Monday, January 28, 2013

Some comparisons


I've put together a rough and ready table of comparisons between an assortment of my cameras together with some comments and conclusions.

Canon EOS 5D Mk iiiFujifim Finepix X100Sigma DP2 MerrillRicoh GRD3Canon Powershot G1X
Weight 860g Body only286g355g188g534g
LensInterchangable23mm f2.0 ( 35mm ff equiv)35 mm 2.8 ( 45mm ff equiv)28 mm f1.9 ( ff equiv)Zoom 28-112mm f2.8-5.8 (ff equivalent) 
SensorFull frameAPS-CAPS-CTeenyApprox APS-C
Resolution22 MP12MP46MP or is that 15MP?10 MP14 MP
EgonomicsWonderful 9/10Average 5.5/10Good 7/10Excellent 8/10Poor 4/10
BuildSolidAll metal but a little delicateLike a laboratory instrument. Solid.Solid, metal.OK, metal and plastic
Start upVery fast!Slow!FastVery fastFast
NoiseWhat noise?Noisy at ISO 800 and upNo noise at ISO 100Noisy at ISO 400 and upExcellent, easily usable at ISO 800, good at 1600
AutofocusFast and usually accurate ( lens dependant)A couple of seconds, not always accurateA couple of seconds always accurateFast and accurateSlow!
Manual focusDead accurate using live viewOK ishOK ishNot really possibleHopeless
Image stabilisationLens dependantYesNoNoYes and extremely effective
ViewfinderExcellent 100%Novel hybrid, very goodNo viewfinderNo viewfinderRubbish
Metering accuracyAbout 0.3eV overSpot onAbout 0.3eV underAbout 0.3eV overAbout 0.3 eV over
Battery lifeFantasticRubbishAppallingExcellentOK
Sharpness of RAW filesMushy! But respond amazingly well to LR4 sharpeningAverage, LR4 sharpening drastically increases noiseUnbelievably sharp, no need to sharpen furtherGoodOK but come good with LR4 sharpening
Colour of RAW filesRich and accurateSlightly washed out but accurateStunning but not nessesarily accurateWashed out Fantastic, rich and accurate
IssuesBig and heavyLack of resolution is an issue but only if making large printsNoisy over ISO 400 ( apparently)Quality of files OK for tiny sensor but cannot compare to the others hereNo macro
Encumbered with worthless bloatwareErgonomics not great, particularly fiddly 'enter' buttonSome weird Foveon artifacts on high contrast edges and colour blotchiness on skiesHesitant AF
Complex autofocus systemMessy GUI but OKNeeds special software ( Sigma SPP)Pathetic OVF
LikesUnbeatable general purpose image making deviceFull of character, discrete, charming, I have taken some of my best photographs with this little beautyStunning, jaw dropping resolution and 'pop'. Images have a definate character, scream 'Foveon'Minisule, pocketableFantastic image quality
ConclusionRespect for this camera, I doubt I'll ever buy another DSLR, for telephoto and macro indispensable, fast and easy to use.As indicated above, it has some minor issues but these don't really detract from it's charm. Enables me to take wonderful pictures which is what it's all about, end of the day.A 'one trick pony' but OMG, what a trick! Images have a magical quality that defies description. Astonishing and bewitching.A solid and tiny little camera for those occasions when there is not room for anything else, amazing macro capabilities, fast lens is good for low light and files look nice in monochromeAs a small general purpose camera that makes superb quality images its fine, not as bad as many people make out as it is saved by the extraodinarily high quality of the files it produces. 

1 comment:

  1. Interesting comparison table and nicely laid out.

    I only have my Nikon D700 / D300s to compare against my Fuji X100 and I have to be honest while I recognise some the faults you have described, some of the others I don't have on my X100 Black limited edition which I bought in October last year.

    The noise issues you describe above 800 are surprising. I'm happy to push the ISO all the way to 3200 without any qualms and to 6400 when necessary, my X100 handles the noise very well. I did a blog on this issue - http://macleancomms.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/handling-noise.html

    And today I did a image of a dollar bill for a blog on the macro facility and mistakenly left the camera set to 2000 ISO from a previous shoot. However the result speaks for itself - http://macleancomms.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/x100-macro-function.html

    Battery power - I have three batteries for my camera but I'm getting 280 to 320 images per battery and the last shoot was in the snow and cold weather badly affects the performance of a battery. I would describe the X100 battery performance as average but not woeful. However I do recommend anyone thinking of buying an X100 to carry at least two full charged spare batteries.

    I agree on the start up speed but I find the AF to be accurate in all but low light. It isn't on the same level of speed as my Nikons but again I knew that when I bought the camera. It is the manual focus I find the most frustrating.

    You also mention the lack of resolution, which looking at your line up of cameras I can see this is the baby of the group. I've never found 12MP to be limiting (my Nikons are also 12MP). I've had A2 and A1 canvases made from the images from my X100, don't really need to go much bigger than that.

    I agree 100% with your summary - As indicated above, it has some minor issues but these don't really detract from it's charm. Enables me to take wonderful pictures which is what it's all about, end of the day. - I couldn't put it better than that myself.

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