Looking for compact camera to pair with my S

[Greg Haag]

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10 hours ago, TomLiles said:

Hi Greg,

I'm not sure I'll add much to this, but I use an S typ006 for work (an S2-P previous to that) and bought an M9 January of last year for my personal use. The M9 has been fantastic for me, though the more I use it, the less "general purpose" a type of camera it becomes---I find that for people oriented pictures, esp, environmental portraits: friends, family, my wife and kids and so on, there is nothing better. Really. It might be the best thing for those pictures that I have ever used.
For the quality of the jpegs alone the M9 is worth the price of admission, in my view. A future-classic, if you will (though framing this like an investment is not my intention or interest). They won't be around forever, so if you find a clean one I can heartily recommend giving one a go while we still can; you can get out the other side almost pain free if it's not for you and you decide to sell-on.

I did once try to use the M9 as a b-roll camera for a fashion shoot I did on the S typ006, and the colors were kind of close and I could make them look similar at a glance (I was of course working with DNG from the M9; I only ever shoot DNG on the S), but, for me, there was a clear gap in quality ("quality" a slippery shorthand for a basket of things I like in the image) between the two---very much in favor of the S. It was interesting because without the S files to compare to, the M9 files were a-OK. Up to A3, I am sure the differences would be more aesthetic than technical.

So, from an initial place of "this is my compact S-companion cam; maybe I can use for it work alongside the S, and instead of the S for personal stuff" I actually ended up with a specialist people camera that I use like a film era camera loaded with color reversal stock. The quality of the JPEGs make it almost like having two cameras for the price of one (one look for DNGs, one for the JPEGs; but definitely JPEG default output) and I will never let mine go. At the mo', I am torn between getting another one, while the going is good (batteries still available etc) or try the M Monochrom (first one). I have three kids so I can only choose one -- one option, not one child 😅 -- and I'm done for another year!

But I am still left with my specialist work camera (S), specialist documentary/people camera (M9)... but no general purpose, compact, camera that would pair well with the S---in my case when I say "pair well with the S" I mean supply quality and user experience commensurate with my S camera.

I gave, and still give, the TL2 and TL-lenses a heavy amount of thought -- the APS-C sensor size is the right step down from the 30x45 "pro format" to adopt the old cinematographer's rule of doubling diagonals [8, 16, 35, 70mm etc]; some details on the TL-bodies and lenses look S-inpsired -- but I can never get past the way the TL-body dials turn the wrong way for me (against the meter) and can't be changed. I have years worth of muscle memory with the S, which pays my way, and I don't want to poison that well by introducing something with "wrong" oriented controls. The TL2 autofocus not being great (but better than T and TL) is workable, though not welcome; manual focus implementation is where it crosses the line: a bit too focus-by-wire-y.

I realized I was quite happy just using my old S2-P body for personal stuff (esp. non people things); though much of the happiness comes after the fact when I look at the captured pictures and not when I'm lugging it about on walks, or on trips to the park etc. But since an S-body is obviously too big for many personal occasions: I soldier on with an iPhone and the Lr Mobile App camera. It's neat what you can get in some light with that, truly... not even in the same astral plane as the S vis-a-vis "quality," without a doubt, and so the (not so determined) search goes on. Maybe it's an impossible ask? 🤔

Be good to hear how you go, Greg.

Cheers

Tom

Tom,

Thank you for sharing your setup, it sounds like it works great for you.  I will certainly give that some thought!

Thanks again,

Greg

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