Monday, January 23, 2012

2012 New Camera Releases

Low light photography is getting insane, if we are not there yet we will soon be to the point where the camera will capture exactly what our eyes see. From my days as a Police Officer I have come to love the night.  4pm to 1am are my body's prime hours and all this new technology suits that perfectly.

What has my interest for this year:

I have seen examples of Canon's G1X high ISO images and they are awesome.  Love my G10 & G11, same body configuration, the G1X takes it to the next level.  Only knock is the lens is only equivelant to a 28 to 112mm, would love a longer lens on this.  But the f/2.8 in wide angle and an ISO up to 12,800 are awesome, the sensor size is also impressive, as DP Review's diagram shows.  Price is creaping up though from G12.

The Nikon D4 image examples I have seen look incredible as do the specs for this new flagship.  Not happy about the dual card slot being CF and Sony XQD Memory Card.  SD is an industry standard and easy to find.  Unless this XQD technology is going to push out SD then whats the point? Other than Nikon cutting a deal with Sony for $$$.

Fuji continues to make a charge with X-Pro 1 and X10 models.  My X100 makes great images although its lag time is a problem,  Using it like my Leica on the streets of NYC last month was a problem.  Had to leave it on and make images every few minutes so it would not got to sleep.  Lost some images because of that, but the size and feel worked the same.  If I needed it quickly I used my D7000 and hoped the larger camera body didn't draw too much attention.  Within the next year or so I hope to find the perfect range finder solution for my City work (Fuji or Canon will get it there, competition is a good thing in regards to technology).

Ken Rockwell covered the CES 2012 convention and his review is the most concise coverage you will find, worth the visit to his site as always.