A Man called Murph (and a search for a camera...your help needed)

[KillRamsey]

First, holy crap your site is fascinating. Please come to Boston soon so I can put you up for a few days and hear good stories.

Second, your question... The Fujis (XE-1 or X-Pro1) do two things very very well: they render hauntingly good jpg's straight out of camera, which a guy in your line of work might enjoy simply because it will cut way down on your turnaround and post time. And they have simple, direct, old-fashioned controls. Other cameras have a little of that control philosophy, but none to my knowledge have it down as nicely. Dedicated (and labeled) EV comp, shutter, and depending on the lens Aperture too... they're a joy to shoot with. ISO a function button away. Perfectly clean files up to 3200.

What the Fuji's do NOT have that a guy in your line of work might want is weather sealing, massive shot count-per-battery-charge, or dslr-speed auto focus. The weather sealing is just something you have to be careful of, and it's never bugged me. Battery issue is best solved with 3 or 4 aftermarket $30 batteries. Auto fucus speed is only an issue if you're used to dslr speeds, hence me mentioning it. Depending on the lens attached, the Fujis pretty much focus perfectly quickly enough to do anything but capture sports action. But the Nikons are much faster at it.

Summary on the Fujis: Magically delicious sensor, hand-in-glove user controls, the first camera you won't HAVE to shoot in raw.

edit: But the video is pretty so-so on them...

 

[Isoterica]

Welcome Murph. I don't have a lot of tech talk to add about a variety of cameras. just not all that experienced in a wide range of goods, but I did want to welcome you, tell you that your photos are absolutely amazing and that I will be watching your adventures from afar. Good luck in your camera shopping, Luke was right, this is an excellent place to get information.

 

[Irish Murph]

GXR, but I'm biased (what is video?)

Well, care to elaborate on why the GXR Will?. What lenses are you using with it, any old ones?. And what do you shoot.
Any info you can provide would be a help thanks.

 

[Irish Murph]

First, holy crap your site is fascinating. Please come to Boston soon so I can put you up for a few days and hear good stories.

Second, your question... The Fujis (XE-1 or X-Pro1) do two things very very well: they render hauntingly good jpg's straight out of camera, which a guy in your line of work might enjoy simply because it will cut way down on your turnaround and post time. And they have simple, direct, old-fashioned controls. Other cameras have a little of that control philosophy, but none to my knowledge have it down as nicely. Dedicated (and labeled) EV comp, shutter, and depending on the lens Aperture too... they're a joy to shoot with. ISO a function button away. Perfectly clean files up to 3200.

What the Fuji's do NOT have that a guy in your line of work might want is weather sealing, massive shot count-per-battery-charge, or dslr-speed auto focus. The weather sealing is just something you have to be careful of, and it's never bugged me. Battery issue is best solved with 3 or 4 aftermarket $30 batteries. Auto fucus speed is only an issue if you're used to dslr speeds, hence me mentioning it. Depending on the lens attached, the Fujis pretty much focus perfectly quickly enough to do anything but capture sports action. But the Nikons are much faster at it.

Summary on the Fujis: Magically delicious sensor, hand-in-glove user controls, the first camera you won't HAVE to shoot in raw.

edit: But the video is pretty so-so on them...

KR, Hi and thank you. And much appreciate you kind words on my travelogue blog.
And also for your invite to Boston. It's going to be quite a number of years before I and the sidecar are back on US soil, probably 2016 or 17. I still have 5 continents to travel, and I travel slowly , very slowly.

So, great info you provided me, thank you. Nice and detailed.
•The weather sealing, not an issue for me. I rarely shoot in the rain, and the D3s is just for that. It's what it was designed and made for, and does it exceedingly well. It even fell off the back of my bike on the NJ Turnpike at 40mph and was fine.

•And I'm not a sports/ fast action shooter either. Landscapes and people mostly. Winter is my season, that's when I wake up, so cold is my only issue, which drains batteries. So I always have lots of spares.

