cameras - discussion and advice

[Grey Fox]

My neighbor, also autistic, also does death marches. Everyday, no matter the weather.

[lustindarkness]

Coat pocket size 

My youngest son (the autistic one) has turned 14 and the death marches that keep him fit get longer and longer. I think that adding some photography to the mix would make some of the silent walks more interesting for me. I was thinking of documenting our town and local area, gives the walks more purpose.

With a smart phone you could listen to music, or a podcast, or the news... and take pictures.

[Pedrito]

I strongly advice for a 4/3rds or slightly larger sensor.

I'm a bit out of touch with the recent developments, but I have a Fuji X-Pro 1 and it's an excellent camera.
It's a bit larger than mongers' one, but it sports a quaint optical viewfinder (completely useless, except for luddites), a nice and crisp back display (plus a very good digital viewfinder, given the right finder mode) and a very good range of lenses, both primes and zooms - the sensor is a 1,5X. It has a nice, solid metal body and all the bells and whistles of today's cameras.
The only drawback is, there is no built-in flash (but the very good high sensibility can partially compensate this), and the external ones are not very good.

L.

[Maladict]

(completely useless, except for luddites)

[mongers]

I strongly advice for a 4/3rds or slightly larger sensor.

I'm a bit out of touch with the recent developments, but I have a Fuji X-Pro 1 and it's an excellent camera.
It's a bit larger than mongers' one, but it sports a quaint optical viewfinder (completely useless, except for luddites), a nice and crisp back display (plus a very good digital viewfinder, given the right finder mode) and a very good range of lenses, both primes and zooms - the sensor is a 1,5X. It has a nice, solid metal body and all the bells and whistles of today's cameras.
The only drawback is, there is no built-in flash (but the very good high sensibility can partially compensate this), and the external ones are not very good.

L.

That's a nice camera, pretty much tick all of the boxes for me, especially the Optical EV viewfinder.

But just a bit too big and heavy to carry around my neck/shoulders on long bike rides.

edit:
It or it's successors might stir the Cartier-Bresson in RH. 

[Pedrito]

(completely useless, except for luddites)

Maybe I wasn't clear: it's a rangefinder, like the ones in Leica manual cameras.

L.

[mongers]

(completely useless, except for luddites)

Maybe I wasn't clear: it's a rangefinder, like the ones in Leica manual cameras.

L.

So with the optical you get a bit of parallax, but in EVF mode that's corrected for?

[Pedrito]

(completely useless, except for luddites)

Maybe I wasn't clear: it's a rangefinder, like the ones in Leica manual cameras.

L.

So with the optical you get a bit of parallax, but in EVF mode that's corrected for?

Yes. The viewfinder has two main modes:
a optical one, and not being a pentaprism it suffers from rangefinders' drawbacks - but superimposed you can have a whole lot of info, i.e. aperture, ISO, grid lines, speed, and even a histogram - I call it useless because either you know a function rather well hidden in the menu, or you'll always suffer from parallax error - and even with the correction mode turned on, for near distance shoots the rangefinder is not the way to go;
a purely digital one, and it replicates the view in the back display - this is the mode I almost always use.

L.

[mongers]

Yes. The viewfinder has two main modes:
a optical one, and not being a pentaprism it suffers from rangefinders' drawbacks - but superimposed you can have a whole lot of info, i.e. aperture, ISO, grid lines, speed, and even a histogram - I call it useless because either you know a function rather well hidden in the menu, or you'll always suffer from parallax error - and even with the correction mode turned on, for near distance shoots the rangefinder is not the way to go;
a purely digital one, and it replicates the view in the back display - this is the mode I almost always use.

L.

Thanks for that, I like EV for the reasons you outlined but have a softspot for the whole rangefinder approach, controls and handling.


edit:
Cropped before Yi kills me.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I'm looking at this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-Compact-System-Camera-Sensor/dp/B00XW6936Q/ref=sr_1_7?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1467751182&sr=1-7

It looks bigger than the one mongers recommended though, surprised they didn't hire a model with enormous hands 

Fairly sure it will take excellent pics, but there is a fair amount of compromise with size there I think 

[mongers]

I'm looking at this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-Compact-System-Camera-Sensor/dp/B00XW6936Q/ref=sr_1_7?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1467751182&sr=1-7

It looks bigger than the one mongers recommended though, surprised they didn't hire a model with enormous hands 

Fairly sure it will take excellent pics, but there is a fair amount of compromise with size there I think 

Oh I'm sure it will, looks nice too, pretty much like a 8/10th scale model of a Pentax K1000 film camera.

How expensive and available are the non-kit lenses?

Heh, maybe I should hire out my mits for photographers of electronics?

[Pedrito]

I'm looking at this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fujifilm-Compact-System-Camera-Sensor/dp/B00XW6936Q/ref=sr_1_7?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1467751182&sr=1-7

It looks bigger than the one mongers recommended though, surprised they didn't hire a model with enormous hands 

Fairly sure it will take excellent pics, but there is a fair amount of compromise with size there I think 

I don't know about the body specifications, but it can use all the rather excellent lineup of Fuji lenses (the same I'm currently using on the X-Pro 1), and I cannot recommend them enough : thumbsup:
I'll try to post some pics taken with the X-Pro1 in the photography thread tonight.

L.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Think I'll have a 24-hour cooling-off period, then I'll buy it 

[Richard Hakluyt]

Ordered. They'll probably go up by 10-20% once new stock has to be ordered from Japan 

[Richard Hakluyt]

It is a beautiful thing this new camera, a real wonder of technology to an old guy like me 

Now to learn how to use it. Since it arrived it has been more or less continual rain of course