Small, high quality "2nd" camera

[jimmy156]

I was flicking through my photos of the last 12 months when I noticed something. I'd taken some nice wildlife shots, a few half decent landscapes, some touristy shots and a few of some events throughout the year. But I had captured very few "moments". The issue I think is that when I am "doing photography" I have my SLR and lenses and I am in photographer mode. I obviously don't take any photos of my self and often end up missing the finer details of a trip. There are many things that I wouldn't take my camera to because I just want to enjoy the event and not have an SLR slung round my neck.

In man-maths fashion, this can be fixed with new gear! Having not bought any new kit for years I am a little out of the loop. What's out there that is either a compact or CSC, aps-c sized sensor (or full frame, but maybe out of budget), small enough that it can be slung in a bag easily, or even verging on being pocketable (probably not). Fixed lens is fine, better if it's a pancake style one, or standard zoom. Don't need long lenses, don't need loads of features, just high quality, not too big and not too much £. I am not necessarily after the latest and greatest after, I am under no illusion that having the best piece of kit will give me any better photos.

TIA, james

Edited by jimmy156 on Saturday 11th July 19:56

[covmutley]

Original sony a7 is £900 new at jessops now. New fuji xt 10 looks good for £100 less. Both of those prices includes kit lens. Both are tempting me currently.

I have a 650d and fancy upgrading, more out of want than need, but a Csc is really appealing over moving to an even bulkier dslr.

Edited by covmutley on Saturday 11th July 21:25

[anomiepete]

A Canon G7X or Sony RX100 should fit the bill. Both offer great versatility and quality.

[DibblyDobbler]

Well I bought a 100D as a walkabout and it's great - not tiny obviously but much smaller and lighter than my 6D so I'm much more likely to carry it about when not actually 'doing photography'

[Yellabelly]

Check the mass of responses on the RX100 thread then try finding another "which camera" thread with anything near the same response ...think that might give you a clue as to it's popularity...oh and it fits in your pocket!

The Mk1, 2 & 3 are all superb, the Mk2 & 3 builds on the excellent Mk1.

[rich888]

The Sony RX100 has to be high up on your list of possibles, is available in MK1, MK2, MK3 and MK4 to suit all budgets.

I purchased the MK1 which I'm very pleased with and suited my budget, is pocketable, has superb lens quality, pretty good menu layout (not as intuitive as Canon S100 which it replaced) and the battery life is far superior.

In terms of photo quality of the RX100 take a look at what GetCarter has posted on PH, and I'm pretty sure he uses a MK1.

Although I'm well down the talent level of his abilities, was quite pleased with a few handheld pics I took recently of a poppy growing in the front garden which I've uploaded at 1024 px due to file size constraints on the forum.




If I had the money I would buy the MK3, but would probably be sleeping in the dog kennel whilst trying to justify the purchase to the wife!

[jimmy156]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

I think the likes of the Sony a7, canon eos100 may be too big, and I will end up with the same issue I have now, in that I don't take it out enough.

The fugu "x..." Rane look interesting, if a little confusing with the choices. All seem to use the same aps-c sensor, but there are big price variations. The cheapest being the XA2 at about £350 for the body.

Te Sony rx100 does get a lot of love, it's properly pocketable too which is good! In my head I was thinking aps-c sized sensor, does the 1inch one in this still deliver the goods in terms of IQ and depth of field? The rx1 would be nice! But ot of budget really!

[JustinP1]

I've got the RX100.

Funnily enough though I'm thinking of jumping to the Ricoh GR.

There's a GR II just come out, which is a bit of a minor update, and I might snap up an old model at a decent price.

[JonV8V]

Not sure how much these will help but one is a Nikon 7000 with 50mm prime and the other is an RX100M3

Both re-sized a little to be the same size.





The partial log is the Sony.

[Jack Blag]

Sony RX100 II

Review here: http://www.trustedreviews.com/sony-rx100-ii-review

Great camera, plenty of features and a fantastic lens... and it fits in your pocket.

[Craikeybaby]

I was in a similar position and was looking at all sorts of cameras, but in the end I settled on a 40mm pancake lens for my 5D. If was going to be taking a camera too big to fit in my pocket I figuered the DSLR would have the best quality and the tiny lens makes it easier to carry.

[fido]

EOS-M with 22mm has become my pocket camera - a.k.a. the poor man's RX1R.

[Andy M]

Fuji X-T1, see: https://luminous-landscape.com/living-fuji-x-t1/

I've just listed mine for sale on PH

[V8Wagon]

fido said:

EOS-M with 22mm has become my pocket camera - a.k.a. the poor man's RX1R.

Yep. Another vote for the Canon EOS M here. IQ is good enough and a bit of a bargain at under £200.

I'm no photographer but my Flickr account has plenty of EOS M shots...


https://www.flickr.com/photos/57869390@N07/

[jimmy156]

Thanks for the help everyone.

Rx100 a strong contender, i will have to have a play with it at some point. I love the sound/look of the Fuji X-T1, although really its too big, not fair off DSLR size, and so wouldn't solve my problem, same goes for the 40mm pancake on my current body. I just know i wouldn't use it for what i am thinking of. How does the XE-2 compare to the XT-1? it looks significantly smaller and could be pocketable with one of the small prime lenses attached.

Edit: Will take more of a look at the EOS M too, thanks.

Edited by jimmy156 on Monday 13th July 22:11

[FunkyNige]

I'm in exactly the same boat - I keep wanting to upgrade my 400D to a 70D but each time I almost pull the trigger and get one I think to myself that most of the photos I take are with my rugged compact because I don't want to lug the dSLR about. Airshows and motorsport days are fine with a big camera, festivals and museums are not!

[mizx]

jimmy156 said:

How does the XE-2 compare to the XT-1? it looks significantly smaller and could be pocketable with one of the small prime lenses attached.

I've not seen them in person but there's little difference in size, both are the same minus the hump, X-E2 is slighly less thick and has the smaller grip. The smallest CSCs, GM5 etc. with pancakes are probably barely pocketable in most pockets, other than the the RX100 and G7X I think this is the same for most of the large sensor compacts bar the prime lens ones.

This site is useful http://camerasize.com/compare/#520,493

Edited by mizx on Tuesday 14th July 15:21

[stu1984]

OP- FYI The Sony RX100 MkII is going to be one of the deals on Amazon Prime day tomorrow (free to sign up for the 30 day trial, just remember to cancel it before the 30 days expire!!) - not sure how much money off will be given but the offer will be starting at 14.10 pm tomorrow. Be sure to check it out!!

[dontfollowme]

Cheers for the tip Stu. My LX3 feels tired.

[dogbucket]

I have a Lumix GX1 micro 4/3 and pair this with either the pana 20mm f1.7 pancake (40mm eqv) or pana 14mm f2.5 pancake (28mm eqv). Very compact and I find I get more creative shots not being tied to a viewfinder. Not much cop at moving objects I admit but can produce nice shallow DOF with the 20mm wide open. Obviously depends if you like prime lenses and lack of telephoto, but for me the D800 only gets used for big events now.