It's been a grey and rainy day with the only break being late in the evening. I have just been chilling without doing much.
The first opportunity I got to go for a walk, I took it and went to the river thinking there will be the night market to take photos of people.
Turned out it was not on due to the rain so it as petty empty an deserted.
I had to improvise and took a few photos around the river and in the parks nearby before it started raining again.
As a side note and on a more technical side.
Due to the heavy use in rain, dust, heat, humidity and even snow my GR has developed a few faults and is in need of repair. Can't fault it since after my GXR got stolen it was the only camera and received a lot of use and some abuse long the way an looks that way, too.
I am now thinking to either use my Nexus 5 for photography until I get my GR back from repair or to maybe buy a backup camera. For this I can only look at Sony since Ricoh/Pentax don't offer anything small and high quality enough aside from the GR. I am also not going back to m4/3 so this leaves me with only Sony since I don't think much of Fuji's controls after using the X100.
Sony cameras are also cheap enough for the most part. Specifically I am looking at the NEX-3N or the RX100, both are small enough and capable enough for what I would need. The advantage of the NEX is the APS sensor and interchangeable lenses and it could maybe even work with some of my M-lenses in the future. The RX100 is smaller and provides a faster lens and a bit more zoom but ha a smaller sensor and no possibility to change lenses in the future.
What do you think and what other options are out there cheap enough but capable enough?
I have been using an RX100 for nearly a year now. It took a good deal of learning, but I am very pleased with it now. It goes with me whenever I don't want to carry a bigger camera. It has taken the place of my much used Ricoh GX100, which had to go when it became belatedly unacceptable to Alamy. I know you are not keen on zooms, but if you use the RX100 without zooming you get a 28mm EFL f1.8 lens. It isnot weatherproof though....
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter! The RX100 is certainly tempting although slightly more than the NEX-3N here but the smaller size it attractive. Having a zoom is not altogether a bad thing after not having my GXR with the Jupiter 50mm lens anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe RX100 is (I think0 the only compact camera on Alamy's approved camera list. If you do a search on the Alamy contributors forum you will find a lot of discussion about it. (Also about the NEX). The camera has a Scene mode called "Hand held Twilight" which produces excellent results in the evening light shots you like so much...
DeleteThanks for your comments on this Peter and for sharing your experience about the RX100!
DeleteI ended up going for the NEX-3N in the end mostly due to the cheaper price and ability to use some of my M lenses on it but still like the idea and the images from the RX100 so who knows when I might end up with one.
I can understand your feelings about the RX100 having a smaller sensor, Cristi. However, it does have the advantage of a Zeiss lens. Since it would be your back-up camera when the GR is repaired, I would be tempted to go with the RX100. I know a couple of photographers who have one as their go-everywhere camera and Peter seems impressed with it. As a hands-on user, his opinion carries more weight than mine. At the end of the day, the person behind the camera matters most of all.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Calvin!
DeleteThe Zeiss lens is surely nice but the price was too high over the NEX-3N in the end and on the NEX-3N I can also mount Zeiss lenses at a later stage if I want to so it gives more flexibility.
You are right that the person behind the camera is always more important so I hope the NEX will do a good job for me.