Any thoughts pro or con about the Olympus 1s versus Fujifilm S series S1

[JBW]

I am slowly narrowing the options down. Basically either one of these will do good for me. The Fujifilm is water and dust resistant with a better lens and more options than my S4200. The Olympus has a larger sensor, a telephoto ring, more shooting options and a better lens than my 4200. Both are within the budget and shoot in RAW+JPEG and while apparently neither is available in the Philippines B&H does ship.

I really do try to pay attention when people with more knowledge than I have offer me advice. I have taken Grumpy's advice on creating options, Ndukes advice on the possibility of a DSLR with one lens, Inkista's advice about leaving room for lighting and everyone else's advice as well.

Unless someone can come up with reason(s) for not buying the Sony Alpha a58 I will be placing an order for it.

As far as I can tell it opens up all sorts of options and is on sale for a good price.

Looking forward to your input.

[inkista]

nope that link works fine. It is the link to 'off camera lighting' that gives me a strange outcome.

Ah, got it (thanks also to Manfred PMing me). I typed too fast and didn't check links. I meant to post strobist.blogspot.com and it was in there as strobist.blogpost.com. Should've probably just used strobist.com.

Because the strobist website was originally a blog, there's a lot of information there, but it's organized in a blog-like way. The best jumping-in point is probably the introduction and Lighting 101.

It's fixed now in the old post, too, so hopefully someone else won't get a breast enlargement ad.

Unless someone can come up with reason(s) for not buying the Sony Alpha a58 I will be placing an order for it.

As far as I can tell it opens up all sorts of options and is on sale for a good price.

Looking forward to your input.

I thought you said you didn't want the inconvenience and cost of an interchangeable lens camera? Also, the 18-55's minimum focus distance is 25cm. You wanna get closer, budget for a macro lens. Bigger sensors mean bigger lenses, and bigger minimum focus distances.

The only thing about the Sony Alpha SLTs is that you need to know you'll be comfortable with an EVF (electronic viewfinder), rather than OVF (optical viewfinder)--think videocamera eyepiece, rather than SLR eyepiece. And you should check that the lens system will cover all your needs (both present and future). The selection of lenses is smaller than Canikon, and lower-cost/midrange lenses may be fewer; and as a relatively less popular system, the used market is smaller. The high-end Sony glass, otoh, is Zeiss.

It's also new enough that it has an ISO-compatible hotshoe, which is good for the off-camera flash stuff, although getting TTL-capable triggering is unlikely. Much better, though, than the old Sony/Minolta non-ISO-compatible hotshoe.

[JBW]

Ah, got it (thanks also to Manfred PMing me).

I thought you said you didn't want the inconvenience and cost of an interchangeable lens camera? Also, the 18-55's minimum focus distance is 25cm. You wanna get closer, budget for a macro lens. Bigger sensors mean bigger lenses, and bigger minimum focus distances.

The only thing about the Sony Alpha SLTs is that you need to know you'll be comfortable with an EVF (electronic viewfinder), rather than OVF (optical viewfinder)--think videocamera eyepiece, rather than SLR eyepiece. And you should check that the lens system will cover all your needs (both present and future). The selection of lenses is smaller than Canikon, and lower-cost/midrange lenses may be fewer; and as a relatively less popular system, the used market is smaller. The high-end Sony glass, otoh, is Zeiss.

It's also new enough that it has an ISO-compatible hotshoe, which is good for the off-camera flash stuff, although getting TTL-capable triggering is unlikely. Much better, though, than the old Sony/Minolta non-ISO-compatible hotshoe.

I did an analysis of how I am shooting and I am doing less and less up close super macro and more and more macro/telephoto from @20 cm to 1 meter. I find as I get older my ability for hand held is diminishing and it is really hard to get the wee beasties to stay still while I arrange the tripod.

And if I am going to be building a moisture resistant box for the camera how much of a bother could it be to build it a little bigger for a lens or two plus some off camera flash stuff.

That was actually one of the deciding factors a superzoom with a largish sensor is much pricier than the Sony and the Sony offers more potential and the lower price means I can accessorize much sooner.

[Ndukes]

From what I have read, I think the Sony Alpha A58 ticks the same boxes generally as the Nikon alternative I recommended but at a more attractive price. Kathy Li makes a valid point about the viewfinder but, as you have not to date used an optical view finder, it is probably not an issue. In fact, in dark corners of the garden the EVF may be an advantage as it boosts the image lighting. From the look of it this would be a more controllable instrument for your purposes than the Stylus 1.
Just one thought consider adding in a Hoya 55mm close-up kit (assuming the filter size for the kit lens is 55mm), available from B&H at $37.50. This is a set of close up filter type lenses which can be screwed on in front of the lens either individually or in combination avoiding the need to detach the lens from the camera. This would give a slight boost to the macro capability for the occasional small flower of beastie that's too good to miss. They are compact and would slip into your pocket. Purists would argue that they are never as good optically as a dedicated lens but the Hoya brand is certainly well regarded for quality and I would be amazed if you didn't get the best use out of them.

[JBW]

From what I have read, I think the Sony Alpha A58 ticks the same boxes generally as the Nikon alternative I recommended but at a more attractive price. Kathy Li makes a valid point about the viewfinder but, as you have not to date used an optical view finder, it is probably not an issue. In fact, in dark corners of the garden the EVF may be an advantage as it boosts the image lighting. From the look of it this would be a more controllable instrument for your purposes than the Stylus 1.
Just one thought consider adding in a Hoya 55mm close-up kit (assuming the filter size for the kit lens is 55mm), available from B&H at $37.50. This is a set of close up filter type lenses which can be screwed on in front of the lens either individually or in combination avoiding the need to detach the lens from the camera. This would give a slight boost to the macro capability for the occasional small flower of beastie that's too good to miss. They are compact and would slip into your pocket. Purists would argue that they are never as good optically as a dedicated lens but the Hoya brand is certainly well regarded for quality and I would be amazed if you didn't get the best use out of them.

The viewfinder on the S4200 is not so good. I am used to just using the LCD. And added bonus; I can tether the Sony to my laptop which gives me one heck of a LCD for the camera. I will look into the lenses. Although I am thinking off camera flash may take priority.