What are your hobbies?

[drocpsu]

Anyone here have/tried the Fuji X series? Thinking of getting an X100 or X-E1 for my first "real" camera. I know the X100 restricts me to the provided 35mm lens but it takes great photos from what I've seen and I kind of see it as a way to keep a new hobby from getting out of hand since I'll be mostly occupied w/ my medical training for the next 6-8 years. Also it's portable, which the X-E1 w/ most lenses is not (at least, IMO - I don't like the idea of carrying around a DSLR). But y'all know a lot more than me so chime in please!

I have no experience with Fuji cameras, but my only advice would be that if you're looking to get a real camera, is try to stick to one of the bigger brands (Canon or Nikon, specifically). I get that you don't want to carry around a full size SLR, but if you have either one of these brands, if you decide down the road that you want to start getting more into photography, you'll have a vast array of lenses, old and new, (including from third party companies) that will work with your camera. With smaller brands like Fuji, your lens selection is much more limited and generally costs more.

You can still get a camera like the x100 if you're not looking for something big. Canon makes the EOS M, which has a super tiny 22mm lens. They also make a similar 40mm STM lens that is also very small and would keep the camera quite compact.

Although, now that I looked into it a bit more, it does look like the camera requires a rather pricey adapter to be able to mount canon's standard EF or EF-S lenses to it.

[alan]

LosRockets, how do you define a "real camera"? Is it one that has interchangeable lenses? Is it one with full manual controls? Optical viewfinder? There's no right answer. I'm just curious to see what you consider to be the most important features in order to give informed advice.

[LosRockets]

@Alan: Something that gives me more control than the point and shoot I currently have. Based on my experiences, I really do prefer an optical viewfinder and more manual control than not as well. It doesn't necessarily need interchangeable lenses, though that isn't a bad thing really (like I said though, I wouldn't even consider looking into purchasing additional lenses for a few years; and it may be still some time after that before I ever get seriously into photography). I don't know too much about photography, slowly reading guides online and stuff in my spare time to educate myself.

[alan]

@Alan: Something that gives me more control than the point and shoot I currently have. Based on my experiences, I really do prefer an optical viewfinder and more manual control than not as well. It doesn't necessarily need interchangeable lenses, though that isn't a bad thing really (like I said though, I wouldn't even consider looking into purchasing additional lenses for a few years; and it may be still some time after that before I ever get seriously into photography). I don't know too much about photography, slowly reading guides online and stuff in my spare time to educate myself.

If interchangeable lenses are so far down the road, I wouldn't consider an interchangeable lens camera. You'll be upgrading it around the time you're considering new lenses, anyway. My vote goes to the Canon G15. It probably has a smaller sensor than the Fujifilm, but I would not spend much more on a fixed-lens camera because it'll eventually be time to upgrade and you'll have to ditch the whole arrangement.

[alan]

The Canon G1X will have a slightly larger sensor and slightly slower lens. It's also more expensive, but it geared towards being the compact camera the pros use.

[BigBayesian]

Hi - I'm a forum newbie, and my work involves large-sensor photography (Meaning: I know a fair amount about photographic gear, and use it for work, but my pictures aren't any better looking than a normal consumer's, except in terms of technical image quality).

I require an APS-C sensor for work, and I hate to haul around more than I have to. For work photography, I just need really high quality, correctly-exposed raw images. For non-work, I tend to do low-light / indoors, pictures of people and dogs (mostly the sort of thing that'd be covered under street photography, in terms of requirements, except for the dogs). I dislike flash, and I don't mind moving around, so I tend to use primes (fixed-focal-length lenses, which generally have better image quality / smaller size / wider max apertures than their zoom-lens counterparts).

