Quick Shop Hands On With A Few Recent And Slightly Recent Releases

Ahmad Bhai

Ahmad Bhai

Well-Known Member
Canon G16 http://www.dpreview.com/products/canon/compacts/canon_g16

Fuji XE2 http://www.dpreview.com/products/fujifilm/slrs/fujifilm_xe2

Fuji X20 http://www.dpreview.com/products/fujifilm/compacts/fujifilm_x20

Leica M240 http://www.dpreview.com/products/leica/slrs/leica_me220

Leica XVario http://www.dpreview.com/products/leica/compacts/leica_xvario

Olympus Stylus 1 http://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/compacts/oly_stylus1

Olympus EM1 http://www.dpreview.com/products/olympus/slrs/oly_em1

Nikon Df http://www.dpreview.com/products/nikon/slrs/nikon_df

Nikon P7800 http://www.dpreview.com/products/nikon/compacts/nikon_cpp7800

Nikon V2 http://www.dpreview.com/products/nikon/slrs/nikon_v2

Nikon D4 http://www.dpreview.com/products/nikon/slrs/nikon_d4

Panasonic FZ70 http://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/compacts/panasonic_dmcfz70

Panasonic GX7 http://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/slrs/panasonic_dmcgx7

Sigma DP3M http://www.dpreview.com/products/sigma/compacts/sigma_dp3m

Sony A7 http://www.dpreview.com/products/sony/slrs/sony_a7

Sony HX50V http://www.dpreview.com/products/sony/compacts/sony_dschx50v

Sony HX300 http://www.dpreview.com/products/sony/compacts/sony_dschx300

Sony RX10 http://www.dpreview.com/products/sony/compacts/sony_dscrx10

Sony RX100 MK2 http://www.dpreview.com/products/sony/compacts/sony_dscrx100m2




Imo

Compact
Sony HX50V 30x zoom 24-720mm (in terms of reach) and manual features : exposure comp dial, PASM dial.


Superzoom
Sony HX300 50x 24-1200 manual zoom Zeiss T Vario Sonnar, titl lcd, EVF, PASM dial.


Fast aperture smallish sensor
Olympus Stylus 1 constant F2.8, 28-300mm, 1.4million dot EVF, tilt touch 1.4million dot lcd, 1/1.7" & pocketable :
nothing comes close no Canon G16. no Fuji X20, no Nikon P7800.
Sony RX10 1" sensor Zeiss T* constant F2.8, 28-200mm is just too big and twice the price (£1100)
and doesn't really offer anything significant image quality nor high ISO compared to Stylus 1.


Best IQ zoom compact
Sony RX100 MK2 no contest, addition of tilt lcd made it even more useful, although AF is sluggish.


M43
Panasonic GX7 : real useful tilting EVF & cool rangefinder body (my favourite body of all recent cameras).
Best for high ISO & video amongst current m43 even better than EM1.

(Panasonic GM1 smallest m43 I couldnt find in a shop on London as yet.
Upcoming Olympus EM10 built in EVF will supposedly be almost as small as GM1).


Fastest AF Mirrorless
Olympus EM1 & Upcoming Fuji X-T1 http://fujifilm-x.com/teaser140128/en/
even though Nikon V2 has really fast AF the V lens line up just isn't there, and shallow dof of m43, apsc swings it.

My choice : X-T1 if it has reportedly 8fps AF tracking, better EVF than EM1 & tilting LCD, weather sealing.
Fuji lens line up is catching up with best of m43 esp recently announced Fuji 56mm F1.2 compared to the biiiig m43 Nocticron 42.5mm F1.2
And ability to use Sigma ART lenses which are streets ahead of Canon Nikon far cheaper and almost on a par with £4k Zeiss Otus.
Although M43 Olympus 75mm F1.8 is one of the finest modern lens (made upposedly by Sigma).

(Leica are rumoured to bring a mirrorless APSC with XVario styling, manual lenses made in Germany, AF lneses made by Panasonic).


