sinderone

On my recent trip to Europe, I came to the conclusion that while I love the results, my D7100 plus lenses is just getting to heavy to shlep around. So now it’s time to decide what’s next. Point and shoot? 4/3’s? Mirrorless? My requirements are these; light, quality results close to my slr, a reasonably long zoom (minimally 200+mm), good low light results, a viewfinder and good reliability. I shoot mostly in aperture and shutter priority.

Suggestions plus pros and cons of each type?

Thanks in advance.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Good luck in your search. You'll get advice on every camera offered.

moonhawk Loc: Land of Enchantment

Olympus micro 4/3 with the 12-100 zoom. (24-200 FoV equivalent). If you need weather sealing, go for the em-1 mark II. Unbelievably sharp combo, and the only lens you need. Makes for an excellent travel kit.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Consider the Fuji X-T2 (or the new X-T3 flagship) paired with the Fuji XF 18-135mm lens (27 to 203mm equiv.).
The X-T2’s large APS-C sensor is far superior to that of the M4/3 cameras. The camera has numerous creative settings, including Fuji’s popular Film Simulations. Good luck with making your choice. — Ralph

markwilliam1

Check out the Sony RX10 M4 you’ll never look back!

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

There are several good ones out there, but my favorites are Panasonic and Sony. Might want to look at the Panasonic Lumix ZS200. It has a 20mp sensor, 24-360mm 35mm equivalent Zeiss lens, max ISO 12,800, all the modes you want like P, A, S, M, scenes, shake reduction, raw format, .... Just under $800. From Sony, look at the RX100 VI with a 20mp sensor, Zeiss 24-200mm f2.8/4.5 zoom, ISO 12,800, image stabilization, ... , but now your talking $1200.

Paul J. Svetlik Loc: Colorado

I see your rquest as a three way sensor format choice:

In your shoes I woul only expand on what moonhawk suggests here: Olympus micro 4/3
Or Sony a6000 (has an eye focus lock, EVF) and with something like 16-70mm zoom (APS-C sensor and 1.5 crop factor) you may get a zoom - for almost for anyting? If you need longer lens, you would have just one extra lens to carry. I found it a super camera for my travel.
The other choice I would consider, would be a Panasonic 1" sensor - like DMC ZS 1000, 2000, etc. in their line of very capable cameras, everybody here (including me) likes. Sony makes a very similar camera, but will cost you twice as much.

Good Luck!

timcc Loc: Virginia

Sony's APS-C line -- the a6000, a6300 and a6500 -- would meet all your requirements. I've had an a6000 for several years and love it, especially for travel.

PROS: Excellent IQ, lightweight, EVF, decent low-light performance, good selection of lenses, and reliable. You could get even better IQ and low-light performance with Sony's full-frame mirrorless line, but their lenses tend to weigh as much as DSLR lenses. Capture One has an outstanding post-processing program: a free version for Sony cameras, and a discounted pro version for Sony cameras.

CONS: The a6000 is not weather-resistant (not sure about the newer a6300 and a6500 models). The Sony menu system can appear a bit challenging at first sight, because it includes everything anyone might possibly want to tweak, but once you know which settings you normally adjust while shooting, it is easy to assign them to buttons or a quick menu on the back of the camera.

Micro 4/3 cameras are lighter, both in body and in lenses, but they have a substantially smaller sensor, so IQ and low-light performance may not be as good as the larger APS-C and full-frame cameras.
Fuji also makes an excellent APS-C camera, although it is slightly bigger and heavier than the Sony a6xxx line.

Bottom line: there are lots of very good cameras for you to choose from. Good luck!

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

Moonhawk is absolutely right.... 12-100 on the MII will give you a one lens, one body solution with double IS if used with the mark II. Superb sharpness and an equiv. FF 24-200 FOV. What more can you ask for.....

sinderone

Thanks to all for your reply’s. I feel like the blind men and the elephant. I’ll investigate all of your suggestions in detail. In the end it’s always a bit of a crap shoot. BTW, as I’m heading for Morocco, China and Tibet in the next year, weather sealing might not be the worst idea. Thanks again.

PVR8 Loc: Raleigh, NC

[quote=sinderone]On my recent trip to Europe, I came to the conclusion that while I love the results, my D7100 plus lenses is just getting to heavy to shlep around. So now it’s time to decide what’s next.Suggestions plus pros and cons of each type?

Actually you can get great pictures from a point and shoot camera. When I don't want to carry my dslr (D7100) I use my Coolpix S9500 p&s camera and I've gotten many great shots with it. I've read that the S9900 is even more fantastic p&s camera with great features and you can put it in your pocket. With a little editing you can make the photos from a good p&s camera as great as you like.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

APS-C mirrorless would give you the closest to your D7100's image quality, choice of various interchangeable lenses like a DSLR, while being more compact and lighter weight.

Mirrorless come in smaller m4/3 format, the same or similar APS-C format as your DSLR, as well as bigger full frame format and even medium format.

