nice touch that the grip is interchangeable. And I wonder what that lever and button at the bottom are. The lens seems to be the same (you can almost read 6-24mm 1:1.8-2.5 in the front). I’m ready to buy a LX7 unless this camera can convince me otherwise (the RX100 has a nice sensor but I miss some features).
That looks pretty hot to me 🙂
I don’t care about the grip…. I just care about the spec. of this camera…..
Lol Oly just loves tiny sensors. They are losing the race. Compact camera with tiny tiny tiny sensor even more tiny then the OMD. Why buy Oly compact when there is a rx100.
I can not believe people still buy Oly with its tiny iPhone sensors while there is Sony with its groundbreaking very good new stuff.
Size isn´t everything.
What does a bigger sensor help, when you´re getting a 4,9 aperture at the long end?
And: the XZ-1 sensor is much bigger than other compacts and very very much bigger than a handy sensor.
Why buy large sensor compacts when there are large sensor interchangeable lens cameras?
It’s not that they can change their minds just after another company launches a new product. The design of a camera takes months for simple iterations to years for completely new products, so when they saw the RX100 they could do two things: throw away the work of months and the money already put (research, design, machinery, testing, marketing materials…) and start over to with luck launch the big sensored version 6 months later at best or go ahead and release the camera when planned, deal with the whiners, try to sell as much as possible and get some ROI and then start working in the new model for the next year.
because of smaller size. just my taste here
I like the grip, I like the grip colors, I like the angular design!
And: I´m also wondering about the button between lens and grip.
Exposure lock?
AEL/AFL
Exposure mode?
Self Timer, wired/wireless remote,…
As the cameras of the smart phones’ are getting better, I don’t see the point of the low end cameras. I know this camera is a no low end but still the quality difference would not convince me to carry another device.
+1
Given the IQ of today’s smartphones, what could justify a smaller than 1″ sensor in a separate device?
P&S cameras will soon be a thing of the past.
Don´t agree. One of the best phone cameras ever made is the one in the iPhone 4s. But even this camera is world´s apart from cams like the XZ-1. At a one day shooting I was able to compare them directly.
Look at dynamic range, noise, white balance, color fidelity, sharpness at the edges. Not to mention af speed, dof, zoom control and and and
You’re wrong there buddy…Pureview 808 is the reigning king of champion cameraphones. Don’t get caught up in fanboyism else you will miss some really great stuff
Maybe thats why he said its “One of the best..” and not “The best..”. His point is valid.
But can it be said to be “one of the best” when it is miles behind the Pureview 808? Perhaps it is one of the best in the second league? 🙂
Until the technology in the Pureview is available in a smaller and lighter size it will remain irrelevant for mainstream users. However, it is an indication of what we can expect at some point in phones such as the iPhone and Galaxy S3.
Why all this hyping of the Iphone 4 camera? After all other phonemakers made better cameraphones years earlier. (At least Nokia and sony ericsson did, I’m not sure about others…) And those where generally cheaper as well.
Well, what is ‘world´s apart’ in your opinion still does not convince me.
I’m not going to buy a phone just so I have a P&S with me.
Some people prefer a camera to be a camera. Not everyone eats everything with a spork either. 😉
I prefer cameras but not of small sensors. I got an SGS2 and it is never good enough for me. I always use my GF-1.
not 100% sure – but close: if you carefully compare the xz-2 picture with a picture of the XZ-1 you can see by the writing and the iris size and everything that it is exactly the same lens
Ok , same sensor with same aperature ?
Then the LX7 is better considering it attach with summilux .
This time Olympus a bit disappointed .
Ok , skip , let’s go to M4/3 highend camera chapter .
The image quality is good. 🙂
So the 15mm lens has not been given the Zuiko brand name!
maybe it would become more expensive if it was included?
Yes, the cheaper point and shoots don’t have Zuiko branded lenses.
Extremely underwhelming…
I know the full specs aren’t out yet, but I was hoping for bigger improvements to the XZ-2, namely the sensor size. So far, it appears that all they will give us after a year of development will be to slap a new grip on it?
