Nauticam Olympus XZ-1 housing

Peter Rowlands · Issue 61, Jul/Aug 2011 · pp. 30–31

Products mentioned: Olympus XZ-1, Nauticam XZ-1 housing, Canon S95, Olympus PT-050, INON UWL-H100 28M67, INON Dome Lens Unit II

I think it’s fair to say that in recent years Canon have stolen the march from Olympus at the top end compact market but their XZ-1 sees Olympus jostling for poll position once again. Combining a small size with an ergonomic design and providing full automation or total manual control together with a bright F1.8-2.5 28mm-112mm lens the XZ-1 looks set to take the Canon S95 head on. From an underwater point of view the most interesting feature is the ability to reduce the power of the internal flash down to 1/64th so, when triggering external optical strobes, the recycling is very quick and there is far less camera battery drain. This is a very useful feature. Nauticam have released a housing for the XZ-1 which follows their traditional design of form and function with a solid aluminium build providing complete control over the camera. The result is reassuringly familiar Nauticam in terms …