Full frame and medium format mirrorless would be as large or larger and heavier than what you presently use. A full frame mirrorless body itself might be a little bit smaller, but the lenses need to be full frame capable and will necessarily be bigger & heavier than APS-C/crop sensor lenses. Sony and Leica full frame mirrorless have been around for some years now. Nikon and Canon have announced FF mirrorless, but they won't be in stores until next month and there are very limited native lenses for them planned for the next two or three years, so they will be quite dependent upon adapting full frame capable DSLR system lenses for some time to come. Supposedly Panasonic will be introducing a FF model soon, too. To have "up to 200mm on D7100/DX/APS-C" equivalent on a FF mirrorless, you'd need a 300mm lens on full frame.... bigger and heavier. Only the Sony system has native lenses like that, right now.

APS-C mirrorless use the same or very close to the same size sensor in your D7100. Sony, Fujifilm and Canon offer mirrorless using this format sensor. All three have lenses up to 200mm. The Canon EOS M system is the newest of these and has the least selection of lenses at this point in time, but does offer a zoom to 200mm, among others. All Sony a6000 series and all Fuji mirrorless (except for their medium format GFX) are this format and each system has a fairly large selection of lenses. For what you want... this format mirrorless is probably your best bet. Nikon doesn't make or appear to have any plans to make an APS-C mirrorless (they built their now-discontinued Nikon 1 system around smaller 1" sensors.... but were the only manufacturer to attempt and support that smaller format).

m4/3 format is slightly smaller than APS-C, but pretty close to the image quality and has potential to be smaller and lighter... check out Olympus and Panasonic systems, the lenses of which are interchangeable between the two.

Most point n shoot use smaller or much smaller sensor than your D7100.... and as a result will have reduced image quality and far lower usable ISO.

Only a very few P&S use APS-C size sensors like your DSLR and those have restricted zoom range (and, since these are by definition non-interchangeable lens cameras, no easy way to change the zoom range other than adding auxiliary lenses that further reduce IQ to some extent). Fujifilm, Canon, Leica and Ricoh make P&S cameras using this size sensor, which would give the closest to the same IQ as your DSLR. However, the P&S that use these sensors often do not have zooms at all, but instead use a slightly wide angle prime lens. The Canon G1X Mark III is one of the few with a zoom lens, but it's a 3X with full frame equivalent 24-72mm (which is equiv. to roughly 18-50mm zoom on your D7100... nowhere near the "200mm" you wanted).

Relatively few P&S uses m4/3 size sensor. Panasonic and Leica make some. All these use relatively narrow range 3X zooms that max out around 75mm (full frame equiv.) So none would provide the "200mm on APS-C" that you want.

With APS-C and m4/3 format sensor P&S, "auxiliary lenses" that attach to the front may be available, to give you approx. or closer to the "200mm on APS-C/DX" equivalent you want (aux. lenses are also avail. to render wider angle and macro/close-up). These will compromise IQ to some extent, essentially magnifying any shortcomings of the camera's built in zoom lens.

Some P&S use a so-called 1" or CX sensor, which is large in P&S terms, but only about one third the area your D7100's APS-C/DX sensor. Sony, Canon, Leica and Panasonic all make models using this size sensor. You will find a few from Panasonic and Leica with 1" sensors and zooms giving close to as much or more telephoto reach than what you wanted (250mm to 400mm FF equiv.) Canon's and Sony's 1"/CX P&S use more limited range zooms. IQ and high ISO capability will not be fully up to your DSLR's... but better than a lot of P&S (see below).

Since you want a viewfinder, you probably will only want to consider a "bridge style" P&S.... These are "DSLR like" in appearance and function, except they are a bit more compact and, of course, have non-interchangeable lenses.

A lot of P&S from various manufacturers use tiny 1/2.3" or 1/2.5" size sensors (much like "camera phones").... Especially the P&S with the extreme range zooms use this type. These can be quite compact, but with snesosr that are 1/10 or less the area of your D7100's, will have nowhere near the IQ and high ISO performance of your DSLR, so probably should be avoided. I won't go into more detail here.

Here's a sensor format discussion you might find useful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_sensor_format

Hope this helps! Have fun shopping.

sinderone

Thank for you very informative reply. After reading it I think I’ll focus, no pun intended, on the mirrorless systems. I agree that the p&s wont satisfy me. The bridge cameras, while versatile, are too large. I would just take my D7100. It’s been all over the world with me and never let me down. This whole exercise is all about weight and bulk.

Thank you again for your reply.

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

I’ll second this suggestion. We were recently on safari in Africa and my friend took his new Sony RX10 iv with him. His images rivaled the ones I got using my Nikon D7200 with the Tamron 150-600 G2. I was so surprised with his camera that I may very well purchase one for our next big adventure.

markwilliam1

The Sony RX10 M4 is not that large or heavy. You can carry it around all day with no fatigue! It becomes large when that massive 600mm zoom lens is extended. It is a very expensive camera but for what it’s capable of it’s worth every penny! My 2 cents.