Seriously, friends, this may be the best value I've ever heard of, for a brand-new camera. This is a quality enthusiast camera, with record low-light performance, selling for $600 with kit lens (almost certainly a really good one). Almost too good to be true.
 | |
|
But really, I have settled on Micro Four Thirds... I must resist, I must resist...
----
I'm not too surprised that Fuji has come out with a great low-light camera for "only $499" because my Fuji SL-1000 (50x zoom) was around $400, with card and spare battery, and it has really good low-light characteristics.
I've taken night scenes from over in the next block, of a street light with the wires of the line it's on, and the trees nearby, and the images came out clear and sharp and a lot brighter than I expected. I think you may be onto a winner there.... I'm quite happy with the SL-1000, and it was a hundred bucks cheaper than a comparable Canon. And the Canon didn't get the same performance reviews this did.....
One thing I like about it is that it isn't a really light-weight camera - it has just enough heft to it so that it can be used freehand in the upper zoom ranges without a lot of the usual problems. I've taken shots of aircraft with it, at 50x, freehand, and had them come out quite nicely. You could do worse than
buy a Fuji.
Best regards,
Ray
Yes, Ray. While "Canikon" has a solid hold on the DSLR market, people would do very well taking a solid look at the smaller players if they want the more compact cameras of various kinds. Olympus, Fuji, Pentax, Sony, all have made spectacular cameras which Canon and Nikon don't even seem close to matching.
The current range of cameras have excellent image stabilisation, so taking photos at lower ISO and shutter speeds of 0.1seconds or even longer is possible, if the camera is held steady.
ReplyDeleteI'm continually amazed by how much cameras can improve. I think I won't ever need anything better, but in 5 years time we presumably will have better low light and better image stabilisation again.
But really, I have settled on Micro Four Thirds... I must resist, I must resist...
ReplyDeleteI know!! Stop teasing yourself...and me!! :-P
just to tease you a bit further: you need to get it together with the 40mm equivalent pancake lens:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dpreview.com/products/fujifilm/lenses/fujifilm_xf_27mm
Yes, it's a very tempting lens.
ReplyDeleteActually I just looked at it today, because it turns out that in UK you can get it free if you buy the A1 with kit lens!
But... it will be a similar deal to the Fuji X100, and though it is a fantastic camera, I found that I no longer found it pleasant working with a fixed lens after I got used to zooms.
Unless you have two bodies, but I can already do that.
Also I've heard that for some, this lens hunts in focusing, a lot. So it seems they have not yet solved their focusing issues to the stellar degree Olympus has. Even in dark conditions, newer Oly cameras focus in a blink.
Hello Mr. Eolake,
ReplyDeletestrangely, wenesday my friend buy a new camera and i think of you; because it is very light weight and not expensive, a Panasonic Lumix Gm1 (16mg pixel):
http://www.macandphoto.com/2014/02/panasonic-lumix-gm1-lhybride-qui-riidiculise-les-compacts-.html (in french, maybe you will find it in english..)
Have a good day, Carlos in Quebec.
Yes, it's a quality camera, and very charming indeed.
ReplyDeletei think perhaps two limitations:
1) No tilting screen.
2) No in-body stabilization.
Admittedly both would probably have made it bigger.
But great as travel camera or second body.