Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/10/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Mark Rabiner wrote: >>> ... Carry extra batteries and keep a charger in the truck - is pretty much the way you'd work with any digital camera system ever made. Yet this DMR battery tread unravels from weeks to months and its looking like it will never end. <<< It reminds me of when the first battery-dependent cameras became available. Many old-time photographers pointed out - quite loudly, too - that once the batteries in these new-fangled electronificated cameras died the camera was a paperweight. The DMR's battery capacity isn't as good as most other DSLR cameras. Big Freaking Deal! The last time I had an opportunity to compare results from the DMR with other DSLR cameras was at a California Raptor Center open house event, where several of us in a Northern California group worked side-by-side (the others were there at my invitation). It's pretty much a no-brainer that I was the only one using a DMR; the other cameras were D300, 20D and 5D IIRC. The event was outdoors on a dark, overcast drizzly/rainy day under the cover of several mature oak and redwood trees. On spec sheets the R8/DMR was a poor choice for this event: no high-ISO capacity, no IS or VR lenses, no weather sealing, slow frame rate, and there's that wimpy battery capacity thing too. During the event I wiped the water off the camera as much as I could, changed batteries as needed, and retreated to the truck during particularly rainy spells. Once we all got our results & compared them the differences were startling. The other photographers photos looked fine until they were compared (all on the same monitor) with the DMR photos: their photos had weaker colors, clipped highlights and weaker shadow detail. The clarity, color quality and tonal range of the photos from the DMR was startlingly better. Seems to me that changing batteries is a small price to pay for these results. Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://www.wildlightphoto.com