Ah, if only a pentax pancake lens would work on that e-410...
Just to see what would happen I sent an email to Sigma to give them a poke on availability of DP1 as well as register some continuing interest. The reply...
"We do not have any info on the release date for the DP1 at this
time. We will make an announcement on our web site when more info becomes
available.
Thank you,
Customer service/technical assistance"
And between all the primes on small bodies I am not sure which one is the winner - what is the prime+body that is the smallest combo while still retaining autofocus? A pentax(?) because they are the only ones that can use the pancake lenses (even though their bodies are a tad larger)?
Kit there is a discussion over at dp, (there are some truly bright people over there that double check everything) that has been waffling on about the differences in the 'published' accounts of the sensor sizes. Give it a day or two for the dust to settle and i will get back with a synopsis
i dont think the 410 has been exploited enough for its small size yet, and yes some smallish lenses would surely add to the interest. As i use my 11-22 pretty much always in the 11mm zone i would be interested too. I think one of the 'holdups' to this idea is the telecentricity of a given design, to which, i presently enjoy lens performance that is quite excellent even wide open, with perceivable vignetting not on the menu http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z179/realink_album/review/E-410.jpg
Personally, I wil eat having a fixed focal length - I almost always was using my 24L on the 20d and figure would be the same on the replacment body. Eating autofocus is a bit much as this smaller camera is more for my wife and she won't tolerate no autofocus. That said, I want a smaller one too - and had been praying on this dp1 to come along; preferably with a surprise change to f2.8 over f4.
Why not just compromise and get the smallest of the pentax digital bodies and the pentax pancake lenses? Is the e410 that much smaller than the little pentax's?
txbonds wrote:
Why not just compromise and get the smallest of the pentax digital bodies and the pentax pancake lenses? Is the e410 that much smaller than the little pentax's?
thats fine, but you would lose AF, and be down .5x on FL
if that still works for you, adapters are available ..
Why would you loose AF using a pentax body with a pentax lens? The only disadvantage I see is maybe a little bigger size than the e410, and a little narrower aperature. Also maybe a few less pixels.
Take a 21mm limited pentax f3.5 on a pentax istd body, and it would make for a pretty darn small kit.
E410
5.1 x 3.6 x 2.1
435 grams with battery
ist DS
4.9 x 3.6 x 2.6
605 grams with battery
ist D
5.0 x 3.7 x 2.3
650 grams with battery
ist DL
4.9 x 3.7 x 2.6
565 grams with battery
Granted the pentax weighs a little more, but if it means getting your auto focusing lens that would approximate 32mm focal length (21x1.5) in a package that dimensionally wouldn't be much bigger, if at all, then in my opinion it is not a bad compromise.
Just a thought.
Edited by txbonds on Sep 10, 2007 at 08:32 AM GMT (Reason: adding size comparison)
I thought that works - the pancakes on the Pentax's? The catch I thought was the pentax's are rather large compared to almost every other Dslr. I thought the autofocus would work.
I must not be understanding something - how would you have 0.5x on FL? A 40mm becomes a 20mm - great! This is not what you meant is it Rob?
Yellowducky, I think what Rob meant is that the Olympus system has a 2x crop factor, while the Pentax system has a 1.5x crop factor........ thus a loss of 0.5x by switching.
Ahhhh, sorry, I foolishly figured everything was 1.6 crops unless told otherwise.
The guy that brings out a 1.6 crop on a PNS with a f2.8 lens (even fixed at 18mm say), anything at 8 megapixels or above is gonna make a fortune - and if Sigma could get out a DP1 even with their f4 they could make a bundle (I would get one for me and one for the wife).
edit...and based on that, maybe going for the fatter Pentax makes some sense in lieu of any pancakes being fully functional on any other body.
Lotusm50 wrote:
As would I. It is pretty much out of production, as well as a couple of product interations out of date. It will be interesting to see if it is replaced and/or updated. Maybe that replacement will be the eventual Cosina/Zeiss Zeiss Ikon digital product. (Not as desirable as a digital Contax G2/G3 mind you, but in lieu of that, it could fill the need).
The RD1 is by no means "pocketable"! Granted, if you are discussing 5Ds and 410s it is more so, but not a truly small camera with any lens including pancakes.
I think a G7 body size with a dslr sensor would be good, but the g series noise is just not up to par.
dasrocket wrote:
The RD1 is by no means "pocketable"! Granted, if you are discussing 5Ds and 410s it is more so, but not a truly small camera with any lens including pancakes.
Jeez. Once again. Who ever said we were looking for something "pocketable"?!! Read the thread.
I personally am not looking for something that fits in my pocket -- and already explicitly said that I wasn't. We are talking about compact, P&S-like, alternative, second systems/cameras to take when we don't need the big rigs, when we need (or want) to pack light and small, but still want excellent image quality. Small lenses (not big honking zooms) and compact bodies. Think M8, RD-1, G2, not 1Ds. Maybe think DP-1, E-410 or K110D with pancake lenses, but not D3.
I gave up on the Sigma - enough is enough - I see the DP-1 as a failure in the making at this point. So I got myself an E-410 to use as a "compact" camera (not a pocketable one). The E-410 bulk/size is a little better in terms of compactness over the XTi (which I sold). I have my E410+14-42mm sitting next to the 5D+24-85N and the size difference is very noticable (I guess so is the image quality sometimes )
The Olympus 7-14mm is no small or light lens. It is next on my to-buy list - depending on if the E1 replacement will be good or not - this will dictate if I continue investing in the 4/3rds mount. The 7-14mm is heavy and large compared to the rest of the olypus lenses. However, image quality seems to be spectacular. I compared some of the shots taken with this lens (couple of my friends own it) and I would say that the colors and image quality is very impressive (definitely as good as the canon 16-35mm f2.8 L Mk II). For now, I am content with my Zeiss 17-35N, but this is a beast of a lens compared to the Olympus wide angle offering.
The Olympus lenses are about as compact as one can get and the image quality is more than acceptable to me. I do wish they would make a small compact wide angle prime/pancake lens - I would jump at it.
My RD-1 that I miss very much, was petite enough with the 40/2 cron. It was my favorite camera to take on biz trips and I couldn't imagine carrying anything smaller. I like something substantial and I'm not impressed with any consumer p&s.
Only because I need to fund the D3, the 14-24/2.8 and the 24-70/2.8.... Selling a bunch of other stuff, too.
The 410 is a cute little camera, for sure, and the lense is excellent, If I was rich, I'd have every camera I have ever owned sitting in the cabinet! Cheers, KL
)