Don't hate me but I'm selling my only DSLR

[MichaelBarry]

I've got a Sony A200 (with kit lens) and a Minolta 50/1.7 and I want to sell it because I feel like I want to go all the way and either have a full frame DSLR or none at all. This is because I just love the full frame experience (depth of field etc.) and I enjoy using 35mm negative with the numerous quality lenses I have anyway. I just can't go back to cropped viewfinders!

So I'm selling my A200 (and kit lens) which I'll get about £250 for and my Minolta 50/1.7 for about £80+

This gives me a budget of £330 but I would like to spend only a max of £250 on a point and shoot (digital of course ) and here are my requirements:

shoot in RAW format
built in flash
able to fit into my pocket without creating a suspicious bulge.

I care not for megapixels really as I doubt you can even find a camera with less than 10 megapixels anyway which is plenty.

Any suggestions please (even try to convince me not to sell but I'm very determined).

 

[2contagious]

I understand your frustration with a crop-sensor SLR. I had a Sony Alpha A100 and sold it including all my lenses and got a full frame Canon 5D Mark II instead. There are worlds in between... On a side note, I would never ever go back from an SLR (even if it's an SLR with a crop-sensor) to a point-and-shoot..

ps: my dad got a Canon S90. I haven't used it yet, but he says it's amazing it got some pretty decent reviews as well

 

[unid]

how about stretching the budget if possible to a panasonic gf1
fits in the pocket comfortably shoot raw has a fabulous 20mm kit lens.
or the olympus pen, micro 4/3 is a rapidly growing area worth a look at.
dpreview is your perhaps your best friend in choosing though whether superzoom compact or whatever floats your boat.
I bought a gf1 and am as happy with it as i could be.

 

[El Cabong]

The Canon S90 is a great choice unless you really want HD video. Handles beautifully (better than the G series, imo), has a great lens (faster than the G series), and is relatively compact (much more so than the G series). Not really familiar w/UK pricing (other than the markup that electronics tend to incur), but cameras.co.uk says it goes for around £300 (in the US it's around $400).

I have a Leica D-Lux 4, which I love, but envy the S90's more compact size and better controls (I got it before the S90 was announced and when Panasonic LX3's were still impossible to find). There aren't a lot of large-aperture, RAW-shooting compacts around. It's a shame, really.

dpreview is your perhaps your best friend in choosing though whether superzoom compact or whatever floats your boat.

DPReview has let its compact reviews fall by the wayside, choosing instead to focus on interchangeable lens cameras. The Imaging Resource is more current with their reviews. DPReview, however, remains much easier to navigate, and their Buying Guide is great for comparing specs and looking for specific features.

 

[toxic]

so..your selling your SLR for a digital P&S...which is in what way anything like a 35mm camera...?

as for your criteria, pretty much only the S90 fits. the LX3/DLux 4 isn't exactly small. alternatively, get just about any Canon P&S and use CHDK.

I think you should save and go m4/3.

 

[Westside guy]

Everything I hear about the S90 is positive - except Thom Hogan complains that it's a bit slippery in your hands unless you buy a third-party grip.

I've toyed with buying a P&S for general carry-around use - but I'd still want my dSLR for "serious" occasions. If I had unlimited funds I'd have that P&S by now.

 

[Pikemann Urge]

Michael, there's nothing really wrong with what you're doing. It's always a good thing to try new equipment.

I'll sum up my feelings with one pro and one con:

Pro:
If you're going to have a supposedly compromised camera (in relation to 35mm) you may as well be able to put it in your pocket.

Con:
'Full frame' is arbitrary. Ever used a medium format camera? Nobody complains that 35mm is not 'full frame MF'.

 

[bigfatdaddyo]

my 2 cents on the matter

I recently got the S90 and I have to say it is awesome! I also have the 5D Mark II with a handful of L lenses and there is no comparison. But, to have a auto/manual camera that fits in the shirt pocket you can take everywhere is awesome. The quality of the photos are very good, the video is fine, its not HD but its clear and sharp. I have not looked back since I got this baby a couple weeks ago, I shoot lots of indoors snaps of the family and friends with the 2.0 setting at 28mm. Just love it!

 

[MichaelBarry]

so..your selling your SLR for a digital P&S...which is in what way anything like a 35mm camera...?

It's not. I'm saying I would rather have full frame or non at all. I would rather have 35mm film than a cropped sensor.

therefore I thought if I'm going to go cropped sensor, may as well be pocket sized.

 

[compuwar]

It's not. I'm saying I would rather have full frame or non at all. I would rather have 35mm film than a cropped sensor.

therefore I thought if I'm going to go cropped sensor, may as well be pocket sized.

But if your rationale is that you want the shallower DoF, then going to an even smaller sensor is going to make that even worse.

For a 50mm lens at f/1.7, assuming you want isolation, you're looking at .81 feet of DoF for a subject at 10' on a crop sensor and 1.21 feet for a full frame sensor. That means you only need 3" more background separation, if you add AOV into the equation, then you're buying more lenses and looking for a 75mm f/1.7 is going to suck- if you go with an f/2.8 lens on a FF body, you're looking at about a 1.5" difference in DoF. If you zoom with your feet, then the difference is just under 6", which is more, but I have to admit that I haven't seen a body of work where that difference would make a huge impact on more than 15% of the photos. In any case, you could easily offset 90% of that with an f/1.2 50mm lens.

I'm curious about what you're shooting that changes things enough that you'd want to use a camera with worse DoF characteristics instead?

I have both a DX and FX body- but I rarely choose the body based on DoF (more on total potential print size based on my ability to fill the frame,) which is why my curiosity is piqued (for what I shoot, the ability to choose an equivalent FL is lost most of the time when I want a narrow DoF.)

I hope you find a P&S that you like and it makes you happier, but I'd love to know what you're shooting that means you can't use a depth of field calculator to get the DoF you want on a crop body and perhaps see some examples.

Paul

 

[ManhattanPrjct]

Read this review of the S90:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons90/