A travel camera/system

superpippo

superpippo

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Alan
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Currently I have nikon d80 with lenses covering range of 10-300mm. But increasingly, like many others, i find this bulky and heavy to carry on trips abroad, particularly when trying just to use carry on baggage allowance.

So I am looking for a camera or system that will overcome my reluctance to take my equipment. I am not looking particularly for a compact, I have an open mind. I don't mind carrying a small bag nor one other lens so the camera does not necessarily have to fit into a pocket. I have no need for video and I rarely shoot RAW.(although the inclusion of these would not be drawbacks). I like to shoot in natural light, even when dark or grey. My main sublects are architecture, landscapes and people on holiday i.e not posed portraits. I think that the largest sensor possible, fast focussing and good exposure are key elements.

I am not stuck on any particular brand and whilst cost is always a consideration, I like to know that I have made the optimal choice - a camera that I think that I have made the right choice on is more likely to be used.

Can any of you knowledgabele and experienced chaps give me the benefit of your advice. I have seen other threads about the 'best slr', the' best compact' etc but I cannot find one that covers the broader area of travel - but if I have missed one please point me in that direction.
 
Micro four thirds. I went around the world with my G1, kit lens and 20mm prime. Covered everything I needed in a small light package, IQ as good as anything else as long as you don't intend to do giant prints.
 
superpippo said:
I think that the largest sensor possible, fast focussing and good exposure are key elements.
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That, to me, suggests a NEX (or Samsung NX). But if you want to cover longer focal lengths, the lenses get a bit big for a 'compact' system. The m4/3 systems are a good compromise on size/quality. They are short on fast zooms (for now), but the Panasonic 14, 20 and 45 primes are well-respected.

Going smaller, the Fuji x10 seems to perform well for a compact camera.

Or... use the D80 and an 18-200. Plus maybe a 35 for lowlight. I have a d5000, 18-200 and 35 that fit in a Toploader bag - not too heavy, but still quite big if you only have 40l of carry-on to play with. This is why I got a GF2.
 
I had the same problem. Initially I went for a four thirds system from Olympus back in 2007, an e410 with two lenses, much lighter than a FF DSLR! I just took another step in to a smaller kit with micro four thirds, a Panasonic G3. The recently released Panasonic GX1 or the Olympus E-P3 is nice to use.

The NEX system is appealing too given it's still using a large sensor but the lenses are still quite heavy and there's not too many decent ones available, yet. The upcoming Nex 7 does look like a sophisticated body though.

Micro four thirds has some really nice lenses, take a look at the Panasonic 14mm, 20mm or 25mm, and the Olympus 45mm. You could look at the Fuji X100 if you don't think you want to change lenses. I would avoid going with a compact if you're used to SLR IQ and using higher ISOs.
 
Not used any of them but from the sidelines the Samsung NX 200 looks like the best of the bunch to me, not too expensive and it has both a good selection of wide/normal pancake primes and a folding zoom to keep the size down.
 
I had a thought about it, and ended up taking 1DsII (a heavy metal brick) everywhere I travel simply as it delivers much better output. When I had 40D alongside and used it, I always regretted it in the end. Would I now take anything 'small' (m4/3, etc) - well only if I wasn't going to photograph anything seriously enough.
If there is a real problem with weight, I would instead suggest taking a few small but high quality primes. Nikon has many of them.
 
Another vote for DSLR here, I bought a Canon S90 for travelling and while it is a great compact nothing comes close to DSLR quality. So I just take a limited DSLR kit with me.
 
MTF is the answer, but you need nice lenses.

After going for MFT I was initially slightly disappointed with the results when I compared identical shots taken with G1+14-42mm and 20D+Siggy 50mm f1.4 as the latter gave "better" results and again later with a 5D+Siggy 85mm f1.4. However, having realised that a "kit" lens is never really going to be as sexy as a market leading prime I looked again once I'd got a Voigtlander 25mm f0.95 and the difference seemed to fade...

I've thought about Nex but the size of the APS-C lenses and therefore the whole package puts me off. For me, for the moment, MFT+lens offers good quality in a compact and light package and does make a difference when you're carrying kit all day.
 
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When I can't be bothered to lug the D300 + lenses I take either a Canon S95 or NEX-5.

To be honest the NEX-5 isn't far off the D300 IQ wise for many a shot. The kit lens + pancake do just about anything I need and although they're not that small, they are quite light...
 
