2015 Roundup: Interchangeable Lens Cameras $800-$1200

Who cares? AF-S speed is not a problem with any modern ILC. It doesn't keep up to either for tracking, and not even close to the K-3 for low light AF.

Who talked about speed? I said it will OUTCLASS k3 in any situation with afs. It means speed, accuracy as well low light focusing. Moreover the k3 does not shine in afc or tracking, so what are u talking about?
Need to be reassured you made a good choice?
The k3 is an awesome camera, but af is just average

You don't know what you're talking about .Unlike you, I have both a K-3 and a6000.

It's still not about the a6000... It's about the EM5-II

I mean without a percentage rating or an award how am I supposed to know what camera is best for me. *flips over desk*. I've had it! This has just gone too far! Blasphemy! *drops mic and steps away from soap box*

Goodness me, what drama. You will (both, I hope) be reassured to know that we judge based on studio and real-world use and sample images. You'll find links at the foot of both relevant pages of this roundup.

Hi Barney, thanks for the answer. Interesting that you think my questions are dramatic. I never thought about getting that effect with just a bunch of question marks. I checked the links you mentioned. Apart from the studio comparison I don't see anything in the Preview/Hands link to the GX8 and K3II that is related with their ergonomics, AF tracking capability, DR, video, etc. I don't want to be redundant, I have seen there is a huge difference between a dpr review and a dpr preview/hands on. I still don't see any base for some claims in this round up about these two cameras, other than faith and suppositions.

Well, sorry to be obvious here, but once we've shot sample galleries and studio tests, we've used the camera. Our comments in this roundup are based on that experience. There's no 'faith and suppositions' here. I'm unclear on why you're convinced that there are...

The original A7 can also be had for that cheap....

To be clear to the readers, once you've set up the camera to your liking, you don't have to go into the menus at all, let alone 'deep'.

Right, that's the way it is, but I do not see SONY will lower the lens price as SONY already built up its user base. Moreover SONY may not have to lower the body price again for the same reason.

We have to give SONY some credit as SONY build its user base really fast not only in the ML, but also P&S, look the P&S line up; RX1s, RX10s, RX100s.

SONY is a killer.

DPR has the A7 grouped with the $1200-2000 cameras.

Richard is right, even at the current MSRP of $2300. Outside of yen-devalued deals from Japan, it is essentially impossible to buy a new Sigma SD1 Merrill for under the $1200 USD price cap of this group, or even the $2k cap of the next group. After that is a roundup that includes the Leica SL and Pentax 645Z... along with a bunch of "lowly" Sonys, Canons and Nikons. ;-)

Edit to add: I bought an SD1 Merill myself, so it must be super-niche!

At least here in Germany the SD1 Merrill is regularly sold below $1000. Has been so for almost two years.

Seems rather accurate for the Pentax (and I use Pentax). You can't understand the impressive build quality and handling of a flagship Pentax body (where it excels) by reading and looking at charts and reviews online. People geek out over MTF charts and the like and that is fine but it is only one portion of the equation.

That said the AF is subpar and the DR is lesser than the current Nikon APS-C bodies. It seemed an accurate write up to me.

I'd like to see a full review of it either way.... DPR is soooo incredibly slow to release reviews.

You can, but you have to like it first. The K-3 II hasn't even been reviewed yet, so the statements about AF are at best premature and probably based on the K-3 and then they still lack nuance. That's a diss in my view.

I have a K3II and have no complaints about AF issues, many times use it for BIF and stuffs like that without a hassle. AF do has many settings so need to still spend more time fully testing them too.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/polacofede/22432372488
https://www.flickr.com/photos/polacofede/21728071773
so far no complaints on that, great camera, and feels great in my hand :) .

With the same f-stop any size lens gets the same light per unit area (so bigger sensors receive total light as per their greater area over smaller sensors, a FF sensor is about 4x the size of m43 and will get 4x the Photons on a f2.8 lens and so have half the noise relative to signal). The manufacturers make it so if you select ISO 100 the exposure will work out regardless of camera. (It's complicated, there are some rules but different manufacturers leave different amounts of highlight room.)
Example (using DXO's numbers):
Canon 7DmkII pixels can contain at most 29544 electrons, they convert 59% of photons into electrons and have 3670x5496 pixels. Hence it's okay up to 596B electrons or 1010B incident photons.
OMD-E-M1 = 15716, 48%, 3472x4640, 253B electrons, 527B photons.
About half the photons gives about sqrt(2) or 40% more noise relative to signal. (Which will massively dominate the sensor noise almost everywhere.)

Organizing these round ups by MSRP instead of target audience like you used to do makes about as much sense as Nikon charging $1100 for their nikon 1 v3 kit.

$1100 is outrageous, but if you want 20fps with AF they have a compelling solution that no-one else can match.

Dr. Jon - it's a good camera but you can get a j5 with the same lens and better sensor for $500. That's a $600 for an EVF and better build quality with the v3.

"Organizing these round ups by MSRP instead of target audience like you used to do makes about as much sense as Nikon charging $1100 for their nikon 1 v3 kit."

Meanwhile, a lot of feedback from the past two years (when we attempted to do just that) was that our categorization was arbitrary and confusing.

@barney

It's unwinnable either way, but at least MSRP is clear to all. If a manufacturer prices themselves out of the group by giving an inflated MSRP - or not selling the body only [cough Nikon 1 V3 cough] - tough cookie for them.

@sunjester
> Just no native long lenses at all really is a bummer.

You probably should narrow your requirements down a bit. Because there are already: Oly 75-300, Pana 100-300 and Pana 45-200. And also rumored to be soon released high-IQ level/more expensive Oly 300mm and Pana 100-400.

Those are not long lenses they are the same fov as they would be on any nikon crop body with cropping. Something wrong when 300mm super slow lens is considered top of the line in a system.

Might I suggest one of these?

http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/about/telescopes.html

The X-T1 are spot on price wise in this when they go on sale, or if you actually shop around and not just blindly hit "buy" on B&H. I got a brand new X-T1 for just under $1200usd with the 18-55 kit.

Street price vs. MSRP makes some of these brackets a little questionable. Fuji would do better in reviews if they simply lowered the MSRP's and offered fewer sales.

I think the Fuji X-T1 (and Olympus E-M1) belong in this group, too.

This category strangeness started with DPReview's decision to cut DSLRs out of "ILCs around $500" category. The Nikon D3300 and the Canon SL-1 belonged in that group by price, feature, and capability.

Instead, DPReview pushed them into a higher-priced, higher-specified bracket where they appeared woefully off the mark; and the same thinking bunches the Canon T6s and Nikon D5500 into this group, where they, too, sit either at or below the category's price floor and aren't competitive.

If DPReview intends to compare the X-T1 (and the Olympus E-M1) in a category among full-frame DSLRs costing two- and three-times as much, they won't be offering an especially useful representation of the market--especially to the novice buyers for whom these guides are intended.

I agree Megan, the street price and target audience should put the em-1 and x-t1 in this group and the nikon 5500 and rebel out. These groupings are lacking a little sensible editorial discretion.