Nikon D3000

A new addition to my Nikon collection is the Nikon D3000. Why did I get the D3000? It was on sale with a very attractive price tag and I was looking for a smaller camera. In fact, the twin lens kit was cheaper than a G11 :D. Having been using Nikon D700 for quite some time,  certainly it didn’t take too long to notice what’s missing on the D3000. However, it is not really fair to compare a D3000 with a D700 which costs three times as much. There are so many detailed D3000 reviews on the internet, so I won’t need to repeat it here, but leave you with some quick thoughts if you are choosing between an entry level DSLR and compact camera (P&S) like the G11 and LX3.

	Entry level DSLR D3000/1000D	High end P&S (G11/LX3)
Image Quality	Far better on DSLR, you will notice the difference. See sensor size	Adequate if you are not pixel peeking
Size	Small enough to give a decent grip of the camera, but it is not something to carry to everywhere	Much smaller, possible to store in jacket pocket or purse
High ISO	Noticeable noise @ ISO1600	Noticeable noise @ ISO400
AF Response	Noticeably much faster	Adequate for those snapshots, anything more will be frustrating
Functionality	Has all the main functions, access to these function usually through the menu system. Has less customise features than the D700	Has all the main functions, but usually require to fiddle with the menu system using the small camera buttons
Flash	The onboard flash is much more powerful and with the possibility to add a proper flash such as SB-600, the combination should get you through a lot of places.	Onboard lash power is limited ,until you add a specific design external flash
Lens	The 18-55mm kit lens has an aperture of f/3.5-5.6 and an equivalent focal length of 27mm on the wide side. Even though it is 1.5 stop slower, DSLR offers much less noise on higher ISO. Not to mention it has a dedicated zoom ring.	Usually equip with a fast wide angle lens, eg: 24mm f/2 on a LX3
Build Quality	Solidly build but probably won’t pass a drop test	Solidly build but probably won’t pass a drop test

Nikon D3000

Panasonic LX3

Here the smallest meets the biggest, Nikon D3000 with the 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII

The twin lens kit comes with a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR and 55-200 f/3.5-5.6 VR. Below shows a size comparison of the kit lenses to the professional lenses of similar focal length. They are (left to right)

Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII

Nikon 55-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8

Nikon 18-55mm f/2.5-5.6

What about micro four thirds Olympus EP2 or Panasonic GF1? They are good cameras (probably up to ISO800) but their price tags are still high at the moment. After all, even iphones take great pictures sometimes :D

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• Nikon DSLR D3000

LX3 Street Photography

Model: Panasonic DMC-LX3
ISO: 80
Exposure: 1/50 sec
Aperture: 2.8

Model: Panasonic DMC-LX3
ISO: 80
Exposure: 1/200 sec
Aperture: 2.8

Model: Panasonic DMC-LX3

ISO: 80
Exposure: 1/160 sec
Aperture: 8

Panasonic DMW-CLX3

Panasonic DMW-CLX3 – The leather case for LX3

A perfect fit for LX3

A radiant LX3

LX3 equipped with Lexar 8GB.

LX3 Wallpapers

Camera: Panasonic DMC-LX3

Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)

Aperture: f/2.0

ISO: 400

Panasonic DMC-LX3

It took 3 weeks for the Panasonic DMC-LX3 to arrive......

4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 aspects selectable

The Leica 24-60mm f/2-f/2.8 lens

LX3 with the SB-600 flash

Update: Compact camera selection

Having spent some time playing around with the Nikon P5100 in shop, it is very hard to find a good enough compact camera when you are used to using DSLR. The autofocus on compact cameras is just lacking the speed. But, now I have my mind set on another compact camera - Panasonic DMC-LX3. This is pretty much the best compact camera there is.

Price and performance wise are similar to the Canon G10, but alot more compact in size

Why Panasonic DMC-LX3?
First it has a 3-inch 3:2 LCD with 460,000-dot high resolution. It offers a real 16:9, 4:3 and 3:2 ratio aspect (maintaining angel of view and not by cropping). There aren't many truly pocket-sized digicams that offer raw mode. There aren't very many that currently offer decent HD video capability as well. There are even less that feature a truly wide angle lens (24mm), and pocket-sized camera's with fast f/2 optics are even fewer and farther between.

Did I mention it has an amazing wide angle lens @ 24mm-60mm f/2-f/2.8? Compare to a typical f/2.8-f/5.6 lens, this provides 1 stop better at wide angle and 2 stops better when zoomed. So effectively, allows a lower ISO for the same shot.

Other addons....

Watch this space to see which camera I end up with.