•And that hauntingly good jpeg SOC sounds great. I shoot in RAW so good jpeg would be a plus. So I guess I'll do a little research into them, see what lenses are compatible with them. Reading your description again makes me want one right now !!. You should work for them
Oh wait, you do? :tongue:

Murph.

 

[Archiver]

The new Olympus E-P5 plus a few pancakes like the Oly 14/2.5, Panasonic 20/1.7 and the longer Oly 45/1.8. All are very sharp and perform excellently with the E-P5. If you want a viewfinder, the Panasonic GX7 looks very similar, and adds a good built-in EVF.

 

[Ghosthunter]

I would go the Panasonic GX7 route! It has a couple pancake lenses to choose from plus offerings from Olympus that will fit straight on plus it has the best video on the market and in body image stabiliser!! Superb picture quality, tiltable screen and tiltable 2764k high quality view finder. Check it out here> DMC-GX7 | PRODUCTS | LUMIX | Digital Camera | Panasonic Global

 

[pniev]

Welcome Murph. I don't have a lot of tech talk to add about a variety of cameras. just not all that experienced in a wide range of goods, but I did want to welcome you, tell you that your photos are absolutely amazing and that I will be watching your adventures from afar. Good luck in your camera shopping, Luke was right, this is an excellent place to get information.

I could never have said it better, so I will quote Isoterica to welcome you! And you should be applauded for getting yourself out of the mysery and finding a new passion! I wish you well on your adventure and I am looking forward to reading your blog.

Peter

 

[Irish Murph]

Wow, Murph - that is some trip you're on and I can see I'm going to have to spend some time perusing your blog and your photos.

So you want small and you want good video. I'm sure you'll get lots of helpful suggestions. I'm afraid I'm clueless about which of our serious compacts take good video. I'd think you'd love the image quality of the Fuji Xs but they're not pocketable, alas.

Glad you found your way here thanks to our man Luke.

By the way BB, I guess my version of pocketable is anything smaller than a D700, so in my eyes, even the Fuji Xs, to me, are more compact and "pocketable" than my D700. I didn't mean "tiny" pocketable in a body, just smaller and less obtrusive than a full-size full frame body that I'm used to right now.
Just wanted to clear that up as I re-read this thread.

Murph.

 

[Irish Murph]

I would go the Panasonic GX7 route! It has a couple pancake lenses to choose from plus offerings from Olympus that will fit straight on plus it has the best video on the market and in body image stabiliser!! Superb picture quality, tiltable screen and tiltable 2764k high quality view finder. Check it out here> DMC-GX7 | PRODUCTS | LUMIX | Digital Camera | Panasonic Global

Hi Ghosthunter and thanks for your input, much appreciated.
G7, eh?. Ok, I will do a little research and see what the G7 is all abut thanks. Out of curiosity, what would your reasons be for going G7 over Fuji Xpro1?.

I could never have said it better, so I will quote Isoterica to welcome you! And you should be applauded for getting yourself out of the mysery and finding a new passion! I wish you well on your adventure and I am looking forward to reading your blog.

Peter

Hi Peter and thank you for your welcome, positive thoughts and nice comment.
I have a doozy of a post coming in this Sundays article, peeling back a few layers.
I usually post every 2 weeks on the blog, on a Sunday morning, so as agnostics like me have something to do other than listen to fire and brimstone and eternal damnation lies :tongue:

 

[Boid]

Hey Murph! Your blog made me want to ditch my car and buy a bike.

I use a couple of Nikon cameras, the D800e and I just picked up a D700 as well, after I found the D800 not as conducive to hand held shooting as I'd like. I also shoot with the Fuji X100 and a Ricoh GRD.

