Another year goes by. There was hardly a day, when I didn’t take at least one picture. Looking through all the images I realise, it’s been quite a European year. Didn’t cross an ocean in the last 365 days physically and didn’t miss it.
Looking through the images I also realise, how many cameras I’ve been using this year. Some were cool (actually most of them were), some I couldn’t really relate to or get warm with and with some I fell in love as far as love for cameras can go.

I haven’t been writing a lot recently as you know. The reason is, after all that testing and reviewing I needed to take care of my photography instead of cameras and lenses. I found myself doing test-images and forgetting about the primary goal of this blog: the everyday, reallife-use of photographic equipment. I’ve been actually testing quite a few cameras and lenses in the meantime, but with an emphasis rather on their fun-factor than on their high ISO-performance or technical image quality. I’ll give you my impressions of such things as the Canon EOS 60D or the Sony SLT A55 in the next days.

For now I’d like to give you a short summary of which cameras caught my heart or mind and which ones didn’t. (Read on after the break!)

The Miracle

When I first got my hands on a Leica M9 during the Leica days in my local camera store, I wasn’t too eager to shoot with it. I had my experiences with the Leica M8 and I knew, that I loved the images out of it, if they were shot at ISO 160 and hated them from ISO 640 upwards. They were dull, noisy, dynamic range was collapsing when you went up the ISO-ladder. It was only recently that I used an M8 with the latest firmware update and discovered, that the pictures at higher ISOs were much better compared to my M8. Either mine was buggy or they changed the sensor in later models or optimized the firmware.

But back to the M9. I didn’t expect a lot of that camera. But they handed me one and I started to take pictures. I started to like it and after looking at some of the pictures on my computer, I definitely fell in love with that camera. I was lucky enough to take it on a trip to London in November with only two lenses (the Leica Summicron 35/2 Asph. and the Voigtlander Nokton 50/1.1). The brilliance and thus the charm of the photographs is unrivaled among the digital cameras I’ve been using – it was quite a miracle to me, of how much I can love digital photographs (even at higher ISOs). Part of it of course are the lenses with the 35 being exceptionally good. You can see some of the pictures here.

Click to enlarge.

If I had the money to fund the M9 with a 35 Summicron and a 50 Summilux Asph., this would be MY camera. If YOU have the money and can live with a slow and sometimes very limited approach to photography, take a close look at the M9 and make sure you get the chance to use it for a day or two to see if it is YOUR camera too.

The Surprise

The suprise of 2010 is a camera I haven’t reviewed yet, but will do so in the next days: The Sony A55. After using small mirrorless cameras like the Sony Nex or the Olympus Pen quite extensively these days, the A55 was the first DSLR I was handed in a while (except for a Nikon D3s that I used from time to time for more quality critical work like a wedding). Again my expectations weren’t high, because at first it felt a little clumsy and a little plastic. But after using it a couple of minutes I got caught by the speed, the simplicity and the feature package of this camera. I’m a fan of movable displays since the Sony Nex – so that was a big goody of the A55. The ability to use the finder and / or the LCD live view with fast AF was a big joy. The A55 gave me the feeling that photography can be utterly simple and that a photographic tool can adapt to almost every single need you might have. The A55 is a fun camera with good image quality and a feature pack, you won’t get tired of. Combine it with one of the faster, cheap Sony prime offerings as the new 35/1.8 or the 50/1.8 and you will have fun in available light too.

The A55 lets you shoot from unusual perspectives. Click to enlarge.

The Companion

I don’t own it, but can borrow it from time to time. And everytime I do so, I don’t want to give it back: The Panasonic Lumix GF1 with the great 20/1.7 Panasonic lens. It’s got a great body and a great image quality with lots of sharpness at lower ISO-settings. And it’s got an awesome fast lens with fast AF. Beside the excellent Panasonic 7-14/4 and the new 14/2.5, you can use a whole bunch of other lenses on it with different adapters. I’ve been to a party recently and a girl grabbed the GF1, popped up the flash, shot away and managed to deliver great images. The GF1 is a fun camera even for serious work. As you know I like the images out of the Leica X1 a tad better. But if Leica doesn’t come up with a good firmware update with fast AF and/or working MF, I might go for the Panasonic instead. BTW, as many have pointed out, don’t let you trick into buying the newer GF2 – it’s a downgrade of the GF1 in many aspects.

Quick & fun to use – the GF1 is an amazing companion. Click to enlarge.

The Stayer

The only reason I still own the Sony Nex-3 are the images I get out of it. I don’t like the body, I don’t like the slowness and bulk of the kit-zoom, but I have to admit: They deliver very good images. Life got a lot easier after the recent firmware update, but every once in a while I contemplate about selling it and still didn’t do it, because of the images and the image angles I’m able to get because of the movable LCD. My life with the Nex could get even more easier, if they introduced some good, fast, small primes for its E-mount, but I will never like the body and thus using it. The Nex convinces technically, but unfortunately not on a personal level, at least not for me. It’s still there and might stay even longer, but not with a lot of joy.

Still great image quality in a small package: The Sony Nex-3. I took this picture yesterday with a Zeiss Planar 50/2 ZM, mounted on the Nex via adapter. Click to enlarge.

The Deal

Another camera I haven’t reviewed yet, but offered a lot of fun is Canon’s EOS 60D. I personally think it’s the greatest deal among APS-C DSLRs right now. It’s got great image quality, a great movable LCD and great video abilities. Unfortunately AF in liveview is pretty slow and the Sony A55 does much better in that respect. The Sony on the other hand doesn’t have the 60D’s manual video capabilities and the 60D’s seriousness.

The EOS 60D is sharp with lots of detail and high ISO performance is pretty good. Click to enlarge.

The Disappointment

You would never guess, what was my biggest disappointment among cameras this year: Nikon’s D7000. I had it for testing and returned it after three days, because I didn’t want to write a review about it. Maybe my sample was buggy, but I didn’t get any really sharp pictures out of that camera. I tried the kit zoom (18-105 VR) and different other lenses (Nikon AF-D 35/2, AF-S 50/1.4 and AF-D 85/1.8) and never experienced such a big disappointment. It’s not that the images were out of focus, they lacked sharpness and detail. So I ended that relationship very quickly.
A week earlier I’ve been testing the Nikon D3100 and instantly became a fan of the D7000’s cheaper sister. Maybe I’ll try another sample in the future, when my harsh memories have been vanished.

That’s not sharp nor detailed for my taste. Click to enlarge to 100% view.
Nikon D7000 with Nikon AF-D 85/1.8 at f4.5

The Beautyqueen

After trying so many cameras, I recently got back to the roots. Not being able to afford the M9, I decided to get the Canon 5D Mark II as my primary camera. The reasons? Fullframe sensor, lots of detail and sharpness, a relatively compact and not too havy package (compared to a D3s) and the experiences I made last year when using the camera for backstage photography. I think for now it’s pretty much the right choice for doing everything I want and sometimes have to do. Normally I use two lenses on it, sometimes three (Canon EF 35/2, EF 50/1.4 and the EF 85/1.8). For the times, when more flexibility and speed is needed, I have the 24-105/4L IS. Why no 60D or Sony A55? Because I’m a lover of utterly shallow depth of field and the 5D delivers that kind of photographs. Why no Nikon D700? I wanted to be flexible. In my job sometimes I have to do videos and the 5D offers that. The other thing is resolution. Sometimes I just need the 21 MPs as during my ongoing backstage work for FireGirls.

That’s sharp and detailed. The EOS 5D II delivers beautifully rendered images. Click to enlarge.

So stay tuned for more reviews in the next days and: Thanks for reading!

Wolfgang