camera gear
time for an update
I upgraded from a canon g1x to a micro four thirds olympus em5, they are being replaced and the price was heavily reduced in price, picked it up with a 2.8 14-40 pro lens.
its bigger and heavier than the g1x but still a lot more compact than an slr and the same quality as all but the top end slr's
couldnt be happier with the image quality. its pretty comparable for image quality with the em1 but the em one has more controls for on the fly changing of settings and a better hand grip on it..
looks like a toy version of an SLR, but i'm amazed with the image quality. lens does great macros.
theres a new em5 coming out with a new sensor shift technology that gets 40mp shots but needs a tripod to attain that setting.
i've used SLR's in the past and got sick of carying the weight and bulk of them, they can be overkill for a lot of photographers. but i was missing the much greater functionality and setting control the slr camera had over the g1x.
The em5 has a lot of the functionality of an slr, electronic viewfinder, lot of information on the viewfinder, can make a lot of adjustments , and numerous different shooting setting options, to all in tents and purposes it is a small slr. Olympus Zuiko lenses are as good as they come for image sharpness. the camera and lens are all weather sealed as well. olympus have recognised the market for outdoors people looking for a quality compact camera they can use in all sorts of weather. the em1 is even rated for low temps as well.
still its bulkier and heavier than your compact format cameras, you have to weigh up whether you're willing to carry around a camera of that weight and size, its 1.3kilos all up, the camera and lens weigh 900gm, some slrs camera bodies alone weigh that before you put a heavy zoom lens on it.. my last slr kit was about 2.5 kilos.
i've also got a sony rx100 as a backup, i use it for video to spare the main camera battery and when i'm not so fussy about image quality, at 250gm and pocketable its a highly portable, camera with a one inch sensor rated as the best advanced compact camera around. has its limitations though hence the em5. comes down to how fussy you are with the photos you want and how much gear you think its worth toting around... are you a tramper who takes photographs or a photographer who tramps....
Interesting info Wayno!
Camera buffs what is your opinion on the best compact camera out there for landscape photography while tramping? (One that handles low light conditions well)
Everything I've posted on here has been taken with a cheapish Fuji that is now 8 years old and I'm considering upgrading even though the Fuji performs quite well except for low light and high contrast situations.
low (interesting) light capacity, high contrast, a range of lens lengths(zoom), small and light, robust and waterproof, battery life, affordable, quality image .... the perfect camera - yet to be invented.
I'm very happy with my Sony NEX 5n, check out some of the results on www.flickr.com/photos/go_wild/ and I would love to upgrade to the Sony A6000 (with a waterproof case) because it has a view finder and faster auto focus.
I've recently upgraded from a Fuji XP (the bombproof one) to a Panasonic Lumix LX-7 and I'm really impressed so far.
Example of low light performance : http://tramper.co.nz/14555/studholme-saddle-kaweka-fp-5am/
High contrast : http://tramper.co.nz/14597/mt-taranaki-summit-crater-mid-summer/
It packs in plenty of features you'd usually only find in a DSLR, whilst staying nice and compact. The old Fuji is a tough little thing, but as glennj says it really struggles with low light and high contrast.
@glenn
depends how big you want to go, theres different classes of compacts now, go and take a look at the price and the size and see what you think.
Price is a rough indicator of how good it can be.
my rx100 is an older model they are up to model 3 now, the older models can be picked up more cheaply online but still around $500, its ok in low light but there are better cameras a bit more bulky
the LX100 is rated very highly.
my g1x is great in low light, its a bigger than the Rx, weighs half a kilo, the rx weighs half that.
http://www.cameralabs.com/buyers_guide/compacts/best_compact_digital_camera.shtml
take a step up in size and quality if you think its for you, still smaller than an slr
http://www.cameralabs.com/buyers_guide/mirrorless/best_mirrorless_camera.shtml
www.dpreview.com is a good resource for cameras but the website seems to be down right now.
this site gives a good rating of camera sensitivity,, select the compact cameras and high end compacts and look at the usable ISO no it gives for the camera, the higher the better so you can get an idea how they compare. select the hybrids for the models between compacts and SLRs
again make sure the camera is the size you are looking for
http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Ratings/Sports
Thanks guys for the trouble taken with detailed replies & the links. Some impressive shots there HughvN. Hutchk I've been impressed with a friends work who uses a Lumix LX camera so they are already on the radar. Wayno thanks for the advice and links. I'll explore those web sites some time.
its hard to go wrong these days, theres a lot of recogniseable brands puttting out good quality cameras now, they have to be, phones and ipads are cutting into the camera market.
unless you're xtremely fussy about photos and print poster size prints, you can get a great quality camera without spending a fortune buying a heayweight SLR.
There are still quite a few things a slr or other manual camera can do which is too hard for the auto camera but for most people the modern point and hope gets it pretty right far more often than not and does take a good picture.
Do get a camera with optical zoom though. Digital zoom is no different to zooming into the image on your pc when you get home
oh yeah, check what the battery life is on the various cameras... see how many shots a camera is rated for. large lcd screens are a major drain on batteries... fuji and sony's larger cameras tend to have larger ones. minimise how much the screen is left on for to preview shots to pad out the battery life, and dont spend too much time browsing them on the camera.
On the topic, is there such a thing as a waterproof (or at least water resistant) camera bag that can also breathe to let a wet camera dry out over time?
I'm more of a point-and-shoot photographer, quantity over quality, and I like to have the camera out in the rain just as much, but in the times when I've looked at the shock-proof/water-proof varieties I've found they didn't always tick all the boxes I liked as far as making good decisions to compensate for my own incopetence. This is generally fine and I've found a typical non-shockproof non-waterproof camera will last around 2 or 3 years before it wears out. Most recently I just bought an old Canon SX SX160 IS off Trademe because I like the AA batteries and I know I can get it to take photos I like.
The main problem with all my cameras, though, has been water building up during a particular trip. I can keep serious rain or an accidental river-dunking off with something like a zip-lock bag, but I'm taking photos in the rain anyway, the camera gradually gets wet and a zip-lock bag just keeps the dampness inside. The lens gets fogged up over time which I could probably wipe off with care, but there's enough dampness around the camera for up to a day before I might get a chance to pull out the batteries and air it out, that it's probably not good for it.
And this is why I'm curious if there's any type of camera bag, or any bag, out there, which might let moisture escape but still keep the bulk of the rain out.
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| Forum | Gear talk |
|---|---|
| Started by | waynowski |
| On | 31 January 2015 |
| Replies | 45 |
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