Good Move To Switch To Compact?

Andrew_Smith

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Hi guys,

I was thinking about selling my whole DSLR gear and to use that money to buy a decent compact camera.

The reason for this is portability. I am a passionate MTB'er (as seen in an older post of mine in March) and really want to capture the beautiful landscape and scenery when I ride. I cannot do it with my current gear and my phone does not take great pictures. Also, I love to take in RAW and edit the photos when I get back home. I mainly like to capture landscape shots because I am an outdoor person and love the nature.

Okay, I know I can get a GoPro 5 but I rather buy a compact camera. So I browsed through my local camera store (ORMS) and saw this:

Fujifilm X70 (the silver one, looks amazing!)

ORMS does offer a trade-in program, so I would contact them to see if I can trade my current gear for the X70.

BUT... Before I do all this. Is this a wise move? I want to become a journalism, more specific a writer/photographer for a bicycle magazine. So I want to combine journalism with photography and cycling. Or should I rather keep my current gear?

Would appreciate your guys' input/opinion.

Thanks.

~ André
 
Go for it.

A high-quality compact camera in your pocket beats a high-quality DSLR left behind.
 
Some people want the memories, and the photos, of their activities; other people, perhaps many here, have other desires for their photography, and that might include tinkering with cameras and lenses and gear to a degrre that would be too much "camera-wrangling" for a MTB'er. SO, yeah, sure, if you want to focus more on the pictures, and on enjoying the MTB experience, I'd definitely consider a compact camera The compact would allow you to focus more on enjoying your riding, and worrying less about the photography equipment. Focus more on getting the photos, and less on dinking around with the camera setup.
 
If you want to excel in photography, in particular if you want to excel in MTB photography, don't.

I am a former photojournalist. I completely understand the level of expectation from editors/publications and the level of competition one has to overcome to be successful in this genre of photography, (at least in the Los Angeles marketplace).

No compact/Point & Shoot, especially one with a fixed 18.5mm lens and no viewfinder, will consistently capture the exceptional image desired by most publications. If your approach to the very very competitive career is to stress writing, with a slight emphasis on 'art' ... just something to set the scene ... then a point & shoot would work and the Fuji point & shoot has superior image quality of any point & shoot.

If you want to stress photography or be the complete package, writing and photography, then a Point & Shoot will be the weakest link and your undoing. If you want to stress cycling over journalism and want something better than a cell phone but not as heavy and cumbersome as a dSLR, then the Fuji is just fine.

You have to make a choice, if you desire to be a professional journalist/photojournalist or an MTB'er? Then you have to choose between riding geared up to ride or riding geared up to shoot. You cannot do both at the same time and expect to be taken serious as either a MTB'er or a journalist. Journalism and MTB-ing are both so competitive that a compromise of either activity will result in a compromised end product. You can do both and excel, but not at the same time.

I would look at mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. They are much smaller and lighter than dSLR's and as capable. The better ones are weather-sealed and durable. (Not as durable as a flagship Nikon or Canon, but then you're not paying $6000USD for the body alone.) Sony, Fuji, Olympus and Panasonic manufacturer some of the better mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras.

When mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras first hit the marketplace, their ability to focus on fast moving subjects was horrible. The tracking ability of mirrorless has significantly improved, while not on par with a $6000USD, 3.3 pound, dSLR, it should be sufficient for your needs.

Good luck and good shooting.
 
Isn't MTB just mountain biking? I am not 100% sure what, exactly, we're talking about here....I thought the OP wanted some nice photos of trail snaps from something like a $999 Sony X-series or other similar compact camera? You know, the camera class that is so good that converted/processed images look like they were taken with a d-slr or mirrorless camera, and it has the more-or-less equivalent spec. of a 28-200mm f/2.8 lens and the so-called 1-inch sensor.

I was confusing this fellow, Andrew, with solar (??), or the other MTB poster who was looking for a new Nikon zoom lens for his MTB pics a month or so back. Re-reading the post...I would NOT count on a single focal length, inexpensive camera for publisher-submitted shots, but if you vcan afford a GOOD compact, like one of the Sony X-series models, you'd have a very sharp Zeiss-branded zoom, f/2.8 aperture, and plenty of focal lengths to choose from when making your photos.

But I'm unsure what the issue really is: do you want photos for yourself and a camera that does not impinge on your riding enjoyment, or are you looking for 'permission' to buy an expensive camera to justify possibly submitting images to pubs,etc.? You have to make a decision: serious photography, or more pleasure-centric rides and snaps that recall the fun times tyou had on rides.

