Autofocus
Super macro mode allows you to get in extremely close, revealing a lot of detail
As a compact camera the Olympus XZ-1 is reliant on using contrast-detection AF, and I found the AF speed to be comparable with similar compact cameras. It is fairly snappy and suitable for most situations in which you would want to use a compact camera.
In its default mode there are 11 AF points available, but when using a magnified view on the rear screen there are up to 225 available points, which really helps with fine focusing. For moving subjects, AF tracking and face-detection AF are also available.
One thing to note is that the close-focusing distance of the lens, at 60cm, is not quite as close as you would expect. For this reason there is both a macro and a super macro mode. The former has a minimum focus distance of 10cm, while the latter is just 1cm. These modes were extremely useful when I was taking photographs in a butterfly house, allowing a great deal of detail to be revealed that was difficult to see with the naked eye.
Olympus XZ-1 Autofocus: Score – 7/10
