Thread: Help please: camera for my dear wife

Kyle, that's crazy talk.

Originally Posted by Armanius

@WT21 - The X10 has two "auto" modes. One is just a normal auto mode like in any camera. The other is an auto "EXR" mode, which does utilize pixel binning and all the technical wizardry. The AF speed is more than adequate for those marketing display stands. Hehe. Actually, the X10's AF speed is pretty good. It's not EPM1 speed, but close enough. IMO, in spite of the white orbs, the X10 is still the best P&S in the market. It's not very "compact" though, relative to the likes of a Canon S90. With the combination of fast lens, image stabilization, and the technical wizardry, the X10 is a pretty good low light camera (relative to other P&S cameras). And given that your wife already uses a Rebel, she will be at ease with zooming by turning the lens barrel.

To expand a little on this, if you just hand it to in with EXR-Auto selected, she won't have to think about anything! In good light without tooooo much contrast, it'll select what it calls EXR-high res (or something like that), which isn't EXR at all - its just a standard 12mp file shot and processed normally. In low light, it'll select EXR-SN which means signal to noise, and will use all but one of its tricks to get the best low light results possible (and they're pretty damn good in most situations - ridiculous for a compact). And in really brutal DR situations it will choose EXR-DR mode to use all of its tricks to give you more dynamic range. She won't have to think about it at all (and in this case I mean SHE because if you get THIS camera, I'll believe its actually for HER! ) and it will deliver really fine results pretty much every time. The tradeoff is that with the SN and DR modes, she'll only be getting a 6mp file so less resolution. But I've done a few 12x18" prints with those 6mp files and they look downright wonderful to me, so I doubt she'll mind!

The only caveat is I'd wait and make sure you get one with the new sensor that has engineered the orbs out. They're not a big problem most of the time with the original sensor, but when they are, they really are. I found the camera all but useless for urban nighttime shooting because of the orbs and that's a real shame because its low light capabilities are good enough for that kind of shooting other than that. In bright daylight, they can also show up too, but I never found them to be a real problem in daylight situations - I think they really wrecked one shot of mine and showed up in a few others, but for all but the one, you'd have to really be looking for them to see 'em. Nonetheless, Fuji has developed an improved sensor that DPR has initially concluded does what its supposed to do without doing anything it WASN'T supposed to do, so I'd make sure any X10 I bought had that new sensor in it... Maybe they're already available but I'd check with Fuji to make sure which you're getting based on serial numbers or something.

-Ray

I'm seeing a lot of I, You, but what does she want. I let my wife try 3 or 4 different brand, system, styles, and guess which one she really liked and did some excellent snap-shot portraits with on Mother's Day under very difficult lighting. A Olympus E-620 and 40-150 zoom and the pop up flash.She never zoomed, just used the 40mm.
List of trials:
Panasonic G-1
E-p1
E-p2 (my current user)
Pentax K20. (a disaster for her, at a wedding!)
E-620 (A hit!)
All this as she was coming from several months with a Panasonic FZ30 (which she really liked, but wanted better quality).
I will next work toward a macro lens for her. She really likes that.

The X10 on program mode works beautifully in jpeg mode. It's small, it's easy to use and quite attractive, too.

My suggestion is to take your wife along to a really good camera store with you so that she can see what she feels comfy with.

Originally Posted by wt21

I looked up in camerasize.com, and it's not bigger than the EPM1 w/lens, so that's pretty small.

We've got a trip to the Cape coming up. Might be a nice camera to have down there.

Make sure to try out the sweep panorama function on the X10. Extremely easy to use, and great results. It'll be quite handy for the Cape trip!

epl3 with a grip... with a pancake lens. Nice girly camera (according to Kai). :)

Originally Posted by Crsnydertx

I think the Canon S90 may be a little small for your - I mean her - hands.

LOL!!! +1. Hehehe.

I would say the Fuji X10 or the Canon G1X or even G12 if you really want to save. You can shoot in auto, and, in time if she wants she has options. They all have zoom. They all shoot nicely. If you are looking for backup to yours OR, swapping yours and hers out, then get what YOU want. The fact that you can share lenses and only have to buy a camera body is nice. Gives you an excuse for more lenses [to share] as well.

The have the X10s at Amazon for $449 (down to $428) from warehouse deals, +$3.99 for overnight shipping on Prime. I was going to test it for orbs, but I just don't think it's for me. I can tell right away it's got a steep learning curve. It's very alien to me as a former Canon, one-time Panny and current Oly m43 shooter. I also played around with it, and kept hitting buttons by accident (fn buttons, etc.). So, my wife would get pretty frustrated with it. I think she would NOT like the on/off method.

I think I maybe need to either buy an EP3 or an OMD, and pass the EPM1 down to her.

EP3 + large grip + VF2 ~$620. OMD is $999. I'd prefer the integrated VF. Hmmm...

Originally Posted by wt21

The have the X10s at Amazon for $449 (down to $428) from warehouse deals, +$3.99 for overnight shipping on Prime. I was going to test it for orbs, but I just don't think it's for me. I can tell right away it's got a steep learning curve. It's very alien to me as a former Canon, one-time Panny and current Oly m43 shooter. I also played around with it, and kept hitting buttons by accident (fn buttons, etc.). So, my wife would get pretty frustrated with it. I think she would NOT like the on/off method.

I think I maybe need to either buy an EP3 or an OMD, and pass the EPM1 down to her.

EP3 + large grip + VF2 ~$620. OMD is $999. I'd prefer the integrated VF. Hmmm...

I have a well-used, non-mint, E-P3 I could sell you, but I would recommend grabbing the E-M5. There really is a noticeable jump up from the E-P3 on IQ, even at base ISO. If you prefer using the viewfinder anyway, it isn't any bigger than the E-P3/VF-2 setup. Oh yeah, and the tilt screen is just great.