Photokina is underway in Germany. It’s held every other year and is the worlds biggest photography equipment show. I’ve been uninvolved emotionally in the rumors and announcements so far because I’m pretty well satisfied with my three current systems- Leica M6ttl film/scan, Nikon D300 DSLR, and the Sigma DP1.
The DP1 is the problem child as I love the images it produces, like this one, but it’s responsiveness is the the worst I’ve ever had in a camera I used regularly. I switched away from Olympus to Nikon just because my E-1 was so pokey compared to a Nikon, but the DP1 is much, much worse. I work around it, but I’d love a replacement that actually let me adjust shutter speed, aperture or ISO more frequently than every 10 seconds.
It’s rumored that a DP2 with a 40mm equiv lens will be shown tomorrow. I’ll wait to see whether they’ve improved on the electronics before committing. If they have, I’ll probably add it to the DP1, since 40mm is a very natural focal length for the way I see– as the 24mm on the Nikon DX (36mm equiv) is a favorite of mine.
The other camera I want to see is, maybe surprisingly, the Minox “spycam” due out tomorrow: Minox DSC/
I loved the sharp, infinite depth of field of the Minox film cams. If they can do something similar with a digital, I’d be interested in using it as yet another way of seeing.
So far the Nikon D700 sounds great and if didn’t already have the D300, I might have gone for it. For now though the extra cost doesn’t get me anything other than shifting focal lengths up and making my one DX lens (the 12-24mm f/4) less usable. I’m OK wide with the the D300 and the low light sensitivity is good enough for me now.
The micro 4/3rds cameras from Olympus and Panasonic may turn out to be great, but the Panasonic is larger than the DP1. I’ll wait to see whether we get something smaller and more capable than the DP1. But that DP1 Foveon image quality will be hard to beat without new sensor technology.
So I’m kind of sitting out this round for now, trying to make images.