Yet Another Digital Camera Recommendation Thread

[dsavitsk]

Sorry if this is repetitive. I am looking for a new camera. I have pretty specific wants and I have thus far not been able to find what i am looking for.

The background is that this will be replacing my trusty Contax G1, and I basically want that camera with a digital back.

So, I would like digital, interchangeable lenses of good quality, compact (mirrorless most likely as SLRs are too bulky), a system that won't become obsolete, etc. More specifically, I want to control aperture and shutter speed "mechanically" meaning I don't want to toggle through an LCD screen to set them. Bonus points if the aperture control is a ring on the lens. I also am primarily interested in fixed focal length lenses as 95% of the time I'll use the equivalent of a 35mm F/2.0 for a 35mm camera (the other 5% I'd want a 90mm equiv macro). I would also love the ability to manually focus. I don't care about stabilization, video, stitching together panoramas, reducing red eye, flashes that pop up, or any of that. Just a good sensor, and good glass.

The obvious "right" answer is the M9, but it is too expensive by a factor of about 10. Does anyone else make anything that fits the bill?

[grawk]

The closest to what you want is probably a sony nex.

[RudeWolf]

I have some reservations about the M3/4 while others might not and therefore I too recommend the Nex.

And.

[crappyjones123]

nex system with alternative glass. manual mode gives you full control over all the settings you desire. i have only ever used prime lenses though but since you mention a fixed focal length, a wide prime (take into account the 1.5x crop factor) and a longish lens to get to 90mm. lots of good suggestions over in the alternative lens section of fredmiranda.com.

the m9 does fit your description to the dot though...

[Salt Peanuts]

If my memory serves me right, only lenses that come close to your 35mm f/2 in mirrorless systems natively are Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar 24mm f/1.8 (not exactly a small lens) for NEX system and Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake for m43 system.

Now, if you can live with *just* 35mm f/2, there's Fuji X100, though apparently the menu system is atrocious and autofocus speed is horrendous (though IQ looks really good).

Edited December 2, 2011 by Salt Peanuts

[bhjazz]

I read a review a few weeks back re the nex-7. Beautiful shots, tons of control. But the guy said he felt he liked Fuji's color better. I was amazed.

[RudeWolf]

Fuji X100 seemed a bit too idiosyncratic to me. A great capable camera but too hampered by some clumsy design decisions. UI wise mostly. Also I don't understand why they decided to implement focusing-by-wire.

[dsavitsk]

The Fuji looks really neat, but I agree that it is a little too idiosyncratic. Too bad, really. I'll check out the Sony, though the combination of Sony and Minolta is not something that inspires a lot of confidence. But, I'll go in with an open mind. Thanks for the suggestions.

Edited December 3, 2011 by dsavitsk

[Cankin]

Ricoh GXR Mount A12 or upcoming Fuji LX10 mirrorless?

[dsavitsk]

Fuji LX10 mirrorless?

The Fuji really looks like the winner and worth waiting for. It is amazing to me that a shutter speed knob on the top and an aperture ring on the lens would be such a novelty. Maybe Zeiss will come out with a digital Ikon ...

[crappyjones123]

the ikons are supposed to have an excellent viewfinder. or was it the bessa series from voigtlander? hmm...

[Cankin]

No digital rangefinder from Zeiss in the near future

http://www.zeissrumo...ng-digital.html

Edited December 7, 2011 by Cankin

[Iron_Dreamer]

Here's a thread that should be right up your alley: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1053384

[Iron_Dreamer]

And another: http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2011/12/06/user-report-using-the-sony-nex-5n-with-contax-g-lenses-by-jae-yoon/

[dsavitsk]

Looks like the camera I have been waiting for is finally arriving.

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/fujifilm-x-e1

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a 23mm fixed lens

[aerius]

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a 23mm fixed lens

Fortunately, it's coming out pretty soon according to the Fuji lens roadmap. Should be out by early 2013.

http://www.fujifilm.com/news/n120626.html

[dsavitsk]

Ow wow. I think someone made the perfect digital camera.

[padam]

The NEX5N is super cheap now as long as you can find the remaining stock, you should just mount your superb ContaxG lens on it.

The focusing feel suffers a little since it converts autofocus lens to manual focus but otherwise the overall value is amazing. Later on there will be an autofocus ContaxG adapter as well.

