What is the "best" compact ?

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

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I know this is a vague question....but let's say this is my criteria.

1 - A 35mm fixed focal lens
2 - Under F/1.8 aperture
3 - when shooting Av, there is a wheel the do exposure compensation on the fly
4 - Wifi to iPhone
5 - accurate, and fast spot focus AF

Budget around £1k i guess as if money is no object, it would be the RX1R II.

Things like small and compact I guess it comes with the territory, so far there is the Fuji X100T? Sony RX1R (1st one?). What else are out there?
 
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I've got an original X100 and I'd highly recommend it so the X100T can only be better. The only major gripes I've got with it are the focus and video mode. And the battery life sucks. I think these have all been improved with the newer versions though.

Other than that it's an absolute dream. It's so well built and just feels "right" in your hands - having mechanical switches for everything is fantastic. The lens is insanely sharp, the viewfinder (EVF and OVF) is excellent and the photos it produces, even SOOC jpgs, are stunning.
 
X100T is the only one that checks all of your criteria really.

If you can cope with 28mm and f/2.8 there's the Ricoh GRII and the Fuji X70, both are more pocketable than the X100T.
 
It is going to be a compromise if you want all of your criteria.

Firstly there isn't a 35mm fixed lens f/1.8 compact on the market.

The Leica X (Type 113) is the nearest with a 35mm f/1.7 lens, but it lacks wifi and most reviews complain about its slow autofocus and inaccurate manual focus. Price new is around £1300

As you've already identified the RX1R mark II ticks most of the boxes but it is more than double your budget (around £2500), delayed because of some 'issues' and 'only' has a 35mm f/2.0 lens.

The mark I RX1/R are more in line with your budget if you purchase second hand, but lacks wifi. Although the manual focus and autofocus are reasonable, some reviewers are critical saying that it is slow in some cases.

Leica Q - 28mm f/1.7 lens - unfortunately way over your budget (around £2900) - lovely camera though.

Fuji X100/S/T - have very good reputations.

You could consider two really nice 28mm fixed lens compacts -

Ricoh GR Mark II - 28mm f/2.8 with wifi, 16mp aps-c sensor , has a deserved reputation for being a street shooter camera. The Mark I is basically the same camera without wifi and might be able to be found slightly cheaper.

Nikon Coolpix A - 28mm f/2.8 again a 16mp APS-c sensor, getting a little long in the tooth but the image quality is excellent.

You might want to take a look at the roundup that DPreview did last Christmas

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/201..._source=mainmenu&utm_medium=text&ref=mainmenu
 
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I picked up an X100T at the end of last year as I wanted something for when I could carry my DSLR. Have to say I've been very pleased with it and it does what I want and I rather like the fixed lens which was the only thing that concerned me at the time. The build quality is really nice and I love the retro look :)
 
if only the market for this kind of camera was big enough to drive some competition and force the price down you'd think Canon/Nikon could nail something in this market sector the eos m with 22mm pancake is already tiny if they could ditch the lens mount so they could shrink the body a bit and use a sensor with decent af it would be brilliant!
 
I know the whole compact market is dying but the point is to have a camera that can recreate the same photos with my 5D/35mm on holiday.

I know the Sony will do it, the question is if others can.

I did think about the A7R2 but the 35/1.4 for that is bigger than the 35L.
 
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Personally, I would get the Nikon Coolpix A, absolute bargain for $250 (180GBP), OK you will be at 40mm and f/2.8 but its a small and has an incredibly good APS-C sensor. The original Ricoh GR is very similar, tiny bit smaller but hard to find now they released the 2nd version which is identical for way more money than the Nikon A.


You then have 820 left over, which will cover a Nikon 24mm f/1.8 lens and a small Nikon D3300. Giving you 2 different options to get around 35mm depending on what you want from size and performance.


Canon sadly doesn't have a 24mm f/1.8 but the Canon 100D is a miracle camera and one of the best in Canon's line up, truly tiny for OVF DSLR. I don't know how good the Canon 28mm f/1.8 is but that would give a small, light combo with 35mmm FF equivalent
 
D.P. said:
Personally, I would get the Nikon Coolpix A, absolute bargain for $250 (180GBP), OK you will be at 40mm and f/2.8 but its a small and has an incredibly good APS-C sensor. The original Ricoh GR is very similar, tiny bit smaller but hard to find now they released the 2nd version which is identical for way more money than the Nikon A.


You then have 820 left over, which will cover a Nikon 24mm f/1.8 lens and a small Nikon D3300. Giving you 2 different options to get around 35mm depending on what you want from size and performance.


