Street Photography Camera
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- 23kon0
Dont think the Canon GX1 will make the list. It's wayyyy too big.
Look at it even compared to the G1 - which itself is pretty hefty.
- 23kon0
Image comparison ....
- :(
makes my lx5 look like shit in comparisonmonospaced - Sony is incredibly impressivemonospaced
- sony is CRAZY good, eh? quality is indestinguishable from nex 7 too23kon
- would like to see them add the GX1 to that image comparison23kon
- :(
- 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
Gf1I 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.
- 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
- Hombre_Lobo0
Ps overall the lenses on the m43 have always been known as better than nex lens, even the kit lenses. But the nex 5n sensor does some magic and sharpens the images taken with the same kit lenses in a very natural way. so when you read the nex has terrible lenses, most of these comments are referring to how the lenses performed on the nex 5/3/c3 and not how they perform on the nex 5n or nex 7.
Also in forum comparisons it appears that whilst the 18-55mm kit lens with the nex 5n looks identical to the kit lens of the nex 5 it is intact sharper and better. I understand there is a variance in quality among all lenses but a certain user did a very extensive test and tried both kit lenses on both bodies in every combination And it became clear the newer 5n kit lens was better on both bodies and the older kit lens whilst still inferior to the new kit lens was slightly better on the new nex 5n body, showing both an improvement in kit lens and sensor perofmance / in camera processing. This test also included the 16mm pancake and yielded the same results.
However the primes on m43 are very good, better than anything available for nex, as you would expect primes to be.
- robotron3k0
street photo is about shooting in high contrast/low light and focus speed. I just hacked my GH2 and I'm getting crazy film like grain and can shoot b/w in extreme low light at 12,800 if I want. Some crazy stuff hacks can do to improve your system and get more mileage out of lenses that aren't as fast as you want them to be. bangin' stuff. believe.
- Robotron3k you sweet s.o.b! The gh2 is a beautiful cam, the hacks are insane. The best video cam by far until you get red or ex1Hombre_Lobo
- To the like of Red and I suspect the Sony ex1 is better but the gh2 is much cheaper.Hombre_Lobo
- amazing.ebertzjaw
- yes tis all true. I took some simple shots of my family for xmas and they came out stunningly beautiful.robotron3k
- also, GH2 is the fastest focuser and automated follow focuser on the market.robotron3k
- I think the new Sony SLT range are actually better for continuous AF in video, but not by much. I'm jealous!Hombre_Lobo
- Oh and the ETC crop video mode is actually one of the most genius things ever!Hombre_Lobo
- Hombre_Lobo0
Also 23kon,
In the above image comprising you posted the Sony isn't using a nex lens in the test. So its a bit of a poitnless example. Its using the Sam dt 50mm 1.8 alpha mount via an adapter.
- And the gf3 is using a non native Olympus fourthirds 50mm macro.
But it gives an idea comparatively. Just not kit lens examples.Hombre_Lobo - Comparatively, just not kit lens use examples.Hombre_Lobo
- And the gf3 is using a non native Olympus fourthirds 50mm macro.
- inteliboy0
- nice!ok_not_ok
- This is going to be my next cameraReeno
- Yes!wasywas
- amazingcruddlebub
- there is a reason they don't all build camera's retro like this. no real modern features and too much compromise for cost.robotron3k
- 23kon0
Wow, that XPro1 is looovely, kinda beefy though for what i'm after - a camera I can take everywhere. I'd have this as a second serious camera though.
Thanks Hombre for your input. Just had a scan of your feedback but will read more indepth later. Feck I never realised it wasnt the Nex lens the sony is using in that test - i feel cheated now lol.
Tests of the X10 and some of the reviews havent rated it that highly but the camera IS built well and feels amazing in your hands. When you look at the X10 group on Flickr the quality of shots are really high in terms of both the quality and the shots - this shows that folk who have this camera KNOW photography so obviously know their stuff when it comes to cameras.
I'm not going to have time through the week but this weekend i'm going to be annoying the local Jessops and Jacobs by going in and fondling cameras lol.
- 23kon0
Good writeup and explaination of the Pentax Q
http://wouter28mm.wordpress.com/…
and another decent writeup but not really favouring the Q
http://www.technobuffalo.com/cam…
- chrisclausie0
Here are all the details for the XPro 1.
They recon it could out resolve a full frame digital camera as it is has done away with the Bayer-pattern colour filter array found on most digi sensors..
- yeh man, that sensor promises to be amazing. Lets hope it delivers. Zoom lenses would be ace too.Hombre_Lobo
- craigatkinson0
@23kon I know you mentioned a zoom as being important - why is it though [I'm interested in people's processes]. I'm a big fan of the Ricoh GR series, especially for street but it's great for daily family stuff too. The snap function leaves no shutter lag, it can't be any more discreet [100% black and the option to disable all lights] and the lens is fantastic - you should take a look. I don't work for the btw.
