DSLR is dying, it’s just a matter of when sales finally dip low enough for Canon and Nikon to throw the towel in.

I would question that there is anything but the Sony range, and perhaps Leica, that is truly comparable to any full frame DSLR (they’re FF anyway).

You’re very, very wrong. It would take minutes to check your facts but you’re just making stuff up. So… I really am done.

I’ve just bought a Nikon 1 J5 CSC. It uses the same sensor as the Sony RX100 (possibly not the latest one though), has a wide range of lenses available and also compatible with Nikkor DSLR/SLR lenses with an adaptor.
The auto focus is crazy fast and the burst mode can do up to 60fps. Kit lens is ok but could be a bit faster (3.5) so I may go for a 1.8 prime for better low light action shots. Coming from an old Nikon D50 I’m pretty impressed for £300 and the image quality is fantastic.

The auto focus is crazy fast and the burst mode can do up to 60fps.

Not at the same time IIRC, when they can do 60 fps with full 3D tracking AF, that will be cool!

I was thinking about buying a previous model 300 f4, as you can get good examples for about £500 s/h, but then the new ones came out with it’s small size and VR.

I recently picked up a mint one for £450. Fab quality with & without a TC-14E II.
The focus is fast (and close!) and I love the built in lens hood. The lack of VR does mean you need at least 1/500th sec (preferably 1/1000th sec) handheld for a sharp image or use a monopod. Decent technique is also required to keep the focus point on target. Group AF helps.

footflaps – Member

Not at the same time IIRC, when they can do 60 fps with full 3D tracking AF, that will be cool!

I reckon it’s pretty cool, anyway…..
It’ll do 20fps with continuous AF – dunno if that is ‘3d tracking’ though.

The original Nikon 1 was a bit of an odd ball – pretty expensive when it first came out and with a small sensor that couldn’t really compete with the competition.
But, it soon came down to a bargain price. I think a mate of mine paid about £25 for his with the kit lens.

We’ve got one of the originals at work & it’s got a crazy high speed recording mode that helped us to solve a fundamental engineering issue we’d been working on for a long time. We got video evidence of what we had assumed was happening, but never been able to witness before thanks to the high speed capabilities of that camera. Pretty good when it was really just bought as something to keep in the R&D area for taking pics with.

Sexy new lens but surely for quite a small market. I am sure it it will take a better shot than an 80-200 f2.8 @ 105mm but i certianly am not going to pay all that money and carry it around. If it makes the old 135mm dc significantly cheaper i might get one of those though 8)

I reckon it’s pretty cool, anyway…..
It’ll do 20fps with continuous AF – dunno if that is ‘3d tracking’ though.

About twice as fast as my D4S DSLR which IIRC is 11fps although the auto focus tracking isn’t that great at that frame rate.

DSLRs offer better image quality than do ‘mirrorless’ 4/3rds cameras

Well that escalated quickly. Clodhopper I know you know better but the presence of a mirror or otherwise really has no bearing on the image quality. The mirror also plays no role in the AF ability of an SLR to focus other than to divert some of the light entering the lens into the phase detection focus module (and PDAF is the key reason why DSLRs AF used to, and in many casees still is, faster than a mirrorless camera but on chip PDAF is catching up).

There are many very good reasons why a more traditional DSLR design is still preferred by many professional photographers, but ultimate IQ is not one of them. The Sony A7rII might not perform like a pro camera in areas like fast AF tracking, ultimate AF speed, robustness of construction and weather sealing, dual card slots etc, but the image quality from that camera is the best there is outside of MF digital and by image quality I mean measured sensor performance (DR, ISO, colour depth etc).

The difference is pretty marginal though to say a 5Ds Mk111 whereas the other differences are still pretty big. It will be interesting to see what the A9 ends up being like.

As for other mirrorless cameras with high levels of performance, you only need to look at the new Hasselblad X1D to see where thingsare going.

Someone needs to change the thread title. Thought it was a thread about Nikon lens, not Sony mirrorless being the best thing since sliced bread.

Just bought a new flappy camera. So ner!

The Sony A7rII might not perform like a pro camera in areas like fast AF tracking,

I thought they A7/A9 were supposed to have faster AF than Nikon & Canon. Not tested one though. For me, AF is still the weakest point in Nikon DSLRs (although I’ve not tried a D5 yet, so maybe it’s now half decent). D4 was terrible, D4s is better, but still easy to loose track when following a moving target.

The ‘pics I took on my phone’ thread was much better than this one….