For my needs, a normal prime lens (a fixed lens in the 35-50mm focal length on full frame) seems to work fine. My DSLR is a Nikon d5100, with a 35mm f1.8 and an 18-200mm super zoom (which I almost never use). I've tried a number of mirrorless APS-C cameras, particularly the Sony NEX series (NEX-5 and 5n) and the Fuji X100. The big thing you lose with a mirrorless camera, especially the older, bargain-priced ones, is fast auto-focus. You don't notice the trouble with contrast-detection autofocus on compact cameras very much, because they have such a huge depth of field (which is why you can't use them for shots with limited areas in focus / can't get the out-of-foucs blur (or 'bokeh') that everyone likes so much). Those same algorithms running on bigger sensors have a LOT of trouble nailing focus quickly. I have a lot of trouble using my 5n for anything like a quick "snap" shot - it focuses too slowly for anything that isn't posed. The x100 was even worse - it took GORGEOUS pictures, but took FOREVER to focus. The newer, more expensive x100s is faster-focusing - tried it in an airport.

The Canon EOS M is supposed to have the same issue, although it had a firmware update very recently that supposedly helps, and enthusiasts hope the next version will have Canon's new 70D autofocus tech, which would be a huge jump in mirrorless autofocus. For now, though, it can be had crazy-cheap - retailers are dumping the body + 22m f2.0 prime lens kit for $300.

[alan]

I noticed the same about the EOS M. I was wondering why it was so cheap. My Canon S90 has been misbehaving. I'm not super keen on owning a second set of lenses, but maybe I'll have to look into it at that price.

[drocpsu]

If interchangeable lenses are so far down the road, I wouldn't consider an interchangeable lens camera. You'll be upgrading it around the time you're considering new lenses, anyway.

Truth. The G-cameras are very capable cameras as well.

[drocpsu]

I noticed the same about the EOS M. I was wondering why it was so cheap. My Canon S90 has been misbehaving. I'm not super keen on owning a second set of lenses, but maybe I'll have to look into it at that price.

Does Nikon make any similar camera to the M? I'm not familiar with their lineup. Paying less for the camera but having to buy a separate set of lenses for it quickly defeats the purpose.

[alan]

Does Nikon make any similar camera to the M? I'm not familiar with their lineup. Paying less for the camera but having to buy a separate set of lenses for it quickly defeats the purpose.

Not so much. They make a camera called the Coolpix A (terrible name) that can compete with the Fuji X100S that would work with my flashes and accessories, but it's in the $1100 range.

If I went with the Canon EOS M, I would not be buying additional lenses. The single focal length doesn't bug me nearly as much as not being able to use my flashes.

[alan]

It looks like the Nikon P7700 is on sale through most outlets right now. It's down to $380. It has a hot shoe and allows for CLS (wireless flash control). It's got multiple command dials and a 28-200mm lens. It only stops down to 2.0, but it's not like the Canons can go much lower. I may have found a winner.

I wasn't even in the market for a new camera yesterday, and now I don't know what I'll do without one. Thanks a lot, y'all. :-P

[drocpsu]

I wasn't even in the market for a new camera yesterday, and now I don't know what I'll do without one. Thanks a lot, y'all. :-P

Haha don't you love that? Looks like a pretty decent camera for a secondary!

[LesserBlackDog]

I wasn't even in the market for a new camera yesterday, and now I don't know what I'll do without one. Thanks a lot, y'all. :-P

I can't even read these posts. I've been using the same point-and-click ultra-zoom for 4 or 5 years now and I don't need any extra motivation to start looking at replacing it with a ~$1k DSLR....

[BigBayesian]

It looks like the Nikon P7700 is on sale through most outlets right now. It's down to $380. It has a hot shoe and allows for CLS (wireless flash control). It's got multiple command dials and a 28-200mm lens. It only stops down to 2.0, but it's not like the Canons can go much lower. I may have found a winner.

I wasn't even in the market for a new camera yesterday, and now I don't know what I'll do without one. Thanks a lot, y'all. :-P

It's one of the compact-sensor ones, though, right? I never got much bokeh out of my powershot S95, which had a similar slightly-bigger-sensor and wide-aperture thing going on.

I'm okay with a single focal length, as long as it's in the normal prime range, so I'm picking up the EOS M + 22mm and going to treat it like I did the x100. I may be the only one, but I never cared much about the EVF on that one (also, I couldn't use the RAW files for what I wanted - they were weird). If it can focus well enough, I may be able to sell my NEX-5n, and the bunch of lenses I never use.