I did it, switched the 5D for a K-x

lcallow · Joined: 01 Feb 2009 Posts: 17 Location: Northern Canada

ever since I saw James Russell's work about 8 years ago on dpreview - I pretty much ignored this kind of talk as being totally irrevlevant.

James is a very high end pro - shoots that cost into 6 figures and shot some of them at that time with a fuji S2 in jpeg. - he no longer uses them and has likely shot with just about everything - I know I saw a review of lieca m9 done by him on LL

but the point is while technology advances and to some extent bigger is better and modern d3s or 1ds-4 is more machine - what he did with a 6(12)mp fuji based on a cheap f80 body is so far beyond what most could do with any technology past, present or future that really the whole question is moot.

take a look at his website and maybe do a search on dpreview

here are a couple of links

http://www.russellrutherford.com/

http://www.pbase.com/russruth/image/8563768

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1020&message=3925886

the point is not to look for later posts from him where he says he likes ff or mf better and aps sux (if they exist)

the point is to look at the work he did with an 8 or 9 year old digital that body wise was not even state of the art at the time (altho- I think that sensor stands up to todays in many ways)

now once you have looked at that - then tell me how poor are the aps sized sensors and how it is impossible to get good results with them and how foolish one would be to use them for serious photography.

it remains the light and the photographer and the tools have been sufficient for a very long time.

my .02

Leonard

ludoo · Expire: 2011-12-05

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

Well, being a Canon shototer, I've shot with a 400D, 40D, 5D and 5D mkii. I can say that handling & IQ the later models were better for handling and features and the FF produces better images in tricky situations, but in good light I can produce the same quality with the 400D as I can with the 5Dii.

The final image is the important factor with photography; perhaps the 5Dii is over-the-top for my needs and ability. Would I consider going back to the 400D and banking the cash from a 5Dii? No way!

You can all argue which is best, but it really is futile and done to death on many forums. There is no one answer to the perfect camera, just your own interpretation of the perfect camera.

Oh, and I like a grip on my DSLRs as I find them too light and small without.

Geoff C. Bassett · Expire: 2012-06-18

I encountered a similar thing recently. I shot a wedding with a borrowed 5D Mark 2 and a Nikon D5000. With the purpose to convince myself to go full frame( the reason Canon full frame instead of Nikon is because I need video)

It did the opposite, I absolutely detest the Canon body. I have small hands and am used to the microscopic in comparison D5000. The full frame I admit was amazing, and I love scrolling threw images rapidly with the wheel, however everything else about the camera's ergonomics just made me realize how used to Nikon bodies I have become. I chose the D7000 as an upgrade cam instead. I know the image quality is less, however I know I'll take better shots with the Nikon.

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

[quote="poilu"]

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

Spotmatic · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 4045 Location: Netherlands

Interesting topic!

I must admit I did the same. I had the Canon 5D MkI, next to my Pentax K20D, but I could not stand the stone-age controls of the Canon. I think the MkII is not any better in this regard. Also, I had so many problems with the mirror hitting the back of most of my lenses that it really spoiled all of my photographic fun, so I sold it, and after that my K20D, and bought the Pentax K-7 in return.

My K-7 will soon be replaced with the K-5 (which seems to be the new high-ISO king in the APS-C field and if the news is to be believed it will even surpass the 5D MkI in noise and dynamic range).

Don't get me wrong: I still love FF, but I'm afraid Pentax will never give us one. And my lust for FF is not enough to buy myself a Canon (with stone-age controls) or Nikon (with the "wrong" registration distance). No Sony for me, sorry.

I think my next FF will be a non-SLR one! Wink

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

Spotmatic · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 4045 Location: Netherlands

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Spotmatic · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 4045 Location: Netherlands

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Spotmatic · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 4045 Location: Netherlands

Orio, don't laugh, but actually I have been contemplating selling ALL my FF and APS-C lenses in favor of a new Pentax 645D. But I honestly doubt that I will have as much fun with the 645D as I have now with the K-7 because it will involve selling my beloved Sigma 500mm f/4.5 APO EX. It will be hard to get the same FOV on the 645D...

But still...

poilu · Expire: 2019-08-29

Spotmatic · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 4045 Location: Netherlands

Nesster · Expire: 2014-02-20

There is no shame in any of this.