Here's my list of recommendations for you -

1. If money is no object and as you mentioned you're fine with a fixed 35mm, buy the Sony RX1 (or the new RX1r). It's a full frame sensor and will outperform your D700.
Sony DSC-RX1 Review


2. If you want to cut down on processing and don't mind a bit of a zoom, plus don't care about the costs, get the Leica X Vario. This camera has an APSC sensor and a slow slow lens, but you seem to be a tripod shooter in bad light, so that won't matter much. No other pocketable camera (IMO) produces images quite like this sooc. Take a look -
Review: Leica X Vario Defies Naysayers with Impressive Optics


3. Buy the Sony Nex 7 if you want a versatile kit. One can pick up a bunch of old Minolta glass on the cheap on ebay, plus with the Metabones adapter you can use all your Nikon glass at native focal lengths AND gain a couple of stops in the process. The Nex is certainly one of the most versatile systems around, but you don't end up shedding much as much weight as one would want and it gets complicated quick.
Sony NEX System : Nikon G to E mount Speed Booster

Stuff I wouldn't recommend for you, is buying into a whole new "system", if your goal is to simplify.

Having said this, looking at your pictures, you will be able to produce nice images in spite of whatever camera you go with.

Hope I helped. Cheers!

 

[Irish Murph]

Hey Murph! Your blog made me want to ditch my car and buy a bike.

I use a couple of Nikon cameras, the D800e and I just picked up a D700 as well, after I found the D800 not as conducive to hand held shooting as I'd like. I also shoot with the Fuji X100 and a Ricoh GRD.

Here's my list of recommendations for you -

1. If money is no object and as you mentioned you're fine with a fixed 35mm, buy the Sony RX1 (or the new RX1r). It's a full frame sensor and will outperform your D700.
Sony DSC-RX1 Review


2. If you want to cut down on processing and don't mind a bit of a zoom, plus don't care about the costs, get the Leica X Vario. This camera has an APSC sensor and a slow slow lens, but you seem to be a tripod shooter in bad light, so that won't matter much. No other pocketable camera (IMO) produces images quite like this sooc. Take a look -
Review: Leica X Vario Defies Naysayers with Impressive Optics


3. Buy the Sony Nex 7 if you want a versatile kit. One can pick up a bunch of old Minolta glass on the cheap on ebay, plus with the Metabones adapter you can use all your Nikon glass at native focal lengths AND gain a couple of stops in the process. The Nex is certainly one of the most versatile systems around, but you don't end up shedding much as much weight as one would want and it gets complicated quick.
Sony NEX System : Nikon G to E mount Speed Booster

Stuff I wouldn't recommend for you, is buying into a whole new "system", if your goal is to simplify.

Having said this, looking at your pictures, you will be able to produce nice images in spite of whatever camera you go with.

Hope I helped. Cheers!

Hello Boid.

•Ditch the car. Buy a sidecar, not a bike, you can fit more photography gear into the sidecar

•Money is of course a concern, but in general I prefer to only buy once, and as you can see from what I shoot, have made investments in gear rather than trying to short cut. I always look at the re-sellablity of my gear too, in case I don't like it. That has never happened to me yet, as all of my original purchases I made over the last 4 years I still use. I bought them right the first time.

• I will look into your recommendations of the Sony and Leica. I always thought that Leica were overpriced but I'll keep an open mind.

• I agree with your "New System" thoughts, and that's what I don't want to do either. I intend, for now, to keep my 2 FF Nikon bodies so this new addition to my shooting family is going to be more of an accessory and not a new system and way of shooting. I have too much invested in my Nikon gear to switch over now. That's why the Fuji Xpro1 with the 35 1.4 appeals to me, one body, one lens and that's it.

Murph.

 

[Ghosthunter]

Hi Ghosthunter and thanks for your input, much appreciated.
G7, eh?. Ok, I will do a little research and see what the G7 is all abut thanks. Out of curiosity, what would your reasons be for going G7 over Fuji Xpro1?.

Hi

It's GX7 not G7, that's something different. The GX7 has in body IS so no matter what lens you use you will have image stabilisation. Worth it's weight in gold...well for me anyway! I have had an X-Pro1 and it's a fine camera.....just not for me.

 

[KillRamsey]

• I agree with your "New System" thoughts, and that's what I don't want to do either. I intend, for now, to keep my 2 FF Nikon bodies so this new addition to my shooting family is going to be more of an accessory and not a new system and way of shooting. I have too much invested in my Nikon gear to switch over now. That's why the Fuji Xpro1 with the 35 1.4 appeals to me, one body, one lens and that's it.