Full Frame
Sony A7/r manual focus legacy & some M lenses, not autofocus.
Same size as Olympus EM1.


Full Frame AF
Cant recommend the DF as users say the AF is worse than entry level D5200.
I liked DF shutter dial and ISO dial which upcoming Fuji X-T1 has. X-T1 also has & exp comp dial.
Cant really recommend Nikon D4 £4K as Nikon D3 with warranty can be had approx £900.


Out and out IQ in a compact ala Nikon D800E
(fairy dust of Foveon) :
Sigma DP Merril currenlty £399 each for 28mm F2.8 DP1M, 45mm F2.8 DP2M, 75mm F2.8, 1:4 macro DP3M.
Pixel level clarity sharpness still better than D800E.
Lens matched to sensor, corner to corner shaprness.


...


If I was on a once in a lifetime to Africa, South America, Antarctia, Tibet which would I take
DP1M landscape (& 8x10 large frame :)
Sony HX300 superzoom wildlife
Fuji X-T1 + fast af Fuji zoom people & street.
Upcoming Sony Nex style FF & legacy manual focus shallow dof
(no built in evf, no phase detect af, i think will be approx £899)
 
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Ahmad the DP Merrills at £399 is that the Belgium site ? Or is there a uk retailer matching that. Clifton Cmaeras still have them at £649 with £150 cash back.?
 
Pete Askew said:
Hi Ahmad, good to see you dipping in again. Nice roundup! I weakened and bought the DP2 and DP3. Fantastic image quality but dreadful as a general camera. Coming more to terms with RX100 as a travel camera but wish I had a tilting screen.
Click to expand...

Pete the OM-D has a tilting screen and I love it. I find it odd now to use my camera's which do not have this facility.
 
Ahmad - X-T1 is going to be quite the camera - good choice :)
 
Hello fellow hoodlums :cool:

Pete Sigma DPM's are pretty hopless as a general walkabout. Still for anything that's not moving ...

Julian tilt screen is one of the first things I look for these days, shooting from the hip I use far more than EVF OVF,
ground level without straining neck back , arms stretched high above head.

Chris http://www.fujirumors.com/enjoy-more-x-t1-images-evf-specs-bigger-evf-than-e-m1/
" EVF: 2.36 million OLED 0.005s lag x0.77 magnification <- this is EVF spec, the world highest / 0.08s AF speed (world fastest)"
tilt screen / ISO up to 51200 / magnestum body / weather sealded/ 8fps AF tracking/ dual SD card slots
Really really like the drive wheel below ISO dial & metering wheel below shutter dial.
XF 18-135 rumored to be weather sealed.

Brian whenever I see a OVF, EVF in a compact I remember you looking for a compact with an OVF.
Olympus Stylus 1 is a camera and a half its EVF (1.4million dots same as OMD EM5) is way better than Panasonic LF1 0.2million dots , Nikon P7800 0.9 mill dots,
Canon G16 OVF is fairly hopeless.
Stylus 1 touch screen AF is almost instant (in low light basement of Selfridges Bond Street i tested).
I can't believe how they got a 28-300, f2.8 constant in such a small body. I have in comparison a massive Canon A650 1/1.7" 35-210 f2.8-f4.8.
Stylus 1 basically relegated all other "premium" compacts, except Sony RX100 MKII, although I prefer the Stylus 1 for reach, handling, lens, evf, speed AF.
 
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Thank you @ahmad bhai. I never did get any kind of small digital camera at that time but I am now looking again. (Going to Europe in the Summer and I want to travel light.) Your post and review above is timely for me. You have a good memory. Yes, a view finder is something I would prefer. However, even though it's in the non-OVF/EVF category, I have been interested lately in the DP1 and DP2 Merrill (and @Julian de'Courcy has been very helpful in providing me with details of his experiences with his DP3). I'm not sure I want to buy all the compromises the Sigma DP requires though. (But I love the notion of having that Foveon sensor.)