Canon sadly doesn't have a 24mm f/1.8 but the Canon 100D is a miracle camera and one of the best in Canon's line up, truly tiny for OVF DSLR. I don't know how good the Canon 28mm f/1.8 is but that would give a small, light combo with 35mmm FF equivalent
Click to expand...

The 100D with the 24mm f2.8 STM pancake is a tiny option if you can live with the loss of a stop or so.
 
D.P. said:
Personally, I would get the Nikon Coolpix A, absolute bargain for $250 (180GBP), OK you will be at 40mm and f/2.8 but its a small and has an incredibly good APS-C sensor. The original Ricoh GR is very similar, tiny bit smaller but hard to find now they released the 2nd version which is identical for way more money than the Nikon A.
Click to expand...

D.P. is that a second hand price for the Coolpix A? Cheapest I've found on Camera Price Buster is £339 on Amazon for a Silver one.

As for the Ricoh GR Mark I, its still for sale - cheapest price is £432 at Amazon, that said the Mark II is only £479 from the same place and has wifi.

For Raymonds info Ming Thein did a really nice comparison on the Coolpix A and GR back in 2013, which can be found at

http://blog.mingthein.com/2013/05/07/battle-of-the-28mm-compacts-ricoh-gr-vs-nikon-coolpix-a/

He also did a stand alone review of the GR around the same time

http://blog.mingthein.com/2013/05/06/review-2013-ricoh-gr-digital-v/

I can see what Raymond is aiming at, having both the RX1 and GR, I really do think the RX1/R would suit Raymond's shooting style - bokeh, bright and punchy colours, whilst the GR (and I believe the Coolpix A) seem to remind me more of reportage style photography - they're brilliant when taking Black and white shots.
 
I am open to any options really.

I could continue to take my 5D3 and 35L out on holiday but there is a side of my feels that I don't take enough photos outside work and travels. My gear stays locked up between jobs and travels and that is quite sad really. I want to take more pictures so ideally something smaller would be good. I take lots of photos on my iPhone but I can tell the photos are just not that great…no matter what people say how far they have come, yes it's better than 5 years ago but the sensor size and low light performance is just not there and yes gear does make a difference…(can of worms)

So if I go smaller route, or another camera, I want to shoot in a way that is natural to me, and that means in AV mode, I will set it on Auto ISO, I normally pick a wide aperture for street and let the camera decide on the shutter speed but keeping an eye on it. I would concentrate on the focusing and composition. That means I need a dial for exposure compensation on the fly with my right thumb. It also means a good spot AF is a must as most subjects are not static.

Sometimes I would do some cityscapes, put camera on tripod and this is normally at night and where I think a decent DR would come in handy as there will be many buildings and the contrast with the dark sky can be difficult and you can lose lots of details on the buildings. This is where I don't know how well the Fuji's X100T will handle this as it is the same sensor as the X100S and also a cropped sensor. However, I do realise it is a different sensor tech to that of the Sony, anyone know how much stop you can pull from it?

The Sony RX1R mark 1 on paper can work but I am in 2 minds of its AF performance, and the sensor tech is last generation now (but probably at least be on par with the 5D or even better), but is it better than the Fuji? Being twice as expensive. Also, it doesn't have WiFi. The point of having the WiFi is I can take a photo with it, send it to my phone, then upload to Instagram or social media. Better pictures and I feel the iPhone or any phone doesn't cut the mustard.

I have even contemplated getting a D750 with a Nikon 35/1.8 but then it would defeat my original purpose of wanting to take out my camera more on a daily basis.

A minor thing…it would also be a bonus point if all hell breaks loose, I can even use it at a wedding as an last ditch scenario. (The obvious answer here would be the Sony A7Rii no doubt)

The white elephant in the room is that the Fuji is about £700 and the Sony RX1R is £1200 and the RX1RII is like £2600. It is much easier to stomach having a £700 camera that I don't use much than a £2600.
 
Obligatory Sony A6000 recommendation. Obviously not a fixed lens camera but there's the option of a Sony 35mm f/1.8 and there's going to be a new Sigma 30mm f/1.4 available soon. Meets all the other criteria.

A6000 + 35mm f/1.8 next to a 5D classic + 50mm f/1.4 for comparison.

EAnAu5Ph.jpg

AF is as good as, if not better than my Canon 70D. I really enjoy working with the RAW files from the A6000, you can pull of lot of details out - I don't go too mad because I don't like the 'HDR' look.

ISO 2000 with some light NR in Lightroom.

Seltjarnarnes by Bryan Janes, on Flickr

I went through a bit of a lull with taking photos, but the Sony has made it enjoyable again because of it's size/ease of use.
 
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