Nth wrote:On that basis do you not think the NEX-5 looks ridiculous too?Attached to some Russian monstrosity? Sure! Its zoom makes it too bulky too, that's why I only have interest in the pancake lens. |
Compact backup cam recommendations • Page 2
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mal 29,326 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 20 years agoDpreview's review of the Olympus XZ-1 is up. Seems the bright lens really is as good as the specs suggest, and I'm rather impressed by the image quality, giving the S95 a run for its money (and personally I prefer the slight extra detail they seemed to get out of it, and not mind the extra noise).
It's never going to give you the sort of images Valli's after, but as a S95/LX5 competitor it is pretty evenly matched. Actually the LS5 seemed to make a bit of a meal of their studio test compared to the XZ-1 and S95 which surprised me.
It doesn't allow you to configure the round lens control for zoom, it doesn't go out to 24mm (only 28) and dpreview were bothered by the lack of AE lock, but if none of those are deal-breakers for you, it's definitely worth considering and I'd say it beats the S95/LX5. It does seem to be a bit more expensive at present, but maybe it'll settle down after a little time on the market. -
Nth 3,164 posts
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Registered 12 years agoNo AE lock? That's bizarre. -
mal 29,326 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 20 years agoApparently. I gather half-pressing the shutter will lock AF and AE as per usual, but there's no way to get AE from one spot but focus on another. It's not a very configurable camera apparently, and there's no button provided for AE lock.
To be honest though, I can't remember the last time I needed it on my D70. Switching to matrix metering generally helps ensure nothing's too badly blown out, and there's enough latitude in the images to pull out details if I don't get it right first time. The only time recently I've completely ballsed up exposure was last time it was snowy out and the contrast was so great I don't think there was any point I could have got AE off. I more often fiddle with exposure compensation and reshoot. -
Seems like a neat camera. f/2.5 at the 100mm+ end of that lens means you can actually do portrait work with it as well. -
mal 29,326 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 20 years agoYeah. I'm never sure if that'll translate to the same DoF as it would on a APS-C or 35mm sensor, what with the XZ-1 having the same sized sensor as its peers though. A few of the shots on dpreview's gallery seem to have reasonable DoF effects, but they're all listed with their real focal length, not 35mm equivalent, so I've no real idea how any of the shots were taken.
The lens does seem very sharp though, and I didn't spot much in the way of corner softness. That lens is definitely the star of the show. -
Nth 3,164 posts
Seen 5 days ago
Registered 12 years agoI think the tip with any compact is to avoid using the zoom unless you really have to. S90 lens is pretty slow when zoomed in and the ISO shoots right up so I try and avoid ever using it, which I guess I'm used to now as I only have primes on my SLR. -
Well, sensor size is another DOF deciding factor but 2.5 at that end would be very shallow on a APS-C.
Wow, the corner sharpness is insane, it even beats kit lenses from Nikon and Canon. Highlight the upper left corner here and choose D7000 and EOS 60D. Too bad noise takes over entirely at 800 already although it performs much better than the LX-5 and the S95. Quite impressive little bastard this one... how much was it again?.gif)
PS: I've always had a weakness for Olympus, loved their big SLR like super zooms back in the early 2000s and ofc. the classic Zuiko series lenses. -
Nth 3,164 posts
Seen 5 days ago
Registered 12 years agoI'm about to finally run a roll of Tri-X through the Trip 35 that pete gave me, although he doesn't believe me. -
I had no idea about that Trip 35 camera, such a smart design! Lovely to see they agree with me about the perfect "all around" prime lens size, 40mm. 
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mal 29,326 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 20 years agovalli wrote:
The S95 and LX5 seem to do about as well as the XZ1 in that test - the Sammy EX1 looks bad enough to be a duff sample though. Look at the watch in the bottom right corner versus the LX5 and S95 though - the XZ1 looks to be better than DSLR kit lens quality.
Wow, the corner sharpness is insane, it even beats kit lenses from Nikon and Canon. Highlight the upper left corner here and choose D7000 and EOS 60D. Too bad noise takes over entirely at 800 already although it performs much better than the LX-5 and the S95. Quite impressive little bastard this one... how much was it again?
Actually if you do that watch test against the D7000 and 60D as you suggest, it looks like it really is that good. And look at the detail in the feathers to the left of that! Amazing.
It's $500/€450/£400 retail, and Warehouse Express are currently asking exactly that, but it's in pretty short supply still, so I'd expect that to start dropping soon.
@nth That's the nice thing about this lens. It's still around about f2.2 at 100mm (f2.5 at the limit of 112mm) which is well under a stop I think, although I'm terrible at working out f numbers in my head. Even f2.5 is only about a stop and a quarter I think. Unless you're already pushing shutter speed and ISO you should get a decent shot out of it in most light. It looks to be a very versatile camera! -
Nth 3,164 posts
Seen 5 days ago
Registered 12 years agovalli wrote:
You've not seen a Trip before? o_O They made over 10 million of them! Anyway, it's awesome to use, would survive a nuclear blast I think. Will use it for part of my project next week.