Well, that changes my thoughts a tiny bit. If you're ok with 1 lens, and something wide/normal is ok, then you would be more interested in an X100S than something with interchangable lenses. I have found the inability to change lenses incredibly freeing... there's no tug when I look at the Fuji lens road map, because it's a toll road and I don't have the fare.

Another thought on cold weather shooting... I took the X100 to Vermont on the bike this past Fall (a 2007 yamaha FZ6 that I bought new and that now has a measly 51,000 miles on it, for the record) to support a few fellow bicycle riders on a long trip. My job was to get to the woods a day early, set up camp, then have supplies ready on Day 2 when they arrived from a 130 mile bike ride. All was well until I got to the site, some 15 miles inside the national forest. As I pulled up, it began to snow and sleet. This was in October, so we weren't expecting it, and if it got heavy, I'd be well stuck in the woods til it thawed. It didn't last long, but the temps began to nose dive. I went into town, got 3 big bundles of fire wood, strapped them onto the back of the bike, came back, made a big fire, and ate dinner wearing every bit of my road gear. To kill time and amuse myself I took a lot of shots with the X100...

Then I crawled into my bag wearing 100% of my gear, except for my boots. Sleeping in armored outterwear is an odd experience, by the way. At 2am, I woke up unable to feel my feet, and began to panic a little. Temps were down to 22F, and if I didn't get the blood back down there I was looking at hypothermia. So I grabbed someone else's sleeping bag that I'd brought for them, pulled it up around my bag, and went back to sleep. I could instantly feel a difference.

The Fuji did just fine in the cold, though I did hate having to take my gloves off each time I had to touch the buttons. It's been an amazing travel camera, because of its size-to-image-quality ratio. When riding, I carry it in my tank bag so I can get it quickly. Alllllmost quickly enough to catch a bear snacking on that same Vermont road just last month, but sadly not That quickly.

(And no, I don't work for them, though they ought to be paying me for all the blabbing I do in their honor.)

 

[carlb]

Hey Murph,

Get the new camera yet? After reading all this, I'm still not sure what you're looking for.

Image Quality has to be excellent. Low light not too much a problem, you shoot tripod for that.
Smaller than a big Nikon.

Many things fit the above. To differentiate:

How good of IQ, versus size? "Excellent IQ" is really relative to size.
How about astonishing IQ in good light, but unresponsive and awful battery life? (Sigma Merrill)
Fixed lens or interchangeable?
Excellent jpegs or willing to work raw?
Batteries need to last a long time?
EVF? Integrated, or add-on OK? OVF preferred?
Willing to put up with a learning curve and funky menuing or need very simple to operate?

Give us a your "pros" and "cons" and a relative ranking for each of them, we can probably help a lot better ...

 

[Irish Murph]

Well, that changes my thoughts a tiny bit. If you're ok with 1 lens, and something wide/normal is ok, then you would be more interested in an X100S than something with interchangable lenses. I have found the inability to change lenses incredibly freeing... there's no tug when I look at the Fuji lens road map, because it's a toll road and I don't have the fare.

Another thought on cold weather shooting... I took the X100 to Vermont on the bike this past Fall (a 2007 yamaha FZ6 that I bought new and that now has a measly 51,000 miles on it, for the record) to support a few fellow bicycle riders on a long trip. My job was to get to the woods a day early, set up camp, then have supplies ready on Day 2 when they arrived from a 130 mile bike ride. All was well until I got to the site, some 15 miles inside the national forest. As I pulled up, it began to snow and sleet. This was in October, so we weren't expecting it, and if it got heavy, I'd be well stuck in the woods til it thawed. It didn't last long, but the temps began to nose dive. I went into town, got 3 big bundles of fire wood, strapped them onto the back of the bike, came back, made a big fire, and ate dinner wearing every bit of my road gear. To kill time and amuse myself I took a lot of shots with the X100...


