DSLR is HEAVY!!!

[deepwhite]

I got the Angenieux 35-140mm / f3.5 zoom lens from ebay today. I mounted it onto my girlfriend's Panasonic L1 DSLR and tried it.

Very good performance. More natural color rendition, and better white balance than with the Leica D 14-150mm lens. (I never understood that lenses make difference on white balance, but they really do!) With the extension tube I got, also from ebay, I can take a macro shot with it too. Old lenses are really interesting.

After playing with it for one hour, I put it down, and reached for the R-D1s to take a picture of this new setup.

The R-D1s almost flown over my shoulder to the back.

It was too light-weighted that I felt like holding an empty paper bag in my hand.

Then I realized one more thing: I've hurt my wrist. By holding the L1 + Angenieux 35-140 for one hour.

Kudos to guys that can hold their DSLR for the whole day long. Really. Who says photography is not a sport?

 

[Sam N]

A Canon 450D with a 35/2 or 50/1.8 weighs less than an R-D1 with a similar lens.

In general, SLRs are heavier than RFs and most zoom lenses are heavier than primes, but each camera has its own characteristics. A lot of people like the weight of M cameras. I think the weight of the R-D1 and ZI are perfect. When I go from the ZI to the R3a, I feel like the R3a weighs nothing.

 

[Vickko]

Umm, I hauled a 203FE around all weekend and shot 220.

Can't talk to me about "DSLR is too heavy"

I miss my M8 sooooo much.

Vick

 

[sojournerphoto]

I worked with a 1Ds3 kit all day, and it feels heavy by the end, believe me

Mike

 

[yanidel]

I see tourists all around me every day. It is common to see D300 or 5D with huge zooms and a grip. I just don't get how they do it ? This load would just spoil my vacations, it is enough to deal with the bag full of my girlfriends latest purchases 🙂

 

[deepwhite]

I would LOVE to carry the L1 + Angenieux 35-140 around if it's not this heavy. This setup is really interesting. (Sorry to say this in RFF, but I really love it.) However I'm a small guy with fragile wrists. I guess I wasn't born to carry a DSLR....

 

[BillBingham2]

That's what happened to me....

That's what happened to me....

I see tourists all around me every day. It is common to see D300 or 5D with huge zooms and a grip. I just don't get how they do it ? This load would just spoil my vacations, it is enough to deal with the bag full of my girlfriends latest purchases 🙂

Hi, I'm Bill and I'm a recovering SLR-aholic........

While I'm moving back slowly, I've learned about the wonders of less. I was carrying around a bag with two bodies, way too many lenses, a flash, batteries, film, and then there was what ever my wife bought and wanted me to carry. I jumped around rocks on the Cape, sand dunes on Long Island and then I got smart and moved back to RF. I was worrying more about the pounds over my shoulder than I was having a good time, my M4-P changed all that, quickly.

Lusting after a D300 I will carry no more than three primes for her, 24, 58, 180 and my trusty GR-D I. I'd be happy with the D90 performance, but all it takes are these new MEGA-ZOOMs, which for the most part IMHO are sub-optimal. Actually I would be happy with a D40X, but it too is too hard to control.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the new M4/3rds will allow me to control the camera and lenses with the same ease I could on my M6, OM-1 or F2. The size and history of Olympus has me optimistic for the future. But until then, I'm a recovering SLR-AHOLIC (carrying a S3-2000 these days).

B2 (;->

 

[principe azul]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the new M4/3rds will allow me to control the camera and lenses with the same ease I could on my M6, OM-1 or F2.

Me too. That some of the 4/3 lenses - including two new micro 4/3 zooms - share the old Nikon 52mm filter thread is a bonus... and is how I justified buying the 35mm Nokton.

So far, though, for fast or wide the options seem to be an expensive 25/1.4 (50mm equivalent, roughly) or the 7-14mm f/4 (14-28mm equivalent), which is huge. These aren't micro 4/3, though, so hopefully Panasonic, Leica and Olympus will step up to the plate.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Nothing taxes you like a Nikon F5 around your neck. 😱

Two weeks ago, I carried mine into Chicago, along with a small bag with two zooms. The bag was considerably lighter...

Then, you should see my biceps.

Good that the camera has a good size built-in grip! 🙂 I handle it that way most of the time.

BTW, that day I went for a guided tour through some buildings, organized by the C(hicago) A(rchitectural) F(oundation), and saw another fellow with two cameras around his neck, both Nikon: one was an F6, the other a D3.

He must be a dentist... 🙂 And a tough one to boot. His gear included some bid DX lens and the AF-S 24-70 f2.8. Sweet... Oh, well, his back must have hurt after a while.

 

[JonasYip]

I did a month in France this past summer with the D3, which is really quite large. But the weight didn't really bother me that much, and it's really comfortable to hold and use. I did *not* have the large zooms, however, which helped. Just a few primes, and a small zoom for when I needed that.