I thought they A7/A9 were supposed to have faster AF than Nikon & Canon.

Well the A9 hasn’t been released yet and reliable details of what it will be like are pretty scant. It’s being talked about as 70MP pro level camera with unlimited burst rate but no one really knows.

To be honest, I couldn’t tell you how well my A7rII performs on AF compared to anything else; I only ever use the single AF function, frequently with Eye AF (which is pretty good) but I don’t ask very much of the camera when it comes to AF. Most of my subjects are standing still.

“You’re very, very wrong.”

😆

You’re quite angry, aren’t you?

” recently picked up a mint one for £450. Fab quality with & without a TC-14E II.
The focus is fast (and close!) and I love the built in lens hood. The lack of VR does mean you need at least 1/500th sec (preferably 1/1000th sec) handheld for a sharp image or use a monopod. Decent technique is also required to keep the focus point on target. Group AF helps.”

VR is an absolute boon in low light situations, where faster shutter speeds just aren’t possible. Had the new lens not been released, I’d probably have an older version by now. I’m on a strict ‘decluttering’ programme at the minute though, and not allowed to buy new toys until I’ve had a thorough clearout. 😳

“Sexy new lens but surely for quite a small market. I am sure it it will take a better shot than an 80-200 f2.8 @ 105mm but i certianly am not going to pay all that money and carry it around. If it makes the old 135mm dc significantly cheaper i might get one of those though”

I’m hoping this will be the case actually. I really like the look of the 135 DC lens. I’m going to continue playing around with my current kit, and see what I like using the most, before I commit to anything new.

“Well that escalated quickly”

Didn’t it just. I would say that the Sony range is quite unique, but it’s expensive and with a relatively limited system. I haven’t claimed the Sony FF cameras are of inferior image quality, I was actually talking about the CSC/4/3rds types. DSLRs are clearly superior in IQ to those. The lines get more blurred between lower end DSLRs and high-end APS-C mirrorless though. Obviously, technology waits for no man, and it might seem that DSLRs days are numbered, but I can’t see them disappearing for a good while yet; if it ain’t broken…

“Someone needs to change the thread title. Thought it was a thread about Nikon lens, not Sony mirrorless being the best thing since sliced bread.

Just bought a new flappy camera. So ner!”

😀

I haven’t claimed the Sony FF cameras are of inferior image quality, I was actually talking about the CSC/4/3rds types. DSLRs are clearly superior in IQ to those.

OK but I’m very confused by what you mean as I think others are. The Sony A7 is a CSC as are the Fuji X-Pro 2, XT2, XE2, X100T etc and the IQ on the Fujis, even with an APS-C sensor is fabulous, easily as good as anything with an APS-C sensor and a mirror from Nikon or Canon.

What this thread needs is some wonderful photography to make it more interesting:

CSC Fuji X-Pro 1

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ps9KW2]De?veloppement durable[/url] by Dragan Dragoz, on Flickr

Fuji XE-1

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pZHwMq]La dernie?re des fe?es cherche sa baguette magique[/url] by Dragan Dragoz, on Flickr

FFS can’t the Mirrorless vs Mirrored debate find it’s own thread 😆

Here is a shot taken with 85mm f1.8d. Now convince me that the 105mm f1.4 is £1850 better.

Very nice!

Nice.

“Now convince me that the 105mm f1.4 is £1850 better.”

I’m really getting to love my 85mm. It’s such a ‘comfortable’ lens to use. Done quite a few more pictures with it now, and I can really see the appeal of a short telephoto. I never enjoyed using my 135mm as much as this, and my 105mm is a macro, so smaller max aperture (which changes depending on focussing distance). I think I’ll hire the 105 and 135DC lenses, along with the new 105 1.4 soon, and do a proper comparison.

I recently bought the 50mm 1.4 AF-S, astonishingly sharp but I have struggled to use it wide open due to the narrow depth of field, does not put me off the 105mm however as its clearing a technique issue on my part. Not sure I could justify the cost though.

That Nikon DL24-85 looks perfect to replace my massive Nikon DSLR which has hardly been used, but I can’t find a release date for it.

jimwah – Member

That Nikon DL24-85 looks perfect to replace my massive Nikon DSLR which has hardly been used, but I can’t find a release date for it.

It has been delayed a few times. It was originally supposed to be June I think.

Some info here. If you scroll down to the grey box, it mentions something about problems with an image processing IC for these cameras.

https://www.dpreview.com/news/6159429716/nikon-announces-compact-camera-delays

“I recently bought the 50mm 1.4 AF-S, astonishingly sharp but I have struggled to use it wide open due to the narrow depth of field, does not put me off the 105mm however as its clearing a technique issue on my part. Not sure I could justify the cost though.”

