Photography, the return...

mdollan

mdollan

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After a few years break from photography, I'm starting to get the itch again - not only personally, but also need for business.

I like the idea of compact mirrorless bodies, however, I have always been a DSLR kinda guy - used to own a pair of 5d III's and a large selection of L lenses, so I'm not sure if I'll be able make the switch so easily.

I'll need to be able to record HD/4k video and also be able to photograph stock images for the business.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly received :)
 
mdollan said:
After a few years break from photography, I'm starting to get the itch again - not only personally, but also need for business.

I like the idea of compact mirrorless bodies, however, I have always been a DSLR kinda guy - used to own a pair of 5d III's and a large selection of L lenses, so I'm not sure if I'll be able make the switch so easily.

I'll need to be able to record HD/4k video and also be able to photograph stock images for the business.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly received :)
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An A7 series body and GM / Zeiss lenses will probably embarrass your Canon kit and might be worth a serious look, if your budget allows.
 
I like Fuji X series for compact system camera and the X-T2 has some nice video features from what i've seen.. I don't really have that much interest in video myself so i have not tried them.
I've previously had a Sony A7 which i used with a the Sony 35mm f2.8 ( Thanks for pointing out my previous mistake there Alan ) which was great but some of the faster lenses which i would've liked was similar sized to my Canon gear and more expensive so for me as a second system i went with the Fuji nice cameras plenty of controls and dials which i like, nice image quality and a more compact system.

Suppose it depends what you want i just wanted a decent more compact camera system as a alternative to bigger Canon gear.
 
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Throttle said:
I've previously had a Sony A7 which i used with a the Sony 35mm f2 which was great but some of the faster lenses which i would've liked was similar sized to my Canon gear and more expensive so for me as a second system i went with the Fuji nice cameras plenty of controls and dials which i like, nice image quality and a more compact system.

Suppose it depends what you want i just wanted a decent more compact camera system as a alternative to bigger Canon gear.
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I agree with the comment about deciding which way to go but there isn't a Sony A7 35mm f2. The choice is the 35mm f2.8 which is excellent and very compact or the 35mm f1.4 which is by accounts excellent but that excellence comes at the cost of size although to be fair it's not overly humungous and just in line with the some other excellent and high end modern f1.4 lenses. Body wise the A7 and Fuji SLR style designs are give or take the same size and in fact so are some of the lenses in the 28-50-ish sort of range.

The GM/Zeiss lenses are open to the criticism that they're the size of DSLR lenses but you have to remember that they're made to perform well on high mp count cameras. Viewed objectively these are some of the best pro/consumer lenses ever made.

There are compact lenses in the Sony A7 universe such as the 28mm f2, 35mm f2.8 and all of the 50-55mm options and IMO the other Sony and Zeiss primes and zooms too aren't overly large either considering what you're getting, some of the best lenses available. And of course looking at the body and lens as a whole an A7 set up is still almost certainly going to be smaller than a similar high mp count compatible quality DSLR set up. To stand a chance of the (same quality) DSLR system being smaller the body would have to be the size of an A7 :D

Good luck choosing.
 
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I stand corrected i knew that it was the 35mm and your correct its the F2.8 not F2, I'll edit my previous post :)
 
Hey guys,

Thanks for your replies, ideally working to a budget, not much more than a grand, whilst I love the look of the A7, it'd over stretch my budget.

Have been looking at the X-T1 and the X-T2 and there seems to be a few bargains about! Lenses are reasonable priced too!

Need to get my hands on them and have a play I think ;)
 
If video is your primary requirement i'd suggest a video camera. Maybe a second hand Sony AX100.
 
woof woof said:
An A7 series body and GM / Zeiss lenses will probably embarrass your Canon kit and might be worth a serious look, if your budget allows.
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Bold statement ;) :p
 
You could look at a Panasonic GH4. The video is superb and a lot of videographers use it because of how good it is and it's great value compared to the competition from Sony and now Fuji. Image quality wise (don't hurt me all you m43 users) it's good but a decent aps-c like the xt1 will produce better image quality although you'll find 90% of the time you can't tell the difference. The same step up happens on a full frame like the A7. Video however is only 1080p and not the best so there's your compromise. A couple of decent lenses and a body however come in at sub £1k with both the XT1 and the GH4.

If you can stretch, the XT2 has some of the best video out there and it's image quality is stunning. A generic lens to get you going comes as a kit (18-55). It has OIS and a range of 2.8-4 which isn't bad. Problem is your talking £1650 which is a stretch however it's a stretch you'll no doubt come to value once you've had it a while.

The same can be said of the Sony kit however your talking over £2k for the a6500 and some glass or similar quality. Then a6300 is also a good shout and will come in below he XT2. Lens range is improving with Sony but it's still not quite up there with other mirrorless brands like Fuji and Panasonic/Olympus.
 
Id say if the budget stretches then XT2, if it doesn't then id go with either Lumix GH4 or GX8.
The benefit of the Lumix range is the glass range is large and varied if you eventually pair one of them up with the 42.5 Noctoron its an amazing combo.
 
snerkler said:
Bold statement ;) :p
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The various review sites are there and so is the kit.

The two native Sony primes I have are simply outstanding and my own findings seem to be in line with the gushing reviews and I'm therefore reasonably hopeful that the lenses I don't own that the reviewers are gushing over are actually outstanding too :D
 
littleted said:
Id say if the budget stretches then XT2, if it doesn't then id go with either Lumix GH4 or GX8.
The benefit of the Lumix range is the glass range is large and varied if you eventually pair one of them up with the 42.5 Noctoron its an amazing combo.
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If the budget doesn't stretch to a used A7 I can't see an XT2 being within budget.

I know this makes me unpopular with the fanboys but I'd be careful buying anything but the newest MFT bodies and I wouldn't touch a GX8. The shutter shock issue is real and manifests with specific body and lens combinations and is IMO best avoided by avoiding the kit. If anyone must buy a camera known to produce shutter shock when used in combination with some lenses then I'd advise careful thought and research and careful selection of lenses.
 
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woof woof said:
The various review sites are there and so is the kit.

The two native Sony primes I have are simply outstanding and my own findings seem to be in line with the gushing reviews and I'm therefore reasonably hopeful that the lenses I don't own that the reviewers are gushing over are actually outstanding too :D
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Yep, heard they're pretty good. Not sure they'd "embarrass" the Canon lenses ;) but Sony have definitely upped their game of late (y)
 
The Fuji lenses have clicky aperture rings, this is not suitable for video if changing aperture whilst videoing is your thing.

If going Panasonic, I'd go with a 4K photo camera, as this also enables you to get an 8Mb image out of a 4K video, it's quite slick and clever, and would enable you to rob the video for stills if required.
 
Although I am a huge Fuji X fan I also would suggest the Panasonic system for video. The X-T2 with lenses (you could go for some manual focus lenses for non-clicky apertures) will exceed your 1 grand even when buying used. Not sure how it is with Panasonic though.

Another suggestion would be the Sony RX10 mk2 or mk3 if you could live without interchangeable lenses. The lens of the RX10 is great and it has plenty of video features, also it's much cheaper then any of the system cameras I think (if you are buying used and/or the older model)...
 
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