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Author Topic: Best light weight camera-zoom combination  (Read 4562 times)

Abstraction

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Best light weight camera-zoom combination
« on: October 05, 2013, 09:33:42 am »

I am retired university professor in New York City and a writer.  For entertainment and exercise, I do a lot of my work as a writer walking around the city.  Three or four hours a day and sometimes more. I get on a subway, go somewhere interesting, and see what it going on. Recording voice memos to my IPhone, scribbling notes in coffee shops, and taking photos.  I may start carrying an Ipad.

Yesterday I walked in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.  I spent 30 minutes watching a large raptor harass a gaggle of Canada geese among the tombstones. At one point the hawk swooped within six feet of my head.  There is no way one can always lug the equipment to reliably photograph such an event and all of the other stuff one encounters in NYC.   I recorded something of it with a Sony RX100, which is a wonderful camera to carry in ones pocket, but I am looking for another camera to carry.  My 5d Mk II is too heavy.

I am not looking to replace the RX100 but something to supplement it.  I want a camera that can be carried all of the time, in a large jacket pocket perhaps. I looking for the most versatility and image quality I can get in a package of that size. I am thinking of a Nex7 with the new Zeiss zoom, but it pushes the upper limit for size.  What else is there in this territory? I want to hold onto the Canon, but I do have several L lenses that I might unload.
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PeterAit

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Re: Best light weight camera-zoom combination
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2013, 02:15:24 pm »

I recommend the Canon G11. Or maybe there's a G12 now, I don't know. You get very good optics and RAW file capability in a reasonable compact package that can be easily carried hither and yon. Not interchangeable lenses, but a decent zoom lens. I get a lot of use out of mine.
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John Camp

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Re: Best light weight camera-zoom combination
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2013, 05:38:05 pm »

A Panasonic GX7, recently reviewed by here by Mike Reichmann. I just got mine. They are small, with exceptional image quality. The 4/3 system has a number of very compact zooms -- the kit zoom that comes with a GX7 package is a compact 14-42, equivalent to 28-84, which will give you a moderate wide-angle to a short zoom, and the top end of the short zoom is a decent portrait lens, too. You can add a couple of additional lenses for a really good compact kit -- Read Michael's description of the kit he took to Paris, which included everything out to a 600mm equivalent, which he says has produced many good street shots for him. I have a Nikon D800, more or less equivalent to your Canon, and also have an RX100, and I find the GX models (I had a GX1 before the GX7) slot beautifully between them. I'm a professional writer, as you apparently are, and use all three systems for note-taking and memory aids, with the system I use depending on exactly what I'm doing. I use the 4/3 the most.
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Ken Bennett

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Re: Best light weight camera-zoom combination
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2013, 05:38:27 pm »

An Olympus EM-5 with the 16-50mm lens would work. It's probably the most compact large sensor camera that's still usable, though of course this depends on the photographer. I like my Fuji XE1 with the 18-55 zoom, but it's not particularly pocketable. Though if you have a small satchel for your iPad, the Fuji will fit inside. (I'm thinking of the Timbuk2 extra small courier bag with the padded iPad slot.)
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jerryrock

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Re: Best light weight camera-zoom combination
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2013, 07:21:58 pm »

Why not try the Canon EOS-M? It is a great little camera that got a lot of bad press. I do own one and carry it daily. The adapter allows full function with any full sized EOS lens in your arsenal.  A firmware update did fix the slow focus problem and because of the bad press, the APS-C camera can now be had with EF-M 18-55 stabilized zoom for around $300. Best deal out there.
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Gerald J Skrocki

Greg D

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Re: Best light weight camera-zoom combination
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2013, 09:25:08 am »

I recommend the Canon G11. Or maybe there's a G12 now, I don't know. You get very good optics and RAW file capability in a reasonable compact package that can be easily carried hither and yon. Not interchangeable lenses, but a decent zoom lens. I get a lot of use out of mine.

Actually, they're on the G16 now, I believe.  Great versatile small camera, but not much to offer over the RX100.  Very slow, certainly not one to capture the scene described by the OP - that's an SLR job.
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