I’ve found that practising breathing techniques and stance, a bit like when target shooting, can help a lot with getting shots in sharp focus at large apertures. It’s especially a problem with macro lenses, very close up. Of course, tripods and static subjects help enormously, as do fast shutter speeds, but it’s not always possible to have optimum shooting conditions. I was photographing some insects outside earlier, and the DoF with the macro lens, at very close distances, is as little as 1 or 2 millimetres, even less. And even at f8 and smaller, it’s still very challenging to get focussing spot on.

Insects, you say…

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ezVQKC]13-05-05 DSC_5185[/url] by STW stumpy01, on Flickr

f6.3 90mm macro and still a teeny tiny dof…

Nice. That’s very close. Got some shots of a greenbottle fly today; tried to focus on the eye, got one or two shots sharp!The DoF was less than a millimetre that close! Used focus tracking AF, which I’m still finding a bit hit and miss, as I haven’t got my head round how it works yet. 😳

A trick a wildlife photographer friend gave me recently, is to capture live subjects, then put them in a container in the fridge for a little while (time depending on species). This enables her to get fantastic shots of moths etc, as they need time to warm up before they can move. Having experienced just how difficult it is to get good pictures of things like static plants, let alone insects/living creatures, I have maximum respect for those who do it well!

Just been looking at the fly pictures in Lightroom. There’s a tiny bit of blur, that I put down to not using a fast enough shutter speed. 1/160″ should be enough, but for such close-up detail, even the tiniest bit of movement has caused minute blurring of the very edges of the delicate ‘hairs’ on the fly’s body. Only visible when zoomed right in, and a bit of sharpening works well, and the picture itself is ok, but not perfect. So, more work on technique. Didn’t want to push the ISO up any further (was at 400), and thinking that a ring/macro flash system would be useful in such situations.

Also went through some pictures of friends and kids I’ve done recently with the 85mm. It really is a superb lens. Very little post work needed.

Now looking at a longer lens for various purposes. The 70-200 f2.8 zooms have great reputations, but the 80-400 VR caught my eye. The older one is available for less than £500, the newer (and supposedly much faster AF) version is more than double that. Having a bit of a dilemma; the 70-200 is obviously a good lens, but I’ve got the lower end pretty much covered, so I’d be waning it more for the longer reach. And then it only goes to 200. Something like a 100-300mm f4 zoom would be ideal, but doesn’t exist. And then I spotted the 200-400 f4 zoom… 😯

The 70-200 f2.8 zooms have great reputations

It is excellent, my most used lens by far.

It’s big and heavy, and doesn’t have all that much serious reach. I did ponder the 24-70 and 70-200 f2.8 combo, but found that the 24-120 f4 suits 80% of my needs in a zoom. The Sigma 120-300 f2.8 is a massive beast, but interesting. I don’t normally go for non-Nikon lenses, but this one does seem ok. S/H examples are very reasonably priced.

Picked up a Nikkor 50mm f1.8D yesterday, mint condition for a ridiculously low price. 😀 It’s a very lightweight, almost flimsy feeling lens compared to my trusty old old AI version, Spotless, not even a speck of dust inside the lens, and I doubt it’s actually been used. Possibly an ex display model. Bought it simply because manually focussing my AI 50 is tricky in low light, and my eyesight isn’t what it once was. I’ll try it out at an event on Saturday. I have been considering a ‘posh’ 50mm lens, and the Sigma 1.4 ‘Art’ lens looks interesting, but I need to play around a bit more, really suss out what focal lengths I use the most, before investing heavily in equipment. I’ve not used my old 50mm with digital much, mainly because it’s not AF, so we’ll see if that feature makes it more viable.

Also bought a new spare battery for my camera. A ‘consumable’ item, cost more than the lens did. 😯

It’s far more compact than the newer G model & has the advantage of the focus ring not moving during AF operation unlike the 1.4D lens. The front element is deeply recessed so a hood isn’t needed either. It’s a great little lens.

It was an impulse buy. I’d only meant to buy a new battery. 😳

The focus ring does move on the AF-D f1.8. It’s only the AF-S versions where it doesn’t.

The camera body without grip, and the 50mm, is a relatively ‘compact’ package, which could be good for street photography. Much lighter, and doesn’t look nearly as ‘pro’ as with the grip and a big lens on.