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Friday, February 12, 2010

Your DSLR Brands!

It might be a good reference to compact camera users as they might plan to upgrade to DSLR camera( Digital Single Lens Reflex). We often heard how good or great about brand A or brand B performed but we really seldom hear how these brands lack of ...or certain short coming that they have.

Frankly speaking, there is very seldom to come across a bad camera in today's technology advancement when comparing to the past. Will your LCD TV image quality looks more inferior than your 80's TV? ...or will your iPhone/BlackBerry performs more terrible than those 1st generation cell phone in the 90's? Same goes to camera and lens.

We all love feed backs, especially on the things we like or love to buy/invest.
Now lets us take a closer look on usual feed backs on those famous DSLR brands, namely -  Olympus, Sony, Nikon & Canon 

* below comments & feedbacks are based on users experience on specific brands..

OLYMPUS























- the Olympus lens system was a bit expensive when compare to other offering and it has no 3rd party lens around to support the system. Making users have to pay a premium for the lens. Fix Aperture fast lens in their line will make your wallet bleeds to death ...

- No doubt, it was one of the fastest AF(Auto Focus) lens around. Once you got hooked with the DSLR, the major concern will be the long term investment with the system which means that you will further extend your lens collection into your arsenal.

- they had shifted their attention more to EP1 and EP2 models the true 4/3 system. Mainly target on those who wants to look different(if not weird with a big lens and over size flash attached) with the camera they own. Small size which also means lighter weight for ladies to carry~


SONY























- Sony offers a great deal of pricing on their DSLR & lens but it was a bit disappointing when in low light performance. The high ISO1600 or 3200 shots were unable to get as clean as the Nikon & Canon's offering. However, many believes that Sony is catching up real fast especially with their affordable top grade glass - namely Carl Zeiss. Rumors - they even had a plan to produce Full Frame camera in dirt cheap pricing,
which is to compete head-on with competitors.

- Sony got great vibrant color reproduction here as most users claimed. However, the tendency of camera internal mechanism failure(Super Steady Shot and High Vibration Cleaning mechanism) was rather HIGH. Sony should offer longer warranty period to their customers.

- Their small DSLR and light weight design got a very well response from the female market too!



Nikon























- it was a bit funny on Nikon's color ...the color reproduction was rather flat or over saturated especially during the day time. Perhaps their prospects need to opt for higher range of Nikon to get better color reproduction. It was kinda NOT NATURAL when compare side by side to others, especially on skin tone... or perhaps the picture was too SHARP! Yup, Nikon produce the sharpest pics you can ever expect from a DSLR even with their kitlens.

- it was ironic that they got the most user friendly function buttons but a rather complicated Menu to confuse you. They even got a novel like, kinda thick Manual for your reference.
- more superior Flash system than its main rival Canon.
- one of the best performer in low light shooting with fast spot on AF system.
- mostly robust and heavy DSLR they got in their line but some ladies just love it and took it as a small dumbbell~



Canon























- many had complaint on this AF system which only works well with their solely L 'lan si'(Cantonese) lens. You will not get a fast spot on like Nikon did when shooting in low light unless the L (Luxury) lens is mounted onto it. Guess their R&D and marketing had purposely did it. Even your f/2.8 3rd party lens will not help much on the focusing accuracy when shooting in low light.

- some did complain their pain in the ass when using older models where Exposure Compensation(+ & -EV) function was out of reach, you can't find it among buttons!!! Geeee... EV function was very crucial in the whole shooting process!

- stupid inconsistent Flash Exposure, you have experiment your flash all the time~!!!
- only able to master the external flash with FULL Manual Mode, including the Flash level control!!!

- Canon did very well on the compact camera department. While DSLR needs a lot to improve especially on the buttons and AF system. 7D was a well update series or to say an entirely NEW breed from their R&D department. Holy Cow~!!! ... 5DM2 has only 1 cross type sensor and 7D has 19 points; ALL were Cross type sensors!!!

- it has the most complete range of lens around and the color was beautifully natural. Canon had successfully secured most professional sports photographers due superior AF system on the 90's. However, now the Nikon system had catch up and even out performed Canon on their beginner and mid range offering.

*other brand names in brief ....
* most girls like it small and light
Leica - too expensive, a symbol to the rich! 50mm f/0.9 lens may cost you RM50k

Panasonic Lumix- latest 4/3 system, GF1 had claimed to be the best for HD video making among DSLR but once again, it was expensive, moderate ISO performance and limited lens choice.


