Sunday, November 13, 2016

MILC

The NEX-7-based Hasselblad Lunar has been an enjoyable camera to use. With its 24MP APS-C sensor, it takes pictures as good or better than any of my long-in-the-tooth DSLRs. Its only real downsides relative to the D200 I do most of my shooting with is that the D200 powers on effectively instantly, has better weather/dust sealing, and has an actual viewfinder rather than a little TV monitor behind an eyehole.

With the demise (or partial demise) of my Nikon P7000 pocket camera, I decided to replace it with a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera that used the same Sony E-mount lenses but was small enough to go in a jacket pocket or the document pocket of my gun burkha. I shopped around and found a used Sony NEX-5T in what was alleged to be "BGN" condition, in KEH's notoriously understated grading system.

The NEX-5T really leverages how slim a MILC can be without the necessity of a mirror box or pentaprism. The body itself is much smaller than the P7000, which admittedly packed a relatively serious zoom lens. Adding the compact 16-50mm Power Zoom lens doesn't make the camera unwieldy. It's not a lot of reach, though, being roughly equivalent to a 24-75mm zoom lens on a 35mm film body.

I think for, say, a trip to the zoo, with my current options I would leave the 16-50 on the NEX-5T and mount the 55-210mm long zoom on the Hasselblad body. The compact zoom and tiny body mean the NEX-5T'll dangle handily off a wrist strap.

Ideally I'd like to add a compact fixed prime, and that wouldn't need to be huge bucks; there's a pretty good variety of 50mm and shorter primes that sell in the <$300 range. As a present to myself, though, I'm going to dedicate the spare change jar to saving up for some nice faster long glass, hopefully in time for Blogorado next year.
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