Pole Posters and the Sony NEX-6

A few weeks ago I found myself in Ottawa with a couple hours to kill in between some meetings.  I decided to go for a walk downtown around Bank Street and visit a little camera store that specialised in older photo equipment.  In the couple years since I had last come down this street, it looked like the store had closed down, but I did get to take a few shots of some posters stuck to lamp poles, which were quite fascinating.  All the shots below were taken at ether f2 or f2.8.

I did though get to visit Henry's and got to take a good look at both the Sony NEX-6 and the Sony RX-100.  The NEX-6 is an impressive camera, but I wasn't as impressed with the view finder as I thought I would be.  However the tiny 16-50mm kit lens is a tiny piece of zoom pancake beauty.  

The RX-100 is also impressive, with the sales person saying he actually purchased one for himself.  Interestingly the depth of field does not vary greatly wide open across the zoom range, between 24mm f1.8 and 100mm f4.9.  The RX-100 is pretty cool, but I have to admit I am lovin' the red leather on the closely matched rival, the Fuji XF-1.

Sony NEX 6 vs Fuji XE-1

I must say that this is one of the most interesting match ups to come out in quite a while.  Both cameras are of a similar size, both have the Sony 16MP sensor (Fuji's has some of their own magic fairy dust added), both use the Sony XLA OLED viewfinder (the NEX-6 having a faster refresh rate), both come with interesting kit lenses (Sony's collapsible and wide 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 vs the fast aperture Fuji 18-55mm f2.8-4) and both are premium priced in the mirrorless market.

However the Fuji is quite a bit more than the Sony.  With the kit lens the Fuji is a full $400 more (MSRP $999 vs $1399).   Is it worth it?  That remains to be seen, but I think for Fuji it will be a stretch to show customers the extra value.

As a side bar, I've seen used X-Pro1 bodies now starting to really drop in price on the used market.  Most are going for $1,100 or less now, a little under a new XE-1 with tax.

Sony NEX 5n with Leica 50mm Summicron M

Fujifilm XE-1

Now that's interesting!  Fujifilm was tipped to release an update to the X-100 very shortly, but instead has just released a low(er) cost interchangeable lens mirror-less camera, and it looks like its pitched right at the NEX-7.  The size is very similar, both have similar viewfinders (OLED 2.3 million pixels, Fuji's is probably from Sony) and both offer interchangeable lenses.  It will be very interesting to read a comparison, but I suspect the Fuji will have the edge, despite its lower megapixels.  This basic sensor is what many had dreamed would be in the NEX-7, and the Fujifilm has got very significant improvements, such as the lack of an AA filter.  The high density Sony 24 MP sensor on the NEX-7 is known to be very trying on lenses, and on many Leica M lenses has fringing and colour banding issues.

The only thing I am no so sure of is compactness - the lenses do stick out quite away from the body and this certainly means the camera isn't pocketable, unlike an X-100.

I really think this camera will be a winner.  The price is right, the lenses are excellent and the image quality will be outstanding.