Mountain photographer Jack Brauer, not the "24 guy" Jack Bauer, posted an interesting article on his blog. He is in search of the ultimate, easily accessible, compact camera ready for quick shots while hiking (his primary camera is a Tachihara 4x5 large format wooden field camera).
In his article he compares the Fuji F30, Ricoh GX100, and the new Sigma DP1. He thinks the perfect camera would be a Ricoh GX100 with a Sigma/Foveon sensor inside.
Quest for the Ultimate Compact Camera for a mountain photographer
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Posted by Wouter Brandsma
Labels:
comparison,
Fuji F30,
Ricoh GX100,
Sigma DP1
3 comments:
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"For the most part compact cameras are built as point-and-shoot cameras for regular day to day snapshots; however, recently some camera manufacturers have been developing compact cameras that have features geared towards more serious photographers."
I'm sure Jack Brauer was aware of this when he wrote the above, but there's been a long history of film and digital compact cameras geared towards more serious photographers.
Interesting article overall. I had an F30 a while back and didn't notice the "jaggedy" character he mentioned. I'll try to dig up some examples and enlarge them. That camera had a *very* sharp lens. The main problems I noted were highlight clipping, purple fringing, and colors that were just a bit drab.
If I was more outdoorsy, I'd go for an Olympus 1030SW. Freezeproof, waterpoof, shockproof - surely there's some mileage for a camera that does that? Image quality's come along since the earliest cameras in the series too.
@amin:
* highlight clipping in F30 can be avoided by switching off matrix metering. Instead I'd either use average metering (99% of the time) or spot metering (for portraits, with exposure comp. +1 and metering the forehead)
* purple fringing is easily avoided: simply use Aperture Prioriy mode, and set an F number > = 3.6
* I am a big fan of the fujifilm colors - they are so natural it is unbelievable (esp. skin tones). The Canons have a "plastic-like" colors in comparison.