* some notes on 3rd party lens...
Tamron - slow on AF(Auto Focusing)? how slow? 0.5 sec. Others did mentioned that Nikon lens was actually from Tamron (under OEM). Under certain circumstances and agreement, Tamron was restricted to some pattern restriction in producing top performance lens. Never mind, supply more lens to Nikon will make the business good either way. It did produce very sharp and affordable lens. Their best lens - SP90 f/2.8 Macro 1:1, 17-50 f/2.8 VC (IF)

Sigma - inconsistent quality control, A and B lens were the same model but they did behaved differently. Do you call this unique individual?  kakaka~ When time past ... things had changed. Sigma recently had beefed up and produce some very nice quality optics.
geeeeee ....  Sigma wasn't that cheap due to their HSM(Hyper Sonic Motor) offering in the lens.
Their best lens -  120-400 f/4-5.6 APO HSM, 150-500 f/4-5.6 APO HSM


Tokina - nothing much but related to the biggest optamic lens manufacturer in the world, HOYA ...and their only best and famous lens - 11-16 /f2.8 Super Wide Angle lens


Carl Zeiss - the premium lens after Leica, the most sought after brand among professional photographers. The clarity and contrast were superbly mesmerizing. Their lens coating technology were once use in World War II.

Why premium lens that expensive ya? The coating technology and their quality had made it expensive!
However, some premium lens pricing doesn't justify their quality! Bottom line - buy the best you can afford. If you have no luck that day and feeling difficult to purchase your desired lens(out of stock or no testing). Please forget about it, it doesn't suits you and possibly will give you lots of heartache.
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21 comments:

Kelvin said...

Totally nutz about the camera. I thought they were all the same =_="

Thomas Lee/Lee Lip Pang said...

wah! A pro's review.

Uncle Jo. said...

LoL~ not pro lah just dig a lot and ask a lot from those seasoned members.

Most insider of the camera retail industry will know more than us did, they will go in depth and know about all those quality things better than us, the consumers.

I was in optical line too, so I know about those coating technology and pricing.

Thanks for reading ya~

AJ said...

wah cantiknya..nak juga satu...huhuhu...

Justin Hee said...

Wah i din really know Olympus hav fastest AF system....
But still, once a Canon, forever a Canon~ =D

WeiZhong said...

The cheapest DSLR is how much ?? For a student like me i more prefer to digital camera lo. LOL.

mrhasifrahman said...

ahahaha...

one thing for sure
if u read all the pros and cons
u'll in dilemma which one to choose

canon or nikon
canon or nikon

those who bought nikon wanna change to canon

those who bought canon wanna change to nikon

hahaha

the best way is
buy the one that u like

it's not the DSLR..but the man behinds it =)

got shots from Pentax..but the picture superb than Canon and Nikon user ;)

Uncle Jo. said...

@ Eriqazz >
boleh juga .. beli aje ^^

@ Justin Hee >
you are rite, once we married to it d ..we gonna be faithful to it ..unless it wreck our passion of that marriage lah kakaka~

@ WeiZhong >
I was once start with compact b4 .. so it is great if you pick your choice Compact ^__^

@ mr Chenta >
ya ... that was very true ..so one must make up his mind for what he really wants. The darkside will always tempt us with new features and advancement.

But I was too in love with Canon's color and it's not so bad ISO performance XD

excalade89 said...

Still I'm happy with my Nikon. :) Now I'm waiting to earn the sufficient cash for a Tamron lens :)

Uncle Jo. said...

@ Victor Tan >
T___T i want Tamron lens too
17-50 f/2.8 VC (IF)

Wil C said...

Wah, the ones in your pics so boxy (and super expensive) DSLRs leh..haha. This hobby is going to kill my wallet.. HAHA

Tekkaus said...

I only have a digital camera at my disposal. :p

But if I will get one...I want Olympus brand.

Uncle Jo. said...

@ Willy C
some nice 2nd hand DSLR only cost RM1k plus only. I also save money to buy leh kakaka~


@ Tekkaus >
coOL, as long as you feels great with it ^^
after all, photography is about the person behind the camera. Camera was just a tool to assist us.

zzkang said...

dont know bout other brands but Olympus AF is slow and lens is not that expensive...still i loves olympus...heheh..

--Oly Fanboy-- :D

Uncle Jo. said...

@ zzkang >
huh... that was the other way round???
Oly lens was indeed expensive when comparing among normal lens offering by other brands.

Oly lens had the fast spot on that can beats Nikon.

Anonymous said...

Jesus...all this looks complicating for me...+__+

Kimberly said...

wah... so chim~(so "deep") haha

PRO! xP

Take care =)

zzkang said...

its just my personal opinion n experience...and i can sure that oly kit lens is the best among all kit lens... :D

Uncle Jo. said...

@ zzkang >
ya~ the best kitlens around with fast focus! ^^

Unknown said...

wow...u r good...review like a pro...do u live with all the DSLRs? haha...it's amazing how u can guess what brand of DLSR just by looking at the color of the pics...trully amazed :D

Uncle Jo. said...

@ Ayub ..

no lah, actually those friends who used it before told me about their brand weakness. I had Sony Alpha before and using Canon ..so i could tell those weakness as well. I also had friends who works in camera shop so they got told me about which is good and which had problems.

Actually, it is quite easy to identify Nikon color. It is usually very sharp pics and the color is rather flat or over saturate on the red, blue and green. You may compare a few Nikon user blogs and Canon user blogs to see their color. Surely you will notice their difference.

Cheers~

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