Looking for a smaller replacement to nikon d40? Help please

topcat07

topcat07

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Hello all,

I have a nikon d40 but find I am leaving it at home an awful lot because it is too big. (I know it quite small compared to most)

Is there anything smaller on the lines of a micro 3 thirds? Or even compact under £200 which would produce same image quality?

I love the IQ of nikon d40 just too big for me on travels.

Would be used for travel and social occasions mainly

Recommendations and advice greatly appreciated

Thank you
 
Fuji XF-1? Great little camera to slip in a shirt pocket. Good enough for A3+ prints.
 
I must say that I'm impressed with the xf1 iq ( and I'm VERY picky ).
 
took my xf1 back for a refund this morning, not happy with the battery compartment or the screen bleed and they didn't have anymore in stock, we looked at the 3 on display and only the red one had acceptable screen bleed and minimal wobble on the battery door, I asked if I could have that one but they said no but they could get me one sent to store I said not to bother and issue a refund... shame as I quite liked it and will probably order another although I am just looking at Canon SX280.. or I might just take all 3 Merrills on holiday with me.
 
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Very happy with my xf1, ideal for slipping in my pocket when taking the dog down the beach. A no brainer at the price they have it for in Currys at the moment.
 
Thanks everyone very much!

I assume depth of field to get the blurred background would be lost with the fx1?

Also is there anything around the price with better optical zoom or would that be impossible when keeping things compact?
 
silverman said:
Very happy with my xf1, ideal for slipping in my pocket when taking the dog down the beach. A no brainer at the price they have it for in Currys at the moment.
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Can it shoot raw and jpeg at the same time?
 
topcat07 said:
Thanks everyone very much!

I assume depth of field to get the blurred background would be lost with the fx1?

Also is there anything around the price with better optical zoom or would that be impossible when keeping things compact?
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To some extent, yes although at its shortest, the lens is f/1.8 but on a small sensor, DoF is fairly deep even wide open.
Not sure it's possible to get much more reach and keep the compactness.

topcat07 said:
Can it shoot raw and jpeg at the same time?
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In a word, yes! Although I have to say that its JPEGs (along with all its brethren) make raw all but redundant in most situations.
 
NOT pocketable, especially with the FT-1 converter and a lens on it. It's a fine way to get extra reach from current lenses though.
 
topcat07 said:
Or even compact under £200 which would produce same image quality?
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I got myself an XF1 and I think it's a great little camera, lovely image quality and good fun to use. Slips into a pocket with ease, I am certainly glad I bought mine.

strumstrum said:
took my xf1 back for a refund this morning, not happy with the battery compartment or the screen bleed and they didn't have anymore in stock, we looked at the 3 on display and only the red one had acceptable screen bleed and minimal wobble on the battery door, I asked if I could have that one but they said no but they could get me one sent to store I said not to bother and issue a refund... shame as I quite liked it and will probably order another although I am just looking at Canon SX280.. or I might just take all 3 Merrills on holiday with me.
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I got mine from Currys in Aintree the other week, and they had loads in then. I have to agree, there is a little wobble on the battery door and it could be a little more robust, as maybe the lens cover could be also.
 
jonbeeza said:
I got myself an XF1 and I think it's a great little camera, lovely image quality and good fun to use. Slips into a pocket with ease, I am certainly glad I bought mine.


I got mine from Currys in Aintree the other week, and they had loads in then. I have to agree, there is a little wobble on the battery door and it could be a little more robust, as maybe the lens cover could be also.
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Awesome don't think there is anything in comparison for the money?
 
jonbeeza said:
I got myself an XF1 and I think it's a great little camera, lovely image quality and good fun to use. Slips into a pocket with ease, I am certainly glad I bought mine.


I got mine from Currys in Aintree the other week, and they had loads in then. I have to agree, there is a little wobble on the battery door and it could be a little more robust, as maybe the lens cover could be also.
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Is there any auto focus when taking photos? As from a few of the Amazon views it says the focus is manual..
 
jonbeeza said:
It's manual Zoom not manual focus. yes it is auto focus
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You zoom by twisting the barrel, it does not power zoom. It has a neat little two action movement, and this allows you to choose your focus point, and I find this a neat little feature.
 
Pretty sure it has some intelligent zoom malarky but i have never used it. I like shallow dof so i rarely go above '25mm' as the aperture narrows.

Here is another example of how shallow the dof is at f1.8 with it.



And also took these with it this morning in the kitchen...





Cheers.
 
How have people found the zoom is it practical or do you often find occasions you wish it was more?
 
It's not too bad really at 100mm. Whatever you have you'll always want more I guess but 100mm seems the norm
 
damianmkv said:
It's not too bad really at 100mm. Whatever you have you'll always want more I guess but 100mm seems the norm
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Thanks now just to sell this nikon to pay for it!


Is there anything with good HD video as well which is comparable with this camera in terms of IQ? Or do you tend not to get good HD and IQ in same unit?

Read the HD was crapy on some reviews
 
topcat07 said:
Thanks for posting this

That is awesome dof better than d40
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Nice as those shots are, I feel the need to point out the shooting distance on these images, the focus distance has the largest influence on DoF.

