jorge7488

 View profile
 Send mail

One heck of a camera

Oct 10, 2008

Rating: 10 out of 10 (Perfect)
Pros: MP count, price, features, ergonomics, Zeiss and G optics, Image quality, Image stabilization
Cons: Flash system(Relative), no movable rear LCD screen like Olympus E-3
Opinion:
This will be my first review of any camera in any place so please forgive my ignorance and personal comments.
I am an amateur that do not do sports, but do landscaping, night shots, some portraits, nature and some moving people and my observations will be based on that.
My photo equipment consisted previously of a Nikon F2, F4e, F5, FM3a, Canon Digital Rebel (6.3 MP), Nikon sb28dx and sb-800, Manfrotto tripod with fluid panhead, Velvia 100, Kodachrome 64, and any good negative ISO 200-400 B/W and color film, lens adapters for using Nikon lenses in a Canon EOS body. Lenses include Noct Nikkor 55 f/1.2, 85mm f/1.4, 6mm f/2.8, 80-200 f/2.8, and Sigma 28-300 f/3.5-5.6 AF. Notice all my lenses are Nikon Manual focus lenses except for the Sigma that is AF. I will be using all these lenses except the fisheye because the mirror has to be permanetly in the up position. I only use it on my F2.
First let me tell you that this camera shares the same ergonomic philosophy as Nikon, Olympus and Pentax use in their middle to high end cameras and that is well placed controls that can be reach with just two fingers. I used to have a Canon 20d and this camera fails on that. I am able to use the front command dial for aperture setting and the rear command dial for shutter speed settings, that are the most frequent ones I personally use(I use the Custom Menu for this). Let me tell you that I have been using Nikon lenses with adapters on all my cameras, mostly the old ones because they still retain the aperture ring, but for this camera I am using KonicaMinolta 35mm lenses as well such as the 80-200 f/3.5 AF. The camera can be used manually and with Image stabilization with ANY lens or brand, old or new that exists in the market that you can put on it. Obviously, you need to put good glass and me and my friends have them and the images I am able to obtain are a dream, at least for me. Colors are saturated, IS is very effective, I will say up to 2.5-3 stops on the long zoom range (1/20th second at f/2.8 at 200mm at ISO 200)Metering is preety good, allmost dead-on. My night pictures at ISO 3200 are excellent and very good at ISO 6400, with the noise been a mixture between chroma and luminance giving a grainy colored look, but still amazing pictures. Obviously, they do not compare with the D3 or D700 Nikons or the Canons in terms of High ISO, but the difference is only apparent to those people that are pixel peepers. For my needs, its more than excellent.
Because of the relative low weight of the camera, it is very good to excellent in the daily handling department. The battery pack is very convenient when doing long photo sessions or you are far from home. It balances the camera well and all controls are there. The build up is excellent
Let me tell you what is my favorite set-up. I am using the custom settings menu. There I am using one of them for manual exposure and focus, because I am using Nikon lenses most of the time. That is why I prefer the old lenses rather than the new. The bokeh on the 50mm is excellent and this camera makes it appear like perfection come true. I have put it with auto ISO 200-3200, -1/2 EV at every ISO, and these basic parameters allows me to obtain colors and saturation very similar as with Fuji Velvia 100, with vibrant colors. In the custon setting 2, is the same but with -1/3 EV, to make it eaquivalent to Kodachrome 64. Let me tell you, those colors and those settings are criminal, the skin tone of almost all individuals in a single picture look soooo good that is like if each pixel of this camera is adjusting itself individually to the lighting conditions. Reds are red and blues are blues and same for the rest. The meter is pretty good handling EV from 2-16. Night exposure I use custom setting 3 with no EV compensation of any sort. Colors are still very good but on those ocassions when I use the flash, it looks like the exposure goes above 1/2 to 1 full EV in about 20-30 % of the time, when compared to the nikon system, that nails exposure time after time. I think that the meter is better than the flash system but still produce very good images. The good thing is that when you check the exposure/image in the LCD monitor is like looking at a home TV set, it is so big and with BIG resolution, as good or better as the digital Nikons, that you can check if your focus is OK, something necessary for me because of my mixed lens use and selected custom settings. For me, this camera is super. It is completely transparent to me when taking pictures, is responsive and with very few complaints, the almost perfect photographic tool. If you are more into taking pictures, this camera will not dissapoint you, but if you are a pixel peeper that is only checking statistics, this camera may not be for you (although it would be very impressive).
The only disappointment that I have is that for a camera with Live View, not allowing the LCD monitor to be fully movable, like the Olympus E-3, is frustrating, but this is a very small nigle that do not interfere with most picture taking situations(only when you want to take a picture of yourself without using the self timer, he he he)
My comparison was made against Nikon D3 and D700 and a canon EOS 5d, all of them from friends. All of us feel very happy because we have obtain tools that allow us to express in terms of photography and in our continous pursuit of photographic learning to enhance our humble skills. Hope this gives you a better idea of the capability of this camera, as capable as any pro camera in the market right now.