Bill Pearce wrote:
> It has looked for some time like there would not be another Olympus in my
> life, and I place that squarely at the foot of Olympus, both the USA part
> for their total lack of customer service, and at the home office for abysmal
> product planning. The only thing that keeps me in OM is the fact that I
> never warmed to AF.
>
Oly has yet to produce a digital camera I want, although I've tried. I
stick to OMs because I still love the way they feel and operate. But use
is way less than before. More a special nostalgia adventure.
The other reason to stick with them is to justify staying on the list. :-)
> As I've said before, I have been waiting for things to shake out some. It
> feels to me like the various companies are wandering about looking for a
> direction.
Not my take at all. Both C and N have clear three tier lineups with
regular upgrades at each tier. I don't think they are confused at all,
nor do their lines seem unclear to me. Each have entry level, advanced
amateur/some pro and full pro model liness and lenses to match - or mix.
In the case of C, they also offer a choice of sensor size in the middle
tier; the 30D & 5D are otherwise very similar.
The other, smaller folks do seem to have less clear ideas what they are
doing or trying to be. Part of that, I think is that their limited
resources tie their hands to some extent. The new P may be poorly
placed, depends on price. As I said before, it seems to me that Oly (but
perhaps not OlyAm) may have a clearer idea than the others. What they
show up with at PhotoKina for an E-x and when they deliver will tell the
rest of the tale. The big unknowns are Sony and Panasonic, but that
doesn't matter just now.
> I am about ready to buy something that will serve me decently,
> and solve the traveling by air problems, and continue to wait out things.
>
Pick up an entry level C or N, either the latest just out or the last
prior version a bit cheaper. If you have not used a quality DSLR yet,
you will be simply amazed at the images they can produce with a decent
lens. Either one will carry you through until things move around again,
and perhaps settle down. And you won't give anything away to film. If
you want to be able to also use your OM lenses, like macros, super wides
and long teles, the choice is simple, C, as N adapters aren't available.
Absent a need for great high iso perormance and fast glass, Oly offers
reasonably priced solutions to the need you describe, too.
> The Leica, of course, would be nearly perfect, the new Pentax has
> possibilities (limited by the lack of a good lens in the 28-90 range), and
> the Sony/Minolta when the Zeiss lenses appear could be my answer.
>
As Winsor and I pointed out, Sony has to get their imaging system house
in order first. Their current one is simply not competitive. Panasonic
seems to have the same problem. The weakest link in the imaging chain
determines the result, and Zeiss lenses won't do the job on the
alpha100. I'm not saying that combo can't take some great images, but
that it can't take them in as many different situations as the
equivalent N & C models without Zeiss lenses. Both make some mighty fine
lenses in their top lines and there are some excellent third part lenses
available for them.
Moose
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