Experiences and advice please on a 'small' camera for 'street' shooting - any brand

(sorry some of the formatting has gone out)

When I goes on holiday I does mostly go up some big city or 'nother, an' I do fairly love to shoot them ol' street photos, yus I does.

this sort of thing

For some of the above I used my wife's panasonic compact (about 4 yrs old):

and What I liked about it was

1. fantastic zoom range (probably 35mm equivalent =24mm-700mm)
   
2. light and small enough to fit in a pocket though in practice it was in a small on-belt camera bag most of the time
   
3. small enough to be unobtrusive-people don't bat an eye even when you point it straight at them-especially at very long zoom
   
4. reasonable auto exposure, not too hard to fool into doing they way you want
   
5. IS
   

2. slow zoom response and very hard to get exact-miss lots of shots because of it
   
3. jpgs at 100% look blotchy even at low iso
   
4. no easy to use button to lock exposure and recompose
   
5. slow focussing
   
   

3. Zoom, not fixed focal length
   
4. a 35mm equivalent reach of 35mm -135mm MINIMUM with IS (longer is better, wider doesn't matter)
   
5. with a RESPONSIVE zoom control
   
6. FAST focussing - to capture 'that decisive moment'
   
7. Easy to implement auto-exposure-set and recompose
   
8. Great image quality at 100%--probably going to use for web viewing mostly but IQ good enough ability to print well up to A3 (A2 would be better but not expected)
   
9. RAW capability preferred but not 100% essential as long as the jpgs are really good
   
   

4. NO need for really high ISO, fast fps, video not important, flash not important, swivel LCD not important
   
5. don't need an EVF or viewfinder though if it has one , thats OK
   

Your desired zoom and the ability to put it even in a jacket pocket makes it difficult to get something with a bigger (1" or bigger) sensor.

For small compact, pocketable great image quality cameras the RX100 or G7x would be a great choice but they only go to about 100mm, even going a little smaller in sensor, to a 2/3 in the X30 the zoom is only around 100mm.

good points and thanks for the recommendtaions

You have made me think more precisely about size

Ithink something up to the size of teh Fuji 100T would be OK as I'll keep it either ina BIG pocket or ina a little belt based bag. I'd get that very camera if it had an internal zoom

I guess that's be my idealnow I come to think of it.


I really didlike the ability to zoom at least to 135 equivalent and I suppose no camera except either the larger form cameras (biiger than compacts but smaller than DSLrs) or the tiddly one have thse super zooms like my wife;s panny>

OK so any advice on which cameras have a zoom range of say 35 (ofr wider) to 135 at least - and which are no biogger than the fjui 100T?

thanks:

Do you have a chance to try different models of camera in a local store? I'm concerned about the response time you're looking for - I don't know of any bridge camera that is very responsive. Then again, I haven't looked at too many of them lately.

DoughnutPhoto wrote in post #17432945
Do you have a chance to try different models of camera in a local store? I'm concerned about the response time you're looking for - I don't know of any bridge camera that is very responsive. Then again, I haven't looked at too many of them lately.

not really thats the problem - I dont live in a big city and the only local town's camera shop mostly does repairs

I have been checking out DPreview though which has lots of reveiews and you're right, the smaller the cameras the less responsive they seem to become

there are some good deal sto be had on cameras like the Fuji Xpro1 , which leaves room to start witha small lens and build a system as time goes on but really the best small cameras have tiny zoom ranges, 24-70 ish, and I find having used my wife's Lumix that a wider range is what I fancy

looed at the new Lumix TZ70 which looks more responsive than my wife's older version but Id have to check the output, not sure about the IQ really, certainly won't be up to fuji X sensors but then the cameras start getting bigger.... Love the Fiji 100T but fancy zoom ...

I did try the Xpro 1 once but it was so slow and unresponsive it was no better than my wife lumix in response times

Strick wrote in post #17423946
Your desired zoom and the ability to put it even in a jacket pocket makes it difficult to get something with a bigger (1" or bigger) sensor.

