Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Mirrorless Cameras => Topic started by: Jeremy Roussak on June 29, 2013, 08:15:11 am
-
My daughter wants to get a compact camera with interchangeable lenses. She'll start with the camera and kit lens and she has up to £500 (say, USD800) to spend.
What would you suggest?
Jeremy
PS: I should add, this isn't for a child: she's a grown-up (just qualified as a doctor, in fact).
-
The famous questions that I hate being asked when I want advice is what does she want to do with it (meaning what kind of pictures, as in travel, action, kids, etc), how compact and how much she cares about pixel level quality and lenses.
If you aren't that picky re quality of the lenses I liked the Sony Nex 6 with the 16-50 kit. It's very compact for that sensor size, has very good sensor and pretty decent focusing.
Another one as compact could be a Panasonic GX or the GF series with X compact zoom lenses and potential for very compact primes (you could substitute the Olympus EPM or EPL for the Panasonics).
-
The Panasonic G3 or G5 (not sure, think they differ in video capability) with the 14-45mm kit lens is a real winner. You can use the eye-level viewfinder or the articulated LCD screen, image quality of terrific with 16 MP, and there is an extensive line of lenses for future expansion.
-
My daughter wants to get a compact camera with interchangeable lenses. She'll start with the camera and kit lens and she has up to £500 (say, USD800) to spend.
What would you suggest?
Jeremy
PS: I should add, this isn't for a child: she's a grown-up (just qualified as a doctor, in fact).
Jeremy,
Does she want an eye-level viewfinder, or is she comfortable composing on the rear screen (almost) all the time?
-
Thanks for the suggestions. She'll photograph anything, I suspect: probably mostly shots of friends but she'd like to be able to get landscapes that could be printed up to, say, A3; she'd prefer a viewfinder and an articulated screen would be a bonus.
In part on what I've told her from here, she's already all but made up her mind (she's a girl in a hurry, leaving in a couple of days for her last holiday before she actually has to (gasp) start work on 1st August) and is about to order a PEN EP-3 with the 14-42 IIR kit lens. It's available at a fairly substantial discount on list, presumably because of the EP-5. she can get the EVF later.
Would anyone here violently disagree with that choice?
Jeremy
-
Thanks for the suggestions. She'll photograph anything, I suspect: probably mostly shots of friends but she'd like to be able to get landscapes that could be printed up to, say, A3; she'd prefer a viewfinder and an articulated screen would be a bonus.
In part on what I've told her from here, she's already all but made up her mind ... and is about to order a PEN EP-3 with the 14-42 IIR kit lens. It's available at a fairly substantial discount on list, presumably because of the EP-5. she can get the EVF later.
Would anyone here violently disagree with that choice?
Not a bad choice ... the main alternative I would mention is the E-PL5, if it is in her price range. From my experience, the flip screen could be a great advantage so long as she does not have the EVF option, and the newer sensor is better in ways that go well beyond the higher pixel count.
-
I recently bought an Olympus EPL5 as a lightweight alternative to my Nikon D800. I've been quite impressed with images from the 14-42IIR kit lens, but I have only looked at them at 100% on my monitor. I also picked up a 9-18 zoom which is extremely compact. Right now you can pick one up in the states for $525.00 with the lens. I do not have the optional view finder because they are quite expensive compared to the body. Add the viewfinder and you might as well pick up a cheaper lightweight DSLR and spend money on quality lenses. I'm having fun using this compact system that is quite capable but find it harder to compose well and find the interface to be a bit frustrating. It is very easy to push the wrong settings. Also check out the Panasonic GX1 which is going for a bargain. Furthermore, I would still consider the Sony RX100 which does not have interchangeable lenses but excellent reviews. All of these cameras will make fine prints up to A3.
-
Not a bad choice ... the main alternative I would mention is the E-PL5, if it is in her price range. From my experience, the flip screen could be a great advantage so long as she does not have the EVF option, and the newer sensor is better in ways that go well beyond the higher pixel count.
Thanks. I mentioned the E-PL5 to her. It's actually cheaper here than the 3 but it doesn't have a built-in flash, which it turns out is important to her for the "snapshots of friends" category of shot.
Jeremy
-
Right now, one of the best deals around is the Canon EOS M. The price has come down quite a lot. The camera had a bad rep due to a bit slower AF and high price. that has been taken care of with last weeks firmware release. AF is now faster.
The lenses are quite good; a 22mm f/2 (equivalent to 35mm, since the camera's sensor is APS-C), and the kit zoom is very good too (15-55). A new wide angle zoom has just been announced.
This little camera is metal built, the lenses are metal built too, very robust and high quality.
-
Right now, one of the best deals around is the Canon EOS M. The price has come down quite a lot. The camera had a bad rep due to a bit slower AF and high price. that has been taken care of with last weeks firmware release. AF is now faster.
The lenses are quite good; a 22mm f/2 (equivalent to 35mm, since the camera's sensor is APS-C), and the kit zoom is very good too (15-55). A new wide angle zoom has just been announced.
This little camera is metal built, the lenses are metal built too, very robust and high quality.
No built-in flash, though. And she'd then want to borrow my Canon lenses ;)
Jeremy
-
Looks like Canon might be bringing out some new mirrorless models; you can find the kit w/22mm for $299 on B&H. I also ordered the 18-55 kit from Amazon at $349 ...
I've been keeping an eye on this, as I'm invested in Canon glass
-
Now, had she chosen dentistry instead, the choice would have been quite straightforward. The appropriate manufacturer's name begins with "L".
Roy