Best Compact/CSC For ~£400

Pookie Bear said:
So, OP, where did you go in the end? I was reading this thread with great interest over the weekend as I'm also in the market for an upgrade and was thinking that a smaller mirrorless camera with one or two lenses would tick all the boxes for my needs.

I've had an opportunity to play with quite a few cameras in a number of high street shops and I found the APS-C cameras to be more suitable for my hand size. In particular, I found the Fuji and Sony cameras to be my favourites from a tactile perspective. Trying to find one which ticked all my "wants" and still be within budget was difficult, though.

Currently torn between the Fuji X-E1 and the Sony a6000 (although someone did suggest I go back a level and look at the NEX6/7 for about the same price). This is subject to change at any time - as I'm really struggling to make a choice.
Click to expand...

I haven't bought anything just yet sadly. But I'm very much leaning towards the E-PL5 with the extra lens for £400.

Just by chance I had a play with a Panasonic G1 and wasn't really impressed at all. It seemed a bit larger than I expected, and the images/noise performance wasn't quite as good as I had hoped. However after a bit more reading it seems like there's a lot of improvement in the EPL-5 (and other similar cameras) compared with the G1.
 
King4aDay said:
Yeah a G1 isn't really going to give any idea at all of what an E-PL5 is like.
Click to expand...

I was worried for a minute, as I didn't really know if it was a comparable camera. Thankfully though, it's not.

Turns out that I'll be £300 pounds up on what I expected to get, with no extra time at work needed, so I guess I don't need to feel too guilty about ordering it! :D
 
It's comforting to know I'm not the only one who can't make a choice :)

I suspect that I'm worrying too much over little things. After all I'm coming from a bridge camera which has served me well and taken some decent photos too (despite the naysayers) but the performance in low light has long been a thorn in my side - which is also why I've been thinking more along the lines of the APS-C instead of a m43 - but the most recent cameras are showing really good improvement and the lens selection for the latter is superior.

What I'm struggling to find is a CSC which has wifi, a tiltable screen (or even better, articulating), viewfinder and a touchscreen that sits under my budget (£500-£600 new). I had resigned myself to losing two of those requirements for either a Sony a6000 (no touchscreen and overbudget!) or an X-E1 (no wifi or tilting screen). I will be patient, though.

Anyway, just typing out some thoughts while I'm here :)
 
Phate said:
Took me the best part of a month with researching daily to figure out what I wanted :p
Click to expand...
I would prefer to have my new camera in time for a ceilidh I'm going to on the 17th - and have had a chance to familiarise myself with it too. Would also put me in good stead for my honeymoon to Mexico in July.

DAnDan said:
Yeap, definitely not the only one.

One moment I'm set on one, the next I'm back to searching the options.
Click to expand...
This is exactly what happens to me! So far I've settled on a Sony a6000, a Fujifilm X-E1, a Fujifilm X-M1 and an Olympus OM-D M10 (I think it was...the entry spec OMD)...only to change my mind before I actually buy anything :D

DanF said:
just flip for it, they are all good :p
Click to expand...
I wish I could! :mad: :D
 
Pookie Bear said:
This is exactly what happens to me! So far I've settled on a Sony a6000, a Fujifilm X-E1, a Fujifilm X-M1 and an Olympus OM-D M10 (I think it was...the entry spec OMD)...only to change my mind before I actually buy anything :D
Click to expand...

Just to throw another spanner in the works most of the Olympus m43's range have the exact same sensor, so the E-PL5 has the same sensor as much higher models, but the others have bigger bodies for better grip along with more bells and whistles. Your IQ won't actually improve over the E-PL5, its the same hardware doing the job. :)
 
Phate said:
Just to throw another spanner in the works most of the Olympus m43's range have the exact same sensor, so the E-PL5 has the same sensor as much higher models, but the others have bigger bodies for better grip along with more bells and whistles. Your IQ won't actually improve over the E-PL5, its the same hardware doing the job. :)
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, I settled on that one too - I think it was my first! There have been so many that I've started forgetting.

I know m43 is a well-developed and highly effective standard, but my misgivings are based on performance from two of the guests at my wedding two weeks ago. One had a Panasonic GH3 (m43) and the other was using a Fuji X-E1 (APS-C). They both take good photographs (the former is like me, an enthusiast, while the latter is a professional photographer), and during the day they both took great snaps, but by the end of the night, when it was dark out and the disco/ceilidh was in full flow, the photos from the Fujifilm were visibly brighter, sharper, clearer and without any doubt, better quality (but whether these were more to do with the photographer is another matter).

And now I have no camera in mind again. Start again! :D
 
I had the same conundrum, as I do a lot of low light shots and didn't want to go smaller than APS-C. I went for an X-E2 in the end.

The real reason was for the handling and controls, I find it a gorgeous object to hold and use. An aperture ring and exposure dials instead of a mode dial make a lot more sense to me. All the other useful stuff is in a handy quick menu. The free lens deal made it a no brainer.

The only real negative is that battery life is poor. I've ordered spare batteries.

If you do decide Fuji, then the X-E1 is still a great camera and there are some free lens deals on currently. The only big feature differences to the E2 are lack of wifi and phase detect AF points. Some photographers have commented that the X-E1 has a subtly better image quality.
 
CGrieves said:
I had the same conundrum, as I do a lot of low light shots and didn't want to go smaller than APS-C. I went for an X-E2 in the end.

The real reason was for the handling and controls, I find it a gorgeous object to hold and use. An aperture ring and exposure dials instead of a mode dial make a lot more sense to me. All the other useful stuff is in a handy quick menu. The free lens deal made it a no brainer.

The only real negative is that battery life is poor. I've ordered spare batteries.

If you do decide Fuji, then the X-E1 is still a great camera and there are some free lens deals on currently. The only big feature differences to the E2 are lack of wifi and phase detect AF points. Some photographers have commented that the X-E1 has a subtly better image quality.
Click to expand...
The XE range certainly meets the tactile criteria - they are lovely to handle and feel very natural in the hand (as well as they can when they have a big security wire attaching them to a counter anyway!). The lack of wifi is an issue, as I'd like to take the camera with me on honeymoon and transfer files to my table for viewing at high res, processing and storage (this is important as I find many parts of holidaying boring :D but she loves it so much I give in!) but a wifi SD card could overwrite that. I do love my tilting/articulating screens though. Those are the only two downsides to the XE cameras - so less about photo quality, more about ease of use.

edit: just to add, I know the XE2 has wifi but it's out of my price range.
 
Last edited:
Is that on your E-PL5?

I have to admit, perhaps I was too hasty to discount m43s cameras so quickly. Due to that I had automatically not bothered to look over Panasonic's offerings. My last two cameras have been Panasonic and I really do like them - and I get along with their menus too. I had also been sceptical about their lack of in-body stabilisation, but it turns out their flagship GX7 does have it and ticks pretty much every box except for the articulating screen and the fact it's quite a bit above budget, though. The G6 looked nice until I realised how big it is - it's the same size as my old camera - kind of defeating the point of trying to upgrade to something more portable!
 
Yep, it sure is!

I was the same, when these mirrorless m43's first came out I ignored them, pretty much...thinking they would never ever be as good as a full blown DSLR blah blah blah, you know how it goes.

Then on diving forums I started seeing these incredible (and I really mean that) photos that were blowing everyone away, thinking it had to be a 5Diii or a D800 etc...nope, E-PL5...

That's when I started researching and realised just how good these little cameras are :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom