Digital Camera Buyers' Guide - Year of the SLR
by Wesley Fink on November 23, 2007 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Digital Camera
Things to Consider
Consumer Electronics are always on an accelerating roller coaster of better performing products, shorter life spans, and quick changes in the market. Despite this, there are watershed events in the markets for consumer electronics that bring stability and orderly progress to markets that were chaotic. An example of this is when DVD+ and DVD- merged and were supported by all DVD players and recorders. This holiday season we are hot in a war of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and whoever wins will make the opposing camp very unhappy. There are hints and rumors that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray may go the way of DVD and merge into a standard that supports both, but there is too much at stake in both camps to even hint there is any real interest in that development right now.
You might ask what that has to do with digital SLR cameras. The answer is that DSLRs are on the verge of a format war. Canon has had full-frame DSLR pro models for several years, and their hot-selling full-frame 5D has dropped in price these days to near prosumer territory. Nikon has also announced their first full-frame pro DSLR. Rumor has it that Sony's upcoming pro DSLR will also be full-frame, which makes sense when you consider that Sony is the primary supplier of Nikon sensors.
For those of us who have been using SLRs for many years the compromises of lens factors and APS-C sensors are just too much. It is frustrating to see an incredible and expensive Nikon 20mm wide-angle lens behave like a common 30mm wide angle on a D300 or a D80. It would be nice to see a 20mm ultra wide angle again, and full-size DSLR sensors allow that.
It certainly appears that the DSLR camp is going to be split by manufacturers in the near future to full-frame pro models and APS-C entry to prosumer models. This will require companies to support two lens lines with some overlap, but the pros will win this one and we will still be using mainly 35mm glass for quality results on the APS-C cameras. There will be cheaper "small sensor" lenses, as there now are, but perhaps fewer of these in the future. This is due to the reality that advanced amateurs inevitably want to shoot what the pros shoot. That is why they buy Canon 5Ds today and why they will demand full-frame prosumer DSLRs in the future.
This is where Olympus and the 4/3 system has a crack to pop through, because the only real standards in digital and SLRs in general are full-frame 35mm on the one hand and 4/3 on the digital side. Perhaps another small-size sensor standard will develop, but as long as the big players like Nikon and Canon are mainly interested in making pro glass for the developing full-frame DSLR market there is no incentive for them to develop a new small-sensor standard. Players like Pentax just don't have the influence to forge a new standard on their own.
By this point we hope to have shed some new light on your holiday shopping for a digital SLR. Our recommendations will not be popular with many Canon and Nikon owners, but we have personally spent time with every camera discussed in this guide and we call them as we see them. This is an interesting time in the digital photography market. It is a time of flux that will only increase as this battle plays out, but what develops will probably be interesting and surprising.
Have fun shopping for the best buy in digital SLRs this holiday season. There are many great buys out there and you will likely see lots of superb specials as manufacturers fight for market share. Performance is good enough on most of the entry-level cameras that you would not be wrong to shop for the best price you can find on a 10MP camera for example. Whatever you choose, just be sure to take lots of digital pictures of your family and friends opening their holiday presents.
Happy Holidays from AnandTech!
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Wesley Fink - Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - link
I'm sure the answer to a better Photo Editor would be you. We understand you are disappointed that Anand did not hire you to write for AT, but the years of criticizing the Editors he did choose to hire is getting very tiring. You really need to get over it and move on.KorruptioN - Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - link
Burn.strikeback03 - Monday, November 26, 2007 - link
The Sigma lenses for 4/3 are not designs purely for 4/3 as the Oly lenses are - they are mount adaptations of existing lenses such as the Bigma.Some notes on the different implementations of AF in Live View between the different manufacturers might have been useful, as well as noting that the best AF performance will still be obtained through use of the real viewfinder.
Finally I agree with the need to go physically try a camera before buying. For example the reviews at DPReview typically complain about the grip of the 400D/XTi, while praising the A100. However I find that the 400D is much more comfortable as my pinkie just curls up below the body, while on the A100 the grip is too long to do that, but too short for the pinkie to actually grab, so my pinkie just kinda hangs in space.
melgross - Monday, November 26, 2007 - link
[quote]The Sigma lenses for 4/3 are not designs purely for 4/3 as the Oly lenses are - they are mount adaptations of existing lenses such as the Bigma. [/quote]That's correct.
As far as I'm concerned, the 4/3 system, which I was initially excited about upon its announcement, is not worth the long term purchase of the equipment.
Olympus could have used the image circle of the APS C sensor for a larger image sensor, which could have been done, but chose not to. So, instead of having a magnification of possibly 1.4 to 1.3x, it's 2x. A poor choice. Also, if they hadn't done that, all APS C sensor lenses would have the same magnification as Olympus's lenses, and better S/N, rather than worse.
As they made no concession to size when designing the cameras and lenses for this system, there is no advantage there either.
It seems to be a bastard system to me, and conveys no advantage.
frombauer - Monday, November 26, 2007 - link
... the largest (or tiniest) problem with 4/3 cameras like the Olympus. The ridiculously small and dim viewfinder. It's like looking through a small tunnel. Simply not practical. Just looking at any Nikon or Canon VF makes a world of a difference. I'm not even talking about the 5D.Wesley Fink - Monday, November 26, 2007 - link
I generally agree, and even the Pro E-1 was pretty small and dim. However,Look throught the E-3 viewfinder with a standard 1.15x viewfinder. I suspect any doubts that a 4/3 viewfinder can be huge, bright, and very easy to use will disappear. It took a few years but the E-3 viewfinder is definitely a huge leap forward for the 4/3 system.Johnmcl7 - Saturday, November 24, 2007 - link
The Digilux 3 is the Leica branded version of the Panasonic DMC-L1 and they're both relatively hefty cameras when compared to the smaller E-410/E-510 cameras or even their Olympus sibling the E-330. Although not anywhere near as big as something like the 5D, the Digilux 3 is bigger than the E-510.The Digilux 2 was a smaller camera (Leica version of the Panasonic LC-1) which may be the one you're thinking of although this wasn't an SLR despite the similarity in design to the L1/Digilux 3.
Also, the E-3 doesn't have a lens cleaning feature:
"The E-3 is also the first Olympus pro model to feature built-in flash, and it's dust and splash sealed. Auto lens cleaning is a feature, image stabilization is built in and works with all lenses, and the latest incarnation of Live View with a fold out articulating LCD screen is featured."
I assume you're referring to the sensor cleaning feature?
This section refers to the E-510 having multiple cross type sensors:
"However, the autofocus is still a weakness in an otherwise very capable system. It uses the somewhat dated 3-point autofocus, but cross sensors provide for greater sensitivity. "
Or at least that's how I read it, of the three AF points only one of them is a cross type (the centre one) while the other two are vertical only.
John
Johnmcl7 - Saturday, November 24, 2007 - link
...turns out it was posting them despite it erroring and not showing initially...Wesley Fink - Saturday, November 24, 2007 - link
Yes I was thinking of the 2 as they long similar. Thanks for the info. I have corrected the reference.Johnmcl7 - Sunday, November 25, 2007 - link
Thanks for the correction, the other errors (E-3 lens cleaning and E-510 AF) are still there though.John