The Panasonic GX7 and the Fuji X20 are looking attractive.
 
I am somehow rather thrilled the Sigma's are being used by Julian & Pete and hopefully you and perhaps more forumees.
I did a search here to see Merrill photos.
I just dont know why but it is the only sensor to send a little shiver in me these days :
(Foveon in a Fuji X-T1 body would been the dream).

My first Sigma was SD9 still in my view the most oh wow Sigma released, even though it doesn't have the detail of the Merrills.
I had the DP1 and the DP2 both of which are quite a bit smaller than the Merrills.
DP3M is reported to have the most accurate colour reproduction of all the Merills, even with firmware updates to DP1M, DP2M.
Mono ... Sigma's just sing.
 
Ahmad,...how did you get on with the DP1 and DP2 you owned? (Do they "sing" in B&W also, or is that just the Merrils?)
 
Brian I used the DP1 more and kept it until 2013, even though i wished its F4 was F2.8.
DP2 I kept for a short while : 45mm is not a focal length i use too frequently.

Dp1, Dp2 it has been said (and older Sigma's) sing even more for less pixels on 1.7x crop.
(I have found the same for older Bayer's as Fuji S2, Nikon D1H, Canon 1D, Kodak SLRc singing for less pixels on apsc, apsh, ff )

4.6MP DP1m DP2m are equivalent to Bayer 9MP and easier to process on old dual core computer with just 2GB of memory (i had an old ibm thinkpad x60)
probably even on an Atom windows tablet.
I dont print large, hardly ever, thus 9MP equivalent was plenty.

I think Merrils require i5 or i7 with at least 4GB memory, ideally 8GB, preferably retina.
I have read processing Merrils, Sigma Photo Pro sharpness should be set to -2 (minus) for neutral sharpness.
DP1, DP2 i set to -0.7 for neutral sharpness.
 
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Thanks, Ahmad. I appreciate your comments and thoughts on these cameras. Are the DP1 and DP2 as bad a walkabout snapshot camera as I have read? (They certainly have their devotees, and there are plenty of pictures of all varieties on view in Flickr.)
 
DP1, DP2 had a handy distance scale dial on top. I assume people photopraphed street by combining distance dial with prefocusing & F8.
Buffer was like 3 RAWs then wait quite few seconds.
Sigma compacts really are a "decisive moment" when it is street, any leeway either way and the moment has vapourised into the ether.
 
One thing to note is that Adobe recognises the older Foveon x3 raw files from the dp1 and dp2. which is useful. I am very much considering getting a Dp1x as they are cheap at the moment.

Ahmad there is alot who say zero sharpening is -2 on the older Dp models. Yet there is still some debate as to whether that is true or not on the Merrills from my understanding. The Noise reduction in
Sigma Photo Pro does need to be switched off to get the highest resolution as well.
All in all though, I think one can miss the point if it is used just for high resolution images which it is superb, but the quality of light from softer images is unique as well. Using one now for a couple of months and and may images
it is akin to using a film camera in speed and process. Which is not all bad. But yes all the negatives are for real, it is just when it works well all is forgiven. As said B+W is superb.
 
ahmad bhai said:
Welcome Brian.
Original DP2 has a F2.8. I think it is an inexpensive way to see if it is suitable.

Julian that's what drew me to the Sigma's, subtle undulating.
Couple of DP1 photos http://www.realphotographersforum.com/forum/threads/article-sigma-sd9-mini-review.8210/


http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3611051#forum-post-52953292
Click to expand...


I am more drawn to the original Dp2x which Clifton camera's at the moment have for £199 new. As a B+W only camera it would have it's uses.
I think one of the biggest problems is the software, I can get over the quirks but sitting at the desk and reading the web waiting while rendering an image
Ahmad, it was nice to revisit that thread and those B+W images in particular.
 
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