Budget is an issue, sure. To me, $1,000 to $1,299 seems to be a reasonable minimum to get into the high-grade, "1-inch sensor" size compacts (not really one inch, but the absolute largest compact camera sensor size curently).
 
Firstly, thanks for all the replies.

@Gary A. Thanks for your time and effort for the reply. Was a very good read and learned from it too. I hear your point and I totally agree with you hands down. Like you stated, I want to be 'the complete package'. And really want to do this as a career, of course after studying (still in school, my last year). Good reasoning from your side too. I would love to check out the mirrorless range, but I feel that South Africa does not offer a lot of mirrorless lenses and they are darn expensive.

I am a passionate MTB'er, but would not see me in doing this professionally in South Africa. I feel that I would stand a better chance in journalism (with photography combined, as this is my second passion). Hopefully, later on, I can be seen by an oversea company and get the opportunity to work with them, opening doors. I only wanted to focus on photography, but here in South Africa things are tight, hence the reason why I want to combine it with journalism. And yes, if journalism does not work out, I'll fall back to photography only.

@Derrel Thanks for the reply. Short and sweet answer: Serious photographer.
 
Image quality wise the class of compact cameras with a fixed lens (Ricoh GR, Fuji X70 and the X100 line, Leica X line except for the X-Vario, Nikon Coolpix A, Leica Q, ...) is certainly competitive with DSLRs. For certain tasks they are even preferable (small, silent).

I dont think its a good choice for sports photography though. For that I would always want a Canikon DSLR, or a Pentax or the Fuji X-T2. Exchangeable lenses, all kinds of lenses available, focus tracking etc is all way mandatory in my mind for this.

Yes you can shoot sports with the Ricoh GR (thanks to its extended fixed focus logic), the Fuji X100f (since it now has more or less the same autofocus as the X-T2), and the Leica Q (which has Panasonics improved contrast autofocus algorithm to be very quick), but the fixed focal strongly limits your options.

I am certainly not someone to recomment zooms over prime lenses but for some tasks zooms are preferable. Sports certainly is an example, because you cannot "zoom with your feet" during sports.
 
Hi guys,

I was thinking about selling my whole DSLR gear and to use that money to buy a decent compact camera.

The reason for this is portability. I am a passionate MTB'er (as seen in an older post of mine in March) and really want to capture the beautiful landscape and scenery when I ride. I cannot do it with my current gear and my phone does not take great pictures. Also, I love to take in RAW and edit the photos when I get back home. I mainly like to capture landscape shots because I am an outdoor person and love the nature.
BUT... Before I do all this. Is this a wise move? I want to become a journalism, more specific a writer/photographer for a bicycle magazine. So I want to combine journalism with photography and cycling. Or should I rather keep my current gear?

Would appreciate your guys' input/opinion.
Thanks.

~ André

could be, also look at mirrorless cameras
portable ... small ... cycling ... captures beautiful pictures
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless
 
Hi guys,

I was thinking about selling my whole DSLR gear and to use that money to buy a decent compact camera.

The reason for this is portability. I am a passionate MTB'er (as seen in an older post of mine in March) and really want to capture the beautiful landscape and scenery when I ride. I cannot do it with my current gear and my phone does not take great pictures. Also, I love to take in RAW and edit the photos when I get back home. I mainly like to capture landscape shots because I am an outdoor person and love the nature.
BUT... Before I do all this. Is this a wise move? I want to become a journalism, more specific a writer/photographer for a bicycle magazine. So I want to combine journalism with photography and cycling. Or should I rather keep my current gear?

Would appreciate your guys' input/opinion.
Thanks.

~ André

could be, also look at mirrorless cameras
portable ... small ... cycling ... captures beautiful pictures
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless
Wow I got to get me one of them there mirrorless thing-a-ma-jigs. Here I always thought it was the photographer that captured beautiful pictures and that the camera was just a tool. ;)
 
I would just keep using the 1200D right now and add a 24mm pancake to keep it small, overall it is a lightweight kit. Later I would add a small telephoto such as the 55-250mm zoom or 100 f/2 prime.

I think you want an interchangeable lens camera body. I usually find I don't need to get all the shots on one trip for a story, so I only take one lens with me at a time. I find that also helps me to think ahead for the shot I want and plan out where to be and just go to the spot, pull out the camera and get the shot. If it has taken an hour ride to get there you don't want to be changing lenses, or to have carried the extra weight.

When you start doing this professionally then look at a new camera system that will meet your needs at that time.
 

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