New camera advice

[Robby]

Due to financial reasons I have had to move my Canon 5D mk3 on and need to replace it as I am going on holiday and want to take something with me to get some shots of the kids but as I am going to Canada want to get some decent landscape shots.

As I am not going to be able to get myself back into Canon 5D territory for the forseeable future I am looking for something that has at least some expansion capabilities.

I have a max budget of £400 and have shortlisted the following and detailed my reservations:

Nikon J1 but has a small sensor and so I would suspect lacks some dynamic range for landscapes and may be noisy in low light. I beleieve the autofocus is superb though. Lenses are supposed to be quite sharp corner to corner.

Sony NEX 5n. Much bigger sensor and so presumably better dynamic range for landscapes. I have heard though that the autofocus is a little sluggish and the kit lens leaves a lot to be desired as in it is quite soft.

Olympus E-PL3. Sensor is somewhere in between the above two in size. Autofocus is supposed to be pretty good. Art filters are supposed to be useful. Loads of M43 lenses to choose from in the future.

Does anyone have any personal or specific experience with any of the above?

Or are there any other cameras I should be looking at?

Any advice would be great.

Rob

 

[hifienthusiast]

I recently bought a used Olympus E-P3 (similar to the E-PL3) with the zoom lens kit for about 400 pounds. It is a very easy camera to use and in my opinion, it takes very good photos, especially with the Olympus 17mm f/2.8 prime lens. Many people said the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens (also M43 mount) is a lot better than the Olympus 17mm but the former is twice the price in the used market.

 

[EIffel]

For kid's pictures, a DSLR is hard to beat. Contrast detection is getting better but still lags in my view.

If you already have Canon lenses, how about getting a cheaper Canon camera, possibly even a used one? Getting into a new system (Sony E mount, etc.), will likely cost you more.

If you decide against the DLSR route, consider whether interchangeable lenses are needed. Canon G1X , and others (Fuji, Sony, etc.) have some good pro-summer cameras with decent lenses

 

[Robby]

Thanks for the resposes guys. Sadly I have now Canon lenses anymore so looking at a completely new system.
I would plump for the Canon G1X if only for the fact that the AF is apparently sluggish at best.

 

[sojourner]

I just bought a panasonic gf2 with the 14/2.5 lens for 230. You could add a 14-42 zoom for 80 or 90 quid from ebay.

At the moment you can also get a panasonic G3 with the zoom for 319 after a 50 cash back offer from panasonic - more flexbility of focal length and an evf, but not as bright a lens (does have image stabilisation though) and the G3 has pansoics 16Mp sensor that is supposed to be better than the old 12Mp in the GF2.

Both strike me as bargains.

Mike

Edited to add - if you wanted a GF2 I think you need to try PC world online.

 

[337alant]

Thanks for the resposes guys. Sadly I have now Canon lenses anymore so looking at a completely new system.
I would plump for the Canon G1X if only for the fact that the AF is apparently sluggish at best.

Cannon S100, Panasonic TZ30 excellent and simple to have tucked in a belt pouch when on holiday

Alan

 

[Cesare]

Rob,

Buy a small and cheap pocket sized canon ixus something-or-other for £150 or whatever they go for these days, and decide on a MF *film* camera for the landscape stuff.

I'd suggest a nice rollei TLR of some description, and basically you want a nice 3.5 tessar or higher, any of these cameras from the 1950s onwards will produce lovely results stopped down to F16, and realistically, that's where you'll be using them for landscape work. Stick a few rolls of E6, C41 and B&W in your bag and you can use the pocket camera as a light meter, transferring the settings across.

I'd say budget £200 for a rollei.

If you want wider than 75 (don't know what type of landscapes you like taking) then investigate the mamiya 645 cameras, you can go as wide as 35mm for not much money, and 35mm on a 645 is around 20mm or something like that in 35mm terms. The rollei is a better bit of kit for carrying around if you are happy with one lens, the mamiyas being rather heavy.

Rolleis on ebay:

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=130744185149

Mamiyas:

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-5...0001&campid=5338728743&icep_item=280936776299

Oh, and if you like canon, why not consider an Eos3 with a suitable wide zoom? Again, for landscape work stopped down to F8-F16 you'll get great results from really simple zooms and primes without needing an expensive camera. 35mm is a bit limiting for printing from, but the weight saving may be important if you are hiking.

 

[avole]

The Sony HX series is hard to beat in terms of travel camerasat the moment. Great lenses, showing their Minolta/Zeiss heritage, stacks of useful features, but above all produce excellent photos. Probably underrated in the UK, but not in the rest of Europe.

I have the Olympus E-450 43 slr, with a variety of lenses thanks to the recent clearout by a well-known French chain. Clearly more flexible than the Sony, and the f2.8 25mm lens is terrific, but it still is a relatively large camera, especially with the longer telephotos. For holidays I take the Sony, because the results aren't that different and it's a lot smaller.

Coming from years with Canon then Nikon gear, and, with exception of the 100mmFD Canon, I'd rate the lenses on both the Sony and Olympus their equal.

 

[cliffpatte]

another camera, Robby? I suspect you're as bad as me. You could maybe have just kept the Leica and not bothered with the other camera buy/sell losses, maybe.

I don't mean to Diss, but find myself with some of the same issue. Having made some P and some L in the P&L of camera trading, I have to say that in your situation I would want to buy something which might retain some value over the coming months. Have you thought about maybe going back to 2nd hand Leica? (Doffs hat at Cesare's suggestions on the film front)