Help . Most cost effective nominal 50mm quality digital camera combination ?

[dee]

I have an M8 adapted to a 35 f2.5 Color Skopar for monochrome which is great

Autofocus and for low light, I have a Sony A35 plus the much derided A290 for those CCD colours, with very plastic Sony 35 f1.8, which is OK, not exactly quality shooting!

I am considering investing in a 35m f2 lens for my brand new Fujifilm X-Pro 1 body [ £300 ] - with all its faults! The total cost would be £600.
The body, currently, is returnable as an impulse buy! I love the retro rangefinder styling similar to my semi-retired Panasonic L1.

However, as this must be my final purchase, should I be looking at another, more modern, combination at that price?

Respect

dee

 

[Addy101]

More modern or more cost effective?

The most cost effective probably is a used Sony NEX camera with the Sigma 30/2.8.
A Sony A6000 with 35/1.8 will be about the same kind of money as the Fuji set you're looking at. Nothing to gain by going Sony E-mount.
Canon doesn't have a 30/35mm in mirrorless (and no crop 35/1.8 in DSLR).

Two other options:
A Nikon D3300 is 265 GBP and the DX 35/1.8 is 169 GBP - that is under 450 GBP for a newer camera with full warranty.
A Pentax K50 is 339 GBP and the 35/2.4 is 119 GBP - that is a little over 450 GBP fpr a newer camera with full warranty.

And if you can live with the EVF, the Sony A58 will work perfectly with your Sony 35/1.8. Just a thought.

 

[ferider]

Another recommendation that Addy might agree with 🙂 :

Sony a850 + Minolta AF 50/1.4. What you loose in the older sensor (2 stops ?) you gain with the image stabilizer. And it's full frame, very fast AF, and has a beautiful optical VF.

The Minolta 50/1.4 is a classic lens, with beautiful performance (similar to the famous Pentax 50/1.4).

A good used such combo should run you less than £600.

Roland.

 

[dee]

Thanks .
I guess that the A58 is an upgrade from the A35 - with the ability to use my few Minolta zooms .
The handling and feel is going to be similar.

The A850 with full frame Minolta 50 is intriguing. Again, my old zooms will work at full frame too ...
I don't want to go to Nikon/Canon just 'cos it's been Minolta since SRT days .

I like that the X-Pro has the option of a clear finder and that it is a new warranted outfit ...

 

[nongfuspring]

Sony a850 is a neat camera but it would be difficult to buy one for under 600 GBP.

IMO there isn't anything in your budget that gives you better image quality than an XP1. Maybe consider the X-E1, has a better EVF, and (I think...) slightly better AF. If you want significantly better AF then a Canon 5d mk1 with 50mm 1.8 is decent and well within your price range, but high ISO not quite as good and fewer MP.

If slow AF isn't a dealbreaker then I'd stick with the XP1.

 

[j.scooter]

If you have other cameras for fast autofocus and decent high iso, the sigma DP2M is hard to beat for image quality to cost ratio in a with a 50ish equivalency.

 

[Addy101]

With a little searching it is possible to find an A850 for 600 GBP.

The important thing is what you like. If you like using the Xpro-1, keep that one. More important then anything else is that you like using your camera.

If I was you, I would either keep the Fuji and get the 35/2 or go for the cheap option and pick up a recent Sony body (A58 or even an A68).

 

[Lss]

The most cost effective probably is a used Sony NEX camera with the Sigma 30/2.8.
A Sony A6000 with 35/1.8 will be about the same kind of money as the Fuji set you're looking at. Nothing to gain by going Sony E-mount.

The a6000 is technically pretty much the equivalent of the X-Pro2 rather than the X-Pro1. There is therefore something to gain, depending on what one wants.

 

[ferider]

Sony a850 is a neat camera but it would be difficult to buy one for under 600 GBP.

B+H has an 8+ one, currently for US 750 (577 GBP):

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/801374153-USE/sony_dslra850_alpha_dslr_a850_full.html

If shopping carefully, one can do even better.

Like Addy said, you need to like to use the camera. I love the a850 in use, VF, true focal lengths and speeds, image stabilizer, etc., but that's just me.

Roland.

 

[dee]

Thanks everyone.

The X-Pro 1 was less than £300 new boxed from a dealer. I have an option to return it, but even before I have bought an M adapter, I love the solidity, feel, and style... obviously, i have not had the ability to use it sans lens but I love the handling / style / finish etc plus the combined OFV and EVF.

Frankly, it's going to be a while before I sell my pair of 1933/4 Leica II to finance a lens, so it will be playing with m39 lenses for some while - it has to be a camera which offers this facility - even as awkwardly as the X=Pro 1 !!
I cannot afford a Sony A6000 at present, I would also have to spend more on a 35mm lens.

