Compact system with View Finder

Impspeed

Impspeed

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David
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My wife enjoys her snapshot photography and has owned a Nikon J2 for a few years now, but recently has become increasingly frustrated with the screen on the back, especially living in a bright country like Dubai.

She'll never win any awards for her photography, and she doesn't want to lug around a DSLR and full kit bag full of lenses, so thinking something along the M4/3 range, same Nikon 1 range, but anything Canon (EOS M?), Sony, FujiFilm I should look at?

Ideally don't want to spend more than £500 on a body with a good range (in the sense of focal range) of glass - she currently has 10-130mm covered across two lenses with the Nikon.

Also, needs to be just a little bit feminine. She's petite and would look stupid with something like an X-Pro (although I want one).

Thanks in advance.
 
Although I love the Canon EOS-M (especially at it's current price) it unfortunately doesn't have any viewfinder option and this is indeed a real issue when trying to use it in bright sunlight. You can cross this one off your list as it doesn't fit your requirement.
 
Fuji X30 which has a pretty good EVF or the slightly smaller X20 with a pretty good OVF.
 
The Nikon 1 V2 has a built in viewfinder, so you'll be able to utilise her existing lenses. Looking online they seem to be less than £500 with the 10-30mm lens (after cashback so not sure if you can claim that in Dubai) I can't seem to find just the body though so it might be a case of buying with the lens then selling it on to make the body cheaper. The V3 is out now too, but is out of budget and the viewfinder is an optional extra :(

I haven't used one by the way, just thought it might be a contender if she likes her current camera apart from the obvious viewfinder issue.
 
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most CSC options with a hotshoe mount have options for an EVF
I use the lumix m43 system and like it, they have an EVF option I think
I like the look of the X system, so the x30 as mentioned above would get a look in too.
 
Nikon 1 V1 also has a built in VF and will accept her current lenses. Chuck the FT-1 on and it'll accept F mount lenses too (and will retain automatic functions on many of the Nikkors.)
 
Ifs she's happy enough with the nikon quality i agree with above get a V1 or V2. She may even be interested in the rx100 III which is sexy looking has a viewfinder and is genuinely pocketable, but with the same size image sensor.
 
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craftysnapper said:
Have a look at the Olympus E-M10 £489 body only.
Click to expand...
This

I had the EOS M and really missed the viewfinder, so bought the E-M10, excellent package. Fantastic looks and perfect size. Also has the (joint)* best range of lenses for the CSC market.


*You can use any M43 lens from Oly + Panasonic, along with some from Sigma etc.
 
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Another recommendation here for sticking wiht Nikon. I bought a V1 a couple of years ago and it got "borrowed" by my daughter shortly afterwards and she's still using it! The Nikon 1 system suffers from sensor-size prejudice where people dismiss it because it's not micro 4/3rds or APS-C, but they produce results that defy that to a great extent. The viewfinder on the V1 is very nice - I've not used a V2 but I'd expect it to be as good or better, and either will take your wife's existing lenses.
 
Thanks everyone. Will check out the V2 first.
 
Depending on the area of interest, the relatively small size of the sensor can be a boon or a PITA! I've used my 70-300 on my 1 series bodies (with the FT-1 adaptor) to get the extra reach that the 2.7 x crop gives. Got a close up of a tiger's eye and another of his tongue and have them printed at A3+. Not so good for landscapes or other wider angle uses though!
 
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