Going Svelte: leaving lenses at home for street and vacation photography!

You don't want to schlepp a bagful of heavy costly lenses and you still want to be able to frame a vista or street scene.

So what do you choose? A compact like a Canon G or Sony RX, a Canon M or a 4/3 with. Zoom or last year's Sony 6300 higher quality APS C, on sale now with a short zoom?

What do we do with these pictures that makes a difference to our choices.

I'd like to hear how you would guide a friend in this imagined need!


Asher

Giving advice to others, I now always suggest the previous version of the Sony 6000 series with its consumer zoom lens, as they can be purchased for a steal and are relatively compact and one can always add a better lens for studious work.

However, that leads to folk collecting lenses and in the end, schlepping "stuff" once more!

Asher

If you are prepared to take a little bag with you, any camera will do as long as you limit yourself to one or two lenses.

Convenience and compactness is essential. Something I can fit in my man bag or coat pocket. Lens choice is between 18 and 70 mm (full frame equivalent). The rest of the technical stuff is arbitrary.
Currently I'm enjoying Nikon 1 cameras. Fuji are OK as well but even they get a bit tedious.

My favorite combinations are: Nikon j5 with 6.7-13 mm, Nikon V3 with 10-30mm and Fuji X-E2 or X-T2 with 35mm.

I can carry them all in a single shoulder bag and shoot silently.

Tom dinning said:

Convenience and compactness is essential. Something I can fit in my man bag or coat pocket. Lens choice is between 18 and 70 mm (full frame equivalent). The rest of the technical stuff is arbitrary.
Currently I'm enjoying Nikon 1 cameras. Fuji are OK as well but even they get a bit tedious.

My favorite combinations are: Nikon j5 with 6.7-13 mm, Nikon V3 with 10-30mm and Fuji X-E2 or X-T2 with 35mm.

I can carry them all in a single shoulder bag and shoot silently.

Click to expand...

Tom,

Doesn't 3 cameras constitute schlepping? Or it's easier to grab the appropriate compact?

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

Tom,

Doesn't 3 cameras constitute schlepping? Or it's easier to grab the appropriate compact?

Asher

Click to expand...

I have no idea what schlepping is, Ash. I'm not Jewish even if I have been circumcised.

My street stuff is still lighter and more versatile than the nikons I used to carry. I am usually in a hurry when I venture into the street with Christine. Then I grab one camera. If I go alone I grab 2 or 3.

I have no consideration for technical qualities these days. The only thing in my mind is capturing the picture.

I don't have much money these days so expense is a consideration.

my fuking arthritis is a consideration as well. On a good day I carry what I can. On a bad day I carry what I can.

Then there is the fuking eye-sight. Low light is OK for screens. eye viewer is essential for bright light.


Its quite amazing how camera an lens choice is now selected on body deterioration.

The closest to really pocketable I've had is a Panasonic Lumix DMC LF1. I chose it because it is the same camera, relabeled that Leica offers as their pocket camera. It is a fine little camera but I have never been happy with the sharpness or quality of the images produced by the supposedly Leica designed lens. More recently a couple of years ago I bought the Sony a6000 and with it the very high quality 24 1.8 Sony Zeiss lens. This has turned out to be a fantastic combo and I couldn't be happier. It is what I use for all of my non bird photography now. However it is not pocketable though much more compact than a full sized DSLR. I have since looked at the 6300 and 6500 but they don't offer any upgrades where it counts for me so good I get to save my money

Street, travel and personal social events ---- my personal satisfaction comes with using small Olympus micro 4/3 gear.

In fact 95% of the images I take are with one camera and one lens. While that camera changes as I wear it out, it has always been the same basic form factor. My preference is the Olympus E-PL lineup. My 95% lens, is the puny 14-42 kit lens (28-84mm equiv).

This combo, fits in thigh pockets on my cargo pants, without detection from others (great for social events where I may just want to sit and talk or dance) - my wife's purse (if I don't want to carry anything like a night out on the town) - but most commonly, in the lightweight bag I carry over my shoulder with my day to day use.

The other lens I carry with me the odd time that I want to use a longer lens, is the 40-150 (80-300mm equiv) that fits in the palm of my hand (paid $95 new on sale) --- but it doesn't come along for the ride except when I need such a focal length, which isn't too often for me.

What this Olympus camera/lens combo provides that have become essential (for me) when comparing to other camera:
* Excellent image quality
* Pocketable with lens attached
* Crazy small lenses (when comparing even to APS-C lenses)
* Low price. I purchased my E-PL3 w/lens for $295 new when the EPL-5 was just released - my E-PL5 w/lens for $349 new when the E-PL7 was just released - and this summer my EM-10 w/lens new for $395 when I wasn't able to find a new E-PL7.
* The best sensor cleaner in any camera - I never have dust-on-sensor artifacts in my image files.
* The best image stabilization in any camera (essential for my pushing the limits of handholding at times - I never use a tripod)
* Flip up LCD screen (my current EM10 has an electronic viewfinder, but I seldom use it)
* SCP is the easiest menu to use for all basic settings - yet complete camera customization can be done with deep menu
* Touch Screen for taking photos quickly and accurately to scrolling through Preview of images on LCD screen
* Wifi - I regularly transfer a file to my phone for upload to social media, while I sit at McDonald's, a coffee shop, or a friends home --- I also use it from time to time for controlling camera and taking pics with the app on my phone

Things like 10fps, Time-lapse, focus peaking, live bulb, live time are all cool features that my cameras have, but they aren't ones I use often. As well, I really don't care how expansive the lens system is (micro 4/3 is huge BTW) as I'm not buying them anyway. I only need the one or two that I have for my daily use.