During the film era how many chose to use a 35mm SLR once the cameras and films reached 'good enough', over medium format SLR? All the while the medium format SLR is demonstrably better in technical performance.

Due to the emphasis (popularity, volume) of the market place, the 35mm SLR received the majority of R&D and handling improvement, (zoom) lens research, etc etc. The price-performance and usability of the 35mm improved faster than 120. And for a good majority of situations, the smaller and more flexible 35mm SLR was the 'right choice' for most.

I see the trade in of a 5D for a K-x as nothing more alarming than someone trading, say, a Bronica or Hassy for a Nikon or Pentax 35mm.

William · Joined: 26 Nov 2009 Posts: 489 Location: London

Why this hatred towards Canon ergonomics? I use a 1000D (would give several body parts for FF) with MF lenses and there is a wheel for shutter speed and an ISO button on top working with the same wheel and a shutter button. Everything else is irrelevant?

To change the aperture requires either moving the camera from my face to press the AV button or whacking myself in the nose with my thumb, but this is only with AF lenses and I sold my kit lens quite some time ago...

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

ludoo · Expire: 2011-12-05

nemesis101 · Expire: 2015-01-22

Love the passion! lol

I find big heavy cameras easier to hold still, especially with long heavy lenses, so for those shots requiring a large lump of old glass like the Tamron 70-210 f3.5 or similar, I use the trusty (and massive, like Forth Bridge) Canon 1n-RS, which seems like it's on rails.. for other shots I like the Panny L-1.

It seemed really awkward to hold when I first got it - but as it gave me focus confirm on every lens used,live view (great for photomicrography) and at the time (pre m 4/3rds) also gave me the widest choice of adapters for manual lenses, I put up with it. One day however, I think I was using a f1.4 Planar, it just suddenly felt right.. and that feeling has only grown with further use.

I suspect that it's like a new car - at first the controls are unfamiliar, but one day they become second nature, and it's only when the garage gives you a loaner for the day do you become aware how intuitive it has all become, and how now instead of just driving, and concentrating on the traffic, you are hunting for the wiper switch, or in my case wondering why turning on the indicators is not clearing the windscreen? lol

For mid-use I use the K10D which has the ability to use just about any K or M42 lens, and is a mid-sized camera that feels very natural.

I guess what this ramble is leading up to is the less that earth-shattering conclusion that it's 'horses for courses' as the British say?

Doug

nemesis101 · Expire: 2015-01-22

Been thinking a bit more about this.. (I know, I know, my brain will overheat...) and it struck me that lying can greatly improve the viewer's perception of the 'quality' of a photo... and indeeed camera.

To this end I assembled some pictures of bees on sunflowers.. a recurrent theme in my photographs for three excellent reasons:

I have tons of sunflowers nearby

They are big and colourful

I am allergic to wasps.. (lol)

I made 8x10 prints of pictures and 1024x768 digital images for the screen taken with:

Olympus c5050

Olympus E-10

Panasonic L-1

Pentax K10D

and about 15 other cameras with resolution ranging from 4Mpixels to 10.2 Mpixels and with lenses from the built in zooms of the point and shoots (the most expensive being the Canon G9) to exotic glass like the Planar on the Panny L-1

The conclusions?

Non photographers likes many of the same shots.. they seemed drawn by the picture's composition, colour and subtle differences in tonality. The photographers likes many of the same, but when I lied and switched the labels, so that some of the pics taken with the high end gear were now labeled as taken with old / cheap kit, photographers likes whatever had the 'best' camera cited as that with which the pictures were taken.

This goes I think, to show how although we like to think that it is the aesthetics alone which determine our likes, subconscious lens / camera snobbery also plays a part, where we 'see' what we expect to see. The most extreme was one photo taken with a Powershot A80 which was dismissed when truly labeled, but was the 'winner' when I pretended it was taken by a borrowed IDS Mk 3.. Hmmm

Why do we not try the same here? Similar shots taken with a range of camera / lens combinations, stripped of their EXIF and then displayed at a (fairly large) common size and resolution?

Let's see if we, who like to think of ourselves as fairly savvy, can tell the difference without resorting to unrealistic pixel-peeping which is well-nigh impossible when looking at a print as opposed to an enormous enlargement on a screen?.?

Doug

Doug

Transit · Joined: 20 Jun 2010 Posts: 52 Location: Wanganui

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26