![]() Most control of the XZ-1's setting is conducted via the function menu, accessed by pressing the 'OK' button. C - Custom mode, based on P,A,S or M but retaining certain user-selected settings.P, A, S, M - user controllable auto, semi-auto and manual exposure modes.Low Light Mode - Uses higher ISOs and open apertures.SCN - Manually select from the camera's 18 scene modes.ART - Use one of the camera's six creative 'Art Filters'.However, for this camera, it's the P,A,S, M modes, the Art Filters and the Low Light modes that are likely to be most-used - those that give most creative control. Like the E-PL cameras, the XZ-1 has iAuto point-and-shoot mode (combining the Live Guide simplified interface with automatic scene recognition). There are only four controls on the top of the camera - the power button, the shutter release, zoom rocker and mode dial. The functions of these two rings depends on shooting mode and cannot be customized. The XZ-1 offers two control dials - one around the lens and another on the rear of the camera. More worryingly, there's also no control at all for AEL/AFL, effectively ruling out the focus-and-recompose shooting method. Flash, drive mode, focus mode/point and exposure compensation get their own dedicated buttons on the control dial but there's no function button and no direct control for ISO. The back of the camera is home to most of the controls and, as you can see, there's not a lot here. It means the camera doesn't have nearly the (occasionally excessive) level of customization of those cameras but also means that, on the rare occasions you have to visit the main menu system, you can quickly and easily locate the feature you're looking for. Meanwhile, the XZ-1 improves on the PENs to an extent with a very simple menu system. We'd like it to give some hint about what it's changing, to help make taking control seem less intimidating to beginners, but it should still encourage a greater degree of creativity, which can only be a good thing. ![]() It's a system that makes it easy to adjust an aspect of your photo if you're just trying to point-and-shoot (however you can only change one parameter at a time). This introduces a series of results-orientated sliders to allow control over depth-of-field, white balance, saturation and so forth, without having to learn about F-numbers and color temperature. The XZ-1 also offers the simplified 'live guide' interface in the beginners' iAuto mode. Controls-wise it has most in common with the S95 and Samsung TL500 - two direct control dials for key functions but not a vast array of other external controls. In terms of specifications it is the class front-runner in almost every respect, and achieves this trick without being as bulky as cameras like the Canon G12 and Nikon P7000. It's hard not to view the XZ-1 as a synthesis of the best elements of its peers, with its S95-style lens control dial, 1/1.63" high-sensitivity CCD sensor, fast lens and manual controls.
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