Then I crawled into my bag wearing 100% of my gear, except for my boots. Sleeping in armored outterwear is an odd experience, by the way. At 2am, I woke up unable to feel my feet, and began to panic a little. Temps were down to 22F, and if I didn't get the blood back down there I was looking at hypothermia. So I grabbed someone else's sleeping bag that I'd brought for them, pulled it up around my bag, and went back to sleep. I could instantly feel a difference.

The Fuji did just fine in the cold, though I did hate having to take my gloves off each time I had to touch the buttons. It's been an amazing travel camera, because of its size-to-image-quality ratio. When riding, I carry it in my tank bag so I can get it quickly. Alllllmost quickly enough to catch a bear snacking on that same Vermont road just last month, but sadly not That quickly.

(And no, I don't work for them, though they ought to be paying me for all the blabbing I do in their honor.)

OK, well yes, a fixed 35 would be fine with me, as you say, you have no tugs on what to take if it's fixed. But I'm starting to like the xpro1 now tho
But again, I'll keep my options open until I done all my research.

But back to your camping trip for a sec. Your first mistake was getting into your sleeping bag with all your clothes on. When you do that, you don't allow the heat to warm up the space between your body and the inside of the bag, that's how sleeping bags work. Sleeping in cloths in a sleeping bag is a no-no, you'll never get warm. Even at home on the sofa, ever fall asleep on the sofa after a big Christmas dinner and wake up cold?. Same principle.
I rode up from Germany in October, arrived in Denmark then Sweden in November then Nordkapp Norway in Dec and Jan. I was the first motorcycle sidecar at Nordkapp on Jan 1st. Temps all the way from middle Sweden never got above -15ºC which is 5ºF, and at night sometimes went down to -25ºC, 13ºF.

I camped out most of the way, it wasn't easy, challenging and cold, but once you stick to a few simple principles and rules it's do-able.
You take off your main layers first, pants and heavy sweater, get into the bag, then as the inside of the bag starts to warm remove your layers down to your underwear. Of course, you need a bag that is rated for zero and below for this to work. Ok, lesson over.

 

[stratokaster]

First of all, thanks for the link to your site! I have always wanted to buy a bike and my wife has always protested it (she's really afraid I will kill myself), but this may be that last drop that will make me do it.

If you're going to travel through Russia, please be very careful. I'm from Russia myself and murders of travelers there are not unheard of; a friend of mine who wanted to explore the entire country by bike was nearly killed when his tent was set on fire in the middle of the night (it was near the Urals). There were also numerous reports of foreign travelers killed in their sleep by the local populace. In Russia, it's always safer to find a place to sleep instead of just camping.

As for your question...

If you need a really pocketable camera with very good image quality and fast autofocus, I suggest Olympus E-PM2 (or E-PL5, but it's slightly larger) with Olympus 17/1.8 lens (35mm in full-frame terms). I'd also take a look at Samsung NX300 (Samsung has the best lineup of pancake lenses out there).

If you're pretty sure that you will never change lenses, Sony RX1 is the best relatively compact camera I can think of.

 

[Irish Murph]

Hey Murph,

Get the new camera yet? After reading all this, I'm still not sure what you're looking for.

Image Quality has to be excellent. Low light not too much a problem, you shoot tripod for that.
Smaller than a big Nikon.

Many things fit the above. To differentiate:

How good of IQ, versus size? "Excellent IQ" is really relative to size.
How about astonishing IQ in good light, but unresponsive and awful battery life? (Sigma Merrill)
Fixed lens or interchangeable?
Excellent jpegs or willing to work raw?
Batteries need to last a long time?
EVF? Integrated, or add-on OK? OVF preferred?
Willing to put up with a learning curve and funky menuing or need very simple to operate?

Give us a your "pros" and "cons" and a relative ranking for each of them, we can probably help a lot better ...

Hi Carl and thanks for your interest and your thoughts.

No, haven't got one yet. I'm currently in Finland, so it's not a simple matter of me going out and buying one, VAT is 25% here, one of the most expensive countries in EU to buy things.
And I like to do plenty of research before I buy, make sure I have looked at everything.

