Come In Here And Go Away...with an Olympus Stylus

Vacation season is almost upon us - or you may think of is as holiday season. I suppose the time off is the same but it depends on whether you intend to spend it being holy or vacant.

For those of you who want to be active and artistic I think we have a good camera to help you. Note that I say active - if you are going away somewhere it is always better to go away with as light a burden as possible. The principle is to go to the casino with a dollar in your pocket and come home with a thousand more - those of you who may have experienced the opposite effect are obviously entering and leaving by the wrong door...

But back to the burdens of pleasure - if you are flying you don't want to carry our entire store on your back - you want a camera that you can carry. Equally, you don't want to go to all the trouble to go to Upper Wazutoland and get ill and robbed and not come home with some good photos to reward yourself - you want a competent camera. The Olympus Stylus  XZ-2 is a good bet for both these reasons.

Basic specs include 12 Megapixels, 4 x zoom, an f:1.8 lens that will wide out to the equivalent of 28mm and full HD video. In addition you get the special programs that Olympus champion - diorama, film, soft focus, and grainy film amongst others. My favourite, because it closely equates to my own vision of life - is the Key Line Effect.

You get a guided panorama mode that makes your stitching perfect.

The layout of the camera also favours using it on a tripod ( Cullmann, Promaster, or Three Legged Thing come to mind...)with the LCD screen acting as a waist-level finder. I should use a black focussing cloth or a Hoodman screen shield to make this easier in bright light. If you switch the art filter to soft sepia you can make historic pictures even when there is no history. Like some of our newer suburbs - the civic architecture that has tilted up on the fringes of civilisation is truly worthy of soft sepia. At night. In a rain storm.

Now, cynicism aside, the XZ-2 is incorporating a lot of the processing power that Olympus pack into their mirror-less cameras, but in a compact form. Not that the mirror-less ones are monsters, but this camera is all in one. You can add a useful accessory if you wish - the  electronic viewfinder slots into the data bus at the top.

The thing that impresses me is the easy access for the programs - I favour manual myself, but that is because I like making my own mistakes and blaming others. Hey, it works at home...

If you don't want quite as big an Olympus there are others here that are equally good for travel - but someone will come and buy this one and make absolutely wonderful pictures.

Travel hint: Cullmann Magic Monopod. Steady pictures, steady video, useful baton for South American streets.