We really liked the Olympus XZ-1, so naturally we were excited to get our hands on an early sample of its replacement, the Olympus Stylus XZ-2.

And although we weren’t able to examine any of the images we shot with it, the early signs are good, because Olympus hasn’t pushed the back-illuminated 1/1.7-inch CMOS sensor too far, giving it ‘just’ 12 million effective pixels and coupling it with the same TruPic VI processor as in the Olympus OM-D, new Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5 and Olympus PEN Mini E-PM2.

The Olympus XZ-2’s lens is also the same as on the XZ-1, and although the iZuiko Digital 6-24mm (28-112mm equivalent) f/1.8-2.5 optic exhibits some distortion, we know that it is capable of resolving plenty of detail. It’s also a bright lens, so faster shutter speeds can be used in lower light conditions, helping to reduce blur and noise levels.

Olympus tells us that it has kept the sensor size down to create the best balance between camera size and image quality. That may be the case for Olympus, but the Sony RX100, which has a 1-inch sensor, is actually a little smaller than the Olympus XZ-2.

Although it has no viewfinder built in, the Olympus XZ-2 has an accessory port, so it can accept an optional external EVF. Unfortunately, this isn’t the same port as on PEN cameras, so it can’t accept the same accessories.

Another slight oddity is that the Olympus XZ-2 has the same 11 Art Filters as the Olympus OM-D, and it doesn’t have the new Water Colour filter that brings the new Olympus PEN Lite E-PL5 and Olympus PEN Mini E-PM2 filter count up to 12. Having seen a couple of examples of the results, we’re not convinced this is a major hardship.

Handling

Perhaps the biggest news about the Olympus XZ-2 is how the handling has changed since the Olympus XZ-1. Firstly, the 3-inch 920,000-dot tilting LCD is touch-sensitive. As with the new PEN Lite and PEN Mini, it can be used to set the AF point, or even in touch shutter mode, to set the AF point, trigger focusing and trip the shutter with a single touch.

Since it has no viewfinder, built-in images must be composed on this screen. Olympus says that the screen has an anti-fingerprint coating, so it will be interesting to see how this performs when we get a full production sample in for testing. However, we were pretty impressed with the screen when we saw it – it’s bright and detailed and has a wide viewing angle.

Because the screen can be tilted up or down, it provides a good view when shooting landscape format images from above or below eye-level, but it’s not much help when you switch to portrait format.

Another change since the Olympus XZ-1 is the introduction of a hybrid control ring around the lens. On the XZ-1, the lens ring is used to control the aperture, and it rotates with discernible clicks.

A switch on the front of the Olympus XZ-2, however, enables its lens ring to be swapped between two modes. One with the click feeling enables stepped adjustments, and the other smooth or stepless makes fine adjustments of the manual focus or zooms in and out. We found it a pretty elegant solution.

The role of the control ring in its stepped mode is also customisable, so it can be used to select aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation or flash exposure, depending upon the active exposure mode.

There are also two new customisable function (FN) buttons on the Olympus XZ-2 – one on the back of the camera and the other on the front, surrounded by the lens ring function switch.

Early verdict

We have yet to receive a full production sample of the Olympus XZ-2, but we are pretty impressed by the camera so far. The sensor and processor combination looks very promising, and the handling is great. Exposure adjustments can be made quickly and easily, and the screen provides a really clear view (at least indoors, where we were able to use it) so that manual focusing is possible.

Perhaps the only thing taking the shine off the Olympus XZ-2 is the Sony RX100. This camera has really raised the bar by which compact cameras are assessed. We will have to wait to see how the image quality from the Olympus XZ-2 compares when we get one in for a full review.