So, what am I looking for?. Well, yea, I understand how you might be confused from this thread on exactly what I want. Now, try looking at it from my point of view, coming into the compact arena knowing absolutely nothing about them and seeing just how many different models there are out there, now THATS confusing.

So, to answer your questions as best I can.
•IQ has to be excellent, no compromises there.
•Astonishing in good light but unresponsive and bad batt life?. No.
•Fixed would be fine, but I would prefer inter, gives me options down the road and a body to build on.
•Willing to work raw, that's all I shoot now.
•Yes, battery life has to be good, however, camera is more important, as I can buy extra batteries (which I always have anyway).
•"EVF? Integrated, or add-on OK? OVF preferred?" Integrated preferred but not necessary, but again, camera dependent.
•Learning curves are fine, I like being challenged and learning new technology.

My pros and cons are well, not too many really. I do want to only buy once, so I would prefer to spend a little more on good gear than a little less on mediocre gear. And I like aesthetics, camera design and function are important to me. I like the look and feel of a "real" camera, not a cheap plastic box. That's the reason I don't buy any of the new Nikon glass, the G glass, great optics, but lousy plastic cheap packaging.
I mentioned in an earlier thread about the Epson RD1, if it was a 12mp or more sensor, I would already have it as my version of a compact. Aesthetically a gorgeous camera, and you can use the older Cosina/Voightlander lenses on it too.

Hope this helps, and thank you again for your input.

Murph.

 

[Irish Murph]

First of all, thanks for the link to your site! I have always wanted to buy a bike and my wife has always protested it (she's really afraid I will kill myself), but this may be that last drop that will make me do it.

If you're going to travel through Russia, please be very careful. I'm from Russia myself and murders of travelers there are not unheard of; a friend of mine who wanted to explore the entire country by bike was nearly killed when his tent was set on fire in the middle of the night (it was near the Urals). There were also numerous reports of foreign travelers killed in their sleep by the local populace. In Russia, it's always safer to find a place to sleep instead of just camping.

As for your question...

If you need a really pocketable camera with very good image quality and fast autofocus, I suggest Olympus E-PM2 (or E-PL5, but it's slightly larger) with Olympus 17/1.8 lens (35mm in full-frame terms). I'd also take a look at Samsung NX300 (Samsung has the best lineup of pancake lenses out there).

If you're pretty sure that you will never change and , Sony RX1 is the best relatively compact camera I can think of.

Hi stratokaster and thanks for your info on RU.
In all honesty, I'm now 51 and have been on the road for 4 years now. Nearly got killed twice on the road by drivers, once was a close call, real close.
I was in hospital before I went into rehab nearly dead, 2 days away from dying actually. There are a few things in my life that have happened that should killed me, but didn't. And there's nothing in life that I fear. My day will come, just like yours will, and everybody else to. If it's in Russia after being attacked in my camp, so be it. There are countries on my travel itinerary that are going to be far more dangerous than Russia, believe me.
There are murderers in every country in the world. if I let that stop me, I would never go anywhere.
But I appreciate you thoughts all the same.

I will look into your camera suggestions thanks. The RX1 is of course a great camera. Pricy, but great.

Oh, and PS, if you want to buy a bike, buy one. You only have one life to live. If you don't do what you want to do in your life now, there are no do-overs.
Murph.

 

[Isoterica]

So the question is, where you are currently, are you able to go into a store and handle any of the cameras mentioned? Sometimes all it takes is touching them to make the final determination. They have to feel right. You've been given many excellent options.. it might be time to test drive.

 

[Irish Murph]

So the question is, where you are currently, are you able to go into a store and handle any of the cameras mentioned? Sometimes all it takes is touching them to make the final determination. They have to feel right. You've been given many excellent options.. it might be time to test drive.

No, no test runs. It's a small town here.
I'm the type of shooter that doesn't bother with test runs. If I like the cameras performance and aesthetics I'll make it fit
Never test ran a camera in my life. I just go for what I need/want.