Upcoming vacation - which small camera?

Microbois · Jan 27, 2015

Wow jtyson, you're a strange dude for sure... Reading your latest posts and you look like an experienced photographer who's been buying lots of stuff and tried lots of things too. It just contrasts so much with your initial quest to find the magic camera that does it all for you at perfection without any photographic knowledge. I sincerely don't think you are anywhere close to nail a model of camera that will be perfect for your needs. I think you will have to come to the conclusion that if you want beautiful shots in almost any kind of situations, you'll have to learn photography once for all and then carry the bulk of the good gear you need to acheive those great pictures. Or, you just do like I do about learning guitar : you dream about it, but you know you'll never do it, so in the meantime, you enjoy the best guitar players out there.

jtyson · Jan 28, 2015

I never said I was a complete beginner to it all. I've bought and sold an NEX-5, NEX-3, two D3100's, and an A55, all with a varying number of lenses and accessories. I never thoroughly enjoyed them, because I don't have the knowledge necessary to get the results desired, but none of them pleased me to the end I was hoping. So regardless of how capable they all were, none of them hit the mark close enough for me to stick with it. The A55 was close. I really liked that camera. It was just too big, and lugging it around wasn't something I enjoyed. Otherwise, I would probably still have that one, and would have taken more time to learn more about it. If something pleases me early on, even just a little, I'll give it a fair shot.

I have always been the type to buy and try, with everything I'm interested in. Cars, motorcycles, tools, cameras, computers, guns, etc. I am a quick fix sort of person. It is easier for me to buy a bunch of things, try them out, and if they aren't relatively instantly pleasing, I move on. I've never much enjoyed anything that took tons of work to enjoy as a hobby. That is more like a job. I am stuck dealing with that already, no sense in making more work in my off time.

You are correct in that I won't be able to find a magical camera. I was never looking for one. I was looking for the one closest to what my standards are. Sure, they won't be met, and I have accepted that, so I'm trying to find a middle ground. You clearly do not have a grasp on that concept, which you have made abundantly clear every single time you post in this thread. You're an all or nothing sort of person. Which is fine for you. Just not for me.

Microbois · Jan 28, 2015

jtyson said:
You clearly do not have a grasp on that concept, which you have made abundantly clear every single time you post in this thread. You're an all or nothing sort of person.

Hahahaha, you are absolutely correct about me. I'm totally an "all or nothing" type of person, and there's no such thing as middle ground for me. It's also stunning that I share most of your hobbies at the exception of cars maybe. I think where we are so different is that I don't see learning something new as "work" or something that can't be enjoyed along the way. I've learned photography by acquiring knowledge one step at the time, at my own pace, and this process is a lifetime endeavour.

That being said, if there's only one piece of advice I can give you, and it will certainly go against your grain, but it would be to make that small effort once to get a good grasp over the very core basic concepts of photography. You already have some of the knowledge, so it's really just a matter of putting it together and make sense out of it. You said you like middle ground, well, understanding just this out of photography is exactly being in the middle of your journey.

If you know how to expose your shots correctly, and how shutter speed, aperture, and ISO are interacting together, then seriously, you're pretty much done. With that very little knowledge, you will no longer have exposure problems or blurred pictures. When automatic programs aren't the answer, and it happens often, then you can go full manual to get exactly what you want. There's tons of stuff online to learn just this, but if you have access to the material that best suit your way of learning, which seems particular, then it's a matter of maybe 30 minutes of your time. No joke, I'm dead serious, and I can say you spent more time writing in this discussion than you would need to learn the basics. My brother showed me how to expose film correctly on his Pentax K-1000 when I was about 13 years old, it took me 10 minutes to pick it up entirely and I never forgot since. It's still the same fundamentals 30+ years later even though we are on digital. It's even easier today as we get instant feedback on our camera monitors.

Once you have that understanding, it may totally change your decision for your next camera. While it's your way to "buy and try", which is inexpensive and fun when buying donuts, it's another story with cameras that sell for several hundreds of dollars a piece. I don't know, but before spending my hard earned money, I'd like to make sure I won't end up deceived...

Anyway, this is my last post on this discussion. I've beaten up your poor dead horse too much already! Good luck!

jtyson · Jan 30, 2015

No luck in getting my hands on any of the cameras I've been looking into side by side. The two camera shops in town don't stock any Sony cameras or any pocket cameras. They told me my best bet is Best Buy. Which sucks because they never have everything I'm looking for and half of it has been trashed

chuasam · Jan 31, 2015

I hemmed and hawed over this one a lot. My dream small camera is the LX100 but I'll be just borrowing a Coolpix A for my vacation

jtyson · Feb 4, 2015

I'm still hemming and hawing. I'm thinking about a couple different kits, and I'd like opinions on price, and if the 55-210 lenses are worth paying the extra money for, or if I should just buy a body, attach the 18-55 e mount lens I have on my NEX3 and save the cash. Honestly is the a6000 worth the upgrade over the a5100? I'm not a huge fan of electronic viewfinders anyway, so if that is the main benefit I doubt it would be worth it. But I'm curious if the AF is much faster?

Also, I went to look at a used Canon G1X today. First model, not the MK II. That seemed like a rather neat camera. I totally understand it would be near useless for moving objects, but as a vacation style camera, considering it reaches out further than the RX100, would it be a good option? The vast majority of my photos will be landscapes, buildings, people, etc. The guy wants $300 for it. Would it be worth it? Or would the money just be better spent towards one of these Sonys? I know it isn't nearly as portable as the RX100, but I know the sensor is much larger and the zoom range is better.

Sony a5100 Wi-fi Mirrorless Digital Camera 16-50mm and 55-210mm Lens Bundle
Sony a6000 Wi-fi Mirrorless Digital Camera 16-50mm and 55-210mm Lens Bundle

**Edit**

It is entirely possible that I have found a cheap and relatively awesome answer to my pocket question (which could in turn make my camera decision all the more difficult). The spiderholster. While I don't think I would want a giant full frame camera hanging from my belt, This definitely opens up more options for a larger bodied camera. Maybe a superzoom like the RX10? Or one of the Sony A cameras with a more well suited general purpose lens? Or maybe even go back to a small DSLR like the A55 or D5300?

Amazon.com SpiderHolster Black Widow Spider Camera Holster for Lightweight DSLRs and Point-and-shoot Came Photographic Equipment Bag Accessories Camera Photo

jtyson · Feb 28, 2015

Well, I have hands on a lightly used Sony A6000. I tried playing with it a bit a couple days ago at a birthday party for my grandpa, and it is fair to say that I need to spend some time figuring it out before I make a decision one way or another. I don't understand the camera very well at all, so beyond taking some time to learn about the actual photography aspect, the next week or two is going to be hardware learning primarily.

I bought the body and some chargers, and I'm just using it with the two e mount lenses I have already - 18-55mm and 16mm prime. I know they aren't stellar, but I think they'll more than suit me for my purposes. Good news is, I got the camera for a pretty good price, so if I try it out for a bit and decide I don't like it, I should be able to get my money back out of it or at least not lose too much.