Olympus Stylus 1 Pro Reviews

As we said, we love little cameras like the Stylus 1. No, they aren’t as convenient as a smartphone, but if you want good image quality in a compact – and are willing to carry two devices – the Stylus 1 is the type of camera you want if you aren’t shopping for a DSLR or mirrorless camera. It gives you enough user control for the times that call for it, but its automatic mode can handle all the other times. We wouldn’t recommend this for more advanced users, but for step-up customers, it’s a nice little camera. With that said, we must point out that, at $700, the Stylus 1 is expensive, and it’s the reason why we aren’t giving it our full Editor’s Choice. For that price, you can get an older but quality DSLR, or something more compact like the Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II, which has a larger sensor and takes fantastic images. The Stylus 1, however, does give you a very strong lens and it’s better than many of the bridge cameras out there (Sony’s Cyber-shot RX10 is stronger in the specs department, but it also costs more). It also improves upon Canon’s PowerShot G series, which used to be one of our favorites but has failed to evolve in recent years. This camera isn’t for everyone, but for that customer who wants an advanced camera just shy of an interchangeable lens model (and isn’t going to balk at the price), this camera should be placed under consideration.

The Olympus Stylus 1 offers enthusiasts looking for more zoom an excellent balance of performance, design, and features. A larger sensor requires a larger lens, especially if you want to have a 10x zoom with a constant f2.8 aperture. With the Stylus 1, there is some compromise to get a smaller body and longer lens than Sony's RX10, but you still get a larger sensor than you'll find in a mainstream point-and-shoot and a whole host of other niceties to make it worth its $700 price.

The Olympus Stylus 1 is a cross between and enthusiast compact and a superzoom that covers an impressive 28-300mm zoom range at f/2.8.

The Olympus Stylus 1, by using the styling of the Olympus OM-D series, which itself was styled on the old and classic Olympus OM SLR series, has not only brought about a stylish compact camera, but it's also brought about a genuinely useful and somewhat unique digital camera. The Stylus 1 offers a high quality electronic viewfinder, a bright f/2.8 10.7x optical zoom lens, and a larger than standard 12 megapixel sensor, bringing together an enjoyable camera to use, with impressive image quality for such a compact camera. It would be difficult to get a similar amount of zoom and image quality without spending more money, as well as ending up with a much larger camera, and the closest competitors are the Nikon Coolpix P7800 with 7.1x optical zoom, and it's only the Sony Cyber-shot RX10 with 8.3x optical zoom that matches the constant f/2.8 lens. The Olympus Stylus 1 is an excellent jacket pocket camera with an impressive feature set, as well as high image quality and full manual controls. It would make an excellent take everywhere camera, and really stands out as one of the best compact cameras of the year. While there are a few features we would have liked to see, such as built in HDR and panoramic creation, as well as improved video focus, we can easily put these to one side as the camera is so enjoyable to use, and delivers impressive image quality.