Camera for Travel Photography

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Katerino

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Graham
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I am looking to buy a suitable camera for Travel - preferably either Fujifilm or Sony.

I am open to buy a compact camera but am worried that I might need to have different lenses. I do not want to buy too many lenses especially for travel.
My ideal of travel is to take pictures of sightseeing, street photography, architecture, etc. I do not expect to do safari travel (eg telephoto xoom lenses, whatever).

However I might want to do interior photography (non-travel purposes). Will compact camera not good enough for this?

The budget is around £1,500 (possibly u to £2,500 if necessary to buy 1 more lens)
 
Sounds like the OM5 mk2 might be just the job for you.
 
I would suggest a Sony A6700 with a Sigma 18-50mm 2.8 lens, can't go wrong with that combo.
 
I guess you need to decide whether you want to be able to zoom or not - that's probably the first question to answer.

Then I guess it would be X100vi vs Fuji or Sony APSC with a kit zoom lens.
 
Katerino said:
I am looking to buy a suitable camera for Travel - preferably either Fujifilm or Sony.

I am open to buy a compact camera but am worried that I might need to have different lenses. I do not want to buy too many lenses especially for travel.
My ideal of travel is to take pictures of sightseeing, street photography, architecture, etc. I do not expect to do safari travel (eg telephoto xoom lenses, whatever).

However I might want to do interior photography (non-travel purposes). Will compact camera not good enough for this?

The budget is around £1,500 (possibly u to £2,500 if necessary to buy 1 more lens)
Click to expand...
I would suggest a small mirrorless (eg OM5) and 12-45 f4 zoom. In practice this focal length is long enough for most things (90mm in FF terms) and if you occasionally need longer, the plastic-fantastic Olympus 40-150 f4/5.6. You can fit this kit into a small shoulder bag, and be quite lightweight.
 
Sony A7CII £1204 Grey market

Then when it comes to lenses if you want zoom options:

Sony 24-50 f/2.8 G £708 Grey market

Tamron 20-70 f/4 £689 Grey market

If you want primes:

Viltrox 14mm f/4 £190

Viltrox 20mm f2.8 £165

Samyang 35mm f/1.8 £199

TT Artisan 40mm f/2 £159

Samyang 45mm f/1:8 £275

Samyang 75mm f/1.8 £299

All the lenses are very small and have good to excellent optical quality.

For the same purpose I have:

A7CII
Viltrox 20mm f/2.8
Sigma 35mm f/2
Samyang 45mm f/1.8
Samyang75mm f/1.8

It will of course depend on what type of photos you want to take for me I can mostly get away with just the camera + 35/75. I personally wouldn’t want to do without the advantages of full frame and the set up lets me have that along with having very small kit.
 
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Ricoh GR4. Having a fixed lens is intimidating at first but it's unbelievably freeing when you have to see everything through a 28mm lens.
 
Miket99 said:
Ricoh GR4. Having a fixed lens is intimidating at first but it's unbelievably freeing when you have to see everything through a 28mm lens.
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If the Great Flying Spaghetti Monster wanted people to use fixed lens cameras, he-she-it would never have given us bayonet mounts! ;)

Canon AE-1 lens throat E-PM1 151003.JPG
 
The Panasonic S9 with either the 18-40 or 20-60. Lightweight full frame quality with ibis. It is worth considering now at its reduced price of £799.
 
If it helps, I've been through the same process myself recently.

I looked at the Sony A6 series, Fuji XE and X5, and the Ricoh.

I wanted something small, weather sealed with ibis. I've gone for the OM5 ii and 17 mm F1.8 ii.

It's tiny, fits in my pocket or small bag and does everything I need it to.

It doesn't have all the AI and tracking features of my OM or Z8 but I don't need that for a small travel camera
 
If you want really compact then I can recommend the Sony RX1R M2. The UI is a bit dated but the image quality is fantastic. If you need wide angle you can always stitch images. The X100VI is another option, but from my testing it doesn't match the RX1R M2 in IQ.

If you want an interchangeable lens camera then the Olympus OM5 and OM3 are great options, as are the Sony A6xxx cameras.

If you want really pocketable then the Ricoh GR series could be an option.
 
As no one has mentioned Nikon how about a Z50 ii (with the latest excellent autofocus system and an APS C sensor)) with the 16-50 kit lens. Cost £799

Nikon Z50 II Camera With 16-50mm VR Lens Best UK Price - Compare Prices Here - UK Stock

Compare 14 new UK prices from £799.00. Real UK Stock. Price alerts. Find the best price today.
www.camerapricebuster.co.uk

The excellent 12-28 would allow you to shoot interiors and cityscapes. Cost £300.

If you wanted you could add the latest 16-50 (24-75 FF equivalent) 2.8 zoom at a cost of £799. This is newly launched so if you wait a while the price should come down.

This really is good value. These are all UK dealers prices. Grey will be cheaper.

Good luck with your search.
 
For travel photography, a compact camera such as the Sony RX100VI or VII will be fine. Discrete, pocketable and decent image quality with enough zoom range to cover most eventualities. You’d need some spare batteries as battery life is OK but not brilliant and they tend to run out quite suddenly.

Since getting one, I’m using my Nikon mirrorless less and less when travelling as the Sony is just so handy.
 
For the stated use, I'd be going down the compact route too. Add in a couple of spare batteries and pretty much all bases are covered other than super wide-angle and long telephoto.

I would (and did) go for Andy's choice of the RX 100 vi or vii after a brief dalliance with a slightly disappointing Panasonic TZ 100.
 
Katerino said:
I am looking to buy a suitable camera for Travel - preferably either Fujifilm or Sony.

I am open to buy a compact camera but am worried that I might need to have different lenses. I do not want to buy too many lenses especially for travel.
My ideal of travel is to take pictures of sightseeing, street photography, architecture, etc. I do not expect to do safari travel (eg telephoto xoom lenses, whatever).

However I might want to do interior photography (non-travel purposes). Will compact camera not good enough for this?

The budget is around £1,500 (possibly u to £2,500 if necessary to buy 1 more lens)
Click to expand...
I've had the problem of too much heavy gear for too long and its caused me no end of headaches when travelling. Having moved into street photography in recent years I've now changing all my canon gear into Fujifilm X - I've got a x100vi for simple lightweight 35mm work, and an X-T5 with a small lenses ( a prime and two zooms) which do 95% of situations. The quality is amazing notwithstanding the move to APS-C. It's flexible and so light I can carry anything around with me hanging from a strap on my wrist all day. This would also fit your budget. Good luck!
 
Katerino said:
However I might want to do interior photography (non-travel purposes). Will compact camera not good enough for this?
Click to expand...
There are various compact cameras that might meet all your needs.

Take a look at the Panasonic TZ series or the Sony HX series. Both manufacturers offer more advanced but still compact ranges. If there's a camera shop that you can go to, that might be worthwhile as well.
 
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