rockrug/Brian - just saw your website and thought it looked familiar. Now realise I stumbled upon your work a few months ago whilst doing some research. Maybe via Getty? Must have googled your name to get your site as liked the images. Anyhow, funny to have come across you on here :D. Consider my previous reply as one to all here on that basis!
Cheers,
Tom
@rockrug.
Depth of Field is related directly to LITERAL size of the aperture, not the aperture as it is expressed on the lens, which is for the sake of exposure.
E.g. a compact camera sensor, which might be around 6mm wide, if it had an aperture of 2 (expressed at 1:2) that would mean that the width of the aperture is half of the width of the sensor - e.g. 3mm wide).
If you took a full frame sensor (36mm wide), with a similar f/2 lens, then that lens' aperture is 18mm wide.
6 times the size of the smaller sensor camera with the same aperture "ratio", ie. 1:2.0 or f/2.
So, then, changing the size of the sensor is sort of the same as changing the size of the aperture, in literal terms?
Sorry, this is getting WAY off topic!
Brian
Off topic still... to get the same FOV on a full frame 35mm and a standard P&S sensor you need different focal lengths. 50mm on your full frame would need something like a 7mm lens on the P&S, but to get same DOF as say that 50mm would on the full frame camera at f/1.4 you'd need f/0.2 on the P&S, which would be... quite a feat. I think those P&S's start at around f/2.8, which is equivalent DOF giving to roughly f/20 on the full frame. All based on the link I put up before. I don't think I've ever shot at f/20.
Edited by: tomono12
@rockrug: Yes.
Pretend you have a 50mm f/1.2 on a Canon 5D (so f/1.2 on a full frame sensor).
If you put that same lens on a crop sensor, even though the actual aperture is 30mm (36x(1/1.2)), the sensor only captures the middle bit of that aperture. About 20mm (full frame is about 1.5x crop).
Now the bit that makes your depth of field appear deeper/less shallow on the crop sensor, is because the capture the same "field of view" or "angle of view", you have to stand further back.
Thanks for everyone's advice!
I have had a look around online. Although I like the look of both the fuji x pro1 and the olympus OM-D, I think that they are very expensive pieces of equipment and would probably be wasted on a camera novice such as myself and I would be paranoid about it getting stolen or broken.
I think that my choices are now between the Panasonic LX7, the Olympus SZ31MR and I have also had reccommended to me the Panasonic DMC TZ30.
What does everyone think the best choice would be out of those three?
Ellie
Im biased, I guess - as I have the SZ31mr.
Every guru on every review site has goods and bads to say, for all 3 of them.
I just think that the 31mr is such a full on camera with all its features and top quality results.
What I like though - certainly doesn't mean others will agree.
Has to be said, Olympus has decades more experience with cameras than Panasonic.
But hey.... Both Panasonics are good cameras too.
I agree with battybilly... it really is THE Traveler's camera. Very full featured & compact.
I've used Olympus cameras for more than a decade now and I've always found them to be
far better than anything else out there.
Firstly, the Panasonic LX7 is in a totally different class to the other 2. The Panasonic LX7 will give you much higher quality photos and much, much, much better low light photos but a much smaller zoom.
If you are mostly going to be shooting close-up sorts of subjects, then the Panasonic LX7 is definitely the one to go for.
Secondly, the Olympus SZ31mr is not a great camera. People get wowed by it's big zoom, and think that because it gets closer that it is better. It isn't. That's not to say that it's a bad camera, it isn't, just that there are others that are better.
IN regards to the Panasonic TZ30. It's okay. Quality wise it's about the same as the Olympus SZ31. But it's a bit smaller, with a slightly smaller zoom (20 VS 24), but with the addition of a few nice features (GPS, Touch Screen).
In this category, I would probably ignore both the Olympus SZ31 and the Panasonic TZ30 and I would get the Canon sx260hs. This camera has the same 20x zoom range as the Panasonic, with the same full manual and full auto controls, GPS, etc. But it's low light performance is better. Further, compared to the Olympus or Panasonic, you also get cleaner images at ISO 100/lower ISOs, etc.
Also, the Canon or Panasonic will give you actual manual control over your shots, which the Olympus doesn't have from memory.