Camera upgrade, DSLR or not?

[cambsno]

As a part time photographer, you cant beat a DSLR. Had a D90 years ago, now on a D750 and took it with me in 2015. Really good camera, great at everything! Your D90 would still out perform most, if not all compacts. Weight is the issue, which is why last year I just took a Fuji X100T. It has a similar sensor to the D90 (i.e. DX crop sensor) and gives great quality. I love the X100 range, great cameras! Fixed lens of 35mm which is fine for 90% of the time, and you can crop!

For video, hard to beat a go pro. Small, waterproof, clips onto you!

[Guest]

Took the new camera for a spin on Saturday. Incidentally the same place I went when my D90 was brand new.

The jury is still out unfortunately. Its a lovely little camera but I think I may have made the wrong choice by dropping the DSLR.

Battery lasted just over 2hrs which was a mix of JPEG&RAW pictures (233 of each) and 4K video (30 short clips just under 10 minutes)

It takes beautiful photos outdoors from a reasonably close distance. Better than the D90 (looking at the older pictures I took at the same place) and the 4K when the camera is completely static is awesome. However, unless there's a setting to alter the stabilisation the footage when on the go is quite jarring. Which is a big turn off. Even though the reviews gave a big thumbs up for stabilisation.

Battery life is pretty poor, which I did expect, but not quite what I had in mind.

Will give a another outing at Alton Towers this week and see how we go.

[the_weird_one]

The battery has got a tiny capacity, part of the compromise in having a smaller camera unfortunately, and 4K recording does chew through power.

There are three settings for the image stabilisation Standard, Active and Intelligent Active - Standard is purely mechanical like the optical IS of Nikon and Canon though Sony move the sensor rather than the lens, Active and Intelligent Active add digital stabilisation on top of the mechanical one, they work well at the expense of cropping some of the sensor.

I found I had a few issues initially with getting smooth video and using the Manfrotto Pixi as a grip rather than holding the camera directly improved things no end. I think part of the problem I had was just how small the camera is compared to an SLR it requires handling in slightly different ways.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by the_weird_one

There are three settings for the image stabilisation Standard, Active and Intelligent Active

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Yes, thank you. Changed the setting which improved the stabalisation massively, only gripe now you can't use that setting in 4K. So its currently set to XAVC S HD and the video is nice and clear.

For what its worth I've been using a gorillapod.

[KeithOP]

I tried the r100 v but ended up sending it back. Ultimately it felt like the quality was closer to a cell phone than to a dslr which given the sensor size and small optics was still impressive BUT not impressive enough to get me to forget the dslr.

The new breed of mirrorless are really nice though including canon's entry level M50 which feels canon-DSLR-y but is small and light. Its their usual aps-c sensor too.

The rx100 is incredible for its size really but just didnt feel good enough for me

[the_weird_one]

Originally Posted by jessicawabbit

Yes, thank you. Changed the setting which improved the stabalisation massively, only gripe now you can't use that setting in 4K. So its currently set to XAVC S HD and the video is nice and clear.

For what its worth I've been using a gorillapod.

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Ah that I wasn’t aware of as the mk3 only does 1080p recording anyway and doesn’t loose resolution using the other two forms of stabilisation.

Gorillapods are a good alternative to the Pixi - I actually use both depending on where/how I’m shooting - Pixi for walking around/table Gorilla for clamping into rails/trees etc

I think practice will help with the stabilisation as it’s a very different way of holding the camera compared to a SLR or Video Camera

[Guest]

Another run out on Friday, this time at Alton Towers and we’ll see how we go.

Also spoke to Jessops who do offer a returns policy. But if I want to do this, then this would have to be sooner rather than later and I have very little time to look at alternatives. Which to be honest would most probably be back to a DSLR. Decisions and possible added cost before our pending trip ! 😀

[Guest]

An update for those still interested in this thread.

Didn't take the Sony out on another outing as I had already decided to take it back. If I had taken it I probably would have knocked it by accident so I played it safe.

The service at Jessops was a breeze, no issue whatsover and they were very helpful.

I was looking at the D500, D7200 and the newer D7500 and eventually decided on the D7500.

So far the photos have been fantastic, will be shooting some 4K soon to see what it does :-)