Can you recommend a digital, relatively compact, SLR-type camera?

I travel alot, and lately, I think I am doing a disservice with my Panasonic DMC-FH25K Lumix. For example, I traveled to Egypt with this thing...

I need a better camera!

Performance Requirements
-low-light conditions
-fast moving objects (or if i'm moving the camera fast)
-panorama's if possible. tired of having to stitch all those pics....

Price
I can go above $400 but less than $1000.

SUPER Requirement
NOT made in China. Pref. Made in Japan or Germany/Switzerland.

Looking at:
LEICA D-LUX5, Canon G-12, Nikon Coolpix 5000.

any online suggestions of where to order? Amazon?

THANKS!!

oh and another requirement is easy click-n-download pictures....like they come in jpeg format, right? i don't have to do any fancy conversion (although i can learn if need be)

TravelSurfDude said:

Looking at:
LEICA D-LUX5

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FYI, the D-Lux 5 is just a Panasonic LX5 with some Leica design touches and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom thrown into the box. For those things you pay an extra $400. Not worth it unless the style is important to you.

ah...hm....is the D-Lux 5 made in Japan or Germany?

TravelSurfDude said:

ah...hm....is the D-Lux 5 made in Japan or Germany?

Click to expand...

Who cares? It doesn't make a damn bit of difference; quality control is the same regardless of manufacture location with the top companies.

--
http://www.emasterphoto.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emasterphoto/

The Leica is made by Panasonic, most likely in Japan as that is where my LX5 was made.

--
John Glover
WSSA #141PX

The Leica D-LUX 5 is a just a Leica branded Panasonic LX-5. It's a very expensive badge you're paying for with the Leica.

http://www.dpreview.com/products/compare/side-by-side?products=leica_dlux5&products=panasonic_dmclx5

However I understand the magic Leica fairy sprinkles them with Leica-dust before the leave the factory.

Sorry, I've no time for so-called Leica P&S cameras.

TravelSurfDude said:

Performance Requirements

Click to expand...

TravelSurfDude said:

low-light conditions

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Three techniques : flash, long exposure at low ISO and wide aperture. Don't expect any compact to do that for you without being told to by the user.

If you're really obsessed with this then get a Sony NEX. Big sensor wins.

Another option might be the Olympus XZ-1 ( wide aperture lens ).

You really need to shoot RAW and process noise reduction to your own taste and requirements with a compact.

TravelSurfDude said:

fast moving objects (or if i'm moving the camera fast)

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Technique 101 : fast shutter speed.
Implies : lots of light ( or flash ) and/or high ISO and/or wide aperture.

Moving the camera fast is just being a twit. Cameras are not designed to shoot in these circumstances as you practically guaranteeing massive shake blur beyond the ability of any anti-shake system to correct. You moving the camera and subjects moving fast are not the same thing.

TravelSurfDude said:

panorama's if possible. tired of having to stitch all those pics....

Click to expand...

Sony have a sweep panorama function ( as some others do ). However the whole point of doing the stitch in software is to avoid the kind of problems that in-camera processing is prone to ( e.g. people being in two parts of the scene ).

Something like Microsoft ICE or Hugin ( both free AFAIK ) are practically automatic.

TravelSurfDude said:

SUPER Requirement
NOT made in China. Pref. Made in Japan or Germany/Switzerland.

Click to expand...

A digital camera has components which can, literally, be made anywhere and the critical ones are not being made where you seem to think they are ( or want them to be ).

This requirement is plain silly in the modern world. The "made in" badge on the outside of anything really means "stuck together in". As someone pointed out it the QA standards employed by component makers are pretty universal across the industry because all the makers enforce the same levels with their suppliers.

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StephenG

thanks for your answers, although caustic & rude, are very informative.

Could you recommend any mirrorless cameras that are relatively compact udner the $1000 range? as a benchmark, how would MC's compare to the D-5 Leica?
thanks!

