Flings with other camera manufacturers

manhattanboy

I was reading Thom's article the other day (http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/flings-followup.html) and it got me thinking about having a fling myself. I am going to rent a Sony a7rii for July to try it out. It's not cheap but the ability to silently shoot performances indoors versus my 810 has me intrigued enough to try it out. Has anyone else had fiings and what made you decide to stick with Nikon?

Pistnbroke

Had a fling with 4/3 ..rubbish ....fling with Samsung ..no viewfinder fling with Fugi ..all no thanks down to poor quality JPEGS/insufficient picture control options.
I was quoted by thom in the article being the guy who had a fling with FX and I was impressed he quoted me word for word without changes.

manhattanboy

Pistnbroke said:

Had a fling with 4/3 ..rubbish ....fling with Samsung ..no viewfinder fling with Fugi ..all no thanks down to poor quality JPEGS/insufficient picture control options.
I was quoted by thom in the article being the guy who had a fling with FX and I was impressed he quoted me word for word without changes.

People give Thom a lot of crap about his negativity, but in many ways he is actually helping Nikon and other manufacturers improve. I have been tempted by the 4/3 prices recently, but figure the IQ of Nikon would only set me up for a let down. I am going to have a summer time rental fling with the top of the line Sony, and we'll see what happens.

Ironheart

Be sure to rent extra batteries

BabaGanoush

I have owned a series of Panasonic MFT cameras over the past 5 years, currently the GX8 and the GX85. I also own the Sony A6000 and A6300. I use those cameras all the time (along with my D7200, which I bought after I sold my D800). I own a half dozen Panasonic lenses and a half dozen Sony/Zeiss lenses. The Panasonic lenses are all quite good, as are most of the Zeiss lenses I bought for the A6300. This gear may not be quite in the exalted class of a D8xx or D5, but it's pretty darn good and good enough for my photography needs. I am waiting now to see what the successor to Sony's A7rII turns out to be. That could very well be my main camera for the future. Even so, I expect to keep my Nikon lenses and my D7200 for a couple more years to see whether Nikon releases a mirrorless camera. If it hasn't done so by 2018, I will likely sell it all and stick to one of the other systems, or perhaps use the proceeds of the sale to dabble in Medium Format. I have almost unlimited resources so money is no object for me; time is. When you get old, your time horizon gets REALLY compressed. You have to do everything on your bucket list within a very short time frame.

Rx4Photo

I've wanted to do something hot and steamy with a Hasselblad or a PhaseOne but afraid I can't afford it.

manhattanboy

Ironheart said:

Be sure to rent extra batteries

I am outfitting it with the battery grip because of the short battery life and for better lens balance.

Rx4Photo said:

I've wanted to do something hot and steamy with a Hasselblad or a PhaseOne but afraid I can't afford it.

You could always rent for a little while. After all, you will have pictures to prove your hot and steamy affair was real! It is better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all

BabaGanoush

Ironheart said:

Be sure to rent extra batteries

Third party batteries for mirrorless cameras are extremely cheap. For less than $20 you can buy a third-party battery kit that includes a charger + a pair of batteries, which work every bit as well as the battery that's supplied with each new camera. Having to carry a spare battery or two when I'm out with one of my Panasonic or Sony cameras is but a minor inconvenience, even when I'm shooting underwater. Recharging several batteries over night is also no big deal with a rapid or dual battery charger. It's all good.

Ironheart

My point was serious, if you are going to rent one, rent extra batteries, as you will need them and will not want to buy them.

donaldejose

My only "fling" was with the Nikon 1 system. I loved the smallness and the V2 EVF but the small sensor ruined it for me. It taught me DX is the lowest sensor size for me.

paulr

I had a Fling, Well not sure Fling is the right word with a PhaseOne XF 100mp outfit. Just for one day I hasten to add, Now I am not going to knock the camera, 16bit, 15 stop dynamic range and a huge great 53.7x40.4 sensor, whats not like.Maybe $49,000 takes a bit of swallowing though.Tucked away was my little D810 with an Otus 55 lens on, Tried to take similar images for a comparison and then compare when I got home.
Have to say under normal viewing, not a lot of difference. it was not until I started doing major crops and then printing onto A1 size that, yes there was a difference.But at $49,000 for the PhaseOne, the Nikon/Zeiss combo looked very good value for money and will have nothing like the depreciation of the PhaseOne,

NSXTypeR

Not really a fling, but I bought a Sony RX100 off my cousin to share with my father because he has an old Sony T9 and he wanted me to buy new Sony flash memory for that camera. I balked and said I'd rather buy a new-ish camera that takes SD cards. Proprietary format my ass.

I find the menu system to be really confusing and convoluted. That being said, I have never owned a Sony camera before, and even when I used my dad's camera it was useless because it had Japanese firmware only. I really like the output of the Sony camera, and it's sharp, but I really can't get past the menu system.