I guess that the impulse buy X-Pro @ £300 was a way to ease myself into a high quality rangefinder style camera with conventional controls which I much prefer.
I guess personal preference wins out over the dreaded 'common sense'
Maybe it will be style over substance, but the M8 was competence over incompetence, so no change there.

dee

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

@dee, the X-Pro1 for £300 sounds like a good deal. Enjoy.

Manual focus with legacy lenses works well in my experience with today's mirrorless cameras; when you are able to add an AF lens, that's different and great as well.

 

[Ronald M]

M8 is a fine camera and I am falling in love with mine again.

The high iso secret is to establish the proper noise reduction for iso 160 at 100%

now shoot at 160 for any iso to 1250. do the noise reduction, push the exposure 3 stops and you will be amazed at the quality. Naturally you can push one stop to 320, 2 stops to 640 also.

I am only familiar with Leica and Nikon. Little steps repeated often are a waste of money.
800 series Nikon with 36 MP are outstanding. D750 is superb to 6000.

 

[jamin-b]

M8 is a fine camera and I am falling in love with mine again.

The high iso secret is to establish the proper noise reduction for iso 160 at 100%

now shoot at 160 for any iso to 1250. do the noise reduction, push the exposure 3 stops and you will be amazed at the quality. Naturally you can push one stop to 320, 2 stops to 640 also.

I am only familiar with Leica and Nikon. Little steps repeated often are a waste of money.
800 series Nikon with 36 MP are outstanding. D750 is superb to 6000.

Do you mean in post production. (lightroom) you set the noise reduction slider at 100%? Is it really as simple as that?!

 

[Lss]

I cannot afford a Sony A6000 at present, I would also have to spend more on a 35mm lens.

I bought a new one for $399 in December, but that's US. Locally it would be hard to find and would likely still cost about 500€. I haven't checked in months. It's anyway an old model, and used Sony bodies are cheap. The Sigma lenses cost about nothing, and they are optically very good.

the M8 was competence over incompetence, so no change there.

Any particular reason you are leaving it behind? It's still my favorite camera.

 

[Lss]

Do you mean in post production. (lightroom) you set the noise reduction slider at 100%? Is it really as simple as that?!

No, I think it means you evaluate it at 100% or 1:1.

 

[brennanphotoguy]

Original Sony A7 with their new 50/1.8. Buy it all used.

 

[willie_901]

It seems to me the issue is how important is the X-Pro 1's OVF. Its EVF/OVF finder is unique and differentiates it from the practical and quality suggestion mentioned above.

If you feel the OVF (and switching quickly between the OVF, EVF and back to the OVF) is valuable, then the X-Pro 1 is the most effective solution.

In my case, I find the Fujifilm EVF/OVF to be valuable.

 

[jsrockit]

More modern or more cost effective?

The most cost effective probably is a used Sony NEX camera with the Sigma 30/2.8.
A Sony A6000 with 35/1.8 will be about the same kind of money as the Fuji set you're looking at. Nothing to gain by going Sony E-mount..

Well, you gain faster AF vs. the Fuji.

 

[dee]

It may be another ASD element in that my mind gets confused over the distortion of an EVF ... I can use it initially , but once settings are fixed , i would simply switch to the OVF [ another reason that the M8 was so good ].

It was also a stealth buy ... retired - no more cameras - a 'wife' seriously disturbed by my revelations of ASD & Gender Dysphoria . £300 was acceptable , £600 with a lens is not .

I am afraid that the pair of Leica II will have to go , but hopefully , I will persist with the manual lenses .

Thanks for all the input , it's invaluable ...

I don't understand how to push the M8 on ISO though ?

dee

 

[Lss]

I don't understand how to push the M8 on ISO though ?

This refers to adjusting the brightness of the image in post processing (mainly by dragging the Exposure slider in Lightroom or doing whatever is the equivalent in some other program).

Keep ISO at 160 while setting the exposure parameters according to the scene. You must not overexpose, but you may underexpose by several stops where required. If you have previously chimped, now it's time to ignore the image on the LCD screen, as it may be mostly black. This is because the brightness has not yet been corrected. Obviously, shoot RAW/DNG.


The above is enough to get good results, but you may experiment further:

If you want to be all hardcore about this, you may enter the service menu and use the "real RAW" instead of the regular RAW or DNG. This is however best left for special use or very meticulous users, as the camera unfortunately defaults to JPEG on start-up when the real RAW was previously used. You can search for threads explaining the procedure. It is not quite as simple as the regular way.