Compact Mirrorless Camera for Landscape

[mickel091]

Hi,

I recently sold my Canon T4i camera and lenses because I wanted to switch to a smaller compact mirrorless camera. I will be doing a lot of travelling/backpacking and I felt lugging around a full sized DSLR with 2 lenses will be very cumbersome. I recently came back from a 10 day hike in Patagonia with the camera and 2 lenses and it was hell.

My question is based on these cameras, which one of these is the best to shoot landscape with? I would like a camera that gives deep color saturation and depth in photos.

Leica D-Lux (Type 109)
Fujifilm X100T
Panasonic LX100
Samsung NX500
Sony A6000
Olympus OM-D E-M5 II

Are there any other cameras you guys would recommend?

I have owned a Sony DSLR before too but have had very bad experiences with Sony and their customer service that I prefer to stay away from the A6000 but if it's a good option then I guess I can go with it.

I would prefer to stay around $1200 for my budget but I can stretch it to $1500 if needed. I would prefer to have something with an interchangeable lens. I want to be able to use the wide angle lenses.

Also do you think it'll be worth it for me to get the Olympus OM-D E-M5 II with an lens or NX500/A6000 with two lens?

Thanks!

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

I think any of those would be fine for landscape. Maybe try out the UI on several of them and see which one works best for you.

Just fyi, I have an NEX-7 and love it, but many others like yourself have a healthy disdain for Sony.

 

[Gary A.]

I have owned mirrorless Panasonic, Olympus and Fuji. I am now a Fuji Fanboy, having evolved from FF, to MFT and now to APS-C. I much prefer the Fuji system and APS-C sensor over MFT (having E-M5's and E-M1's). The X100T is a great camera, but it has a fixed lens. (There are screw in lenses for the X100 series to extend the focal length and to make it wider.) If you desire an interchangeable lens camera in the compact size, take a look at the Fuji XT-1. The XT1 is similar in size to the E-M5 but packs a much larger sensor. The Fuji lenses will be bigger than equivalent MFT lenses, but smaller than FF lenses. I found Fuji to be a good compromise between the IQ of FF and the compactness of MFT.

 

[gsgary]

Sony A7R will blow all those away

 

[TMortPhotos]

The A7R price will blow all those away as well. Almost twice his budget.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[The_Traveler]

Honestly, if you used a T4i and associated lenses, my inference was that these lenses were entry level lenses and not huge L glass and if your only concern was the size and weight then any of the mentioned cameras would probably work great. I use an Oly M5 and two Panasonic lenses (12-35, 35-100) and I like the results.

Arrange them in order of reviews/features then pick the highest reviewed camera/lens system that matches your budget.

There is one thing I wouldn't and another I try not to do.

Don't go somewhere with a new camera that you aren't familiar with. 99% of the 'my camera isn't working right' questions we get here are user error caused by unfamiliarity or ignorance.

Try to bring a second body. It's insurance against the obvious.

Suggested things that I found useful in traveling:
Bring lots of small to medium memory cards. That way, if one blows up, you lose only a small number of pictures.
Insure your camera and lenses and keep filled cards separate from the gear. Cameras can be replaced, memories can't.
Take many times more pictures than you 'need.'
Take pictures of your surroundings. Yes, you love landscapes but the rest of the pictures provide aides memoir about your trips

 

[mickel091]

Thanks all for the reply!

I did a little bit more research and might start considering just narrowing the choices down to these cameras:

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II
Fujifilm X-T1
Sony Alpha a7

Do you guys have any opinions of these and how they stack up? They all look good to me.

Thanks!

