Micro Four Thirds - Small Cameras For Travelling

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Regular readers will know that I am investing in a new camera system.

I want to move to small cameras for travelling - and micro four thirds is my system of choice.

What is micro four thirds?

Well if I get my act together you will be able to learn all about this wonderfully compact system next week on my blog.

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What am I looking for in my next camera? Find out here

I am angling for a new camera. This is what I hinted at yesterday.

Why am I after a new camera? A number of reasons. Well two mainly.

Firstly, I have to say that there is nothing wrong with my Canon 6D and accompanying lenses – I still get great photos and love using them for commercial work.

But

I am getting a bit fed up carrying around a DSLR everywhere I go.

I want something smaller. Add on all the lenses and it is a bit of a hassle that I am getting tired of.

I feel that I am missing out on lots of technology.

This has come from the technological advances with my iPhone, along with using the DJI Osmo Mobile for taking videos with my iPhone. And very funky panoramic shots where the DJI Osmo Mobile moves the iPhone to take nine different photos and stitch them together.

As I said, there is nothing wrong with my Canon 6D. It takes great photos, and has worked faultlessly for me. The simplicity of the Canon 6D is part of it’s appeal to me.

That being said I want to try something new, and also something smaller.

There are the two fundamentals, which lead me to the question – can I replace my Canon 6D and all the related stuff with something much smaller and still get the same results?

I am going to have to try. I think it is fair to say that I do not need to do this – I want to do this.

And the arena within which I can experiment is my travel photography work. I need to get something for upcoming trips in April and May.

So to get the ball rolling what features do I want in a new camera?

These are the features I am looking for. In no particular order – these are the things that are important to me off the top of my head – now I don’t want to think about this too deeply now!! You know what kind of trouble that gets me into.

Here are the headline features that I want.

  • Excellent image quality
  • Video in 4k
  • Easy to use
  • RAW and JPEG image capture
  • In-camera HDR with RAW files
  • Small body (pocket sized?)
  • Interchangeable lenses
  • Mic in socket
  • The ability to use an L bracket
  • GPS
  • Quick connectivity to my phone
  • An LCD screen I can actually use

The ability to expand the lens range to replace my Canon stuff if I decide to go down that road. I do not want to embark on a new system if I like it but I cannot use it going forwards.

I need the range of focal lengths that the lenses that I currently use provide, which is currently 17mm all the way to 200mm. Not too much to cover to be honest.

It is the wide part that is of concern to me, and the potential loss of tilt shift lenses, which I have mixed views about.

I have to say that I find the prospect of having a much smaller set of gear exciting. I might be able to stick with my Peak Design Everyday Backpack which will be excellent news, with the same equivalent gear taking up less space than my existing kit.

This is my shopping list.

Obviously it would be nice to get a manufacturer to supply me with the gear – lets start with what that camera might be.

Off the top of my head my options are

Sony

Fuji

Olympus

Panasonic

Not too bad then.

I have discounted Canon and Nikon neither whom are offering mirrorless options at the moment, which is what I am really after.

Things that I will not be able to have

  • Tilt shift lenses
  • Use of my existing sets of filters – this will be a temporary state until I decide what to do.
  • Full frame sensor – this will make the camera too big and too expensive.

I will look at this.

OK – I have looked. And decided that I want to start this process with a new camera costing less than £500.

And yes, I said start this process. If I can get images that I am happy with using a smaller camera I will look at moving to that system completely.

Narrows it down nicely. And having looked at various cameras my initial thought is to give the Sony A6000 a go. I think. This is currently available from Amazon for just under £500.

I will hold that thought and see. Give myself a month to have a think and see what the end of March brings in terms of decisions.

Writing helps me with my thought processes, and the production of this blog post has crystallised things that have been in my head for some time now.

And with that I will say goodbye until tomorrow, when I will be back to my photos of Santorini.

Rick McEvoy Photography – going places