Do you still have a DSLR?

BillN said:
Ian - how do you find you 300mm f4 - I'm getting into "birding" and going around in circles - there is no way I can afford a 300/2.8 so I looking "on the margins" at Sigma fixed focal and their Bigma 50-500 ....maybe the 300/f4 with a TC could be an option
in the longer end I only have a 70 300mm VR (D300) and a Canon 200mm f2.8 MF which I use on my G1 plus tripod, (for garden shots)
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Hi Bill,

My 300 is the 300mm F4 IF ED version not the AFS - it is a superb lens that works well on the D700 and is razor sharp. I picked mine up in superb condition with the built in UV filter intact as well as UV filter and leather front cover for if I remember correctly about £380.00 I have seen them lately for £450 - £550 but they are a great lens and cheaper than the AFS version that has a lower quality build, is larger and around £850 used!
 
Well I was set to give up DSLRs. I sold off my D40 and D5000 and most of the lenses except for my 18-200, which I've always liked and couldn't get a reasonable price for on the second hand market.

But looking through my photo archive I came to realize that a lot of the pictures I really like I couldn't take with a compact. Both due to the lack of a proper viewfinder and due to them being shot at either very wide or long focal ranges. So I was halfway convinced to get a DSLR again.

Then just today I noticed on Amazon that one of the lenses I've been interested in for a long time, the Sigma 8-16mm for Nikon, was being offered at a very reasonable price of £450/$650, normal price here in Denmark is £690/$1000.
I just had to do it you see, nothing to do with GAS at all!

So tomorrow I'm going to pick up a D5100 :rolleyes:

At least the selling of my old kit got the drawers cleaned out and ready for new stuff :tongue:
 
Sold my mint condition Nikon D80 and 3 lens kit and went full throttle into the M43 world and I don't regret it one bit. Is there room for a dslr in my future, no doubt, yes but for now I'm good.
 
Andrewteee said:
Every now and then I take out my Olympus E5 and humongous zoom lens and remember why I love serious compacts!
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But when it rains or I want to capture the details of my local forest I do indeed appreciate that humongous zoom lens (the glorious 14-35mm f/2)! A time and a place for everything.
 
Its been raining for much of summer so far, and with the SIJ this month, I wish I had elected to use my K5 and kit lens at whatever its base f/l is when not zoomed in any direction, at least I could get it wet and it wouldn't matter much. Using an XZ in wet weather is a bit fraught. I'm keeping my K-5. I love the idea of the MFT stuff but in the end, I know I would not be happy with it.
 
Yes I still have one as I only got it about four years ago which marks my starting to shoot again. All I can say is on vacation I used the G12 more. I can't say it was better, just that it was lighter and had a little range on the zoom. I didn't want to carry a lot of gear in the heat even if ironically I brought a lot of it. I did use the DSLR though. That day I was packing two cameras on my walk.

Going to add that I can't do macro on the G12. Oh sure there is macro mode and I can get close but it's not the same as the big glass and I have a macro addiction. So while I might not take it out to shoot everyday stuff, I still want my DSLR for Macro.
 
I still use DSLRs about 30-40% of the time. The m4/3 gear that I have, and the m4/3 gear that I don't, is more than good enough to replace my DSLR use entirely, but I still just like to use my 50D and E-510. Ironically the Olympus E-510 is technically my worst camera, but I like the unique image output that it gives. This is one of the few failings of digital: in the old days you could buy a new camera and still use the same old film if you wanted. These days a new camera also comes with a new roll of "film", take it or leave it.
 
After hving said I would sell, then changing my mind, and like Kristen, preferring DSLR for macro (though the XZ doesnt do a bad job)... today I am back in the maybe selling again. I took the K-5 and kit zoom out with me today, doing a sunrise shoot with the XZ I thought I would do some comparison shots with the K-5.. about the same f/l and zoom in both, it seemed like a fair comparison. To say I was disappointed in my efforts is an understatement. I was very happy with the Oly shots, and really disappointed with the K-5. Perhaps it was a mood thing, or perhaps I have become lazy because the Oly, even in manual mode, seems to be "better". I'm thinking on an MFT after all. Oly of course.
 
OK, that's it. I'm selling my Olympus E5! I just learned that along with the new weather-sealed Olympus OM-D/E-M5 comes a new weather-sealed MMF-3 43 to M43 adapter. The only reason I was keeping the E5 was because it was weather-sealed, and so I could use the 14-35mm lens. But now I can get the more flexible E-M5 and still have weather-proofing and still use that lens because the E-M5 looks like it has a solid grip to balance the lens.

I have just crossed the no DSLR threshold :2thumbs:

By around 9 PM tonight on the West Coast we should know a lot more about the OM-D :D

And oh yeah, I canceled my Fuji X Pro 1 order yesterday. Thought better of it.
 
As I said earlier - I'm still a DSLR fan - but I am happy to have 4 or 5 different cameras as I enjoy photography - and I feel that I need them.

I will not give up the DSLR format, (including the size and weight) - "anytime soon" as they say

In fact I can see an upgrade coming on, (although I am and have always been very happy with my D300) - but I need to buy another lens first

Before you guys "offload" your DSLRs - give it a (last) chance and use it for a few days as a photographic tool, and not as "I want to carry it around all the time so it must be light weight and fit in my pocket" type thing
 
BillN said:
I will not give up the DSLR format, (including the size and weight) - "anytime soon" as they say

Before you guys "offload" your DSLRs - give it a (last) chance and use it for a few days as a photographic tool, and not as "I want to carry it around all the time so it must be light weight and fit in my pocket" type thing
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I've done that several times over the past year and every time I get closer and closer to selling.

On your first point, there may be another DSLR in my future. I just don't think the E5 is the right one. But I can imagine using a large sensor camera/DSLR someday, when I have more time to go out and capture detailed, high-res images of the forest.
 
The OM-D looks good and if Oly release a few good primes and long reach teles - the kit will look very much like something I had in my film days - I think that it was called an OM10 - which I think was called an SLR

I wonder what the D stands for in OM-D

Mmmmmm ........... are we about to go full circle ......... but without "mirror slap"
 
kyteflyer said:
After hving said I would sell, then changing my mind, and like Kristen, preferring DSLR for macro (though the XZ doesnt do a bad job)...
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Gasp! Surely you jest! You can't get that 1:1 like you can with the dslr [at least not mine] on a compact. If you could I'd be all over it. I found when I go out, and I pretty much tried to prevent myself from doing this in Sydney so I would take actual identifiable vacation images, is that I wander from people to buildings to lanscape to macro and if the lens I have can not do macro I get reaaaaalllly frustrated. That's like a lot. Probably 70% Macro.
 
Isoterica said:
Gasp! Surely you jest! You can't get that 1:1 like you can with the dslr [at least not mine] on a compact.
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LOL! Of course you cant get 1:1 with a compact. Thats never going to happen. But if you want to do, shall we say, "closeups" and get some oof as well, I say again the XZ doesnt do a BAD job. Its not like using a DSLR with a dedicated macro lens and I hope I did not give the impression that I thought it was as good. Its not, and never will be.
 
LOL no you didn't give that impression, I was just saying there aren't macro compacts so I can't give up my dslr-- I love macro toooo much.
 

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