Introduction
When Olympus launched the XZ-1 in early 2011, its high-end features made it instantly popular with consumers and critics alike.
Priced at £479.99/$599, the new XZ-2 looks to pick up where its predecessor left off and deliver a great deal more to the serious enthusiast market; touting a 3-inch touch-sensitive tilting LCD with 920,000 dots, 1080p Full HD movie mode, full manual and semi-manual exposure controls, raw image capture (as well as fine and normal jpeg), capabilities for sharing photos straight from the camera to social networks. And, of course, it's compatible with a range of Olympus accessories.
The XZ-2 also indulges creative composers with 11 natty art filters to spruce up shots, including all the stalwart must-have effects such as Pop Art, Diorama, Grainy film, Soft Focus and Key Line, yet the absence of the watercolour filter hasn't gone unnoticed.
Although the new feature-clad compact matches its predecessor's pixel count (12 MP), we see it has ditched the CCD sensor and upgraded to a large back-illuminated 1/1.7-inch CMOS sensor for cleaner results.
Olympus has also seen fit to install the same TruPic VI processor as seen in the Olympus OM-D, Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5 and Olympus PEN Mini E-PM2, helping to raise picture quality across all of its merchandise.
One area Olympus has wisely left alone is the XZ-1's i.Zuiko Digital 28-112mm (equivalent) 1: 1.8-25 lens, which, at the time of its launch, greatly impressed audiences with its extra-wide aperture; and continues to do so today.
Build quality & handling
Matching its heavyweight feature set, the black plastic and metal fashioned XZ-2 exudes a bulkier and bigger presence than most contemporary compacts, yet is slimmer and more streamlined than the common CSC, sitting somewhere in the middle with a shooting ethos to match.
Using the device is relatively comfortable, thanks to a rear thumb pad and front finger grip, the latter of which can be removed. The extra weight and girth suggest durability is assured, and we found its hinges and compartments as sturdy as the rest of it.
One of Olympus' biggest selling points of the XZ-2's design is the touch-sensitive 3-inch 920,000 dot tilting LCD, offering photographers the ability to focus and shoot instantly, and zoom into captures and move around images in playback.
Although there may be occasions when setting the AF point on screen is useful, we found it relatively hit-and-miss, and especially found highlighting areas at the edge of the screen almost impossible.
The enhanced feature-set of the LCD goes some way to make up for the lack of a viewfinder, but the device does have an accessory port which can accommodate the optional external viewfinder (or flashgun for example).
We were delighted with the brightness of the screen, which depicts scenes clearly in most lighting scenarios, and thanks to its pull out and tilt design we were able to shoot at a pleasingly wide range of viewing angles, including accurately composing shots over head, up high and at floor level.
It's just a small shame the screen can't be tilted vertically as well as horizontally, and although Olympus pledges that the anti-fingerprint coating should ward of paw prints, during our week-long assessment of the camera we can honestly say it didn't.
Manual shooters will be pleased to note that the XZ-2 improves on its predecessors' offerings with the inclusion of the front control ring, which, in analogue mode, can be used for zooming in or for fine tuning focus manually, or in digital mode it can adjust aperture, shutter speed, flash exposure and exposure compensation.
The manual functionality here is a big plus, and as soon as the camera is turned on the lens zooms in close on the subject, leaving the shooter to ensure focus is pin-sharp.
Elsewhere, the addition of two customisable function buttons (one on the back and one on the front) come in handy for programming commonly sought-after controls such as ISO or White Balance.
The device's menu systems and commands can seem a little backward to operate at first but, after a little time spent familiarising with it, things become a little easier.
Although there are some processes which seem questionable, such as the lack of a dedicated on-body macro mode; instead users must trawl through the menu system to find it.
Performance
Images taken using the XZ-2 at the base ISO have clean details and accurate colour interpretation. This continues up to ISO 800 when noise becomes noticeable and finer details are lost.
Tonal graduation is threatened after ISO 1600, and at ISO 2500 there's lots of noise.
At ISO 3200 coloured specs fill the lighter segments of the frame as well as darker areas, and at ISO 6400 most shooters are likely to agree that the results were unusable.
We found that JPEG images captured at sensitivities in excess of ISO 8000 have badly muted colours, degraded textures and blurred details, and by ISO 12800 the images are so mutated that they look more akin to black and white oil paintings than digital images.
However, the good news is that the XZ-2 shoots in raw format, easing improvements in post-production, and with such a fast lens it is unlikely that these higher sensitivities will be needed very often.
The camera offers a range of metering options and on the whole these perform well in conjunction with manual and semi-manual modes.
We only noticed a slight bias for exposing for the shadows in iAuto, resulting in some areas of the frame being overexposed.
White balance can scarcely be faulted throughout its portfolio, and with so many picture control options also on hand, shooters have little excuse for error.
The XZ-2 did fall victim to chromatic aberrations, as do most compacts, but it deals with them better than many, with only minor fringing in particularly high-contrast parts of the frame.
The pop-up flash offers users a pleasing array of options, each proving effective without over-bleaching subjects or dramatically altering colours, and, elsewhere, red-eye reduction flash kept its promise.
Sample images
Verdict
The XZ-2's super-fast i.Zuiko Digital lens has to be this camera's standout feature, offering ultra-wide apertures and an impressive focal length range of 28-112mm, which sails past many of its hottest contenders, and produces sharpness straight out of the camera, which many of its peers fail to match.
Thanks to the lens, this camera is a must for low-light enthusiasts as it catalogues impressively crisp captures, even at lower ISOs, helped by the camera's image stabilisation technology that cements details even when shot at noticeably slow shutter speeds, and when executed hand-held.
Although handling the device isn't as straightforward as Canon's Powershots or as intuitive as Nikon's Coolpix range, it does offer a plethora of shooting choice to cater for all levels of shooter; with manual and semi-manual controls for advanced enthusiasts, a dedicated auto mode (iAuto) and scene selector for novices, plus an art palette for keen creatives.
Overall the price tag is a little steep, considering that some low-end to mid-range DSLRs and CSCs can cost a lot less, but for those seeking an all-encompassing compact camera with a solid lens performance the Olympus Stylus XZ-2 has to be one of the best currently on the market.
We liked
The Olympus Stylus XZ-2 delivers much more than an average compact and essentially that's where its key strengths lie.
The manual focus ring, customisable function toggling, manual and semi-manual modes, touch-screen technology, tilt screen and creative filter palette are the most impressive aspects of its advanced functionality.
We disliked
Less intuitive to operate than many of its competitors, the XZ-2's menu systems aren't the most helpful or straightforward, and some of its operation processes are needlessly convoluted.
Also, at £479.99 it is in keeping with its high-end compact peers, yet the relatively expensive price tag may put some shoppers off.
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