Lightweight camera?

[Allan Bell]

Thank you all so much for your comments. I have printed them off to read properly. I knew this was the best place to go for first hand, unbiased advice and all the pros and cons. You all seem to recommend the same few cameras so that narrows it down which is a great help.

Thanks Wendy

 

 

You might also like to consider the Panasonic Lumix TZ100EB. New camera which should be available before you go in April.

 

OK not tried and tested like others mentioned but uses 1" 20.1Mp sensor and has a 25 - 250mm zoom lens. And does 4k video.

 

Allan

[Jansos]

Hi all,

 

I have been researching 1" sensors in smallish compact cameras, prior to trying to find something decent. Apparently the 1" description in most compact cameras is somewhat of a fraud (see: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/one-inch-sensor.htm). Can anyone suggest a compact with a decent sensor size and that ticks all the Alamy quality control boxes? Thanks in advance. 

BW, John

[Barking]

Have a look at the Olympus OM-D range. I'm using an older EM5..It has the look of a DSLR but sits in the hand nicely. Mine had both an optical and electronic viewfinder

[Jansos]

Barking, Thanks - will do. :-)

[Andreas]

I moved from an (oversized) Nikon D800 to an OMD M10, started with the 12-40 pro lens and the 40-150 kit lens. The kit lenses offer good value, as most of my camera gear was stolen in Chile all Chile pictures here where made with a 14-42 and 40-150 Panasonic.

Works well for travel - leightweight, better sensor cleaning than my Nikons (D800/D300), larger depth of field, the sensor stabilization is amazing, and some nice features like live composite (adding ony light areas during night shots) and focusbracketing are in the package. My son used one on a 6 month bicyce trip under bad conditions, no issues.

Would not recommend it if you need shallow depth of field or shoot sports - but with any smaller sensor this would be worse. 

[Betty LaRue]

Hi all,

 

I have been researching 1" sensors in smallish compact cameras, prior to trying to find something decent. Apparently the 1" description in most compact cameras is somewhat of a fraud (see: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/one-inch-sensor.htm). Can anyone suggest a compact with a decent sensor size and that ticks all the Alamy quality control boxes? Thanks in advance. 

BW, John

It doesn't much matter whether the RX100 series cameras really have a 1" sensor or not. The proof is in the pudding. These cameras take good pictures. They are accepted by Alamy. They are small. They aren't much noticed by the public. And at least one photographer on Alamy uses one exclusively for his stock shooting. And a whole lot more have one as their take-everyplace camera.

 

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

 

My first trip to St. Croix, I took my Nikon D800 and the original RX100. Because of the size and weight, I had to purposely use my Nikon with forethought. And got stared at. But since the Sony fit in a tiny cross-body purse, it went with me everywhere, was unobtrusive, and I ended up with 2/3 of my stock pictures from it. And, best yet, I had to look at the file name to distinguish between the Nikon and Sony, except those I liked the best turning out to be from the Sony.

 

Why? Because at a highly popular tourist destination, the best images seem to be those of opportunity. Like the native Cruzan riding his horse bareback on the beach when I was out for a stroll. He'd have been gone by the time I ran back to my cottage for the Nikon. But I quickly whipped the RX out. Things like that happened over and over. I must have a couple of hundred images from two St. Croix trips from the RX100 and RX100 mk3 on Alamy.

Betty

[djmorgan]

Nikon D5600 + 18 to 300mm

[Jansos]

Andreas - Thanks for the info. Will investigate.

Loved your mountain shots.  Couple of key words that you might want to add - glacial lake, corrie lake, tarn.

BW, John :-)

[Jansos]

Betty La Rue,

 

I agree about baby and bath water arguments and portability, size etc. Have missed far too many photo opportunities by not having my camera with me. Just need to make sure that I purchase something that is fit for purpose and you seem to be suggesting that the RX100 series is just that!  

BW, John

[Jansos]

Nikon D5600 + 18 to 300mm

DJMorgan, Pretty much the same size as the one I have. Trying to go for something much smaller. 

BW, John

PS. Liked your water shots of strawberries etc.

[wiskerke]

 

Nikon D5600 + 18 to 300mm

DJMorgan, Pretty much the same size as the one I have. Trying to go for something much smaller. 

BW, John

PS. Liked your water shots of strawberries etc.

 

 

So it very much depends on what your starting point is and what your goal is.

And your budget of course. You may not want to pay for the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 or one of it's siblings.

 

Coming from the Canon Hummer-like pro bodies the A7RII from Sony to me is tiny. With the 35mm on it's as small as my beloved Olympus OM4ti's.

However with a 70-200 on it's barely smaller than the Canon with a similar lens. Just a lot more unbalanced. So the body may be the only thing that's smaller in a system.

 

In general I would not trust Rockwell when it comes to image quality.

Better have a look at a tester like DXO. Try to stay above the DXO 55 mark. If your post-processing skills are iffy, even higher, like 65. If those skills are really good, you could go slightly lower.

You can filter for compact and/or high-end compact, but I would start without a filter. Some of the 4/3's and APS-C's like the NEX's are really small too. Before my RX100's I carried a NEX-3 with a 16mm in my cycling shirt pocket.

 

On Monday or Tuesday morning I would go to a decent shop with my own SD card and take the exact same shot through the shop window with some different small cameras. Including the one you have now.

Include a part of the interior with some deep shadows and try to include some text outside, maybe a street sign. Maybe even put a newspaper or a magazine in that darker area inside.

All in RAW of course. Use 200;  800 and 3200 ISO. Higher if you intend to shoot inside a lot.

If you intend to wear gloves when shooting, bring those.

Try to be open minded about brands.

 

Develop all images and see how far you can push the dark areas without too much noise.

See how sharp the text outside is and if the highlights can be pulled back sufficiently.

