VF101
Established
After more than one decade without taking photographs (family pictures aside), I came back to my beloved hobby this spring. I bought a E-PL1 with the kit zoom and the 17mm pancake - the latter being way better than a lot of people think. Then in July I found a Leica CL and a Summicron-C. This was the equipment I used in summer to get some practice an to find out, what cameras I'd really like to shoot.
Now several months later I found, that I have three different usage patterns:
1. Trips with my family, mostly city trips here in Europe.
2. Dedicated foto sessions around my home town, which - luckily - is surrounded by beautiful landscapes.
3. Family style shooting, like my son playing soccer or gatherings for some birthday celebrations.
While my Leica CL is pure fun to use on our city trips and the 40mm cron has proven to be a perfect match for cityscape photography, I'm not sure I really want to stay with film.
The E-PL1 is a wonderful camera most of the time. But its usability is sometimes annoying compared to my Leica, higher ISOs are sometimes just too noisy, the 17mm pancake is sometimes to slow and its AF could be faster. And I extremely miss a viewfinder ... So I consider buying the VF-2 and the 20mm panny. But should I really invest about 500€ in a system I'm not convinced of? Not to mention the Olympus finance disaster ...
So I consider replacing my E-PL1 with a Nikon D3100, that I could use on my scenarios 2 and 3. If I sell my m43 gear and have not to buy a VF-2 and the 20mm, my budget would allow me to acquire the 3100 with kit zoom and the 35mm 1.8 Nikkor, which should give me a good available light combination.
As for scenario 1: No way I want to drag a full blown dslr around while on a trip with my family! So if I really want to quit film, logic tells me to sell my CL and cron and buy a small digital camera, where X10 or perhaps X100 (but it's expensive) come to mind. But this is no logical decision, and I really can't imagine to sell my newly found Leica love. Perhaps a used Nex3 with adapter could make a good combination with the cron. On the other hand though, this gives a 60mm equivalent, which I find as to narrow for city trips.
So, as I have learned following this forum closely that the discussions here are all about having fun taking photographs and not about the theoretically best technology, I hope to get some advice from you.
Thank you very much.
Now several months later I found, that I have three different usage patterns:
1. Trips with my family, mostly city trips here in Europe.
2. Dedicated foto sessions around my home town, which - luckily - is surrounded by beautiful landscapes.
3. Family style shooting, like my son playing soccer or gatherings for some birthday celebrations.
While my Leica CL is pure fun to use on our city trips and the 40mm cron has proven to be a perfect match for cityscape photography, I'm not sure I really want to stay with film.
The E-PL1 is a wonderful camera most of the time. But its usability is sometimes annoying compared to my Leica, higher ISOs are sometimes just too noisy, the 17mm pancake is sometimes to slow and its AF could be faster. And I extremely miss a viewfinder ... So I consider buying the VF-2 and the 20mm panny. But should I really invest about 500€ in a system I'm not convinced of? Not to mention the Olympus finance disaster ...
So I consider replacing my E-PL1 with a Nikon D3100, that I could use on my scenarios 2 and 3. If I sell my m43 gear and have not to buy a VF-2 and the 20mm, my budget would allow me to acquire the 3100 with kit zoom and the 35mm 1.8 Nikkor, which should give me a good available light combination.
As for scenario 1: No way I want to drag a full blown dslr around while on a trip with my family! So if I really want to quit film, logic tells me to sell my CL and cron and buy a small digital camera, where X10 or perhaps X100 (but it's expensive) come to mind. But this is no logical decision, and I really can't imagine to sell my newly found Leica love. Perhaps a used Nex3 with adapter could make a good combination with the cron. On the other hand though, this gives a 60mm equivalent, which I find as to narrow for city trips.
So, as I have learned following this forum closely that the discussions here are all about having fun taking photographs and not about the theoretically best technology, I hope to get some advice from you.
Thank you very much.
I truly think the Fuji X100 is your camera... to replace the olympus.
mfogiel
Veteran
Keep it simple and satisfying, either get the Fuji X100, or save up for a Leica M9 - you can use the C Summicron on that body, and adjust it so that it shows 35mm frames.