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dickinsonjon
Guest
This could be a really daft question, but here goes: I used to do a lot of photography with film-based SLRs, but they'd stayed in the cupboard for a long while - big, clunky etc. I got a Fuji Finepix Z1 a couple of years ago as a 'happy snap' holiday pic-type camera, and a few months ago my interest in photography was re-ignited when I started taking pictures more 'seriously', if you can put it like that. I've taken the time to learn everything I can achieve technically with this camera, and use GIMP to PP my images. I tire of the poor picture quality, and the obvious next step is to go straight to a DSLR such as a Nikon D40 or its contemporaries. However, I came across the Small Sensor Forum here and it seems to typify my photography very well in terms of what I like about the format, and the 'carry everywhere' nature of the smaller camera. I'm concerned that whilst a DSLR offers huge advances in technical image quality, it may still stay in the cupboard as it's not pocketable. So - I've been looking at the types of small sensor camera that would suit my needs, and have come down to the almost inevitable choice of Ricoh GX100, Panasonic LX2 or Canon G9. However, I'm concerned about whether these cameras will offer a significant upgrade in image quality over the Z1 I currently use. Sure, I've pored over many technical review sites and looked at 100% crops etc., but it's possible, very easy in fact, to get totally snow-blinded. I'm happy that these cameras offer the type of physical package and ergonomic handling that floats my boat, but I don't want to end up wishing I'd bought a DSLR; equally I don't want to go the DLSR route and end up with something that's great quality but doesn't get used much. I generally shoot landscape (rural and urban), a bit of street, and some social gatherings, almost exclusively available light, and prefer not to *have* to shoot RAW to get acceptable results up to 8x10 print sizes, except occasionally. Any advice?
Thanks
Jon
P.S. Here's an example of the sort of thing I shoot:
Thanks
Jon
P.S. Here's an example of the sort of thing I shoot: