Leaving SLRs behind for something compact

I'm a hobbyist photographer and used to be much more involved with photography than I am now. Work takes up too much time nowadays. I own 3 amateur Canon Rebel dSLR bodies, a Canon 10-22mm, Tamron 28-75 and Canon 70-200mm F4L. This combination worked great, but during my recent vacations, I realized I was hesitant to lug so much hardware around. During my last trip, I only brought my 28-75, but even then, I didn't bring it out daily. I was using my phone (iphone 7) more and more, despite the poorer quality.

At this point, I considering abandoning DSLRs and multiple lenses for something that I can fit in my pocket or a small bag. I just don't know what is good. I'd still want high quality photos, a wide focal range, Av/Tv/M options and RAW capabilities. I realize I want all the good parts of DSLRs without the bad stuff, so it might not be completely realistic. Any suggestions?

My wife had a 5D with 24-105L (v1). Over time, it'd only go out on big vacations, as she too, was using her phone more and more, despite the quality of pics from an iPhone 8. She now has an EOS M5 with a few EF-M lenses and couldn't be happier. She now takes it everywhere. It's light, it's portable, and while there aren't tons of EF-M lenses, yet, I suspect more and more will be out there soon enough. Given the wave of mirrorless tech coming out, recently. For her, the EF-M 11-22 & 18-150 fit the bill for most everything...and the primes (EF-M 22mm, EF 50 1.8stm (adapted)) cover most everything she'd shoot, anyway.

Just a suggestion...as there's tons of other little cameras out there, in the mirrorless world. All about what suits your style, budget, etc. Sony, Panasonic, Fuji, Noink, etc. etc. All great in their own ways, not so great in others. Lens expenses; consider those a huge factor, too. Some can get pricey vs. their Canon counterparts.

GL!

I rate my Lumix LX100 very highly for its combination of capabilities, size and image quality. It has replaced my DSLRs on short trips, days out etc and almost made them redundant on all but the special holidays/vacations.

I chose it mostly for the lens, which is good quality and fast for a compact. Shoots excellent video, too.

There are so many options out there so it depends on what you are looking for. There is a big difference between a pocket size camera and a camera that needs a small bag. Also, what's your budget? Canons PowerShot G1 X III basically delivers a Canon's 24MP APS-C sensor and DIGIC 7 in a compact, fixed lens camera which is significantlysmaller than a 7DII and smaller than the Rebels as well. Might be worth looking into.

When I travel on business, photography is incidental to me, an adjunct to the purpose of my travel. The camera on the left is what I bring as unobtrusive and easily kept in a shirt pocket, unlike the camera on the right. BTW, that S110 is plenty fine on quality and flexibility of control (and in the film days I used to insist upon medium format and large format for jobs shot professionally, as relative measure of quality that I have insisted upon)_

Check out the Canon G7X Mark II, which is now my travel camera when I want to take something extremely small and lightweight. A slightly bigger option with interchangeable lenses is the Canon SL2, which I also own and which is still fairly compact. Those are the two small cameras that I own and can recommend. As I don't own a small mirrorless camera I can not speak to that option.

I love the size of the G7X II and G1X III. On paper, they do seem like they have the capabilities of a DSLR. Seems like what I would want, but I really do wonder if I'll miss the super wide and telephoto ranges.

I was tempted by the Lumix ZS50/70 models because of their telephoto abilities, but they don't seem like they'd be able to pull of nice narrow DOF shots and would end up as another P&S camera. My wife's family has a Canon Powershot SX40 HS, which was a superzoom in its day and, honestly, the camera is near unusable outside of point and shoot options.

I have owned a couple versions of Canon’s G Series and currently have a G15. It is my choice if I have a non work trip or vacation.

ghostman wrote in post #18788128
I love the size of the G7X II and G1X III. On paper, they do seem like they have the capabilities of a DSLR. Seems like what I would want, but I really do wonder if I'll miss the super wide and telephoto ranges.

I was tempted by the Lumix ZS50/70 models because of their telephoto abilities, but they don't seem like they'd be able to pull of nice narrow DOF shots and would end up as another P&S camera. My wife's family has a Canon Powershot SX40 HS, which was a superzoom in its day and, honestly, the camera is near unusable outside of point and shoot options.

If you are concerned about the super wide and telephoto ranges, then I recommend the SL2 over the G7X MKII. You can get EF-S 10-18, 18-55, & 55-250 lenses for it. You can also get pancake lenses that work well. Everything seems to be a trade-off, but the G7X MKII does not have the range that you can get with the SL2. When you really need to stay small, just use the SL2 with a pancake lens.

If you still want the creativity of changing lenses, and also want to be able to use your existing lenses from time to time, and finally want to be able to generate an image that is close to a FF quality, then the M series, like the M5, M6 or M50 might interest you.

It is an APS C like your Rebels, it has the newest sensor, it is very compact, the M lenses are very tiny, you can get an EF to EFM mount adapter to use your EF/EFS lenses, and you can get a .71x Speedbooster that will convert the camera to a 1.1 crop (almost FF) with a 1 stop reduction on your lenses, making them "faster" for light transmission.

If you have access to a store that has these Canon cameras on display, check them out and then compare to the M50 to see how the size fits you.

The camera, 2 lenses and 2 adapters, should I want to go to a FF look with my EF/EFS lenses, or just use them as, weighs about 2.5lbs.

The 55-200 is as big as the 18-55 EFS, and the 15-45 is much smaller yet again.

When I’m wanting to travel light but still have the flexibility of shooting in Raw and with interchangeable lenses I take my M6 with me. The results from it have been good and I like that I can add the viewfinder or leave it off depending on what I am shooting and whether I just want to stuff the camera in a pocket!

Phoenixuk wrote in post #18788951
When I’m wanting to travel light but still have the flexibility of shooting in Raw and with interchangeable lenses I take my M6 with me. The results from it have been good and I like that I can add the viewfinder or leave it off depending on what I am shooting and whether I just want to stuff the camera in a pocket!

If you still have EF/EFS glass, that Viltrox is a nice addition to the kit. My Sigma 50 1.4 acts like a 55mm f1.0 on the M50.

I agree with TeamSpeed - and he didn't even show off the most compact and low light capability with the M series and EF-M 22mm f/2.

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For me, any camera that uses interchangeable lenses would be overkill and simply too large for a convenient, pocketable travel camera. I consider my fixed-lens Lumix LX100 to be barely small enough to qualify.

However, the gap in capability and IQ between truly compact cameras and current smartphones such as the Huawei P20 Pro has more or less vanished save for the zoom lens on the compact.

My cheap-as-chips dumbphone (ZTE S6) is dying, so I have decided to pay a bit more for something that takes better snaps this time, the LG G7 ThinQ. I bought my wife the Huawei P20 Pro and it impressed the heck out of me, but with the LX100 available to me, I didn't want to spend that much on my own phone, hence the LG. It cost AUD690 delivered, almost half what I paid for the P20 Pro, and I chose it mainly for the 'wide angle' cameras, because I frequently find the narrow angle of view offered by most phones their biggest limitation for my style of snapping, especially on holiday.

Well, I guess we will see what works for ghostman, now that we have listed different options.