hi new to forum

Simsy

New Member
Hi my name is Paul I am a member of several photography forums for a fair while now. My interests in photography are quite varied and I can say I have dabbled into many areas of photography. BI can also say that I excel at none of them at best I guess my skills are average but I keep trying. My current gear consists of a Sony a77 a 10-20 wide a 1650 kit a Zeiss 1680 a 50mm macro a bigma 150-500 and a 70-300G, I also have a Nex6 with 1855, 55210, 16mmf2.8 ,wide and fisheye adaptors. Now you may ask. why I would be interested in Serious Compacts well we are now what you would call empty nesters so travel is no1 priority. I got the nex6 for that purpose the problem is I couldn't help but buy extra lenses and stuff so even that got to big. So now I am thinking of trying a fixed lens compact 1 that simply can't get any bigger lol. I am a fan of a viewfinder rather than the screen I find it difficult to frame my shots correctly on the screen. I was thinking about a Sony RX100iii but am open to any other suggestions if there is any better options I want to hear about them.

Anyway I am looking forward to reading through forum to see what's what

Cheers Paul.
 
Hi Simsy

I recently got a Fuji X10 (available discounted) because of the viewfinder. I'm still learning. Worth a look & consider also the X20 & new X30
The X20 is now being discounted.
 
Welcome Paul. The RX100 is the image quality class of the small compacts if you want REALLY small. Some people love them for their size, but their ergonomics are not widely loved, although many get along with them well enough. If you don't need a fully pocketable camera, the other one to consider today would be the Canon G1X mkII, which has a larger sensor and a 24-120 f2-3.9 zoom. I'd personally find that to be a far more useful zoom range for an all-in-one camera. It doesn't have a built in EVF, but does have a hot-shoe mounted EVF as an option. Or if you just want to carry ONE camera/lens but don't mind if it's a bit larger, you should look at the Sony RX-10 or Panasonic's new FZ1000, which are the size of small DSLRs, have the same sensor as the RX100, but are fully self-contained and far more versatile with zoom ranges of 24-200 and 25-400 respectively. They're not tiny, but they're all you'd be carrying. Not much larger than a Nex 6 with a zoom lens...

But you really should wait a month or so until all of the new cameras are announced. Panasonic seems on the verge of announcing an update to their excellent LX7 model. The rumors are all over the place - it may have the same sensor as the RX100, it may have a larger one - it may have a built in EVF, it may not, etc, etc. But there are also rumors of new high-end compacts from Nikon, Olympus, possibly even another from Canon. Fuji just announced the X-30, but with the same sensor as it's last X-20, it's a bit of a dissapointment relative to the larger sensor compacts. And I'm probably forgetting or not aware of others. It's basically worth waiting a little while and see what shakes out...

-Ray
 
Welcome Paul

I've also got Sony DSLR gear but I can't get consistent results with it even using the CZ 16-80.
A combination of backfocus and the consequences of having the semi mirror in front of the sensor have meant that the cameras and lenses stay in a wardrobe.

As Air Travel became more of a chore , I started looking for lightweight gear giving equal quality so when Leica came out with the X1 ( no viewfinder ) and then Fuji the X100 I had to have them.
Used copies are still worth buying but I found the fixed prime lens too restrictive. so I thought I'd found an answer when Canon came out with the G1X.
At first I hated it , but , having settled into it's restrictive ways , I discovered Leica Quality images from a brilliant Canon lens. You can still buy them cheaply now as the new model is out and it has a viewfinder.
Youngsters moan about the tiny viewfinder but it does the job.

The Fuji X10 is another delightful camera with wonderful colour but lacks the resolution of a normal Bayer sensor even at 12mps..it remains an all time favourite for me.
The subsequent X20 had some awful jpeg processing but now we've better RAW converters I'm thinking of buying one again as the new X30 is put on show at Photokina.

In a very compact form , my RX100 takes stunning images but isn't the pleasantest camera to use being a slippery little beast. Not sure that subsequent versions have actually improved on IQ.
It really is an exceptional camera and compares well to the larger-sensored G1X.

Although I don't like using a fixed prime camera because I feel that I'm missing opportunities , I have the Fuji X100S and if I could only travel with one camera that would be it.
I've been taking photos for over 50 years and the Fuji is as close to the perfect Travel Camera as I'm ever likely to find...coupled with the Rx100..I'm covered.
 
Hi and welcome!

I had a Sony RX100, then my wife commandeered it, so now I have a RX100m2 :)
It really keeps impressing me every time I use it, if you want a small camera with a zoom lens I don't think there's anything available that can beat the RX100 series.
If you can live with a wide prime the Ricoh GR and Nikon Coolpix A becomes strong candidates as well.
 
Thanks guys but now I am going to have to do a heap more homework after reading your post. Good thing I like to read about camera stuff lol
 
Back
Top