My Compact Cameras
My Compact Cameras for Travel and Casual Photography
Since I developed hyperthyroid in Dec 2012, where my arms felt weak, my hands trembled (I couldn't hand hold my D3s without upping the shutter speed at least 3X my normal) and my fine motor skills were affected, I've generally parked my photography as a serious hobby. While I'm essentially back to normal health since Feb 2013, I haven't had the same urge to never leave home without my big gear set, and am more inclined now to go small, light and casual.
I have traveled a bit during the past 9 months for work and leisure, and while not allocating as much time to photography, have shot many casual travel photos, much more family moments and some amount of videos that I share with my family on the iPad during the trip or at home upon return via the Apple TV. LR4 editing is now on a need-only basis...
With this background story, I have come to really like the G1X I got last year for the superb all round image quality in such a small package, in good light or bad. Its noise at ISO 3200 is fully acceptable to me, and even at ISO 6400, I'm happy with the compromises. The vari-angle screen is fantastic to use and I'm quite happy with using it to shoot 720p 30fps videos (I find 24fps too choppy so I don't use the 1080p setting much). The high pop up flash in TTL mode works great for fill, and even at night, I rarely get the "deer in the headlight" look. So good in fact, considering it together with the high ISO performance, the f/2.8 glass, and the good lens IS, I have not found a real need to get a dedicated hotshoe flash for it (I unfortunately cannot get it to trigger my existing Nikon SB700 flash in manual mode although I've seen comments on-line that it was possible with the old SB24s and 28s). Of course, despite all the pluses, no camera is perfect and I don't fault it for what it is. So I complemented it with the Panasonic ZS20/TZ30 in Jan 2013.
The Panasonic ZS20/TZ30 filled the gap for long reach with its 20X Leica optical zoom, wider view with its 24mm FF equivalent lens and panorama capabilities, 1080 60i/p video for full HD, GPS for travel location tagging, quicker touchscreen focusing and all in a tiny lightweight package. So they have been my camera travel companions of late and I have been quite satisfied I must say.
However, I've been pondering over what I should do with my collection of lenses that's been sitting idle. So enter the NEX 6 into the family a week plus ago after trading in my now rarely used D300. It's about the size and sensor capability of the G1X, has many of the useful features found in the G1X and ZS20/TZ30 combined, like tilt-able LCD, panorama shot, fast focusing, great EVF, standard hotshoe (works with my SB700 and Nissin Di866, hooray!), full HD video, etc. Additionally, it has Sony's focus peaking function when manually focusing, and with adapters, will take my Nikon and Canon lenses! I'm still waiting for my adapters to arrive and will see how things work out later, if I can get used to manual focusing. Then I may make adjustments to my photographic gear to refine what I need to own. But happy with my camera-for-travel and personal-use set for now.
Cheers!
My Compact Cameras
My Compact Cameras for Travel and Casual Photography
Since I developed hyperthyroid in Dec 2012, where my arms felt weak, my hands trembled (I couldn't hand hold my D3s without upping the shutter speed at least 3X my normal) and my fine motor skills were affected, I've generally parked my photography as a serious hobby. While I'm essentially back to normal health since Feb 2013, I haven't had the same urge to never leave home without my big gear set, and am more inclined now to go small, light and casual.
I have traveled a bit during the past 9 months for work and leisure, and while not allocating as much time to photography, have shot many casual travel photos, much more family moments and some amount of videos that I share with my family on the iPad during the trip or at home upon return via the Apple TV. LR4 editing is now on a need-only basis...
With this background story, I have come to really like the G1X I got last year for the superb all round image quality in such a small package, in good light or bad. Its noise at ISO 3200 is fully acceptable to me, and even at ISO 6400, I'm happy with the compromises. The vari-angle screen is fantastic to use and I'm quite happy with using it to shoot 720p 30fps videos (I find 24fps too choppy so I don't use the 1080p setting much). The high pop up flash in TTL mode works great for fill, and even at night, I rarely get the "deer in the headlight" look. So good in fact, considering it together with the high ISO performance, the f/2.8 glass, and the good lens IS, I have not found a real need to get a dedicated hotshoe flash for it (I unfortunately cannot get it to trigger my existing Nikon SB700 flash in manual mode although I've seen comments on-line that it was possible with the old SB24s and 28s). Of course, despite all the pluses, no camera is perfect and I don't fault it for what it is. So I complemented it with the Panasonic ZS20/TZ30 in Jan 2013.
The Panasonic ZS20/TZ30 filled the gap for long reach with its 20X Leica optical zoom, wider view with its 24mm FF equivalent lens and panorama capabilities, 1080 60i/p video for full HD, GPS for travel location tagging, quicker touchscreen focusing and all in a tiny lightweight package. So they have been my camera travel companions of late and I have been quite satisfied I must say.
However, I've been pondering over what I should do with my collection of lenses that's been sitting idle. So enter the NEX 6 into the family a week plus ago after trading in my now rarely used D300. It's about the size and sensor capability of the G1X, has many of the useful features found in the G1X and ZS20/TZ30 combined, like tilt-able LCD, panorama shot, fast focusing, great EVF, standard hotshoe (works with my SB700 and Nissin Di866, hooray!), full HD video, etc. Additionally, it has Sony's focus peaking function when manually focusing, and with adapters, will take my Nikon and Canon lenses! I'm still waiting for my adapters to arrive and will see how things work out later, if I can get used to manual focusing. Then I may make adjustments to my photographic gear to refine what I need to own. But happy with my camera-for-travel and personal-use set for now.
Cheers!