Lovephotography Loc: San Diego

Hi,
I am a first time poster here!
I have been collecting and using Nikon equipment for many years. As I am in my senior years, I find it is extremely hard for me to hold a lot of my cameras and lenses.
I am looking for any suggestions on lightweight equipment I can purchase. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Kathy

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Stick with what you have. Use a monopod.

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Welcome to the forums.
What is your budget, and what do you normally photograph?

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

My wife and I are in our senior years too.

She has a Sony RX10 IV and a Panasonic ZS100 for a purse camera. Loves them both.

My choice for lighter/smaller was a Panasonic M4/3 body with a very long wildlife lens and a shorter all around lens. Total weight is about 5 pounds. I love my gear!

JohnR Loc: The Gates of Hell

Hi Kathy and welcome. As to your camera choice well it depends a great deal and what you like to shoot however basically if you want lighter camera/removable lens combinations then you need to look at M4/3 from Olympus or Panasonic. Nikon did have some nice 1" sensor cameras but have discontinued them. If you want to go really light and small then Sony or Panasonic have several 1" sensor compacts which do a great job where there's plenty of light. They are a bit limited for low light situations. Anyway good luck with your quest and good shooting.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Welcome to the forum.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

What is it that you are using that you want to find something lighter/smaller than?

If you are using a DSLR, you won’t find mirrorless any smaller or lighter. You would probably want to look at micro four thirds.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Hi Kathy. I am also a user of Nikon equipment since switching to digital about 15 years ago. Before that, I had amassed a significant collection of Olympus OM film equipment. Others have asked what you have now and what you shoot now. That is an important question, because there really isn't an ergonomically significant difference in the weight of cameras from one brand or format to another. (I am a retired industrial engineer, and managing this sort of thing is what I did for 40 years.)

The real difference in weight and in the weight distribution (even more important) is in the lenses. So a better (not to mention cheaper and less operationally impactful) approach is to see what you can do about figuring out a way to use different lenses to accomplish your photographic goals. If your cameras are fairly recent, there may be some surprising changes that you can make without impacting either your photographs or how you achieve them without ditching everything you have learned to use and to be comfortable with. And once you start thinking a little differently, you are likely to find that you can figure out what to do on your own, without having to navigate all the well-intentioned but sometimes misguided advice you are going to receive here.

I do not claim to have the final answer for you, but will be glad to suggest some things to think about once you can give us a little more information.

Welcome to the forum.

Urnst Loc: Brownsville, Texas

I use Micro 4 thirds equipment because the cameras and lenses are small and light. Other formats also offer small cameras but their lenses are still much larger than MFT.

Bill_de Loc: US

The Nikon Z50 with the 2 kit lenses is a pretty nice setup. I own the kit and use it, although my heavier gear does get more use.

Of course you would need to get it into your hands to see if it fits.

https://www.adorama.com/nkz50k2.html

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GerryER Loc: Virginia USA

A nice bridge camera may be all you need. You have the advantage of wide-angle to telephoto in a nice light package. Nikon made some nice ones; I don't know if they still do. I have an older Kodak Z981 which I believe is a 14Mp camera and an Olympus IS-10 (film Version), which do very well. If you want to be able to change lenses, then an Olympus M4/3 like the OMD series is light and quite capable. I have the OMD E-M5 with the 14-150mm lens, and I carry Sigma 19, 30 and 60mm prime lenses with me, but mostly use the 14-150 kit lens.

Lovephotography Loc: San Diego

I have Nikon d750 and I go to a lot of zoos. I love shooting animals. I use a 70/300 Nikon lens an 80/400 Nikon. I have not been able to use my 70/200 as it’s 2.8 and too heavy. I have rented Canon and they seem to be lighter in weight. I am a Nikon person but may have to try Canon.

Lovephotography Loc: San Diego

Thanks for the suggestion.

Lovephotography Loc: San Diego

Thank you

Lovephotography Loc: San Diego

I do have a monopod but when shooting animals I find it too restrictive. Thanks.