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Super compact stills camera


Vautksch
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Hey guys,

 

 

I have been shooting stills on my Nikon FE with AI glass for the last year and for my traveling I wanted to buy something like the Olympus Trip 35, very small and still of good quality. But I now think, for what I want to do right now I want something to shoot RAW.

Id like a small body, fixed lens, good IQ which like my 7 inch tablet I can just throw into my backpack without it bothering me. No Leica M240 and I think not even Fuji X100T but something of alike. I d like to spent less and buy used.

I dont need topnotch quality, for my hobby, good is good enough I guess. Any favorites?

Knowing alot about cinema tools I have no clue when it comes to stills cams. So please help me!

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I would get a Canon EOS M3. You can get them for new on ebay for $400 or less with the 22mm f2 lens. 

I've had the EOS M and the same lens for about 18 months. It's very small, can be tucked in a pocket or backpack, and can be used anywhere (parties, travel, street etc.) without anyone thinking you have a pro camera. They just think you have one of those Canon IXUS camera and always amazed when pictures are shared. 

The only problem I had was autofocus in very low-light, when there is no sources of light around. But the latest version M3 has faster autofocus and does much better in low-light.

Of course, you can't expect DSLR-level autofocus but all other cameras mentioned here such as Ricoh GR or Fuji don't excel in autofocus either...

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3 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

Look at my avatar.  It doesn't get much smaller than that.  GM1 with a set of a110 pentax prime lenses.

Would love to see some footage with 110 lenses on the gm1? That camera, those lenses and that cool GM1 60p sounds like a killer combo.  I hear the next GM will have 4K, so that could be interesting. 

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If you want small enough for jeans pockets RX100.

If jacket pocketable and interchangeable lenses is acceptable, a Nex 3 with a pancake lens. Much bigger sensor: 2.85 times more sensor area than an RX100. I have seen some ridiculous photos taken with the Nex, there is no way I would go back to an RX100 now.

I just got the tiny 12-32mm Panasonic and will be keeping an eye out for a used GM1 to go with it for stills. You should be able to buy both as a kit for a reasonable price. Sensor size in between the above two.

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19 hours ago, Vautksch said:

I have been shooting stills on my Nikon FE with AI glass for the last year and for my traveling I wanted to buy something like the Olympus Trip 35, very small and still of good quality. But I now think, for what I want to do right now I want something to shoot RAW.

I got the Minolta TC-1 for a pocket camera a couple years ago. Probably the best camera purchase I ever made. Ultra pocketable, exceptional 28mm lens, spot metering, full frame (:P). A joy to use. Not cheap though.

Between the TC-1 and the Fuji Klasse S I am seriously playing with the thought do I even need my Contax G2, Zeiss Ikon and Leica R when I almost always reach for one of the compacts.

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10 hours ago, timmyturntable said:

I have had the LX100 for a little while.  By no means a professional.  Shoots pretty decent video.  In case you were wondering what a cloudy day on the beach in Florida looks like...

I just got back from holiday where I travelled with just my LX100 and a 3 and 6 stop ND filter.  Such a great little camera, especially for video.  It has all the features that you could need, including excellent 4k, good Image Stabilisation, built-in time-lapse and decent HD at 50fps.  In fact, for the things I do (kids, community video), I'm not sure why I even own any other cameras.  The Raynox 250 macro converter connects directly to the filter thread (49mm) if you are into that sort of thing.

For the next iteration, I would appreciate a tilt/touch screen, a better EVF, and AF-S while recording in M mode (works only before recording - my G7 does this during recording).

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4 hours ago, sgreszcz said:

I just got back from holiday where I travelled with just my LX100 and a 3 and 6 stop ND filter.  Such a great little camera, especially for video.  It has all the features that you could need, including excellent 4k, good Image Stabilisation, built-in time-lapse and decent HD at 50fps.  In fact, for the things I do (kids, community video), I'm not sure why I even own any other cameras.  The Raynox 250 macro converter connects directly to the filter thread (49mm) if you are into that sort of thing.

