No, I have'nt gone crazy and ditched my Nikon setup, a d800 will be in my. Hands at some point, depending on Christmas bonus and future wedding expenses. However, for years I have been looking for a small pocket camera, not shirt pocket necessarily but jacket pocket. Some thing for those days when I want To go light and fast or I am not expecting g a good photography opertunity.
Tried lots of the better compacts like the canon s100, oly zx-1. Panasonic lx5 and found them ok but things like focus limiting, DR constricting and prices not particularly appealing.
I had high hopes of the Nikon 1 system, and to be sure the cameras are really nice, really fast to focus and operate, and despite the small sensor the photos arvery nice. But I waited patiently for the lenses to come and higher end models, or a new sensor release and Nikon have been slow. I also hoped the smaller sensor would lead to smaller bodies and smaller lenses. I think this might come, but not yet.
I really disliked mft cameras, but the new olympus cameras have a fantastic Sony sensor that gives image quality equal to my Nikon d90 and similar to most canon crop cameras. I think olympus and Sony have also signed an agreement so I hope Sony's magic can continue to push the mft sensors. The mft cameras have managed to get smaller, they have matured, the lens line up has grown with many small zooms and some nice small primes.
The epm2 is 269g including batteries. The 14-42mm is only about 110g, and that i might replace with the Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 prime at a mere 55g for very light setup. I got a good deal getting the 40-150mm f/5.6 lens for only an extra $99, this lens seems to perform ok and weighs only 190g if I want to carry something for wildlife.
Wandered about the epl5 but I don't need or want the articulating screen and I generally just need the camera to be in aperture mode so an exposure mode button won't help me. I will see how the point and shoot style of the epm2 works out, apparently through the setup menus I can basically set the camera to run in aperture priority mode and rotate the rear dial to control the aperture, EC can be set to another pair of buttons and ISo to another. A tap of the screen will allow changing got fully auto, fully manual or shutter mode.
Will see how I get on.
Edit: cost was $599 for body, 2 lenses, flash, wireless sd card, so 370 quid GBP.
Tried lots of the better compacts like the canon s100, oly zx-1. Panasonic lx5 and found them ok but things like focus limiting, DR constricting and prices not particularly appealing.
I had high hopes of the Nikon 1 system, and to be sure the cameras are really nice, really fast to focus and operate, and despite the small sensor the photos arvery nice. But I waited patiently for the lenses to come and higher end models, or a new sensor release and Nikon have been slow. I also hoped the smaller sensor would lead to smaller bodies and smaller lenses. I think this might come, but not yet.
I really disliked mft cameras, but the new olympus cameras have a fantastic Sony sensor that gives image quality equal to my Nikon d90 and similar to most canon crop cameras. I think olympus and Sony have also signed an agreement so I hope Sony's magic can continue to push the mft sensors. The mft cameras have managed to get smaller, they have matured, the lens line up has grown with many small zooms and some nice small primes.
The epm2 is 269g including batteries. The 14-42mm is only about 110g, and that i might replace with the Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 prime at a mere 55g for very light setup. I got a good deal getting the 40-150mm f/5.6 lens for only an extra $99, this lens seems to perform ok and weighs only 190g if I want to carry something for wildlife.
Wandered about the epl5 but I don't need or want the articulating screen and I generally just need the camera to be in aperture mode so an exposure mode button won't help me. I will see how the point and shoot style of the epm2 works out, apparently through the setup menus I can basically set the camera to run in aperture priority mode and rotate the rear dial to control the aperture, EC can be set to another pair of buttons and ISo to another. A tap of the screen will allow changing got fully auto, fully manual or shutter mode.
Will see how I get on.
Edit: cost was $599 for body, 2 lenses, flash, wireless sd card, so 370 quid GBP.
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