I guess it’ll take another year at least for any other “premium” compacts to match the guts of the RX100.
The photo is low-res/blurred, but if you compare to an XZ-1 front photo, the lens info seems the same, i.e. (top) “4xWide Optical Zoom ED 6-24mm 1:1.8-2.5”. Without the comparison it looked like 1.8-3.2 at first, which to me corresponded to bigger zoom range (which is what I would have like).
Or this is just a photoshopped image?
Looks ugly. If same lens and sensor size, it’s a loser. LX-7 and RX100 are better alternatives.
U.G.L.Y….Wow that is ugly! Beaten severely with an ugly stick. PHEW!
The best looking new camera design is hands-down the Sony RX1.
(…and I am not a Sony fan).
why didn’t the 15mm lens get the honour of being the headline photo?
Because it belongs to another site?
So…ummm…when is Oly supposed to announce all these?
My guess is: “before photokina next week”
Almost kind of a rugged design; could sell if it had weather sealing to go with it.
That’s the only thing that would make this ugliness tolerable. Weather-sealing would be a unique selling point.
I don’t believe it, though.
@API175 “the same lens as EX1”
Indeed. If you compare the lens image in DPreview with this ‘leak’ they are identical in every way. This photo is a fake IMO.
http://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/compacts/oly_xz1
I am calling FAKE – FT1, please….
This is ugly. I sincerely hope it’s a fake.
+1
thank you! Admin,
I asked yesterday for the info on XZ-2. Can’t believe it is here today! Can you share a bit more on the spec of the lens, the picture is unreadable. Thanks.
Same sensor-size: That means, that the Sony RX100 has the better IQ.
To sell this camera, the prize has to go down to the 299,-€/$ – mark.
What a pitty for Olympus!
Yes: The Sony RX100 is my next compact. Nice adition to my OMD.
Pls don’t forget to compare f-number. Sony (along with Canon and Nikon) doesn’t allow their compacts to compete to their system cameras so they always decrease the aperture at the long end (f/4.9). Olympus lens is much brighter (f/2.5).
Yes – right. Also the LX7 is in this repekt very good.
But 2,5 to 4.9 that means ISO 400 for the Olymus an 1.600 for the Sony.
I saw a comparison between Sony and LX7 – the Sony was better.
Look at this german site:
http://www.dkamera.de/testbericht/sony-cyber-shot-dsc-rx100/bildqualitaet.html
Overall: the IQ of the RX100 is so much better… And: it is really samll!
Based in this good linked site, LX-7 is a way better in most cases than XZ-1, so I really hope XZ-2 has the same 1/1,7″ sensor. I don’t have XZ-1, but I already have an auto lens cap LC-63A waiting, hopefully it fits…
As soon as these point and shoots cease being pocketable, they become kind of pointless.
Hopefully as good or better as the Panasonic DMC-LX7 for still photo. However doubt it’ll have the same video functionalities, but frankly who misses the AVCHD today.
What I would lilke to see is some form of ruggedized body, avoiding sensor dust etc.
My XZ-1 still serves me well, as an everyday camera. Better video is the only incitament for a XZ-2. But other features may be included as well.
SWEEPPANORAMA – Mode:
———————
Even Apple has now integrated a Sweeppanorama Mode in their iPhone.
I am wonder how long it takes till the is an in stich panorama Mode in the Oly-cams. (even it would be with singel photos).
Exactly my thoughts: now that Apple’s put that into iPhone, everyone will have panorama mode in their imaging devices. But don’t hold your breath just yet: it took Sony several iterations to perfect it and others are still not on the same level, so don’t expect anyone’s first try to better it. Moreover, only Sony P&S have “intelligent” version of sweep panorama. Alpha and NEX cameras have only sweep panorama, that has worse compensation of moving objects.
Oh, yes, another Oly Frankengrip with the cheesy exposed screw! I just LOVE sloppy design imperative! 😉
What about the specs? Are they using a better video codec?
