digital reportage style camera?

[sevenape]

Hello,

this is my first post, and I'm almost positive that this is the wrong forum to post on, but I was hoping someone here could give me a little advice?

I'm looking to buy a digital camera that will be useful for reportage style candid street shots as well as landscapes and stuff, I'm really an amateur, so I think the $50000 leica M8 iwould be a bit excessive, but I'd like a camera that will grow with me and with a decent set of manual controls to give me some control, start up speed and shutter lag are also important. Of course picture quality is very important also. So far I've seen three cameras that could fit the bill:

The Panasonic DMC lx2 (although I heard there are noise issues with it)

The Ricoh GR Digital ( no zoom, but still a little slow on start up)

The Canon Powershot G7 ( this looks good, but has a wide angle of 38mm, the other two are at 28mm and does not shoot in RAW format, which I guess could be a problem?)


Really I's like something creative, durable, unobtrusive and quick, and of course I'd like something that will last me a few years and allow me to take some decent photos.

If anyone has any tips I'd gratefully receive them,

Thanks

Dan7ape.

 

[reub2000]

mmm, troll bait is tasty​

 

[sevenape]

honestly not trying to troll or court them, if my post is offensive to the forum, please just let it drop and accept my apologies. 🙂

 

[RML]

Epson R-D1.

 

[sevenape]

thank you, I'll check it out 🙂

 

[photogdave]

Hello and welcome!
I think you should consider a film camera, be it a rangefinder or SLR. None of the digis you mention offer critical focusing capability. Most DSLRs might be too big if you want to keep a low profile. A film camera is great to grow with but you won't grow out of it, and it won't become outdated (because it already is!).
If you absolutely need digital and the RD-1 and M8 are out of reach, consider a Pentax K100D. It's compact, robust and there is lots of great lenses, from the old Takumar and K mount glass to the current Limited series of compact, fast primes.

 

[Bryce]

If you must have didital and can't swallow the RD-1 or M8 price range, next best may be a smallish SLR and a couple of primes. Pentax comes to mind. Unfortunately, that's about all there is with truly manual controls. Seems like a market waiting for someone to fill it, doesn't it?

 

[sevenape]

Thanks for your advice, I'll definitely look into the Pentax and also have a think about going back to film... I guess the DSLR is probably the best way to go as I guess after a while with one of the cameras I've mentioned I'll be hankering after more control...

Thanks again everyone. 🙂

 

[clarence]

Most prosumer cameras have full manual controls, but they are often buried within menus, or they are ridiculously hard to focus quickly.

Clarence

 

[reub2000]

I'm hoping that the Sigma DP1 will be a good compact digital camera. Keep an eye out for this one.