Great styling with sophisticated automatic functions

What I love about the Olympus SH-1 well like:
- Extremely larger zoom range, just the zoo you can pick up the animals in good weather especially close. For the price range, the image quality is very good. If you watch what you have to spend in the DSLR range for 600mm, then one gets here a very nice look for far less money. Tip: Always have a small tripod with and already one can make considerable recordings by small isovalues ​​and self-timer. Much better than from the hand.
- Beautiful retro look. Cameras do not always look like square boxes where each button and each switch looks like fake. The Olympus is very elegant and she even liked my wife, what you can not always tell from other models. Very nice, we find the silver / black design.
- The SH-1 was designed more as an automatic tool. They tried time to combine aperture and ISO setting so that the best picture comes. This can be for ambitious amateur photographers also disadvantageous. For the inventors, which everything, absolutely everything would adjust itself, the SH-1 is then nothing more. For the large number of consumers (and I think those are 70 to 80%), the camera is just right. You want to turn on, and you're done snapping. At a great car fascinates me also the driving fun more than the knowledge of the exact function of the engine.
- The camera offers many tools and functions that are often forgotten. So in the Menüeistellungen always short help texts appear what we now now set exactly with this menu item. The owner's manual does not have to take you in any case to help. Then you can leave the date to a picture show.
- For image quality I can not say anything negative. Here you have to consider, of course, may not be as bright a lens with this focal length scale, which in turn ensures even having to set the ISO value is always slightly higher. There are basically but for 10x15 prints for the photo book and also for viewing on an HD TV or monitor no cause for alarm. So far, I could at the wide angle (where, of course, always a little easier photographing leaves) how to make amazing shots even in telephoto range. Here, of course, a bit is also tricked. Noise behavior is smoothed out and fine details will be lost. The can be seen only when the image is enlarged greatly on the monitor. In Photoshop at 200% it already looks like the sometimes strange looking artifacts at edges or the blurred color mixing in a really grainy surface. This image properties eligible for the professional out of the question, a layman will not even notice. Now one might compare with other camera models naturally again. Bottom line, they are in this equipment but all who are struggling with these issues. Even when a camera is a bit better then most maps in another discipline again not so good. I have already compared many cameras in the same price range and also really trying to achieve the same settings with the same motif. Result: There really about nuances. Real differences one notices only when a 600 Euro system camera or DSLR buys and then equip with an even more expensive lens. Then you can see a difference.
- Many scene modes, effects and layouts are available. The panorama results are convincing. Here the camera detects even by itself, in what direction you swung after triggering. The Sternenlichmodus produces surprisingly good, sharp and blur-free photographs. What the software since everything is already hinbekommt truly amazing.
- Also in the macro range, the camera can trump. In wide-angle the minimum focus distance is 6 cm. The real power lies in the telephoto range at about 35 cm distance. Here, a 2 Euro coin Full screen are photographed.
- The battery is designed very much with 1350mAh and even works in other Olympus models such as the Stylus XZ 2. Even after a day trip with 150 photos and some zooms he still had a little juice. Since you can not complain.
- The monitor is now not very high resolution, but shows image and focus areas very well.
- As probably the only Olympus camera it offers a video mode at 60 frames in Full HD (1080p). Good 60 frames are now available for Germany not common because we tend to work here with 50 Hz. For lamps may cause streaking. But the picture in a country is perfect, which works with 60 Hz (eg the USA). The video image is surprisingly good, the image stabilizer works perfectly (almost as good as a camcorder) as well as the focus and automatic brightness control operates in the green zone. I would now not expected for a camera. Also great lapse recordings in 1080p are possible. So you can make dramatic clouds move fast or make a snail to Rennschnecke. ;-)
- We come then to the last sweet, the image stabilizer. I think that works in photo mode already remarkably well, allowing some recording in which I've meant, which is nothing. Even if the camera shake icon is already lit, one should make an attempt and shoot anyway.

What I did not like so much:
- The Olympus SH-1 to dispense with the time and shutter priority in both the P-Mode (combinations are not available) and the M-mode (only the highest and lowest aperture value can be combined with different values). The RAW processing is not available. But the positive part of this restriction, I have already mentioned here.
- The power button is a little deep-pocketed and very small, so I sometimes have difficulties to serve this.
- Not all areas are actually made of metal, even if they look like. The flash, the surfaces can be seen from above and from below and also the zoom lever are unfortunately only plastic.

Before first use of the camera, you should perform a few settings in the menu so that they can reach their full potential.

1. Set to Camera Menu 1 compression on fine. Here is selected from the work of "normal". Thus, image deterioration is, which is caused by the compression counteract. The image files will also larger, which is likely to have in today's memory cards with massive amounts of data no longer relevant.
2. Switch off the high-resolution camera Zoom In menu 2, since he provides significant image loss when you drive up to the end position of the zoom range.
3. In the menu for setting the USB connection 1 to Auto. So you can with the USB connection to the PC on the Olympus monitor following Select: memory (to transmit images or to store other files on the memory card), MTP (to manage only images and transfer them to the PC), easier or individual pressure and loading (charging the battery).

What are the advantages and disadvantages of charging the battery in the camera? Although I am very excited at the beginning of the fact that camera manufacturers partly have no external battery charger supplied with more, I think it's now actually getting better. Why?
1. Especially on holiday you have to carry around any extra charger. Here I can use the same USB charger from my smart phone or tablet PC.
2. closing the Olympus SH-1 on via USB to your computer to transfer pictures, the battery is charged simultaneously.
3. For cameras that can not be charged via USB, you must often wait until the battery is connected to the external charger is recharged until the data transfer can take place on the PC.
4. Do I really need an external charger, I can buy more favorable (eg Patona, with whom I've had very good experience). A USB charging function in the camera you can not buy more, unfortunately.

Conclusion: not the Olympus SH-1 now also the manual-rounder, so it speaks well to more people who want to capture with a great looking camera without lengthy setup procedures very nice pictures. I was convinced it and therefore I give her 5 stars. The negative points I can get over personally.