That exposed screw may indeed look clunky, but gives anyone a chance to make a DIY grip, that can be better than anything Oly is willing to offer.
Panasonic did their homework this time!! No GH3 leaks so far… damn.. 😉
I wonder if they will sell more than 5 of them…
Go for the Sont RX100 instead: Not for the better design, but for the far better IQ.
you are right & even better features…
I’ll take the LX7 because of:
– dedicated AE-L button (a must for me)
– aspect ratio and focus switches
– aperture ring (not a must but welcomed)
– custom modes in mode dial (this is another must)
– movie button not under the thumb where it is a pain
– a real rear thumb wheel as you’d find in a DSLR (a must)
– ISO & Fn buttons instead of just a Fn buttons
– built-in neutral density filter
– manual focus toggle zoom (another must)
– hot-shoe (must)
– optional EVF
– wider lens (24mm) and almost same reach (90 vs 100)
– faster lens at both ends, but specially at the long
So the RX100 has a better sensor, no doubt, but I don’t find it that much better as to forget about all the great features that make the LX7 a more serious and enjoyable camera.
Now let’s see tha XZ2…
I thought the XZ-1 was quite handsome. This just looks ugly.
Am I the only one who is looking for a good sensor AND lens quality? Who prefers a good sensor with a stellar lens in favor of a stellar sensor with a weak lens? And who wants a good JPEG quality in every situation without the need for a RAW-workflow?
The RX100 has a very nice sensor, but image quality is far more than only pixel counts and high iso performance. The lens is soft in the corners and slow at the long end, while the XZ-1 offers a good, fast lens.
A XZ-2 with the new LX7-Sensor, the new olympus engine and the old lens may not have specifications like a hotcake, but sound like a very good solution for many photographers.
But it seems that’s just my opinion…
I remember when the XZ-1 came out it was the best in its class (premium compact). Oh how times have changed. I was looking forward to seeing what Olympus brought to the market with the XZ-2 – seems like they are using the same mediocre gimmicks as the update from EP2 to EP3 with the grip.
The XZ-1 was a great camera but I sold it due to the lack of jpeg noise reduction function which was crazy since all their mirrorless and DLSRs have this usual function. I couldn’t stand the smearing of detail.
I guess I was looking for a bigger sensor, NR function on jpegs, and better zoom range than the RX100, plus an integrated lens-cover like on the RX100 to keep things compact and convenient.
Looks like this premium compact will come in at 3rd place behind the LX-7 and RX100, unless they can increase the speed of the lens to compensate for the same-size sensor and expand the zoom range.
Perhaps Olympus don’t want to cannibalise their low-end new m43 offerings. But it seems like Sony has taken everyone by surprise and taken the title of new king of premium compacts.
A XZ-2 with the new sensor capable of high ISO, the new olympus engine and the old lens may have specifications and good solution for many photographers. 😉
Any new rumors about micro 4/3 stuff?
Not for me. They should give up wasting resources on this point and shoot market which is already taken over by phones and focus on m4/3.
How I’d like some m43rds news today….
I would like to see a twistable screen like the EX2 with touch screen. That is the only way I would think twice about it.
Depending on how you look at it. Think twice.
From class: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/OlympusXZ1/
to crass.
Also looks to be the same size, so where’s the advantage over the more nicely designed RX100?
Struggling to believe this is true. Must be patient to see what they did under the hood.
But based just on appearance, Olympus, it took you almost 2 years to do this?? You should have just hired Franziec to design an attractive grip and called it a day. The upside? Should be plenty of discounted XZ-1’s soon.
Think twice.
ooh~ now this is looking NICE! it looks sharp and more pro now 🙂
this seriously just looks like a shopped picture of an xz-1 with the grip from a e-p3. so in reality we have no idea if it would be the same lens and/or sensor, whatever.
Olympus seems to really get a kick out of that attached grip thingy. FGS, it’s ugly as hell! No 1″ sensor is actually less sad than this…