Replacing my SLR + lenses with one camera?

Zascar

I'm having a crazy thought like I'm sure many have had before. I have a Canon slr with 5 lenses that I barely use. Maybe if I had a smaller camera I might use it more. And the quality of some of these cameras are fantastic. I hear the Fuji x100 is great, then a friend recommended the Sony RX100 iii. I'm wondering what others similar cameras are worth considering?
Thabks

strandroad

Zascar wrote: »

I'm having a crazy thought like I'm sure many have had before. I have a Canon slr with 5 lenses that I barely use. Maybe if I had a smaller camera I might use it more. And the quality of some of these cameras are fantastic. I hear the Fuji x100 is great, then a friend recommended the Sony RX100 iii. I'm wondering what others similar cameras are worth considering?
Thabks

I replaced my Pentax DSLR with Sony RX100 for the same reason and I do find that I use it more. It's around my neck all the time. Picture quality would be equivalent to a few years old basic DSLR IMO, for general use. You may find yourself missing your primes and zooms for more specific use - but if you get something like Sony A6000, it's still absolutely pocketable with the kit lens and you can get more lenses if you need. Very good value camera too for an APC-S sensor.

fret_wimp2

Ive gone from using a Canon 5D, bag of lens's and tripod, to just using a Fuji X100. Much more fun camera. Despite the fixed focal length I actually find it better for most situations.

Its not intimidating like the weapon that is a 5D with 24-70 lens so people are
less inclined to shy away from it or get unfomfortable.

Picture quality out of the camera is IMO better than the 5D Mk2. Raw files only gets a small amount of tweaking in Adobe RAW editor, and maybe a B&W treatment, but very little compared to the the larger canon.

Piles of other little reasons why i like it more but the main one is that its smaller and so i can have it on my person much more. I carry it to work every day and go shooting at lunch. I would never do that with the canon as it is massive.

cnocbui

The Panasonic LX100 is likely to be announced any day now. That would be probably well worth having a look at.

Sensor: 16MP Multi aspect Four Thirds.
- 24-75mm f/1.7-2.8 lens
- Built-in EVF: 2,76 milion dots, 1.39x / 0.7x magnification
- ISO 200-25600. Can be extended down to 100!
- size: 4.52″ x 2.6″ x 2.4″
- hot shoe

A lot of full frame and APSC users have moved to the M4/3 system to save weight and bulk.

Thinking laterally, you could get something like a Panasonc GM1 or GM5 and put a small zoom or fixed focal length lens on it and leave it at that. Just because it has an interchangeable lens capability doesn't mean you have to have more than one lens.

magicbastarder

why not just limit yourself to a standard lens on your canon?
i've heard mention on here before of a utility which will examine all your photos and then graph the focal lengths against how often you use them. could be handy to prune out some lenses, if you never use them.

cnocbui

As I was saying...

Panasonic LX100 fixed lens:



Panasonic GM5 interchangeable M4/3 lenses



And a phone with a one inch sensor and 20 MP and 4K video recording:



Eeny, meeny...

D.S.

Zascar wrote: »

I'm having a crazy thought like I'm sure many have had before. I have a Canon slr with 5 lenses that I barely use. Maybe if I had a smaller camera I might use it more. And the quality of some of these cameras are fantastic. I hear the Fuji x100 is great, then a friend recommended the Sony RX100 iii. I'm wondering what others similar cameras are worth considering?
Thabks

Zascar - honestly mate it's probably only something you can answer. Do you really think the reason you don't get out and shoot more is because you have too many options / too heavy / too noticeable gear, or is it because of something else (e.g. boredom, etc etc)..

If it's really the form factor, then go for it. A smaller package could give you the spark you need to get back out there.

Otherwise - you may not really getting any other benefits from switching to a new system. Creatively - you probably have more than you need right now with the gear you have got to shoot and take most captures..The real question is a) what is it you love shooting, and b) what's really stopping you from going out and doing that today.

One thing to consider before switching systems - have you tried using a sling strap such as the Blackrapid? I have a big old Nikon FF DSLR (D800) and I have never noticed any issues with weight, or got tired carrying it. I carry mine with me all day when out and about and it's no fuss at all.

That said I also agree with magicbastarder, when I go out, I generally just bring the one lens and try to make it work for me. Sometimes I'll bring a small backpack with one or two lens to swap out. The only time I bring all my kit is when I do landscapes or a more formal shoot..

