Originally posted by Ratmagiclady I'd have to say that's just not the case for low-light work, (The OP's concern) especially on a street photo budget, and for those purposes, especially in absence of fast stabilized lenses. VR you don't have just doesn't help at all, even if it were marginally 'better' for the purpose
Okay I'll clarify my point, even with Pentax's in body IS you need to have good technique,no? I have seen plenty of examples where people have just let technology to compensate for technique that is just plain sloppy. I can hand hold my Nikon D3s at 1/20th without significant difficulty and still achieve more than acceptable results for 13X19 inch print. Though for serious street work, I use a Leica which is categorically not an option for a photographer of limited income.
With street photography is isn't just about which camera has the best High ISO or which camera has IS or not. If you look at street photography in the 90's people did very well without such things because they learned to use their environment to assist with stabilising themselves when light levels sank. I still use many of the bracing techniques commonly used for cameras without IS and in some cases I simply turn off IS in my K10 or K7. It's takes too long to get it's sh*t together and in street photography a critical moment can pass you by in a fraction of a second.
the reasons why I chose the D3s:
1] the D3s has a HUGE viewfinder it makes details, and facial expression in a scene much clearer.
2] High ISO on the D3s has finely grained noise which at it's highest settings has grain that is reminiscent of Kodak TRi-X in Rodinal.
3] the Noct Nikkor 58mm f/1.2 is a real blast to use on the Nikon D3s, bright viewfinder, manual focusing can be a bit of a pain - but I like a challenge. And it produces nice bokeh, though some people really hate how it renders OOF highlights, I don't care - it's the Noct-Nikkor signature.
OT:
Originally posted by eddie1960 I remember those Contax cameras well don't know how well they worked but always wanted one it would be neat to apply the concept here (I'm sure some of the concept is what makes sr work)
I always loved the construction of their camera bodies, the lines of the cameras themselves. you don't see that these days, Canon are going all smoothly shaped, Nikon are softening some of the harder edges with curves and Pentax is going for a more angular appearance. Sony are (thankfully) keeping the boxier appearance of the Minolta cameras( I regret never buying a Minolta 7D, I actually really liked that camera) and Leica is sticking to a camera body design that was developed in the 1950s.
I have a few contax 35mm cameras in my collection, I also have a Contax 645 tucked away. I used it with a Leaf 22MP back several years ago while I was in new zealand - it was great fun.The AF was as slow as the glaciers I was photographing though.