Here's some output from the camera, which I cropped heavily.

pictureted

Not a fling, just another option for me is the Fuji X100s. When I don't want to carry a DSLR kit, the Fuji is perfect for my uses. I've never liked EVFs and I can't trust myself not to add more lenses to the bag. That makes the Fuji perfect. When they put the new 24 MPs in the X100 series, I'm in.

kanuck

I have had an ongoing Leica fling since 2009 and have had no regrets My older brother, who shoots Canon has been loving his Sony A7II along with his 6D and 5DM3. What kind of manufacturer are you considering manhattanboy? Maybe the new Hassey? ^^

PB_PM

I've had brief flings with Canon, 4/3s and m4/3s. None of them worked as nicely as my Nikon cameras have. Even though I didn't like Nikon 1 it still worked better than any of the other cameras mentioned.

- Canon, sorry I just don't like the colour output of the RAW files and makes getting the files the way I want them twice as hard as Nikon. The fling didn't last long at all as a result.

- Olympus 4/3s (not to be confused for Micro 4/3s); I actually kind of liked, but at the time the image quality from the 4/3s sized sensors left a lot to be desired despite how nice the cameras were.

- Micro 4/3's I had a Panasonic GF series camera for a few years and liked it, but never felt comfortable enough to buy more m4/3s lenses. Sold it, and kind of miss it.

- Current fling? Not really I fling, I've had a Fuji X30 for a few years now, and like using it for the most part. Needs a better sensor though, so I might switch it out for a Nikon DL camera.

kanuck

I heard lots of great things about Fuji's colour especially in landscapes and to a lesser extent with skin tones. Have you seen satisfying colours with yours?

PB_PM

I think Fuji does a good job with colour, like Nikon. Sometime I think that Fuji's defaults are little bit too contrasty, but that's an easy fix. I don't think what I'm getting from the X30 is anything compared to the colour output of the larger sensor X series cameras.

kanuck

Okay. What do you find yourself shooting with it the most usually? Landscapes? Weddings? One other thing I have found to be annoying with other camera manufacturers is the battery life and simple layout and ease of use of the camera.No wonder Nikon has been my primary camera since 1998...

PB_PM

Mostly static subjects, landscapes, some family photos. Being a point and shoot the X30's AF isn't exactly up to much else. Control wise, I like it. It's not the same as shooting a modern DSLR, more like shooting with an old film SLR. Battery life, I've never really press it, like I do my DSLR, but I know it's rated for less than 400 shots.

kanuck

Ever hold up any CP filters to it's lens? I have done this in the past with fairly decent results for some landscapes with point and shoots over the years. Your right though, I have always found the point and shoot cameras to be more emergency cameras than anything. For hikes or quick grab shots when your DSLR is not handy near by.

PB_PM

No CP use with it, when I have it with me it usual means I have no other camera gear with me. In theory you could put a CP on it, since it has a screw mount on the front the lens.

kanuck

Nice to at least have the option though with the screw mount. I have even held up a 39mm CPL to my Iphone with pretty good results but it's annoying despite the excellent size companion.

vtc2002

I have had and currently having flings with other manufacturers. For full frame cameras I have always owned Nikon but have used a variety of Canon and Pentax cameras (primarily through work). I have shot with Sony on several occasion but not enough to say whether I like their cameras or not. Medium format I have primarily been with Pentax (film and digital), Hasselblad (film) and Phase One. I am currently shooting with the Phase One XF but will be moving back to the Pentax 645Z. Large format I have Toyo, Sinar, Tachihara, Calumet and Linhof. 90% of my large format lenses are Nikon lenses. I will be having a fling with the Hasselblad X1D, it is on preorder. All that said, for personal use and a lot of my work I prefer Nikon, especially the D810. I had a total of 5 D800's and at one point was so frustrated that I was shooting exclusively medium format. Every D800 I had had multiple issues. They were all sent back for repair or replaced and I still received cameras with issues. I have two now that I rarely use and will sell if the D810 replacement is worth the upgrade.

kanuck

Just curious but have you ever shot with the pro bodies from Canon or Nikon? It sounds like you shoot primarily with high resolution machines (medium format or 36+ mp). I have also had problems with the D800 series and I would really prefer the body to be made in Japan like the old D700 was. Only Nikon pro bodies are made in Japan now since the earthquake disaster, but many Canon bodies are still made in Japan. I have found this makes a big difference even if the quality control for Nikon is said to be excellent...

starralazn

the d800 was made in japan. the d810 was not

vtc2002

I have been a NPS member for the 20+ years and have shot most of what Nikon classifies as a professional body. The D800 and D810 are classified as professional bodies along with the following: Dƒ, D5, D4, D4s, D3, D3S, D3X, D800E, D750, D700, D610, D600, D500, D300, D300S. I have a closet full of film cameras that were classified as professional bodies in their time period. You need to have two bodies and at least three professional lenses. I currently have the D3S and two D800's and two D810's. Concerning the difference between where the cameras are made, I have zero problems with the D810's. The build quality is great. They are a big improvement over the D800's that I own. In my work I get to shoot a lot of different Nikon (and Canon) models. The D5, D500 and D810 are in IMHO at the top. I have owned several of the Canon professional bodies several years ago and did not care for the ergonomics, build quality and the color profile of the images generated from their processor. I shoot with people that are die hard Canon owners. To each their own.