 

[The_Traveler]

I have the first and the third.
Sony a7 II is a full frame camera, relatively expensive and with excellent but comparatively heavy and expensive lenses. I traveled in laos recently for 3+ weeks with a7 and 24-78 2.8 and omd 5 and 3 lenses. All of this fit in a messenger bag. Daily I carried the Sony with 24-70 and OMD with 35-100 (70-200. Equiv).
For me it was a perfect day combination. At night I used the omd and Oly 35 1.7 (70 mm equiv)

I don't own the Fuji, but have handled it. In the middle on sensor size; its users love it and I liked it but went with the ff Sony a7 as a better upgrade for me.

 

[mickel091]

I have the first and the third.
Sony a7 II is a full frame camera, relatively expensive and with excellent but comparatively heavy and expensive lenses. I traveled in laos recently for 3+ weeks with a7 and 24-78 2.8 and omd 5 and 3 lenses. All of this fit in a messenger bag. Daily I carried the Sony with 24-70 and OMD with 35-100 (70-200. Equiv).
For me it was a perfect day combination. At night I used the omd and Oly 35 1.7 (70 mm equiv)

I don't own the Fuji, but have handled it. In the middle on sensor size; its users love it and I liked it but went with the ff Sony a7 as a better upgrade for me.

How would you rate the IQ of the OMD vs A7?

I'm actually planning on doing a 3 month trip through SE Asia and it's the main reason why I am looking for a smaller camera but don't want to sacrifice IQ.

 

[The_Traveler]

The a7 is better but whether it's an IQ difference that is significant for you is something only you can answer.
And whether the difference is worth the extra weight and cost, again only you.
Getting hung up on having the ultimate in IQ may not be a good direction. Pictures don't have to be perfect so that pixel-peepers get excited, they have to be 'good'.

Shooting landscape pictures in SE Asia is always a challenge for me because I often didn't have the option to wait around for the light to be right. It seems like the sun jumps right up in the sky and hangs up there until it drops away too quickly.

Decent body, decent glass at the right price and weight - that was always my goal, and why I switched from ff to m4/3 to mirrorless ff.

 

[gsgary]

This is a crappy shot with my A7 and Leica fit Voigtlander 40mmF1.4 Nokton

bit of shadow recovery

and a crop

and iso 16000

 

[fjrabon]

I've spent some time with the XT1, and I think it more or less fits the bill of what you're talking about. I think the a7 is a great camera, but I don't think it's actually much smaller than a dslr when you add in the lenses. I'd say it's often larger than your t4i is when you consider it requires full frame lenses, which are bigger and heavier.

The issue though you'll keep running into is more lens size than body size with this family of cameras though. Even the Xt1 isn't all that much smaller than a t4i if you have a decent lens on the XT1.

Though, to be totally honest, for backpacking landscape, I'd go with the LX100. I don't think the smaller sensor size is much of an issue, it's pocketable, has a built in zoom, so you don't have to worry with lenses. To me, it's the perfect backpacking camera.

I have an X100T and I LOVE it. But if I was only going for the concerns you mentioned above, I'd probably lean panasonic LX100

 

[The_Traveler]

Can't find a landscape shot (I don't do those) but here is a shot from OMD at 100% cropped from LR export.

 

[The_Traveler]

close as possible to landscape with A7

 

[mickel091]

I've spent some time with the XT1, and I think it more or less fits the bill of what you're talking about. I think the a7 is a great camera, but I don't think it's actually much smaller than a dslr when you add in the lenses. I'd say it's often larger than your t4i is when you consider it requires full frame lenses, which are bigger and heavier.

The issue though you'll keep running into is more lens size than body size with this family of cameras though. Even the Xt1 isn't all that much smaller than a t4i if you have a decent lens on the XT1.

Though, to be totally honest, for backpacking landscape, I'd go with the LX100. I don't think the smaller sensor size is much of an issue, it's pocketable, has a built in zoom, so you don't have to worry with lenses. To me, it's the perfect backpacking camera.

I have an X100T and I LOVE it. But if I was only going for the concerns you mentioned above, I'd probably lean panasonic LX100

Thanks, I was looking at the X100T too. Is there a reason why you liked the X100T over the XT1?