I've been continuing to work with a lot of compact and mirrorless cameras, including those I've already reviewed. A couple of updates:
- Sony NEX-5. After more use, I've upped a couple of my ratings for this camera, mostly due to the image quality it produces. With the right lens (I've been using some Nikkor, Voigtlander, and Leica lenses on it) it does an excellent job in terms of pixel quality--arguably better than the other mirrorless camera options. The UI is still a bit of a frustration at times, though you learn to cope. One small new nuisance: turns out it is possible for the camera to change settings on you (despite only three buttons) without you noticing if you handle it roughly (and believe me, I do). Not nearly as bad as the Olympus E-PL1 at this, but it can still happen. But ultimately, the image quality is better on the Sony than any of the other mirrorless cameras. That means something. One small little thing to consider, though: you will need to manually clean the sensor every now and then on this and other mirrorless cameras. Unfortunately, Sony has made it very difficult to get the sensor clean to the edges due to the way the shutter mechanism frame extends.
- Panasonic GF1. I've gone back and forth between the Olympus and Panasonic m4/3 offerings for some time. My original conclusion over a year ago was that I slightly preferred the Olympus to the Panasonic. I'm now going to adjust that a bit: I still slightly prefer the Olympus raw files to the Panasonic--I spend more time getting my Panasonic raws the way I want them than for the Olympus. But I now slightly prefer the Panasonic handling to the Olympus. This makes it an even closer call than when I first wrote about the m4/3 bodies. Better handling gets you the photo faster when you need it, so I've opted for the Panasonic over the Olympus in my photography recently. I'd rather get the photo and spend more time refining it than not get the photo. Like the Sony, the GF1 sensor is difficult to clean manually. Unlike the Sony and it's APS sensor, you're not as tempted to get to f/11 and f/16 to preserve depth of field, and thus show the dust spots that have accumulated.
- Coolpix P7000. Sigh. The firmware update doesn't really fix any problem other than raw capture speed. I was actually okay with slow raw speed for a compact camera (but obviously welcome any improvement). I don't tend to be a burst or rapid-fire photographer with my small cameras. But focus is still an issue. While the camera no longer reports Lens Initialization error messages, it also still seems to get confused on focus from time to time, especially when photographing through glass. The sad part is that Nikon appears to have gotten a slight bit more quality out of the sensor than Canon did. But I'd still pick the Canon G12 first.
I've made some small changes to my reviews to reflect the above and will continue to do so. Also, I'm still working on reviews of other compact and mirrorless competitors, so stay tuned.