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Author Topic: New travel/street camera  (Read 18973 times)

stephen.steinberg

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Re: New travel/street camera
« Reply #60 on: March 16, 2014, 09:24:41 am »

Michael Reichmann raises an interesting point in a blog:  he recommends a camera where various "buttons" can be set for preprogrammed settings, like a street setting on fn1 and a kids setting on fn2, etc.  But which cameras that we have been talking about--Fuji, Olympus, Sony NEX 7 have these capabilities?   
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Deep

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Re: New travel/street camera
« Reply #61 on: March 16, 2014, 04:03:01 pm »

Michael Reichmann raises an interesting point in a blog:  he recommends a camera where various "buttons" can be set for preprogrammed settings, like a street setting on fn1 and a kids setting on fn2, etc.  But which cameras that we have been talking about--Fuji, Olympus, Sony NEX 7 have these capabilities?   

The Canon G1X can do that.  (I think only two of us have actually mentioned it but it remains the camera which best meets the original requirements!)
Actually, you can do that with an Olympus EM1 too, by dedicating positions on the mode dial to "Mysets".
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Don

OnyimBob

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Re: New travel/street camera
« Reply #62 on: March 16, 2014, 05:01:46 pm »

NEX 7 does.
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Bob Munro.
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JGU1956

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Re: New travel/street camera
« Reply #63 on: April 18, 2014, 08:13:03 am »

Douglas,

Good luck with this! It's extremely liberating to be able to use a smaller camera/system instead of a dSLR.

As others have said, the bottom line is often the "feel", the ergonomics, whether the camera is part of you (or vice versa).  There is probably no one correct answer.  To paraphrase some of Thom Hogan's recent pieces, the sensor and other technicalities are fast becoming less important in differentiating camera bodies, so just go with what feels right.

I recently did a 10 week human-powered ski tour in Norway and was VERY impressed with the Panasonic GX7.   Originally I was looking for a new high end point and shoot, and almost in spite of myself got an interchangeable system instead. It worked far better for me than my previous small camera, the Canon G1X (which has good image quality, but I never enjoyed its ergonomics or the tiny viewfinder), and the GX7's EVF was a joy to use.  If you ever plan on using a camera in snow or other bright light avoid anything lacking a decent viewfinder.  My feeling is that EVFs are now good enough, and will soon eclipse OVFs.  LCD screens are next to useless if you are in the snow or other bright light, and I am surprised more people don't grumble about them.  Not to mention the shakiness of holding the camera away from your body, and the fact that if you wear glasses for reading an LCD screen is hard to read.

One of the big things in favour of any m43 system is that if you buy good lenses now, you can upgrade your m43 body in the future but still use the lenses.  Some of the non-m43 systems appear not to have a good range of lenses so you might be forced into using legacy glass with adaptors, which it seems can be less than optimal (though I have no personal experience here).  The only obvious gap I can see in m43 lenses now is the need for a quality wide angle prime.

Having said that, when skiing (or bushwalking, an Australian word for hiking) I want versatility with low weight, so I usually limit myself to a wide zoom and a standard zoom- the quality is quite good, but not as good as if I'd used primes. Always compromises!

One more thing- if you're looking to customise buttons, the GX7 has lots of scope for that.
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stamper

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Re: New travel/street camera
« Reply #64 on: April 18, 2014, 10:37:50 am »

+1 to the comments about the GX7. I bought one a few weeks ago primarily for street shooting. Impressed by the camera and the 14-40 and 45-150 lenses I bought. The handling is is spot on. My only slightly niggling gripe is that I like to use AF-ON and AE lock but it is not possible to map them to buttons that that fingers can easily reach. All other functions can be mapped or banks can be set and a turn of the knob on top can mean they are easily used. I am a happy shooter. BTW I bought an adaptor and can use my SLR lens that have an aperture ring in manual mode.
« Last Edit: April 18, 2014, 10:40:25 am by stamper »
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douglas frost

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Re: New travel/street camera
« Reply #65 on: April 18, 2014, 06:34:38 pm »

well, i ended up buying a sony alpha 6000 four weeks ago and so far i'm really enjoying using it.

i got it with the sony zeiss 24 f1.8 and the sony 50 f1.8 oss (which was on a special deal for $150 off). the zeiss 24 is a great walkaround lens, but the 50 is a real surprise in terms of performance per dollar.

the camera itself is easy to use; the menu system is reasonably straight forward although i'm still fine-tuning the settings. sony's manuals however are hopeless. some parts are clear, but other parts only give you vague clues as to what settings do, so be prepared to spend time on trial-and-error.

there is no doubt the sony is capable of capturing great images (operator dependent...). i am having to adapt the way i shoot with it compared to my 1dx, although nothing major. on the plus side, i don't need as many muscles.

in terms of use, it won't be replacing my dslr - i'm taking both on a trip to paris in two weeks time, but a multi-city trip in december/january with my kids will see only the sony taken along. for work, the dslr system will remain the go-to option, but for general use ('always in my bag' and family stuff) the sony is a welcome new tool.
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werner from aurora

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Re: New travel/street camera
« Reply #66 on: April 20, 2014, 12:05:31 am »

    Glad to hear you got it before your trip. Please share some pics when you get back, or at least your thoughts. My daughter will be going off to University next year and this is the camera I was thinking of sending her off with. (a tradition my father started with me).
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