Comments on: A possible game changer: the Canon 40mm f2.8 pancake lens

By: mike.kobal

mike.kobal — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 19:48:04 +0000

thanks for your kind words, Rhys! Lucky for us there are quite a few options to choose from these days, really depends on your shooting preference, if you are mainly into cityscapes/landscapes with a few candid’s and low light shots thrown in, go with the Nex7, a no brainer really, fantastic hires sensor and much less bulky to travel with, incredible quality in good light – I always preferred the cropped sensor for wide angle and landscape shots because of better depth of field. If you are a bokeh and extreme low light fanatic, you have to stick with the bulk of full frame, no way around it, a good middle ground would be the new Fujifilm X E1, better in low light then the Nex-7 and with the 35mm 1.4 captures pretty amazing bokeh shots, much lighter then a 5Dmk2 or 3 set up, the only thing I am not sure about is af performance on the fuji..

By: Rhys

Rhys — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:32:25 +0000

First, can I say what a great blog this is. Many, many thanks for taking the time to put it together Mike.

I notice that you compare the Nex to the “current full frame cameras”. I have the 5D mark II and was seriously considering getting the Nex7 as a lighter weight companion. Now your post on the pancake 40 has me wondering whether I should. Would you have any thoughts on the Nex vs the Mark II for candid/travel stuff? My Lumix LX5 has served me beautifully over the years, but I’m ready to upgrade it. The RX100 is another possibility. So might be the RX1, I guess… Gah… Too many choices!

Yet another idea I’d been pondering was investing in a piece of expensive glass — say the summicron 35mm f/2 — and pairing it with the Nex7, together with the kit zoom. Would you have an opinion on whether this’d be wise?

Again — many thanks for the awesome site. Cheers, Rhys

By: Thomas

Thomas — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 05:37:51 +0000

My summer trip gear consists in a used body and used lenses – a Nikon D5100, a 50mm f1.8 and a 17-70 zoom. Nothing special. Cheap and lightweight, the whole kit for 660 Euro. Thanks god I didn’t got by the GAS syndrom and the camera hype…

By: jake

jake — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:03:39 +0000

thank you Mike, that means maybe the 5D3 is the camera for me since I dont shoot anything in studio and most of times use of a good tripod is not my option.
well, thanks again for your amazing work and real life comparison of these amazing cameras.

By: Cheryl Rose

Cheryl Rose — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 05:15:57 +0000

i realize,now, that even professional photographers with options grander than most, cant just pick up a camera that they
think does everything. Mike, when you plan a vaca aren’t you entirely in charge of what your subject matter will be? like going somewhere with lots of kids and dogs..need the canon. Seems no matter where you go, the highest quality you can afford is the correct answer. The NEX 7 is a hobby shooter, like a lomo or a polaroid, it’s not for fine photographs. So. CONTEXT BASED

By: Neil

Neil — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 01:00:37 +0000

Cheryl, From my perspective, the autofocus on the Nex 7 falls down when you are dealing with low light (medium to low interior lighting) and moving subjects (playing kids, moving dogs, etc). In general, I can live with ISO 1600, and with the Sigma lenses being f2.8, shutter speed is OK. But the percentage of shots critically in focus is fairly low.

There are probably some settings that I could change that might improve this a bit, and I could use flash.

On the other hand, the 5D Mark III autofocus is awesome, and with a fast prime and ISO 3200, the percentage of keepers approaches 100%.

By: mike.kobal

mike.kobal — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 00:47:13 +0000

Thanks Jake. true, blame it on the pancake I really enjoy using the D800E, mainly in the studio and as medium format replacement, the 5D3 for everything else

By: jake

jake — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 22:21:11 +0000

hi mike, first off, I appreciate your time consuming effort making this very interesting site.
I’ve also owned the NEX7 and Canon 5Dmk2(not mk3yet) and recently got the Oly EM5, with a plan to do my own NEX7 vs OMD comparison in my personal studio.
I know you prefered the NEX7 to the EM5 but I’m just curious why not the D800E ,which you seemed really enjoying.

By: mike.kobal

mike.kobal — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:01:12 +0000

Hi Cheryl, aside from the full frame advantage, the most significant differences are: much better bit rate and low light performance shooting video, pro auto focus and much, much better low light performance for stills.

By: mike.kobal

mike.kobal — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:57:14 +0000

thanks Neil!