azeledge
Member
So after a few years with my J3... I got my J5, and I love it. First, my qualms:
Totally cosmetic, but, the white body does not match my white lenses. The old white is warmer, this new white is cooler, more neutral. The white 18.5 (what I use 90% of the time) looks terrible on it. My new silver 18.5 is therefore enroute via UPS and the white 18.5 is for sale. The 10 and the 10-100 look okay, but I'll replace them with their silver equivalents at some point. I'm still mulling on how to replace the 10-30. Silver seems obvious but the focus ring is black, how will that strike me? If only these smaller, cheaper zooms were given metal focus rings.
Another minor quibble is that the Creative photo modes capture exclusively in JPEG. Why?? HDR mode is such a delight to have, but if the result is a JPEG? Well. And the panoramic mode continues to deliver diminutive output. My iPhone remains the goto for this, such a shame.
Last is, during playback, there is still no way to toggle between detailed image info, and the full screen image. Setting to Off gives you no info, On gives you no useful info, and Detailed gives you no way to view the image full screen without cropping. Really disappointing.
What else? Hmmm, that's it!
Obviously the new sensor is a big improvement over the J3. Images are soooo buttery by comparison, with velvety bokeh, and the detail, even at higher ISOs, is incredible. I've never stared so long at a cat portrait in my life. Every. Strand. Of fur! Just astounding. Now, this IS the highest MP camera I've ever known, along with the largest sensor... So I suppose it doesn't take much to impress me. But I am finally getting images that, upon close inspection, possess an IQ that I not only thought I couldn't achieve, but assumed was firmly in the purview of other, bigger-sensor systems. Suffice to say I'm in heaven.
The color out of camera is beautiful. I use Lightroom and would set the J3 to Vivid. For whatever reason, Lightroom strips the results of this setting after the image loads, and you can see it as it happens. With the J3, I'd watch as luscious color evaporated shot after shot, leaving me to restore it manually. I set the J5 to the same setting, but imagine my shock when I found the stripped images to look better. Better! Much more natural (yet pleasingly saturated), and the blacks would uncrush and behold! Wide dynamic range. Really impressive. The only differxence, to be fair, is that I have the J5 set to the Adobe sRGB color space. But regardless, to see the unmodified RAW out of this camera look so good leaves me giddy.
Before purchase, I was really interested in the articulated touch screen, along with the improved handling, and neither disappoints. It's very cool to tap the subject of my shot, and the image is simply captured. I love taking shots of plants low to the ground, and I know the articulation and touch sensitivity will make doing that a lot easier.
What was also compelling to me was the arrival of the Fn button. This is mapped to ISO by default, and at first I really liked that arrangement. Then it occurred to me that I could tap the ISO number on the screen to make the same adjustment! So now I have the Fn button set to focus mode. It's nice to be able to toggle that quickly as I use extension tubes quite a lot. In all cases, I am really happy with all of these additions, they've been a long time coming to be sure.
The wifi button is great... it's a shame the VMU app converts everything to JPEG, but it's quite fast ano convenient... Really a shame it doesn't keep images as RAW though.
That's about it. Even if the new sensor were the only update to the line, this camera would be a must buy for any fan of the system. I loved my J3, but this new, better sensor just destroys it.
The cat picture in question!
Totally cosmetic, but, the white body does not match my white lenses. The old white is warmer, this new white is cooler, more neutral. The white 18.5 (what I use 90% of the time) looks terrible on it. My new silver 18.5 is therefore enroute via UPS and the white 18.5 is for sale. The 10 and the 10-100 look okay, but I'll replace them with their silver equivalents at some point. I'm still mulling on how to replace the 10-30. Silver seems obvious but the focus ring is black, how will that strike me? If only these smaller, cheaper zooms were given metal focus rings.
Another minor quibble is that the Creative photo modes capture exclusively in JPEG. Why?? HDR mode is such a delight to have, but if the result is a JPEG? Well. And the panoramic mode continues to deliver diminutive output. My iPhone remains the goto for this, such a shame.
Last is, during playback, there is still no way to toggle between detailed image info, and the full screen image. Setting to Off gives you no info, On gives you no useful info, and Detailed gives you no way to view the image full screen without cropping. Really disappointing.
What else? Hmmm, that's it!
Obviously the new sensor is a big improvement over the J3. Images are soooo buttery by comparison, with velvety bokeh, and the detail, even at higher ISOs, is incredible. I've never stared so long at a cat portrait in my life. Every. Strand. Of fur! Just astounding. Now, this IS the highest MP camera I've ever known, along with the largest sensor... So I suppose it doesn't take much to impress me. But I am finally getting images that, upon close inspection, possess an IQ that I not only thought I couldn't achieve, but assumed was firmly in the purview of other, bigger-sensor systems. Suffice to say I'm in heaven.
The color out of camera is beautiful. I use Lightroom and would set the J3 to Vivid. For whatever reason, Lightroom strips the results of this setting after the image loads, and you can see it as it happens. With the J3, I'd watch as luscious color evaporated shot after shot, leaving me to restore it manually. I set the J5 to the same setting, but imagine my shock when I found the stripped images to look better. Better! Much more natural (yet pleasingly saturated), and the blacks would uncrush and behold! Wide dynamic range. Really impressive. The only differxence, to be fair, is that I have the J5 set to the Adobe sRGB color space. But regardless, to see the unmodified RAW out of this camera look so good leaves me giddy.
Before purchase, I was really interested in the articulated touch screen, along with the improved handling, and neither disappoints. It's very cool to tap the subject of my shot, and the image is simply captured. I love taking shots of plants low to the ground, and I know the articulation and touch sensitivity will make doing that a lot easier.
What was also compelling to me was the arrival of the Fn button. This is mapped to ISO by default, and at first I really liked that arrangement. Then it occurred to me that I could tap the ISO number on the screen to make the same adjustment! So now I have the Fn button set to focus mode. It's nice to be able to toggle that quickly as I use extension tubes quite a lot. In all cases, I am really happy with all of these additions, they've been a long time coming to be sure.
The wifi button is great... it's a shame the VMU app converts everything to JPEG, but it's quite fast ano convenient... Really a shame it doesn't keep images as RAW though.
That's about it. Even if the new sensor were the only update to the line, this camera would be a must buy for any fan of the system. I loved my J3, but this new, better sensor just destroys it.
The cat picture in question!
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