Then for my Asia trip I brought rangefinders (RD1), the benefits of which you all are familiar with. However I found that when I needed to work fast I always ended up slinging two RF bodies over my shoulders to have two focal lengths available quickly (28+50, or 12+35). So in the end I wasn't really saving any weight or bulk vs the DSLR kit after all. Well, plus I had an F3HP with me for a project that requires an SLR... so really I was probably carrying even more weight with my "small RF" kit....

For times that I *didn't* need to work fast though, one RF, one lens was very nice indeed.

j

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Jonas, the D3 is, fortunately, not a very heavy camera body. And neither are, BTW, the D300 or the D700. I've "played" with both, and they're lighter than the F5.

However, for the uninitiated, even Leicas are hefty. When my wife held one of mine for the first time she gave me a confused look and said "And you carry this around your neck?"

Oh, well... Let me add that I envy you that D3! 🙂

 

[JonasYip]

Jonas, the D3 is, fortunately, not a very heavy camera body. And neither are, BTW, the D300 or the D700. I've "played" with both, and they're lighter than the F5.

However, for the uninitiated, even Leicas are hefty. When my wife held one of mine for the first time she gave me a confused look and said "And you carry this around your neck?"

Oh, well... Let me add that I envy you that D3! 🙂

Not sure about your F5 vs D3 difference. From Nikon specs:

F5: Approx. 1,210 g (42.7 oz.) without batteries
D3: Approx. 1,240 g (2.7 lb.) without battery

Perhaps the D3 just feels lighter because of better balance or better grips? I don't have an F5 to compare.

In any case, they're both pretty heavy and, perhaps more importantly, bulky. The D3 is as tall as my RD1 is wide.

 

[erikhaugsby]

A Canon 450D with a 35/2 or 50/1.8 weighs less than an R-D1 with a similar lens.

It's also plastic.

 

[JonasYip]

Oh, to bring it back to deepwhite's original post:

Kudos to guys that can hold their DSLR for the whole day long. Really. Who says photography is not a sport?

I find that the design of the grip in size/shape/material makes a huge difference. The D3 I can hold in one hand all day, even with a big lens. The "smaller, lighter" D300 on the other hand doesn't balance as well and is harder to hold.

I think that's one of the advantages of the RD1 over the M8... that little nub on the back of the RD1 for your thumb makes it so holdable. Though it'd be nice if it had a little bit on the front too, like the Hexar RF...

j

 

[charjohncarter]

Not only heavy, but big. Add a zoom lens and you wonder why you are carrying this thing for so small an image.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Not sure about your F5 vs D3 difference. From Nikon specs:

F5: Approx. 1,210 g (42.7 oz.) without batteries
D3: Approx. 1,240 g (2.7 lb.) without battery

Perhaps the D3 just feels lighter because of better balance or better grips? I don't have an F5 to compare.

In any case, they're both pretty heavy and, perhaps more importantly, bulky. The D3 is as tall as my RD1 is wide.

Ooops, I stand corrected.

However, to me, the D3 felt lighter than my F5. Must be the lenses I put on it (either a Sigma AF 24-70 or the Nikon 24-120 VR).

In any case, you're right... they're both pretty heavy.

And I still envy you the D3! 🙂

 

[BillBingham2]

........Must be the lenses I put on it (either a Sigma AF 24-70 or the Nikon 24-120 VR)......

EXACTLY!! Think high quality primes, treat her just like you would an RF, three maybe for lenses. With a few exceptions, those big do everything lenses tend to do everything ok but nothing GREAT. Where as if you pick your primes like with the same care we each take in the RF world you will have results just as GREAT. And a less painful back!

Fingers crosses that CV will extend their SL II line of lenses to the wide angle world and that Olympus and Nikon will come out with killer systems in M3/4.

B2 (;->

 

[Jason808]

I'd be happy with the D90 performance, but all it takes are these new MEGA-ZOOMs, which for the most part IMHO are sub-optimal.

The D90 focuses/meters with any AF Nikkor lens, it's not limited to in-lens motors like the '40 and '60 though the old non-D AF lenses are limited to center weighted metering. The D90 has the focusing motor in the body.

http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Digital-SLR/25446/D90.html

 

[Andrew Howes]

I see tourists all around me every day. It is common to see D300 or 5D with huge zooms and a grip. I just don't get how they do it ? This load would just spoil my vacations, it is enough to deal with the bag full of my girlfriends latest purchases 🙂

Yeah, the add-on grips no less, its dead weight for tourist use, why? do they think it makes them look more pro or is it to counterbalance the big lens they stuck on it. Do you really need a 70-200 2.8 VR for holiday snaps? I leave all that stuff behind and go light for family fun, but then I have a work use for my expensive camera gear.

I think that Micro4/3 should sell well, both for entry level users and pro users who want a break from the bulk but still want a decent camera, not to mention those tourists who did not enjoy being a pack horse on their last holiday. It might even replace dslr AND 35mm RF on holidays for me.

 

[Nh3]

The bigger the camera the better pictures it takes. 😛


This is true!