Pretty much all mirrorless cameras are compact, that's a huge part of their selling point. That said, if you want the body & lens combo to be compact your best bet would probably be a m4/3 body by Olympus or Panasonic (a nice upside is you can use Olympus lenses on Panasonic bodies, or the other way around, or Panasonic on Panasonic, etc).

Maybe have a look at the Olympus E-P3 or Panasonic GX1.

Either of those would be far better than that Leica 5. Bigger sensor, faster focusing, choice of lenses, not much bigger in size.

Or maybe a slightly older model if you want to spend less.

The NEX's have better sensors and support focus peaking, which are both important factors for me. But I suspect my priorities are different from yours - for example, I want to be able to manually focus easily with older lenses and the sensors offer some specific technical advantages which (arguably) aren't as significant to mainstream users. However the very small set of lenses available is a big turn off for me.

The micro 4/3 systems have more lenses available for them ( which is important ) and have cheaper add-on EVF's. The sensors may not be as good as the NEX models, but they're still better than even the premium P&S models.

Overall the micro 4/3 systems are a more rounded system, very capable and a 'safer' bet for the mainstream. Really any of them are good, but consider the Panasonic G3 as well as the Olympus models.

The Nikon 1 system I like except for one thing - price. It's certainly worth considering if you are comfortable with the price. At present the lens availability is small, but I'd expect this to grow.

All of models will be substantially better in low light than the D-LUX5 ( or LX-5 ) and P&S models in general.

Against the Olympus XZ-1 this is not so simple. The Olympus has a good wide aperture lens and can shoot at lower ISO levels than the mirrorless systems when they use the kit zooms . This somewhat offsets the sensor size advantage the mirrorless systems have. Overall I'd still prefer the mirrorless systems which can be used with wide aperture lenses if you have the money, but the XZ-1 is more compact and perhaps suits your needs.

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StephenG

Hey Stephen. Good to see you.

What about the Canon G1X? I don't dabble in this kind of camera much but the sensor is larger than m4/3 and it seems to be a wonderful choice considering the OP's needs.

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/canong1x/

It also is a bit on the expensive side, but for what it is, might be a one of a kind. I'm suggesting the OP look at it and asking you're opinion as well.

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Cheers, Craig

Follow me on Twitter @craighardingsr : Equipment in Profile

The G1X seems quite restrictive to me.

First you're limited to the built in lens. It's f2.8 at the wide end but drops to f5.8 at the long end. You've no option for a faster, wider or longer lens.

The sensor is marginally bigger than m4/3 but in practical terms it's not significant.

It has lots of controls. While some people like this I've always been a little sceptical about this on a smallish camera. In practice about 90% of my shooting requires aperture control and a quick way to adjust ISO, EC and maybe bracket. How many buttons and dials do we really need ?

The OVF is very small. Better than nothing perhaps, but no substitute for the Olympus add-on EVFs, the Panasonic's G3's built-in EVF or even the NEX's focus peaking on the LCD.

I think it's a mistake by Canon. Not so much a bad camera, but not offering the flexibility of a MILC or the size of a P&S. Sort of a Frankencamera, IMO.

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StephenG

S95 and X10 made in Japan. I have those but don't know of other made in Japan p&s cameras. I think most are made in China.

thanks guys! so i did more research and called B&H..

Made in...
olympus E-P3 CHINA
Leica D-5: Japan
panasonic lumix DMC-G3 CHINA
panasonic lumix DMX-GX1 Japan
sony nex-5N, thailand
fujifilm x100, japan

The guy on the phone suggested a fujifilm x100 and a leica d-5 for "high-end" compact camera's (either that or he's trying to sell me ice in winter).

what do you guys think of the fujifilm x100? i read some not so great reviews on the fuji-film x10, but the x100 looks nice!!!

The X100 is very nice, although the firmware is a bit 'quirky' - have a look at the DPR review. it's also not gong to be great at fast moving objects as you said you needed.

Fantastic IQ though.

thanks! i've gone with the x100. =)