I’ve got two cameras currently and would like to have just one that combines the best of both.

One is a second hand Nikon D200 with a very bright 1.4 50mm Nikon prime lens (in reality the depth of field is so small at anything less than 1.8 that I never use it) the other an aging Canon Powershot G10.

The Canon has good manual control and useful auto settings and is compact but doesn’t have the control over depth of field that the Nikon does and while the shutter lag is OK, it’s still frustrating. The lag as the picture saves is also very annoying.

The Nikon is a fabulous camera but it’s big, heavy and consequently intrusive, i.e. it’s not particularly discrete.

The money no objective choice would be a digital Leica range finder but that’s so far out of the ball park it’s a joke.

I really like the Fuji range but the X-E1 and especially the X-Pro 1 are still very pricey. The X100 looks just about in budget but again it’s right at the limit.

I want the camera for every day use, lots of family portraits and days out; I’d like to get the depth of field control for portraits without the bulk of a DSLR.

What are peoples’ recommendations.

For shallow DoF you need a larger sensor than most compacts. Sounds like you need a CSC – micro 4/3, Nex etc.

I’d get an Olympus E-P5 personally. Or an OM-D E-5 if oyu can stretch.

Thanks molgrips, that’s useful insight. I didn’t realise that the censor size was a factor and had wondered why other compacts with a say an F2.0 lens still didn’t give you a shallow DoF.

I like the E-P5, haven’t looked at the OM-D. Will give it some attention.

NEX has a bigger sensor than m4/3 and would hence give an even shallower DoF at a given aperture. I think m4/3 is a better system though, there are more lenses available. OM-D is weather sealed which is ace, but the kit lens is the only weather sealed one and the IQ isn’t as good as some of the others. It’s got loads of features though.

I’ll recommend the sony nex series, as usual. Nex 6 or Nex 7.

I have owned to m4/3 cameras but have now settled on nex. Sensors, form factor, menus (not that sony are great but olympus are awful) and raw processor support all came into it for me.

Your requirements may differ.

Olympus menus get good press generally, and I’ve no problem with them. YMMV of course 🙂

Olympus menus get good press generally, and I’ve no problem with them. YMMV of course

E-p1/e-p2 in my case, which may be very different from your slr. But yes, I think controls are very ‘personal preference’ with mirrorless systems as they’re inherently fiddly little things.

More than happy with my Fuji X10. X20 would be even more useful or the new X-M1 if you want more lenses.

I have 2 m4/3 – both excellent in their own way – takes some great shots

depth of field is not a problem depending on the lens

Haven’t Nikon just launched a compact with a DX sized sensor?

<quickly visits Nikon website>

Yes they have, it’s the Coolpix A. But it’s neary £1K !! Nikon 1 then?

Any plans for your D200 BTW, I could do with a spare body…??

Yes they have, it’s the Coolpix A. But it’s neary £1K !!

It’s a fixed lens compact.

Nikon 1 then?

Not much use if depth of field control is on your list of priorities.

E-p1/e-p2 in my case, which may be very different from your slr.

As far as I know they are similar to my SLR, or at least the earlier ones were.

And yes – Nikon 1 has a pretty small sensor – they have got round image quality issues fairly well but you can’t get around the DoF thing.

There are good deals on the X100 at the moment due to the release of the X100s. I’ve seen them pristine on ebay for under £500.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fujifim-Finepix-X100-12-0-MP-Digital-Camera-Bundle-in-Silver-/251308683519?pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_DigitalCameras_DigitalCameras_JN&hash=item3a832a30ff

Other options include sticking with a smaller sensor but going with a faster lens

This review will help as it has a shot designed to compare depth of field

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/2367736880/roundup-enthusiast-zoom-compact-cameras

The other option is NEX 5 or 6 and the cool new collapsing lens with maybe one fast prime for shallow depth of field. But total cost will in X100s territory

Or a microfourthirds and fast prime combo. But again the fast prime will be pricey

Oh and focal length is an issue for shallow depth od field. So I’m not sure that X100 will be that shallow a depth of field

@5thElefant –

Nikon 1 then?

Not much use if depth of field control is on your list of priorities.

How do you work that out? It’s a system camera much like a PEN. Loads of different lenses with different/variable apertures available, hence ability to control DoF.

LINKY

But Nikon 1 has a much smaller sensor and so less control of depth of field. the lens selection is also better for micro fourthirds with more fast options.

How do you work that out? It’s a system camera much like a PEN. Loads of different lenses with different/variable apertures available, hence ability to control DoF.

It has a 2.7 crop factor, so their only fast lens, the 32mm f1.2 is equivalent to an 86mm f3.2 full frame lens, which is pretty limiting if you want shallow depth of field.

How do you work that out? It’s a system camera much like a PEN. Loads of different lenses with different/variable apertures available, hence ability to control DoF

DoF in an image is dependent on several things:

Aperture
Distance to subject (further = more DoF)
Focal length (larger = less DoF)
Sensor size (larger = less DoF)

So Nikon 1 having a small sensor will make it harder to get shallow DoF. This may or may not be an issue depending. I have a fairly small sensored camera (four thirds) but when using macro the DoF is still razor thin, and I have to stop down often.

However if I want to take a portrait in sunny weather, I can’t get the background to blur as nicely.

Dofmaster is very handy. Keep the distance to subject the same and compare two cameras taking the crop factor into account to get the same field of view (50mm on full frame, 25mm on m4/3 for example) then compare depth of field for given apertures.

It has a 2.7 crop factor, so their only fast lens, the 32mm f1.2 is equivalent to an 86mm f3.2 full frame lens, which is pretty limiting if you want shallow depth of field.

That’s not to bad. Dare I say quite good. I use to find f4 100mm quite good with full frame(on film)

That’s not to bad. Dare I say quite good. I use to find f4 100mm quite good with full frame(on film)

Yeah, but it’s their only lens that offers narrow(ish) depth of field.

I’m not sure my posts to me supporting Nikon 1.

But I still think its good that they are doing one lens with depth of field control.

I guess it’s down to priorities. The OP wants depth of field control. The nikon one has to be last on the list in that case. It may have one lens that may well do the job, but it’s £800.

You could get similar results with a £180 lens on a sony or £220 on m4/3. Plus have option of narrow depth of field with lenses at other focal lengths, and the ability to adapt legacy lenses.

Now… if the OP wanted fast AF as a priority…

I am a fan of the Panasonic m43 range – good viewfinder and very easy to use.

i got an oly epm1 but with a panasonic 20mm 1.7, you can control the dof ok with this but its size and the price that was probably the best thing.
epm2 has an even better sensor of the higher end OMD.

depends what you want from your camera

The Fuji X100 does look nice.

A wedding tog I know, has one about his person at all times:
Here are his first tests:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=93986930@N00&q=x100