One thing that stops me taking pictures is the need for lenses, bags, straps, inability to fit in a pocket...GRD4 / Canon S95 or S100 with slightly inferior IQ I think. Here's the flickr group I started for the ricoh, some nice street stuff here http://www.flickr.com/groups/grd…
- Iogout0
This is how I feel about your agonizing over a camera:
- Hombre_Lobo0
And yeh the fuji X pro looks cool. Yesterday was a fun day for camera geeks, Fuji and canon dealing out some eye candy.
In terms of the nikon J1 / V1 and pentax Q, I always think that a GF1 and the EPL3 or pen mini are better options. They have a bigger sensor, more lenses, cheaper lenses and the size is practically the same. In fact the pen mini and its lenses are lighter than the nikon and its lenses. I suspect the Gf3 is also lighter.
But in all honesty i know very little about the pentax Q so i cant pass judgement on it.
Also when ive had a blast with the nikon J1 ive been quite unimpressed, a lot of indoor shots at 1/30 were blurry and the light was good. The build quality is amazing though and the screen is great. Also the sensor size to noise level in the J1 is actually quite impressive. If nikon made a micro four third size sensor I reckon they could do high iso better than we currently have.
The nikon does do crazy high fps though, 60fps full resolution iirc.
- aye folk dont seem to be impressed with Nikons offerings23kon
- Hombre_Lobo0
also dont be fooled by high iso comparisons when comparing cameras, particularly when looking at the olympus pen m43.
Be sure to check DXOmark for ACTUAL iso values. Oly are notorious for underating their iso values so that iso 800 on the pens is more like 500 - which looks great in reviews but of course it will need a much longer shutter time to achieve a 0 exposure. And the panasonics are often spot on. The GF1 however overshoots the iso quite a lot, iso 800 is more like 1100!
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php…
also extremely useful - http://www.imaging-resource.com/…- ah... so that may explain why using certain cameras as "digital light meters" doesn't work so well sometimes....vaxorcist
- yeh man, not all cameras are equal :(Hombre_Lobo
- 23kon0
@craigatkinson
When I used to shoot with film on LC-A and Holga etc I would occasionally wish I had a zoom function as sometimes something high up will catch my eye. Plus I want the camera to be an allrounder - not just for street photography.
- Jimbo820
I ALWAYS crack up when I see these threads!
This is hombre_Lobo's specialist subject! You need your own review site or something, top work!
- haha very kind of you dude. What i really need to do is take more pictures and read less about cameras!! :PHombre_Lobo
- although i still haven't seen anyone give a practical in depth comparison of all the different systems.Hombre_Lobo
- 23kon0
Yeah Hombre_Lobo should definitely start his own photography blog or Q&A hehe. Might score some free camera gear from manufacturers!
Go check out the photos in the Sony Nex 5N group.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/nex…
I know a camera cant be judged by the images in a group but the images from this camera are really good! even mundane photos make you feel like you are there.I think the Sony may be the favourite at the moment for its size and the cheapness of getting a camera+16mm+convertor to verywide/fisheye for the cheapest amount of money whilst knocking out high quality images that i'd be MORE than happy with.
- Hombre_Lobo0
@23kon,
Yeh man the nex 5n is a stunning camera. Some people hate its design and ergonomics, but i have normal sized hands and i really like it. The chunky grip makes it easy to hold for a small camera. In fact the Nex C3 has a slimmer grip and feels awful.
In regards to that flickr pool, yeh your right, its hard to judge image pool pictures. Particularly with the nex 5n becuase 90% of the photos i clicked on to view were using old manual focus lenses. A lot of decent old school manual focus photographers saw the awesomeness of the nex 5n sensor and jumped on it as a cheap leica, so naturally the majority of those users are gonna be more experienced at photography than the average.
So I would recommend searching "nex 5n kit lens" -
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=…
(which still show some great pics)I'm very jealous dude. I would love a nex 5n. Just dont forget -
-the 16mm f2.8 is unuseable at 2.8 (but ok at 3.5 and good at 4), thankfully the crazy good high iso wont make noise levels an issue here
-There is no RAW bracketing as far as i know, only jpegAlso the camera sometimes overheats in video mode (just like the canon DSLR's do), but it isnt a bother from what ive seen, it can do so it after about 20 minutes at around 20 degrees C. So for long length filming the nex 5n isnt a great choice, but 90% of people rarely shoot for longer than a few minutes at any one time.
The in camera HDR functions are great and very customizable (im not sure if you can shoot RAW along side this though).
The wide angle adapter looks ace, called the VCL-ECU1.
(gives you 12mm, which is 18mm in 35mm terms)And lets not forget you could potentially add the BEST electronic view finder ever made at a later date -
(leica lens perhaps at a much later date!)And lets not forget that you can do some serious high quality night / star photography thanks to that awesome sensor -
source - http://forums.dpreview.com/forum…So you bought it yet??
- autoflavour0
Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III and this lens..
- autoflavour0
or this
a meer $42k
- what the frig is this????cruddlebub
- Hasselbladmonospaced
- digital medium format.pango