May
24
The hunt for a new digital camera
Do we need a new camera? Well that depends how you look at it. Right now we have a nice camera that delivers a good picture. The Konica Minolta Dimage Z5 was introduced in early 2005 and was a so called prosumer camera. It has lots of possibilties for both manual and atomatic settings and an 12x optical zoom. So far so good, a decent camera with nice specs for it’s time and even delivers good quality pictures, but the camera lacks in speed, ecpecially compared to recent cameras. From turning it on untill it being useable takes about 30 seconds…and the auto focus system is pretty slow too, ~2 to 3 seconds. Those two are the main reasons to replace the camera.
Our last analog camera was a SLR by Canon, so the obvious would be to go D-SLR. These camera have more possibilties, are fast and have the inter-changeable lenses. But, since my wife is the main photographer in the family, she is the one that has to hold and carry it and her single complaint about a D-SLR is the size…very bulky, another bag to carry arround….etc… So, the D-SLR’s are out. So we started looking for a follow up compact camera, or again a super zoom camera like we have . Well that bubble got busted pretty fast when testing a few in the store. The startup and autofocus speed still have a lot to be desired, and ones that are fast enough, are pretty much the same size as a D-SLR body.
So, we decided to stick to what we have and wait for new developments.
Last year a new format was introduced, the micro four third system cameras. Both Panasonic (Lumix G1, Lumix GH1 and newer Lumix GF1) and Olympus (PEN E-P1, PEN E-P2 and this spring introduced PEN E-PL1) introduced these camera systems. Compact in size with interchangeable objectives.
So now there are cameras with abilities and quality of a D-SLR and the size of a compact camera. With that information we started to read up on the subject and compare reviews, sizes and prices. Now it comes down to two cameras, the Panasonic Lumix GF1 and the Olympus PEN E-PL1.
Both camera come in a variety of colors…so the choice can be black, silver, red or white. Reading the reviews the pro’s and con’s come by. In the end looking at several aspects, like image quality, ease of use and ofcourse the price. The Olympus comes out as the winner, mainly due to the fact that in jpeg mode it does a better job than the Panasonic. These conclusions were taken from two great reviews from the same reviewer. For the Panasonic click here and for the Olympus click here.
So now only one thing left to do….go to the store and pick up the right kit 
I am out…feel free to comment.
Take care,
Danny