I think the best lens range for all the compact mirroless camera systems is still the Micro 4/3 system, and if you get the GH2 you will also get the best video quality as well. The Nex system has better stills image quality, but you may not like the controls as much, and their lenses are still quite big (not to mention quite limited selection).
 
If I was travelling I'd either go with m43 and a 14mm pancake (the zooms are ridiculously bulky for a small body) or get the Ricoh GRD III or GRD IV. The nikon 1 system looks promising and offers a 10mm pancake but this is not cheap. I'd also look at Ricoh GXR system but that is pretty expensive.
 
Thanks guys - micro 4/3 seems to be the answer. I have a Canon ixus and the shutter delay at low light is too much, so I kind of thiought that a compact would not be a wise choice and no one has recommended the higher end cameras with fixed lenses like Canon G11/G12

Also,

Danny_Two said:
Micro four thirds. I went around the world with my G1, kit lens and 20mm prime. .
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Which kit lens? The 14-45? or 14-42. Am I corect that at the top end these are equvqlent to 90 and 84 on 35mm film?
 
MFT is x2 "crop." So 14-42/45mm = 28-84/90mm.

PS. If you can access the for sale section here, there have been a few MFT bargains recently.
 
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I loved my GF1 especially with the 20mm pancake, but its poor low light (high ISO) performance was always its weakest point for me. For most purposes, it performed brilliantly especially in good light, but my biggest bugbear was that it always maintained a minimum shutter speed of 1/30s before increasing ISO (when set to auto ISO). For how and what I shoot, this resulted in too many motion-blurred shots.

Despite always having been put off the NEX range due to the relatively large size of the lenses available, when the NEX-5N was released, I decided to replace my GF1. Yes, the 18-55mm kit lens is big and it's not great to use (optically or ergonomically), but the 16mm f/2.8 is relatively compact. Nothing like as compact as the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 nor as sharp, but acceptable for the price.

For me, the real strength of the NEX-5N is its ability to capture great images in low light conditions when shooting at high ISO. ISO 3200 and 6400 are perfectly useable for me and 25,600 is available should I need it at the cost of some noise. My primary camera is a Nikon D700 which is known for its excellent low light, high ISO image quality and the NEX-5N compares well against it.

Whilst I have the Sony AF lenses available, I tend to use the NEX-5N with a couple of M-mount primes (plus adapter). With focus peaking active, the camera is a joy to use and compact too. For a high quality, compact travel system I'd much rather take the NEX-5N with me than the GF1.
 
DigitalRelish said:
I loved my GF1 especially with the 20mm pancake, but its poor low light (high ISO) performance was always its weakest point for me.
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The 16mp sensors in the newer mFT cameras (GX1, GH2 and G3) are meant to handle higher ISO much better than the 12mp sensors but suspect nothing can really beat the larger sensor size in the NEX cameras. However if you combine one of those bodies with the Panasonic 25mm f1.4 or Nokton 25mm f0.95 you rarely need to go above ISO 1600 and therefor won't run in to those problems.

I'm interested to hear that you prefer the 5N, even with the relatively soft lens, to the GF1 with 20mm. What sort of ISO would you take your D700 to?
 
anthonys said:
The 16mp sensors in the newer mFT cameras (GX1, GH2 and G3) are meant to handle higher ISO much better than the 12mp sensors but suspect nothing can really beat the larger sensor size in the NEX cameras. However if you combine one of those bodies with the Panasonic 25mm f1.4 or Nokton 25mm f0.95 you rarely need to go above ISO 1600 and therefor won't run in to those problems.

I'm interested to hear that you prefer the 5N, even with the relatively soft lens, to the GF1 with 20mm. What sort of ISO would you take your D700 to?
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I don't rate the Sony lenses that highly and would much prefer to have something the like of the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 over the Sony 16mm f/2.8. The former is something special, the latter a bit mediocre in comparison in terms of sharpness.

What the 5N gives me over the GF1, primarily, is the ability to use faster shutter speeds in the same low light conditions that would cause the GF1 to drop down slow even with the f/1.7. So, whilst the photos might not be as sharp from the Sony 16mm vs Panny 20mm, they tend to be less susceptible to the effects of unwanted motion blur.

With my D700, I'm regularly shooting 3200 and 6400 as demonstrated in this recent set.
 
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