Considering a compact with interchangeable lenses

TriggerHappy

TriggerHappy

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Last weekend I went to paris for a couple of days to visit a friend and, having only paid for hand luggage, I decided against trying to squeeze in my DSLR and lenses too. Having returned I really wish I'd have had a camera better than my iPhone 4 or compact from several years ago to take a few photographs, more for memories sake than anything. This has led me consider some of the compact alternatives available. Obviously I'm not going to match my D200 for versatility, quality etc. but something small and still capable of reasonable low light shots, lenses & a sensor size capable of creating reasonable bokeh (or whatever you may rather it be called) and minimal infuriating shutter lag would fit the bill perfectly.

The specification I'm trying to find is to be as pocketable as possible whilst still offering the features above. I'm not looking to fit any silly 300mm lenses, just a pancake for wide-angle and something in the 50-85mm equivalent area for portraits, both with a nice wide aperture. No need for a viewfinder really, especially as they're all electronic, they'll just add unwanted bulk.

It seems the panasonic GF1/2/3 are popular on this forum. The olympus are a little pricy for my needs. I'm looking at sub £500 including one of the 2 lenses I need. I wonder if the larger sensor of the Sony Nex-5 might be better suited to the shallow DOF effects I'm hankering after.

Any and all input is welcome on the bodies to consider and the suitable lenses for wide-angle and portrait shots.
 
There's a new olympus 45mm f1.8 coming out shortly at £249 which with a 17mm kit lens would keep the cost of four thirds quite reasonable and cover my needs perfectly. I'm yet to be convinced by MFT though. Hopefully someone will come along and help me out.

I have no interest in the more expensive lenses, i'll save that type of excessive spending for my dslr :D
 
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How about the Ricoh GXR body with 28mm & 50mm lens modules. They have a 1.5x crop instead of the 2x crop of M43 bodies so dof will be shallower.
 
28mm x 1.5 just isn't wide enough and I don't think they have anything wider, unfortunately.
 
I wanted something similar, but decided that those cameras aren't that much smaller to justify having a whole other setup / system in addition to a DSLR - i'd either end up only using it with the pancake lens, and missing lots of opportunities, or having pockets full of extra lenses.

I got a Panasonic LX5 - though there are comparable cameras from other brands too, obviously - but that's a high-end compact that is fast focusing, small, and is able to take an external flash and screw-in filters which I was keen on, so I can for example use a polariser or ND filters on it to expand it's utility while remaining small. Seems to sit quite neatly between my DSLR and my Panasonic FT2 waterproof/shockproof camera, go with me whenever i'm not planning to abuse it but when my DSLR would be too big or heavy.

David
 
boliston said:
The GXR 28mm lens module has an 18.3mm lens. They just call it "28mm" as that's the angle of view it gives, but the actual lens in the unit is 18.3mm.
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Ah thanks for the clarification. It's another one to consider. Do you own one yourself?
 
TriggerHappy said:
Ah thanks for the clarification. It's another one to consider. Do you own one yourself?
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I don't own one, I just noticed the Ricoh GXR as I was also looking at the Ricoh GRDIII compact as a companion for my D700 when I don't want to have to carry a heavy camera. They both look pretty good but the GRDIII has a smaller 1/1.7" sensor so won't produce much bokeh and has a fixed 6mm lens giving 28mm equivalent field of view.
 
TriggerHappy said:
Obviously I'm not going to match my D200 for versatility, quality etc. but something small and still capable of reasonable low light shots, lenses & a sensor size capable of creating reasonable bokeh (or whatever you may rather it be called) and minimal infuriating shutter lag would fit the bill perfectly.
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mmm - versatility, no.
For sensor quality & low light you may find something like a NEX-5/NEX-3C betters your D200. Native E-mount AF lenses are still a bit thin on the ground but with a mount adapter or 2 you can have any amount of MF lenses .
 
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heidfirst said:
mmm - versatility, no.
For sensor quality & low light you may find something like a NEX-5/NEX-3C betters your D200. Native E-mount AF lenses are still a bit thin on the ground but with a mount adapter or 2 you can have any amount of MF lenses .
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Do you lose metering with mf lenses or can mirrorless cameras still read exposures?
 
afaik on a NEX if you use non-motorised focus Alpha mount lenses with the Sony Alpha>NEX adapter you still have full metering etc. (Sony & Tamron motorised focus lenses should still AF albeit slowly) you just lose AF.
For other mounts you will still have metering but you'll need an aperture ring to set/stop down manually.
 
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Sounds to me like you need a decent compact, a G12 would fit the bill I should think.

D in W
 
The Panasonic GF2 is available at a really good price just now either £300 with the 14mm prime or £400 with the 14mm and 14-42 kit lens, also the 20mm is an incredible lens.

If you looked at the Pens you could pickup one with the 17mm which isn't as good as the 20mm but is a lot cheaper!
 
The lenses on m4/3 cameras tend to be smaller than DSLR's especially the primes.
The NEX and Samsung systems tend to have larger zoom lenses due to the larger sensor although the primes (16mm Sony, 20 & 30mm Samsung) seem to be similar sizes to the m4/3 ones (Olympus 17mm, Panasonic 14 & 20mm) - the Samsung NX10/11 are meant to be good and depending what sort of camera you want (DSLR like or Compact like) are very similar body style to a dSLR. That said you mentioned a compact or a compact system so it sounds to me like you'd prefer a non DSLR body style like the Panasonic GF series, Olympus Pen or Sony NEX
 
Lots to think about here, thanks for all your replies.

I'm definitely look at the more compact style rather than dslr grip body shape. Ergonomically obviously the dslr is far nicer but I want a camera I don't have an excuse not to bring with me and the need to carry a bag would be just that.

It seems to be between the nex, pen and panny gf series. I know the e-pl3 is due out September so I may wait until then to see what this new release has to offer over the others. It's such a difficult decision to make. I was swinging towards Olympus but now I'm not so sure.
 
Had a search on the flickr (nex5) ... there was a piccy of a cat taken on a nex5 with a leica f1.4 lens on... Might be worth checking the mounts/adapters available on the nex5 and older manual lenses. Plus side on the amazon site that pancak 16mm (is this multi x2 to 32mm?) looked very thin.

Suggest you get as many as you are interested in and go to a big camera store. try them and their default lenses. The ones you like, you can check for a) cheaper prices and b) adapters/lenses online.

Good luck on the hunt :thumbs:
 
The option of using some of the older lenses available does hold a lot of appeal. It can also work out quite cheap dependent on the lens and adapter!
 
You can use just about anything on either the NEX or Micro 4/3, I currently have 3 manual focus lenses, a Konica Hexanon 135mm (£30) and Canon FD 50 f1.8 (£16) and a Canon 24mm f2.8 (£80) and they are cracking, although the 135mm is a bit difficult sometimes without a tripod, if you fancy manual lenses the inbuilt IS of the Olympus Pen's is useful
 
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