As you fear, smaller sensors produce greater DoF (all other things equal) and if a shallow DoF is important to you, then you need a larger sensor. It's simple physics and camera manufacturers can't cheat it.

I can get shallow DoF on my compact at Macro distances, but the IPhone can't even do that because the sensor is so small, however on my old medium format camera f/3.5 was wide enough for creamy bokeh on portraits.
 
Phil V said:
Nice as those shots are, I feel the need to point out the shooting distance on these images, the focus distance has the largest influence on DoF.

As you fear, smaller sensors produce greater DoF (all other things equal) and if a shallow DoF is important to you, then you need a larger sensor. It's simple physics and camera manufacturers can't cheat it.

I can get shallow DoF on my compact at Macro distances, but the IPhone can't even do that because the sensor is so small, however on my old medium format camera f/3.5 was wide enough for creamy bokeh on portraits.
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Thanks Phil!

If I have interpreted correct from what your saying there won't be any larger sensors than this in compact form?
 
No, what you should interpret is that sensor size is crucial if control over DoF is important to you. There are smaller cameras, notably the Fuji x series.

But there's the other thing, once you have a crop size sensor then the lenses are no longer tiny particularly if you want wide apertures.

The marketing men have a fantastic slight of hand on these points, they'll bombard you with, 'this great shallow DoF' and 'cheap long telephoto' and 'tiny fast lenses' failing to mention you can't have it all in the same camera.

The 35mm format became 'standard' because it was the best compromise size for control and portability, the crop DSLR became ubiquitous because it was close enough for the right price. Much smaller than a 1.6 crop and you lose some control and make other things difficult for the sensor too.

Larger than FF sensors and you get awesome image quality, at the cost of portability.

I'm always amazed that whilst photographers understand 'bigger means better quality' they think they can cheat the other direction by buying small stuff just as good as the big stuff.

All things being equal a smaller sensor can't capture the tonal range a large sensor can. And those small sensors require better lenses to resolve the same detail.
 
I absolutely agree with Phil, and I'm under no illusion that this can't compete with bigger sensors, but, the price point, size and image quality make it a very good option to have in your posession, especially with the brief being 'small and under £200'. I don't think it can be bettered personally. The d40 is a fair few years old now and I think this little beauty will leave you pleasantly surprised.

Oh, and yes, the background on the lock shot was a fair way away but it wouldn't be that smooth at f4.
 
topcat07 said:
Thanks for posting this

That is awesome dof better than d40
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Gotta be careful here. I wouldn't want you to buy another APS-C camera and expect to get shallower DoF than you get from your D40. Your D40 is an APS-C DSLR and it will be capable of shallow DoF if you use a wide aperture and reduce your camera to subject distance.

All DSLR cameras are capable of the same DoF when used with the same lens, at the same focal length and aperture and the same camera to subject distance.
 
Thanks for all great advice! Would anyone think the rx100 is worth 3X the price of xf1?
 
minnnt said:
Lol... million dollar question.

I believe Stu H has had both. He's had most cameras tbh. ;)
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Haha I shouldn't have looked at the more expensive ones :-(

Where can I hunt this stu h down? Would be interested to hear his thoughts :-)
 
topcat07 said:
Hello all,

I have a nikon d40 but find I am leaving it at home an awful lot because it is too big. (I know it quite small compared to most)

Is there anything smaller on the lines of a micro 3 thirds? Or even compact under £200 which would produce same image quality?

I love the IQ of nikon d40 just too big for me on travels.

Would be used for travel and social occasions mainly

Recommendations and advice greatly appreciated

Thank you
Click to expand...

I note you don't actually specify "pocketable", just smaller and more convenient for travels. But you put a lot of store in shallow DoF capability.

The XF-1, whilst I'm sure it's a fine camera, you'll notice all the shallow DoF shots demonstrated here are at close focus distances at the short end of the lens where it's fastest. That's quite a specific shooting scenario. A lot of the time people want shallow DoF for portraits, at which focal length the XF-1's lens has long since closed to a far narrower aperture - in short, it won't work for shallow DoF portraits - at its longest focal length you're getting f/4.9 on a 5x crop factor sensor. That's the equivalent of 120mm f/22. Also, from checking the 100% magnification examples online, I doubt the XF-1 is capable of matching the IQ of the D40, which is still a great performer.

I would recommend a Panasonic G3 with 20mm f/1.7 and 45mm f/1.8 lenses. Sensor not much smaller than APS-C, with fast lenses of focal lengths not available in the Nikon DX system. Both lenses will give you shallow DoF, at normal and short telephoto focal lengths respectively. The G3 is the smallest of the G-series cameras - it didn't really capture the imagination when it was released, but will give you 16MP instead of the 6MP of the D40, with a far wider range of fast primes available than the Nikon DX system, with a decent electronic viewfinder and DSLR-like controls. Everything (camera body and lenses) is to my assessment about half the size of the DX system too. Not quite pocketable, but easily carried in a small pack, and light on the shoulder, ideal for travelling.

You'd probably need £400 for the camera body and two lenses I mention here, buying used. Or you could get one with a kit zoom for about £150 and add the primes when funds allow. Plenty on eBay and occasionally on here. IMHO the m4/3 system is a safer place to put one's money than a small-sensor fixed-lens compact, regardless of how good the Fuji may be in its class.
 
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