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Thanks Peter, Tom, Jerome and Robert.

I didn't realize that an Olympus micro 4/3 can be so approachable in price. The votes for the older versions of the Sony A600 series supports my prejudice.

Surprised that no one has yet mentioned the Pentax with its small lenses.

I admit to carrying a superbly sharp 50mm macro GXR 2.5 camera module as well as the wide angle GR with its fabulous 21mm add on. The latter has been a favorite in the hands of Paul Abbott for some time.

Asher

In our last trip to India in November 2016, Luisa - my wife - took the Sony DRC-RX100 which she finds to have a too short zoom.

I took the equipment show in the table below under "To be taken"
All the equipment is referenced with weight, I can control what to take with minimum effort.
Options have to be made.
This list is also useful for Customs when going out and in of the country.
The extra Panasonic and Sony batteries are missing in the table, as well as the case/backpack itself...

The 7-14 is really heavy and fenomenal ! I used it most of the time !

I also upload to Google Drive, images containing the numbers of each item as well as scans of passports, visas, flight tickets and stuff like that, so I can see them wherever I am in the World.

Current practice here involves two cameras.

One is our Canon PowerShot G16, a very capable fixed-lens machine. It has a fairly small sensor (so-called "1/1.7 inch", which I call "1.75/3"). Its native image output is 12 Mpx in size. The lens has a field of view range of 28-140 mm ff35 equivalent.

The machine can be readily fit in the pocket of even my dress slacks, and very easily (along with my wallet and coin purse) in a front pocket of my usual pants, "dock pants".

The machine does excellent work, although of course its small sensor means that operation requiring high ISO sensitivities face compromises from noise.

The machine has a usable, but not wonderful, optical viewfinder, plus a very capable non-articulated rear display panel.

A nice feature is an automatic eyelid system that covers the lens when the camera is off. But the eyelids are delicate, and themselves are subject to injury (in fact the machine is in hospital just now because of damage to the eyelids).

************
The second camera is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1000. This again is a fixed lens camera. It has what I call a 3/3 size sensor (often called "one inch"), with a native image size of 20 Mpx. The lens has a field of view range of 25-400 mm ff35e.

The machine has a very nice electronic view finder and a nice fully-articulated back panel display. It has a wonderful human interface, with extensive capabilities for customization.

It is quite large, about the size of a current Canon "Rebel" series dSLR body (although rather lighter than that). It could not fit in the pocket of any garment I could imagine (except for example one intended to cover a light aircraft). But the lens retracts when the camera is off (or "sleeping"), so the overall "envelope" restante is not nearly as big as if we had a "Rebel" dSLR with a lens aboard of even close to this field of view range.

It is a very enjoyable camera to use, and produces very good work in my situation.

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I continue to be tempted by the prospect of getting a small "system" (interchangeable lens) camera, with a larger sensor so as to give better performance when lighting conditions dictate the use of a high ISO sensitivity.

I am very tempted by the Sony e6000 body, with a sensor size of 5/3 ("APS-Cn"). It is available at a very modest price (typically, in the US, USD 400.00), and is well spoken of in terms of image quality potential. It is a quite small body, and has what sounds like a fairly good EVF (not as good as the one on the successor e6300, which however costs about USD 600.00 more at present).

It is also available for about USD 150.00 more with the very handy Sony E 16-50 mm (24-75 mm ff35e) "power zoom" lens (which is reported to be of modest optical performance). With that lens aboard (and at minimum focal length setting), the camera is just about "pocketable". But that field of view range would not cater to all the work in which I am interested.

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In any case, my current plan (subject to change, day-to-day), is to "stick with what I have."

Best regards,

Doug

Many with interests such as this are intrigued by the recently-announced Canon EOS M5, a system body with a 5/3 ("APS-Cc") sensor.

The range of available EOS-M lenses (the "native" series) is, so far, modest. A new member is the 18-150 mm (29-240 mm ff35e). I have not yet seen any meaningful reviews of that lens.

With that lens aboard the rig is still of reasonable size, although hardly "pocketable".

We can see here that rig on the left and on the right, for comparison, a Canon EOS Rebel T4i with the Canon EF-S 18-200 mm aboard:

http://camerasize.com/compact/#684.608,333.26,ha,t

That rig is currently available in the US at USD 1479.00.

Best regards,

Doug

An interesting choice if it seems as if a 3/3 ("one inch") sensor will do is the Canon PowerShot G5 X. It has a 24-100 mm (ff35e) f/1.8-2.8 lens aboard. Its native image size is 20 MPx. It sounds as if the EVF should be very nice.

Here:

http://camerasize.com/compact/#637,684.608,ha,t

we see it on the left, with its indigenous lens "parked'; on the right, for comparison, the Canon EOS M5 with the EF-M 18-150 mm lens aboard.

The G5 X is currently available in the US for USD 699.00

Best regards,

Doug

Fuji X100T.

I used a Minox 35mm film camera through out the late eighties on all my backpacking trips. It had pretty good glass and I got some nice 11x14 prints from it. Minox still offers a mini camera now digital:

http://www.minox.com/index.php?id=digital_classic_cameras&L=2

Gets poor reviews though.

Hi, Fahim,

fahim mohammed said:

Fuji X100T.

Click to expand...

Non-interchangeable lens, fixed focal length, "slightly-wide" focal length (35 mm ff35e) - how retro. Reminds me of one of my favorite (film) cameras from the past, my Yashica Lynx 1000.

It is spoken of as being a significant improvement over the X100S.

Looks like a nice "street" camera.

Fore those not familiar with the machine, here is a couple of pix (courtesy of Imaging Resource):



Best regards,

Doug