Finding the next digital camera…

Due to my work in 3D digitizing I was happy to be an early adoptor of digital photography. It all started with Kodak DCS we had at the Daimler research lab in Ulm in 1994. This was a Nikon body with standard lenses like 50mm 1.4 and mainly used for photogrammetry. From time to time we took some photos on the side and here is one Georg Wiora shoot: my wild time as a PhD student.

In my private life I relied on my Nikon F601, my favorite lens 85mm 1.8, a Tokina 28-70mm 2.8-3.5 for everyday’s purpose, and the strong SB-25 flash. Later I sold the Tokina and a seldom used Sigma 70-210mm (ugly pictures). As digital DSLR became stronger I got a F80 with a 28-80mm 3.3-5.6 very cheap. That is my Nikon collection now:

While waiting for the „perfect“ digital camera my wife was smarter and surprised me with a christmas present in 2002: Canon DIGITAL IXUS v3. The IXUS turned out to be my omnipresent partner with reasonable quality resolution of 2048 × 1536 for nice family pictures. The combination of IXUS and Nikon analog served our needs quite well. Even when the IXUS went „CCD-dark“ at one day in 2010, Canon was so kind to replace it with a complete new model: the Canon DIGITAL IXUS 70. The new IXUS has a higher resolution 2304 × 3072 but the lens is not as sharp. Over time the cameras in mobile phones reached the quality of the IXUS: BlackBerry, iPhone 3s, and now my Samsung S3 offer enough for snapshots. That’s why the IXUS stays home most of the time.

My father bought a Miranda collection in the late 70s, I proudly completed over time:

  • Miranda Auto Sensorex EE
  • Miranda 50mm 1.4 EC Auto: I love it
  • Soligor 28mm 2.8 EC Auto: only OK
  • Soligor 135mm 2.8 EC Auto: I love it
  • Soligor 85-210mm 3.8 MC Auto (include Macro): Cannot recommend it. Very blurry…
  • Additional exchangeable viewfinders: VFE-1, VFE-3
  • Extension tubes for Macro

This is a great camera performing like a Nikon F3. I did all my learning with it and will never give it away!

During our last vacation in Ireland I was not really satiesfied with the picture quality of the IXUS or all the smartphone cameras we had with us. At my friend house I played with the amazing small and good Sony DSC-RX100 I with Zeiss lenses. At the same time I got the first news about the Nikon D750 and here we are with the question: Do I continue with the Nikon DSLR camera approach and buy a Nikon D750 (the D810 seems to be more for static shooting) or should I switch to a smaller system camera now?

Here are my options:

  1. Stay on the Nikon train:
    • D750  €1900 and some more add-ons
  2. Switch to digital Leica, yes expensive!
    • Leica M9, M, M-P €3000-€6900
  3. Switch to Micro Four Thirds
    • The small Lumix GM5 with lenses €1300 and up
    • little bit bigger Lumix GX7 with lenses €700 and up
    • or some other
  4. Switch to Fuji x-mount
    • the small Fuji X-A2
    • or the bigger Fuji X-E2, Fuji X-Pro1, or Fuji X-T1
  5. Just replace the IXUS with a good small high performance lens compact camera
    • Sony DSC-RX100 I, II, or III €350-€650
    • or some other brand Fujifilm.

Let’s explore these options over time in the following posts..  Sources for my decisions are:

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