For small compact, pocketable great image quality cameras the RX100 or G7x would be a great choice but they only go to about 100mm, even going a little smaller in sensor, to a 2/3 in the X30 the zoom is only around 100mm.

Did you know that a 1" sensor does not measure 1"?

IMO it is better to avoid stating sensor sizes using this misleading system and state the actual dimensions. For the RX100, the sensor measures 13.2 x 8.8mm. That's close to 1/2", way less than many people think.

Yes I am well aware of the sensor size. I am also aware of the fact that is what the sensor is referred to and I don't think it makes a difference what you call it........kinda like calling a 5d sensor "full frame". It is is just a term used to describe the sensor.

Strick wrote in post #17433273
Yes I am well aware of the sensor size. I am also aware of the fact that is what the sensor is referred to and I don't think it makes a difference what you call it........kinda like calling a 5d sensor "full frame". It is is just a term used to describe the sensor.

It is used for marketing purposes and is deceptive.

Im not too worried about sensor size descriptions as I am au-fait with the marketing nomenclature and the realities, so we dont need to sweat that one


Im also aware that sensor size and pixel count isnt everything, and will in fact take a sd card into a shop (though it will require a long trip) and try my final 3 when I manage to whittle it down to that.

In my searches I have found there is also the post processing that needs to be factored into the equation as fuji for example it seems don't play nicely with Lightroom or ACR. This isn't a problem is I decide that jpg will do - and it might if good enough- as I just want tis for street shooting so web sharing is a s big as they'll ever get. Also my first ever digital camera was a canon compact which I chose above the cometition because although lowe specced, once it hhad been through the computer it had the best files to look at (at that time).

Im beggining to realise my 'perfect' small camera doesnt exist. Eevn if I go for one of the littlest ones like the lumix TZ70 I doubt it will be highly responsive, but I will try it as its currently on my shortlist, though I am beginning ot drift toward accepting ammore limited focal range for better quality e.g with the LX100 also from panasonic

the other main contender is still the fuji system, Im asking myself whether I can carry something that size discreetly though, and by that I mean be able to forget about it and I think the answer will be no, shame though, lovely IQ and design

I Simonius wrote in post #17433928
Im not too worried about sensor size descriptions as I am au-fait with the marketing nomenclature and the realities, so we dont need to sweat that one


Im also aware that sensor size and pixel count isnt everything, and will in fact take a sd card into a shop (though it will require a long trip) and try my final 3 when I manage to whittle it down to that.

In my searches I have found there is also the post processing that needs to be factored into the equation as fuji for example it seems don't play nicely with Lightroom or ACR. This isn't a problem is I decide that jpg will do - and it might if good enough- as I just want tis for street shooting so web sharing is a s big as they'll ever get. Also my first ever digital camera was a canon compact which I chose above the cometition because although lowe specced, once it hhad been through the computer it had the best files to look at (at that time).

Im beggining to realise my 'perfect' small camera doesnt exist. Eevn if I go for one of the littlest ones like the lumix TZ70 I doubt it will be highly responsive, but I will try it as its currently on my shortlist, though I am beginning ot drift toward accepting ammore limited focal range for better quality e.g with the LX100 also from panasonic

the other main contender is still the fuji system, Im asking myself whether I can carry something that size discreetly though, and by that I mean be able to forget about it and I think the answer will be no, shame though, lovely IQ and design

The X-Pro1 is their largest body, all the others are smaller and some are really tiny. My X-E1 was small enough and light enough that I could cary it around the whole day without even really thinking about it (though this was with the XF 35mm attached). Fuji also has some lenses that would fit your description, but they're a bit heavier and bulkier.

To me it sounds like the micro four thirds system is your best option, there are a lot of great cameras and lenses to choose from with that system and most of them are very small and light. If I were in your shoes I'd look at the Panasonic GX7, Olympus EP-5 or EPL-7 and your choice of a couple of zooms to cover you from an effective 28-600mm (all it would take is a couple lenses).