I had no idea about that Trip 35 camera, such a smart design! Lovely to see they agree with me about the perfect "all around" prime lens size, 40mm. -
Yea, dismissed it as a boring P&S camera I guess. Found Ken Rockwell reviewing it (who else eh?) and the corner sharpness of that lens beats a Canon L zoom with ease.
Amazing what lenses they could make back then. Sure, you could easily ruin image quality in extreme conditions (see flare for instance) but if you knew what you were doing and shot on low ISO film, you could easily beat a modern 2kUSD+ DSLR. -
Nth 3,164 posts
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Registered 12 years agoI've only shot a crap roll of colour which was then developed badly so I haven't seen it's potential yet. -
mal 29,326 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 20 years agoAbsolutely. Good lenses require good glass and precision grinding. We've been making glass since ancient Egyptian times, although we didn't use it for lenses until mediaevel times apparently so by the 20th century it was about as good as it was going to get. And grinding? Telescopes have always needed better optics that you need for photography. The twentieth century just gave us mass production which helped make them affordable for people on the 9-5 treadmill. By the 1960's they were about as good as they were going to get. After that they had to start inventing reasons for us to but new kit - interchangeable lenses, automatic aperture, zoom, autofocus. Each time they convinced us to replace our good old kit with cheaper new kit for more money, so that they were then able to sell us kit as good as our old kit for even more. Now they're reduced to coating the lenses funny colours, and having almost exhausted that, fiddling around with the rest of the camera - the viewfinder, the sensor etc.
That said, modern sensors are amazing. They easily beat the old rolls of shitty 35mm film you got free with the cost of development we used to use. Plus you take development out of the equation which make things a lot more predictable. I don't know how they compare with the best paper out there, but the fact that even cheap slrs can produce images with no discernable grain given enough light is incredible. -
urban 13,148 posts
Seen 4 days ago
Registered 17 years agoMy favourite Compact of all time - My very own Canonet G-III QL
Bought it for £25 and it's the best condition I've ever seen one in. -
mal 29,326 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 20 years agoNice. Rangefinders are cool -
I had a ricoh gr1 for a while. /loved/ that thing -
Nth 3,164 posts
Seen 5 days ago
Registered 12 years agourban wrote:
Nice. I bought a Canonet QL19 in a charity shop for £10 but it appears the shutter blades are stuck which is apparently a common fault.
My favourite Compact of all time - My very own Canonet G-III QL
Bought it for £25 and it's the best condition I've ever seen one in. -
mal 29,326 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 20 years agocozeny wrote:
That the one with the interchangable everything? Which everythings did you have?
I had a ricoh gr1 for a while. /loved/ that thing
Edit: Ah no, I'm thinking of the GXR. -
Nth 3,164 posts
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Registered 12 years ago -
Nth 3,164 posts
Seen 5 days ago
Registered 12 years agoThat GR1 looks teh sexeh, I had a GRD for about a week and hated it but the film version looks very nice. -
Speaking of awesome compact rangefinders, I've fingered (that must be the correct term) on a Contax G2, amazing piece of hardware. According to the pros, the Planar 50mm/1.4 Zeiss did for Contax is one of the sharpest lenses ever created. -
contax G2, ricoh GR1, and yashica T4 are all rad. -
Nth 3,164 posts
Seen 5 days ago
Registered 12 years agoContax looks amazing, the Yashica less so. -
Seems I'll wait until April at least:
http://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/thom-hogan-nikon-planned-advertising-will-run-in-april-in-both-newspapers-and-magazines/
Rumours, I know. But by then the next NEX camera specs should be out and whatever the other boys are working on (Pentax, Olympus et all). -
mal 29,326 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 20 years agoCool. They were making noises like it would be something pretty radical. Mind you they were also making noises that it would have a pretty small sensor, so we'll have to see. -
I hope you're wrong. If they introduce a new mount and if they go for the pro market (ie future proof), anything smaller than APS-C would be suicide.
For once, they can't fool around and need to make the sensor as big as intended for this mount. I mean, they could introduce an amateur model with a smaller sensor at a later date (and introduce the crop penalty as well) but they can't go the other way around, can they?
If anyone knows anything about future proof mounts, it's Nikon with their F mount. Also, people are already complaining about the m4/3 sensor being too small and Sony has shown the competitors how to introduce a new digital lens mount. Too bad they don't seem to have the muscle to support it with lenses. What does NEX have, 2 zooms and a prime plus some Carl Zeiss non-working prototypes that get shuffled around the globe at different expos? -
urban 13,148 posts
Seen 4 days ago
Registered 17 years agovalli wrote:
Speaking of awesome compact rangefinders, I've fingered (that must be the correct term) on a Contax G2, amazing piece of hardware. According to the pros, the Planar 50mm/1.4 Zeiss did for Contax is one of the sharpest lenses ever created.
Overrated tripe imo. Just gives Ebay and excuse to sell BOXES for £50!
Sure it's a great camera but the prices it goes for are absurd imo, nigh on leica absurdity. -
You want absurdity? I'll give you absurdity:
http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2011/01/the-fabulous-nikon-lens-hood.html
O_O
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