For the next iteration, I would appreciate a tilt/touch screen, a better EVF, and AF-S while recording in M mode (works only before recording - my G7 does this during recording).

Then the new Panasonic ZS100 might be considered - it has "excellent 4k, good Image Stabilisation, built-in time-lapse and decent HD at 50fps" plus a touch screen, much better autofocus (new technology) than the LX100 (or RX100 IV), and of course a 25-250mm lens. Like the LX100, it crops in 4K, so you get 34-340mm! You give up a bright lens, but you get a lot more versatility and better performance (focus).

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I've had LX100, GM1/5, X100T, RX100 over the years and decided I wanted a truly pocketable stills camera so went with the GRII. Incredible stills, malleable RAW files, top notch fixed 28mm equivalent lens, APS-C sensor so decent low light and dynamic range is excellent, out of camera black and white JPEGs are some of the best I've seen.

Ergonomically it is incredible - you can operate with one hand, which makes more of a difference than I expected for the kind of casual or experimental off the cuff shooting you'd do with a smartphone. The level of customization and your "workflow" with the camera is great, it just gets out of the way - other camera manufacturers could learn a lot from this camera. It was clearly designed by photographers and has been refined over the years.

The LX100 is a great hybrid camera, but I was never happy with the stills quality. But really great camera. The RX100 packs a lot in, but was ergonomically a mess - got used to it, but no enjoyment, always fighting the camera. GM1/5 are great, excellent stills image quality (I thought much better than LX100 when paired with good glass like the 20/1.7 or 15/1.7 or 45/1.8). X100T is great, but that's getting kind of big, and I'd rather shoot with my A7s/FE 35 2.8.

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56 minutes ago, darrellcraig said:

I've had LX100, GM1/5, X100T, RX100 over the years and decided I wanted a truly pocketable stills camera so went with the GRII. Incredible stills, malleable RAW files, top notch fixed 28mm equivalent lens, APS-C sensor so decent low light and dynamic range is excellent, out of camera black and white JPEGs are some of the best I've seen.

Ergonomically it is incredible - you can operate with one hand, which makes more of a difference than I expected for the kind of casual or experimental off the cuff shooting you'd do with a smartphone. The level of customization and your "workflow" with the camera is great, it just gets out of the way - other camera manufacturers could learn a lot from this camera. It was clearly designed by photographers and has been refined over the years.

The LX100 is a great hybrid camera, but I was never happy with the stills quality. But really great camera. The RX100 packs a lot in, but was ergonomically a mess - got used to it, but no enjoyment, always fighting the camera. GM1/5 are great, excellent stills image quality (I thought much better than LX100 when paired with good glass like the 20/1.7 or 15/1.7 or 45/1.8). X100T is great, but that's getting kind of big, and I'd rather shoot with my A7s/FE 35 2.8.

I fully agree.  The GR/GRII (the only real difference between the two is wifi) are awesome.  It can actually fit in jeans pockets and shooting with it is a pleasure, which is something difficult to say with most small pocket cams. The snap focus feature is great -I find it really useful in low light, where even the best AF starts to struggle. Its a really well rounded cam.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Super Members

I stopped at a store yesterday to play around with the compact cameras. I have a rx100iv, but Im getting rid of it again. So I was more interested in the competition.

We have the Canon GX1 at work for field documentation. Mainly because its rugged with an almost APS-C sized sensor. The Mark ii doesnt have the range finder so I never payed much atention to it.

But yesterday I played with it and I was very impressed. The RF is a trade worth doing for the new lens, which felth very complete, and the two rings. The image is though to judge on the lcd but it looked nice. And the peaking was awesome. Tilting screen is always handy.

Last thing I checked before hitting the impuls buy button was if its 24p only like the Mark1. Nope, worse, 30p.

So its now filed with some of the Olympus and Nikon cameras under "Could have been great but they decided to give it the 100% bullet proof dealbreaker for non US/Canada/Japan shooters."

What a shame.

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