Small SLR Camera Needed
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- Jimbo82
Hi all,
I'm after an SLR for taking shots of my work and for taking nice pics of stuff etc. I was looking at getting a Nikon but I've been put off by the size of them, it's kinda important that I can carry it around with me at ease. I've got a budget of about £500 (don't laugh) and I came across the Olympus E-PL1 and E-P1.
Anyone got any knowledge on these?
Thanks for your help in advance
Jimbo82
- Jimbo820
Oooo that is nice, but it's not an SLR. Doh!
- Jimbo820
This is the one I'm talking about
- pressplay0
I‘ve got this one... had decent reviews, not expensive, very small, makes good pictures, can‘t complain
for a review go here:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/…
- wgc0
Nikon d5000 with 18-55mm VR Lens. It's a wee beast. £479
- Jimbo820
Yeah that Nikon kinda falls under the chunky category, thanks for putting it forward though.
Looks like I'm going to go with the EPL1 I reckon, it looks sexy and has got pretty good ratings...
- wgc0
EPL1 is a wonderful camera, you wont be disappointed.
Another excellent dslr is a Pentax K-x, the image quality is amazing, and it's quite small as well.
- Jimbo820
- get a pancake lense with this.
http://www.digitalca…monNom - for maximum smallishnessmonNom
- get a pancake lense with this.
- dasmeteor0
- GeorgesIII's one loldasmeteor
- http://www.qbn.com/t…dasmeteor
- that's not mine!!!georgesIII
- Hombre_Lobo0
Jimbo, if its compact SLR quality cams your after im your man! i got mine about 3 months ago and im a bit of a tech whore atm for compact SLR cams.
This is my cam -I love it, it takes great pics, v high quality. It is similar to the E-P1 and E-PL1.
The best 'micro four thirds' cameras that would be suitable for your price are these 3 cams. the pros and cons -
E-P1
+ 4 stops of IN BUILT image stabalisation
+great high iso images, v little noise
+olympus m4/3 (micro four thirds) cams have incredible jpeg output, so much so the RAWs dont seem any better - obviously for post processing the raws are better
+better dynamic range than the GF1
+1/4000 shutter speed (unlike E-PL1 1/2000th)- no in built flash and the addition flash is expensive
-not as fast focusing as the GF1
-no addition Electroni view finder, only optical
-the kit lenses arent as good as the panasonic kit lenses
-low res LCd displayE-PL1
+has a lighter AA filter which produces slightly (very slighly) sharper pics than the E-P1
+great high iso images, v little noise
+olympus m4/3 (micro four thirds) cams have incredible jpeg output, so much so the RAWs dont seem any better - obviously for post processing the raws are better
+3 stops of inbuilt image stabalisation - not as good as the E-P1's 4 stops.
+better dynamic range than the GF1
+You can add an amazing elecreonic view finderneutral points - no dials, only buttons.
the ergonomics to me seem better than the e-P1-not as fast focusing as the GF1
-plastic body - not metla like the GF1 and E-P1
-max shutter of 1/2000th of a second - might be a problem in bright light, you could just stop down, but you would lose DOF. or add an ND filter.
-the kit lenses arent as good as the panasonic kit lenses
-low res LCd display
-slightly cheaper built quality doesnt look and feel as serious as the GF1 and E-P1GF1
+the kit lenses are amazing - sharper than both olympus lense
+the 20mm pancake (which can be used on the olympus cams) is incredibly sharp.
+very fast focusing
+in built flash
+1/4000 shutter speed (unlike E-PL1 1/2000th)
+The panasonic kit lens 14-45 offers lens stabalisation - which means you can shoot stabalised video - something that the inbuilt image stabalisation of the oly cameras can not do, however you can put the panasonic lenses on the olympus cameras and shoot stabalised videos.
+very high res LCD displayi prefer the ergonomics much more
The jpeg output isnt as great as the the olympus, but shooting RAW means this isnt a problem. Just depends on weather you are a RAW shooter or not.-no inbuilt image stabalisation
-the EVF isnt as good as the olympus ones.All this is off the top of my head, so forgive me if i miss stuff out.
I'd say forget an SLR, unless you do a lot of low light shooting, there is no longer a need to buy big DSLR's. the image quality of micro four thirds is good enough for A3 prints and A2 in some circumstances. If thats not enough image quality, get a DSLR! :D
Overall id say get to a camera shop and try them all out. But more than likely the E-PL1 is probably the best bet, in built image stablisation is great on that and the jpeg output is fantastic (just like the E-P1), remember though shooting RAW on the GF1 negates the lesser jpeg output of the GF1.
Feel free to email me dude.
- Wow. Just wow. Fantastic stuff manJimbo82
- Can it shoot full manual and A mode?taxiguerrilla
- Hombre_Lobo0
Also! the GF1 shoots in a compressed mp4 format - AVCHD which saves a ton of space. The olympus shoot in motion jpeg which is quite heavy file size wise.
the AVCHD files are usually a third or a quarter of the motion jpeg size.
- Hombre_Lobo0
haha, thank you! you're welcome dude, as i say if you have any questions email me! :D
Also, one awesome thing about micro four thirds cameras is that you can use old four thirds lenses on them. These were made by olympus, canon, sigma, leica etc.
and they are dirt cheap! the adapter to connect them to my GF1 cost £30, and i got a 50mm lens for £20, and a 135mm for £40 and they are very very sharp. They are manual focus though.
For example, the 135mm handheld (with no image stabalisation remember) -
then it was cropped down to this (with a bit of unsharp mask) -
there are loooads of cheap old lenses! :D
Also, if i buy a set of macro extension tubes that cost £10 for my 2 lenses - 135mm and 50mm it means i can shoot macro! like so (not my pics) -
this was using Lumix GF1 + Canon FD f/3.5 Macro + Extension Tube
RAWR!! (this was using a massive flash too!)
- Hombre_Lobo0
Some pics of mine GF1 + 20mm pancake -
and im v amateur at this photo stuff!
http://www.qbn.com/topics/578255…