Saturday, 7 August 2010

Boring choices

None of the current crop of cameras excites me. Each has some feature that I like, but none has the combination of features that would make me think that this is it - the perfect camera. Here is a quick run down of cameras and my likes/dislikes:
  • Nikon D3s - great camera but too expensive and not really suitable for amateur use. I would be terribly self conscious carrying around a D3s.
  • Nikon D700 - Lacks video, and prices are still too high in UK. 
  • Leica X1 - way too expensive for what it is.
  • Leica M9 - the much cheaper D700 is a better buy, and will make you a better photographer. The Leica is something to lust for, but the D700 is I suspect for real photographers.
  • Ricoh GR Digital III - image quality is not as great as expected, otherwise great camera. Limited as it only offers a fixed length lens.
  • Panasonic LX5 - great but performance will be limited by the small sensor format. 
  • Panasonic GF1 - Only makes sense with a limited pancake lens; costly compared to DSLRs and not much smaller if you use anything other than a pancake lens.
  • Panasonic GH1 - attractive for video but too expensive otherwise, and only has one proper video lens.
  • Nikon D300s - video isn't exciting enough; why not pay more for the D700.
  • Canon EOD 7D - nice but expensive, and I am not a Canon user.
  • Canon 5D Mark II - also nice, but expensive, and again, not good enough to switch to Canon.
  • Olympus PEN E-P2 - nice on paper, but too slow and like the GF1, the size advantages start to disappear as you use zoom lenses, etc.
Will the photokina bring cameras that have substantial new features? I hope so. My dream camera is one that is as fast as the D3, with as good a sensor, but much smaller in size, with equally small lenses. 

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