If necessary reduce the file size until the image quality is good enough.

How big will you need your files? Are the results (still) large enough?

 

Now will it be your main system or will it just be an extra camera?

If it's just an extra, it will make the choice a lot easier.

If it has to replace a system, you may want to make the transition easy by staying within the same lens mount or choose a lens mount that accepts (with an adapter of course) your old glass.

In my case I have a lens I do not want to give up, so there had to be a good adapter.

 

Since about 6 years or so Sony has taken over the first place from Canon when it comes to adaptability.

There's a myriad of adapters available for the E-mount far more than ever for the EF-mount, because the flange to sensor distance is so extremely short.

Adapting lenses without a way to set the diaphragm manually, may be costly or cumbersome.

In fact I bought an adapter to adapt all my old lenses, keeping AF even, but the quality of the new Zony's was so much better, I ended up buying new ones. If you stay under, say 24 megapixel that won't be needed.

But on my Sony NEX, all my old Olympus glass performed quite well. Some of them still perform good enough (but only just) on the 42 Mp. And are dirt cheap to buy. And small!

 

If you're renewing your complete system, I would rent some of it before deciding.

Some shops have a discount system for that, like half of the rental price off if you buy new within a month or so. Ask, the rental may even be free in the end.

 

wim

[kimba]

Just curious, has anyone tried submitting to Alamy with newer iPhone images?

 

(I have no idea if they are 'good' enough as I have an iPhone 4 and I can only submit those to apps). 

 

I would love to have a smaller camera that will make images that Alamy will take. 

[Steve Valentia]

I drive an original Canon 5D and, like yourself, also have L series lenses.

 

After 35 years in professional photography, I'm kicking myself that I didn't discover the sit-on-and-ride models of cameras now on the market. I could have saved myself a lot of hassle walking around the streets of the world when all I had to do was climb aboard my SLR. Thanks for the heads-up.

[spacecadet]

Just curious, has anyone tried submitting to Alamy with newer iPhone images?

 

(I have no idea if they are 'good' enough as I have an iPhone 4 and I can only submit those to apps). 

 

I tried with my OH's mk4 and it's nowhere near good enough. The sensor is much too small. They're scarcely better than my 2006 compact.

[wiskerke]

 

I drive an original Canon 5D and, like yourself, also have L series lenses.

 

After 35 years in professional photography, I'm kicking myself that I didn't discover the sit-on-and-ride models of cameras now on the market. I could have saved myself a lot of hassle walking around the streets of the world when all I had to do was climb aboard my SLR. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

 

The Can(n)on Hummers only lack wheels.

;-)

 

wim

[Jansos]

 

 

Nikon D5600 + 18 to 300mm

DJMorgan, Pretty much the same size as the one I have. Trying to go for something much smaller. 

BW, John

PS. Liked your water shots of strawberries etc.

 

 

So it very much depends on what your starting point is and what your goal is.

And your budget of course. You may not want to pay for the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 or one of it's siblings.

 

Coming from the Canon Hummer-like pro bodies the A7RII from Sony to me is tiny. With the 35mm on it's as small as my beloved Olympus OM4ti's.

However with a 70-200 on it's barely smaller than the Canon with a similar lens. Just a lot more unbalanced. So the body may be the only thing that's smaller in a system.

 

In general I would not trust Rockwell when it comes to image quality.

Better have a look at a tester like DXO. Try to stay above the DXO 55 mark. If your post-processing skills are iffy, even higher, like 65. If those skills are really good, you could go slightly lower.

You can filter for compact and/or high-end compact, but I would start without a filter. Some of the 4/3's and APS-C's like the NEX's are really small too. Before my RX100's I carried a NEX-3 with a 16mm in my cycling shirt pocket.

 

On Monday or Tuesday morning I would go to a decent shop with my own SD card and take the exact same shot through the shop window with some different small cameras. Including the one you have now.

Include a part of the interior with some deep shadows and try to include some text outside, maybe a street sign. Maybe even put a newspaper or a magazine in that darker area inside.

All in RAW of course. Use 200;  800 and 3200 ISO. Higher if you intend to shoot inside a lot.

If you intend to wear gloves when shooting, bring those.

Try to be open minded about brands.

 

Develop all images and see how far you can push the dark areas without too much noise.

See how sharp the text outside is and if the highlights can be pulled back sufficiently.

If necessary reduce the file size until the image quality is good enough.

How big will you need your files? Are the results (still) large enough?

 

Now will it be your main system or will it just be an extra camera?

If it's just an extra, it will make the choice a lot easier.

If it has to replace a system, you may want to make the transition easy by staying within the same lens mount or choose a lens mount that accepts (with an adapter of course) your old glass.

In my case I have a lens I do not want to give up, so there had to be a good adapter.

 

Since about 6 years or so Sony has taken over the first place from Canon when it comes to adaptability.

There's a myriad of adapters available for the E-mount far more than ever for the EF-mount, because the flange to sensor distance is so extremely short.

Adapting lenses without a way to set the diaphragm manually, may be costly or cumbersome.

In fact I bought an adapter to adapt all my old lenses, keeping AF even, but the quality of the new Zony's was so much better, I ended up buying new ones. If you stay under, say 24 megapixel that won't be needed.

But on my Sony NEX, all my old Olympus glass performed quite well. Some of them still perform good enough (but only just) on the 42 Mp. And are dirt cheap to buy. And small!

 

If you're renewing your complete system, I would rent some of it before deciding.

Some shops have a discount system for that, like half of the rental price off if you buy new within a month or so. Ask, the rental may even be free in the end.

 

wim

 

Wiserke - Really good and comprehensive advice. Thanks for taking your time to explain etc. Also, the DXO link was very informative.

VB

John