Edited November 9, 2012 by padam

[Knuckledragger]

Devil's advocate here. If a 35mm fixed lens is what you're after, Sony makes exactly that, with a full frame sensor. You will have to look elsewhere for your 90mm fix. Personally, I'm really bothered by the wide angle distortion that small sensor cameras have with their 35mm equivalent lenses. A 35mm lens and a 35mm sensor is my favorite combination for general purpose photography.

DP Review did a basic once-over:

Kai @ DRTV did his usual clown shoes take, but made some good points:

The DSC-RX1000 is not cheap, and not expandable, but it would come closest to what your Contax did, without falling into the Leica price point.

[Duggeh]

I've been looking for a digital camera for a very long time now and I thought that the RX100 had everything i wanted except an OVF.

Then I saw the price.

So I just bought a Fuji X100.

[cutestory]

Nice. I was looking at that Sony as well, but the price is way off the mark. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Fuji once you've had the chance to play with it. Looks like a great buy.

[Duggeh]

I'd been hesitating over the Fuji for a wee while after I realised it was the way to go instead of the Olympus OM-D (optical viewfinder, gimmie one ANY day over an EVF. Also a bigger sensor and I'll never end up with a M4/3 lens collection anyway). Amazon UK dropped £100 off the price on Friday and I bought one immediately. I've used nothing more sophisticated than an Olympus OM-1 before this and have never had a not point-n-shoot tiny crappy digital camera before. My instant reaction was I didn't like it because the manual focus is useless for the style of manual focus I'm used to with the OM lenses but after a day of guddlign with it I like the X100. The slow change fly by wire manual focus works really well if you use the autofocus as a pre-focus. I loathe electronic viewfinders so the faux rangefinder window was a real deal maker and it is nice but far from perfect. It doesn't compare to the OM-1 viewfinder for WYSIWYG (I've not been out and about yet) and paralax makes close up framing cumbersome (at the minute, I'm getting the hang of it). Also having to use macro at much longer distances than I'd prefer.

1/4000 and 1/2000 aren't available at F2 and F2.8, but the built in 3 stop ND filter helps make up for this.

There are two programmable buttons. I have FN set to ISO control and RAW set to film effect filter. I like the auto black and white jpegs and you can set red yellow or green filter for black and white.

Battery life seems poor. But It's not really in real world use atm. Lots of menu diving and screen review.

No aperture blade issues, but I got the black model which was probably make after they'd sorted that.

Ramble ramble ramble. New toy, good fun, still taking bad photos, etc etc.

[dsavitsk]

Devil's advocate here. If a 35mm fixed lens is what you're after, Sony makes exactly that, with a full frame sensor.

That's really really cool, but just a little too dear. I am holding out for the Fuji with the 41mm equiv pancake as a main camera as I have no use for the zoom they are currently bundling, and it really makes it too big for a travel camera. The ability to take the lens off and use my Contax glass for the occasional table top shot probably makes it the right choice over the Sony, too. As does the included EVF (which I am not so opposed to instead of the OVF.) Adding that to the Sony drives it up another $500. But it is really really cool ...

... if the Sony had a shutter speed knob on top ...

Edited November 12, 2012 by dsavitsk

[catscratch]

I'm still holding out for a full-frame interchangeable lens mirrorless. The nex-7 is pretty neat, my father uses one, and it's quite a bargain considering that there are adapters now being made for it that make it compatible with a huge variety of lens mounts, so you can use a lot of vintage lenses with it. He's got a fair bit of old russian lenses - some of which are optically superb - as well as Canon FD lenses, which are now dirt cheap for the quality that you get. The biggest plus on the nex is the focus highlight - it highlights everything that is in focus, making manual focus about as easy as it can possibly get, which together with easily accessible manual aperture and shutterspeed controls make it a great handling camera. My only issue is the APS-C sized sensor. I want my 50 to be a 50 and I like wide-angle, and I don't want to pay Leica prices for something like this.

The moment someone makes something like this, I'm all over it. And afterwards, the prices of vintage lenses are probably going to go up.

Edited November 12, 2012 by catscratch

[padam]

Just curious, what are these superb Russian lenses?

In Hungary, they are not so hard to come by so I might try a few.

I reckon if they make it will definitely cost more than the RX1 and it will be thicker as well and probably use somewhat similar mounting system to the VG900.