Sometimes the easy answer is to buy more gear (and the most expensive one) but I have mates where it didn't really get them out shooting more frequently once the honeymoon period faded.. That said they are just some thoughts to consider before dropping your cash - whatever way you go - hopefully you get out shooting more often..

D.S.

EDIT: If you think it's not the form factor but something else, feel free to shoot me a PM - happy to point you towards a number of different resources that keep me interested, challenged and thinking about new things...

EyeCake

D.S. wrote: »

Zascar - honestly mate it's probably only something you can answer. Do you really think the reason you don't get out and shoot more is because you have too many options / too heavy / too noticeable gear, or is it because of something else (e.g. boredom, etc etc)..

If it's really the form factor, then go for it. A smaller package could give you the spark you need to get back out there.

Otherwise - you may not really getting any other benefits from switching to a new system. Creatively - you probably have more than you need right now with the gear you have got to shoot and take most captures..The real question is a) what is it you love shooting, and b) what's really stopping you from going out and doing that today.

One thing to consider before switching systems - have you tried using a sling strap such as the Blackrapid? I have a big old Nikon FF DSLR (D800) and I have never noticed any issues with weight, or got tired carrying it. I carry mine with me all day when out and about and it's no fuss at all.

That said I also agree with magicbastarder, when I go out, I generally just bring the one lens and try to make it work for me. Sometimes I'll bring a small backpack with one or two lens to swap out. The only time I bring all my kit is when I do landscapes or a more formal shoot..

Sometimes the easy answer is to buy more gear (and the most expensive one) but I have mates where it didn't really get them out shooting more frequently once the honeymoon period faded.. That said they are just some thoughts to consider before dropping your cash - whatever way you go - hopefully you get out shooting more often..

D.S.

EDIT: If you think it's not the form factor but something else, feel free to shoot me a PM - happy to point you towards a number of different resources that keep me interested, challenged and thinking about new things...

I have recently sold a 5D Mk3 and 4 lenses to switch to a Micro4/3 camera for several reasons, a decision I hope I will not regret but I can always go back if I have too.
I was with Canon for 10 years from 20D to 40D To 50D to 5DMk2 to a Mark 3 for the last 18 months. I enjoyed the quality afforded by the Mk3 but found I was not bringing the camera out with me for several reasons,
1 The weight of the kit as I was hit by a depilating illness (which I hope to make a nearly full recovery eventually.
2 The size of the camera and lens intimidated subjects and made spontaneous street photography difficult.
3 As a frequent traveller often to much poorer regions I felt the very high value made me a target for theft or crime.
I know now from reading many forums I am not alone in these thoughts but only time will tell what is good for me.
I first bought a Nex 6 about 6 months ago to see if I would use a smaller camera more and I did so then decided to sell the Canon kit but it took over 2 months to get a reasonable price considering the light non professional use probably because of the cheap imports from Hong Kong.
Anyway last week I took delivery of Olympus OM-D E-M1 with 12-40 2.8 lens.
Initial impressions are while much smaller than the Canon it is bigger than I had hoped for but was trying to keep as much quality and features as possible. I may get a very small e.g. Pen body for scarring at all times.
The quality is pretty good but to find the features in the myriad menus is quite difficult and will take time to master.
I will report back on my progress.

Bacchus

Zascar wrote: »

I'm having a crazy thought like I'm sure many have had before. I have a Canon slr with 5 lenses that I barely use. Maybe if I had a smaller camera I might use it more. And the quality of some of these cameras are fantastic. I hear the Fuji x100 is great, then a friend recommended the Sony RX100 iii. I'm wondering what others similar cameras are worth considering?
Thabks

I recently did something similar, though I kept my Nikon + lenses. I found carry around the DSLR and lens everywhere I went a bit tiresome so I got a x100 second hand. I was unsure about all these claims of "changed my life", "it's the only camera I use" etc. but I have to admit I love it. It took a few days to get used to interface and the form factor but now that I am, I love it. One thing though, get a fast SD card for it. I had 30MB/s cards and it was painfully slow. Upgraded to a nippy 95MB/s class 10 SD card and it's perfect.

dinneenp

OP- did you end up buying one?
Just asking as I'm back from Dublin and was looking at the Panny LX100; lovely camera indeed.
Like people mentioned it depends on what you want; pocketable- Sony RX100, or Canon G7X (no viewfinder) loads of manual controls but not that-pocketable- LX100 or Fuji X100 or even X30

Good summary article here