Street Photography Camera

Out of context: Reply #23

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  • Hombre_Lobo0

    Yoooo 23kon, Thanks for the kind mention in the OP and apologies for being late to the party on this one.

    I'm in a rush right now but can give a more detailed reply tomorrow.

    For now I will post this -

    Canon G1X, sensor slightly smaller than an APSC and a fraction larger than a micro four third sensor. Looks v exciting. But no reviews yet so who knows.

    But in short my top picks are
    X10
    Olympus xz1 (probably the most discreet high performance you can get)
    Nex 5n
    Lumix gx1 looks awesome
    The Olympus E-PL2
    Gf1

    I personally love the x10 and I'm a fan of the other premium compacts like the lx5, xz1 etc

    I also think the m43 choices are great as well as the nex. The nex 5n sensor is insane, in tests it looks as good as a 5D mkII at high iso. But the nex range lack the lenses. Also they have fixed the clicked during video problem on newer models AND will repair older models free of charge. The nex 5n video is incredible, as detailed as the canon DSLR's (inc the 7d, 5d mkIi) as far as I have seen.

    Nex 5n however lacks lenses and the longer lenses (over 55mm) are huge. There is a 50mm 1.8 which is like the rest of the nex lens range - ok, not great. But I do very much like the nex 5n, great sensor, great video and a cheap and decent wide angle converter that attaches to the 16mm 2.8 pancake. BUT from what ive seen note that the 16mm 2.8 pancake is terrible at 2.8, and I mean unusable. At f4 it's good and decent, 3.5 is ok. They shouldn't have released it at 2.8. The wide angle adapter isv cool and brings it down to 12mm (18mm in 35 terms) or the fish eye get its to 8mm (12mm in 35 terms). AND to top it all off you can attach the worlds best electronic view finder to the nex 5n.its the same EVF as found in the A77 and a65 and is absolutely epic. But some people just hate EVF so try to have a look through one before even considering buying it as its expensive (£280 ish).

    But I would also strongly consider a Gf1, street shooting is rarely low light so the high iso performance of the gx1 isn't a massive factor, but the gf1 doesnt have the new fast autofocus panny system (but its still very fast). and the money saved could be better spent on lenses like the lumix 20mm f1.7 (I have it and it's extremely sharp) or the Olympus 45mm 1.8 (gets great reviews). Also the 20mm gives a 40mm focal length which is fairly close to the popular 35mm used for street photography.

    Also for m43 you can get a 24mm 1.4 which is ace! I love my 20mm 1.7 but the 24mm is a step up in optics and the light gathering differences between 1.4 and 1.7 is a bit surprising.

    Also in terms of DOF within m43 vs APSC sized sensors Ive been very impress with how shallow the DOF is on m43 with my old Olympus Om 50mm f1.8. It's more than enough broken for me and the differences aren't as huge as people make out. Check Flickr for some Olympus 45mm f1.8 pics.

    I also put in the Olympus E-PL2 because it is one of my favourite m43 cams. It's shape is ace feels really good, can attach the only viewfinder which is better than Panasonic and has inbuilt image stabilisation which gives you stability with the pancakes - something you don't get with the Panasonic m43 bondies (however this is not be important for street photography in daylight).

    I prefer the epl2 design massively to the epl3. The epl3 is too small and feels awful in hand.

    If depth of field isn't all that important my pick would be the x10, such a versatile little camera and so well made. V fast focusing too. But if DOF is important a m43 / nex is needed.

    Also the x10 has an awesome half resolution mode where it increases dynamic range massively (600% iirc) and outputs 6mp stills.

    This certainly wasn't a quick post like I intended and I apologise for this jumble of information, I'm not at my computer and writing this on a tablet isn't the best for organising big chunks of text! Hope it wasn't too mindless.

    Hombre_Lobo 0Permalink
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    • wow. great post. i'm in the same boat as 23, trying to decide which to buy. that canon g1x looks amazing.sine
    • "street shooting is rarely low light" that's bollocks, hombre..ebertzjaw
    • Thats in my experience, i didnt say never. It's entirely personal style.Hombre_Lobo
    • Also ebertzjaw, remind me how you contributed to this thread. Ah yes, you didnt, now back to silence young peon.Hombre_Lobo
    • The canon looks great on paper, it's a fair chunk of metal thoughcraigatkinson
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