G owners - what's your digital choice?

[Joseph S]

Reading the posts in my other thread has got my curiosity up now...

Knowing you are familiar with a great film shooting system, I'm curious what you have found for digital that works for you... or at least works until the "perfect one" comes out 🙂

I'm considering the Panasonic LX-1 despite the noise issues I've read about - the design looks to be a nice one for a pocket(ish) rangefinder(ish) camera.

Like to hear your experiences with digital for a small street type camera...

Joseph

 

[kbg32]

I think the LX1 is a great liitle camera. No shutter lag, shoots RAW, 3 shooting ratios, image stabilization, etc.. The noise issue is overrated. Use Noise Ninja. I can't wait for the LX2 to arrive.

Images taken with the LX1 - http://www.pbase.com/keithbg/broadway&page=all

 

[sooner]

Hi. I just got a used G2 kit here on RFF and absolutely love it, but took the Canon Powershot S80 with me to southern Africa the last couple of weeks because of the rumored street crime (even the guide books tell you not to show a camera or risk being mugged). It was small, pocketable, and took brilliant 8mp images. We got about 360 pictures on a 1GB SD card. Just about the only person I saw shooting film was an old guy using a Nikon 8008. Cheers. --sooner/john

 

[JohnL]

I was considering the LX1 a while ago, and may still get one. I ran a demo photo (off dpreview, I think) that had been shot at 400 ISO through Noise Ninja and it cleaned up very nicely indeed.

 

[charlesfoto]

D200 here. Having sold my NIkon film gear, I couldn't part with a few lenses like the 80-200/2.8. When I do paid work with models, I primarily use the D200 with the G2 as back-up.

 

[jano]

I use the sony f717 and canon drebel (300d). They are a bit larger than I would like, and I love the 100 f2.8 macro lens on the dribble. I would like something smaller, looking at the new ricoh (i think) that will be impact and water resistant. Or maybe the next gen to the canon 5D. *shrug* Or a small sony, those are very nice.

 

[jrong]

I have a G2 system and love it. No intentions of going digital - ever. 😉

Jin

 

[Carrotblog]

Like to hear your experiences with digital for a small street type camera...

I have a digital Sony Ericsson with 3.2MP.

It's very poor in imaging quality compared to my Rabbitblad but its the best digital camera I could hope for - perfectly churlish and aimed at frivolous shooting of disposable street junk. I can erase and preview almost as fast as I shoot. Trashing anything I don't like (which is almost all the time), editing, changing the exposures, adding in red-eye flash and other cheap gimmicks to make digital photography completely brainless. Even my friends can use it without wondering where to turn the speed dial, or confuse their wedding ring with the aperture ring. I'm so in LOVE! with my digital camera that I carry it everywhere I go. It works on the trains where cameras are banned; it works in museums and places where imaging is forbidden. It also doubles up as an MP3 player for playing the latest hare hip-hop, and also has a hard disk for up to 1GB of files that I need to store. Best of all, I can call fellow rabbits.

Having owned my first digital phone camera for 1 month, there's just no way I'd want a digital camera now. I'm happy with my Hasselblad and Sony Ericsson ;P

xoxoxoxo

Miffy

http://carrotblog.livejournal.com

 

[Joseph S]

Quite an interesting mix so far!
Keith that's some great stuff - brings back a lot of memories from when I lived in East Village. I'm curious... are you triggering with a remote while you walk or just by hand (does the LX1 have a remote capability???)
Sooner - speaking of crime and targeting, my recent Russia trip was "interesting". I traveled with a photographer friend, dragging a 5D and some L glass - didn't have time to pick up a small pocket camera but had looked at a few including the Sony W100. Found a black Sony over there for reasonable price, and she shot a couple of days with it, but in a classic crowd jam someone reached around from behind, cut the strap and got it from her hand. The images were actually very good and it was great for lowlight shots - considering the small size. In an unfair comparison, we did side by side images with my 5D and it held up very well. The in-camera noise smoothing was visible with the smeared fine detail. I don't know if there were any in camera controls to turn off noise reduction, but for a tiny camera with 8mp, it was fairly impressive. I'm a big guy and kept the 5D tucked in the front of a Goretex shell but had a tense situation on the subway. Definitely gotta stay on your toes and very low key. I looked at S80 and S70 while I was there. The CF and RAW ability with the 70 was tempting. My friend had her trusty old S50 which though dated, still takes some great images.

 

[Joseph S]

Charles - you must be pretty happy with the D200 - that's one of the difficult things of looking at pocket digitals after working with higher end DSLR's. Man, if only Contax had hung in long enough to make a digital G2...

Jano - check out the Sony W100 sometime - it's actually a little too small for me, trying to do manual was funky but as a point and shoot it got shots that I would have never gotten otherwise - good in lowlight and handled extreme shadow and sunlight very well.

 

[sooner]

I forgot to mention earlier that I chose the Canon S80 for its wide 28mm equivalent lens, with a zoom from 28-100. Not much of a zoom when on safari, but I usually shoot wide anyway and of course you asked about a street camera equivalent. Very sharp lens, I got great resolution, and lots of control.

 

[Adam Muir]

I just wish I could shrink my Canon 5D to pocket size, it is a great camera. At the moment there are no small digicams that have what I want, and if I buy one thats even close it will lose a lot of value over a year, but if I get a good 35mm compact I will get what I want and it will hold its value.

 

[John]

Would you be asking what I want or what I have? I have a Canon Powershot S 50. I would like a Canon 5D or Leica M8. It's hard to find a digital you would still like after 2 years. 🙂

 

[jano]

Thanks, Joseph.. I'd also be thinking about the fuji's with that super ccd sensor 😉 But I've seen the sony w100s before, nice cameras (I used to have the V1, absolutley loved it, but the f717 was overall a better camera for my uses).

 

[keoj]

I have an old 4 MP Sony (with Zeiss lens) that does pretty well. There is a new Sony called the Alpha 100 which looks like an awesome camera. In addition, I thing that I read that Zeiss are some some lenses for this model. For the price, I'm not sure what can come close.

keoj

 

[Joseph S]

John - so true! I guess the best solution is to own as many as possible... right? The M8 definitely sounds like a great system potentially - I haven't kept up with the current state of facts and rumors, but if they do it right it really sounds perfect.

jano - have you had a chance to try the Fuji's yet? If so any thoughts on them?

JS

 

[jano]

Nope. I'm stopping at a camera store this evening to get some prints done, if they have one there I'll give it a test run.

 

[Dougg]

Sorry, as a G-system owner I don't have a digital choice. Nothing competitive with the Contax anyway. I do have a Canon G3 that serves those occasions when I'd like to upload a shot of a nice RF film camera. 🙂

 

[jaap]

my digital choice is just a scanner it turns my G2 in to a wonderfull full frame endless megapixel machine with the best lenses!!

 

[Dougg]

Good choice, Jaap! 😀