Moving to a compact system

NightShadow

NightShadow

NightShadow

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19 Oct 2002
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Welling/London
Hey guys,

After a little advice after my last purchase.. I recently had the need to replace my camera gear after getting burgled. I took the opportunity to upgrade and bought a 70D with Kit Lens and and started to replace my lenses but so far I have barely used it and a lot of that is down to not wanting to lug it around.

The Majority of my photography seems to be Landscapes/panos and cars where a wide lens is pretty useful and I used to end up just taking the 17-70mm lens and a 55-250mm (for long trips where both are useful) to cut down bulk.

What would you recommend to cover the wide and long ends and what camera body? Budget around £600-£700 I guess as not sure what the 70D is worth seeing as it's only 5 months old and barely broken in!
 
Canon 100D (S1), a still a real DSLR but as small and light as many CS (it only weighs 407 gram, and you get a proper optical viewfinder, phase detect AF etc.)


Otherwise if you really want to reduce the kit size and weight you will need to reduce the sensor size, best bet would be to look at a m43 system like an Olympus EPL-5.

Nikon 1 system is even smaller and lighter but there are very few lens choices, sometimes you see some incredibly cheap deals on them though.
 
The APS-C compact systems are all larger than pocket sized, but still less bulk than a DSLR.

To lose more size you need to go micro 4/3, the lenses then are also much smaller, but of course you give up some depth of field control.
 
Thanks for the replies. I popped in to a high street camera store today and managed to hold the OM-D E-M10 after first looking at the Fuji X-M1.

Fuji was nice and like the picture quality, specifically liked the Film grain noise (nicer than what I'm used to on Canon). That it has a standard crop sensor which is bigger and should be better for low light than u43 is nice.

Issues seem to be lack of lenses and price of them.

In comparison the Olympus was nice and solid feeling, good lens deals and cash back means it isn't much more than the Fuji and more lenses available. Also, dedicated viewfinder will be welcoming.

Would be nice if the screen was articulating rather than just tilt but the jump to the M5 mk2 is a bit too for me at this point and the e-pl7 was nice but not as nice in my opinion.

Is the EZ version of the 14-4x kit lens worth the extra £100 over the standard one? Can't see much difference except it is smaller when not in use? Most likely would go with the non EZ as it only works out £50 compared to body only, then add the 40-150mm and the 9mm F8 for a cheap wide lens (they had it mis-labelled as F1.8! Nearly bought it there and then for £79!)


Aaanyway, that's my thoughts, if anybody can help with the difference re the EZ lens and suggest anything else would be most interested.

Thanks,
 
I am following this closely.. Also been looking around.. Was looking at the Olympus but I stumbled onto the Sony a6000.. Anyone have thoughts on the Sony ?
 
NightShadow said:
Thanks for the replies. I popped in to a high street camera store today and managed to hold the OM-D E-M10 after first looking at the Fuji X-M1.

Fuji was nice and like the picture quality, specifically liked the Film grain noise (nicer than what I'm used to on Canon). That it has a standard crop sensor which is bigger and should be better for low light than u43 is nice.

Issues seem to be lack of lenses and price of them.

In comparison the Olympus was nice and solid feeling, good lens deals and cash back means it isn't much more than the Fuji and more lenses available. Also, dedicated viewfinder will be welcoming.

Would be nice if the screen was articulating rather than just tilt but the jump to the M5 mk2 is a bit too for me at this point and the e-pl7 was nice but not as nice in my opinion.

Is the EZ version of the 14-4x kit lens worth the extra £100 over the standard one? Can't see much difference except it is smaller when not in use? Most likely would go with the non EZ as it only works out £50 compared to body only, then add the 40-150mm and the 9mm F8 for a cheap wide lens (they had it mis-labelled as F1.8! Nearly bought it there and then for £79!)


Aaanyway, that's my thoughts, if anybody can help with the difference re the EZ lens and suggest anything else would be most interested.

Thanks,
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The EZ lens is likely slightly sharper. The biggest draw is its small size when retracted.
 
I seem to remember some grumbling about the IQ on the EZ when it came out but maybe that was blown out of proportion? The tiny Panasonic 12-32 would be my choice for a kit pancake if you can find one cheaply (eg. someone splitting a gm1 kit). Or buy the gm1 kit from jessops on sale at the minute for 249 and flog the body.
 
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King4aDay said:
I seem to remember some grumbling about the IQ on the EZ when it came out but maybe that was blown out of proportion? The tiny Panasonic 12-32 would be my choice for a kit pancake if you can find one cheaply (eg. someone splitting a gm1 kit). Or buy the gm1 kit from jessops on sale at the minute for 249 and flog the body.
Click to expand...

The Panasonic is definitely the pick of the kit lenses and I really wish i could swap over cheaply. 12mm vs 14mm alone is a deal breaker but it is also so much smaller and even sharper.
 
Been meaning to look at a gm1 or gm5 body to replace my gx1 as something a bit smaller and newer, very tempted by that gm1 for 249 deal.

Currently got the 14-42 X power zoon, the 20mm and the 45-150mm so could be tempted to sell the 14-42 as well which along with the GX1 would go a fair way to covering the cost to change.

Would love to try The 35-100 f2.8 lens too.
 
NightShadow said:
Hmm, what with the E-M10 mk 2 being imminent and liking the look of the 12-32lens I'm considering the gm1 as a stopgap while I wait for newer body to come down in price and sell my existing kit!
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The gm1 is nice, just do t expect it to match your DSLR. The higher models will be much closer.

Ten neat thing about hr m43 cameras is the sensor is typvially the same in all the models of the same generation, so my tiny entry level epm2 has a sensor as good as the top end models, and that is what I mostly was concerned with. This gives me DSLR image quality in a trouser pocket camera with the ability to change lenses to wide, telephoto or fast primes.
 
So, just to follow on from my earlier post. I bought the GM1 with 12-32mm lens and so far really like it. Have a few friends that are DSLR oldies and they both like it a lot as well.

Will hopefully use it properly and get some good pics over the weekend and see just how much I like it.
 
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