SL1 (100D) as travel, hiking, camping camera, or something else?

I need a camera that I can travel and hike with, but that ideally won't leave me wishing I'd brought a nicer camera with me, particularly when visiting places like national parks and vacation destinations on trips that are primarily family vacations, not photo expeditions. Particularly when hiking, weight is an issue and lighter is better. I de-gripped my 6D, but it's still too heavy and I don't have any lightweight wide angle lens for it. I also have an iPhone 6S, so I want something that is a proper camera that can shoot RAW files, not a point and shoot.

Currently, the SL1 is the top contender. Who here uses one of these as a second camera, and is it working out, or do you wish you has something else? I briefly considered a Powershot G series, but there don't seem to be any that go truly wide angle, like the 16mm equivalent I can get with the 10-18mm on the SL1. That said, I have not even investigated any of the various mirrorless options, that world is unknown to me. Is there something in that realm that I should look into?

If I go with an SL1, I'll likely get the 10-18 and either use the 18-55 STM it comes with, or one of the STM lenses I already own (24mm, 40mm, 50mm). Not sure if I need a long lens for this kit, but if I do, it will be the 55-250 STM which is a bit bulky but fairly light (at least compared to my Sigma 150-600 which is decidedly not a lens I want to backpack with).

absplastic wrote in post #18050794
I need a camera that I can travel and hike with, but that ideally won't leave me wishing I'd brought a nicer camera with me, particularly when visiting places like national parks and vacation destinations on trips that are primarily family vacations, not photo expeditions. Particularly when hiking, weight is an issue and lighter is better. I de-gripped my 6D, but it's still too heavy and I don't have any lightweight wide angle lens for it. I also have an iPhone 6S, so I want something that is a proper camera that can shoot RAW files, not a point and shoot.

Currently, the SL1 is the top contender. Who here uses one of these as a second camera, and is it working out, or do you wish you has something else? I briefly considered a Powershot G series, but there don't seem to be any that go truly wide angle, like the 16mm equivalent I can get with the 10-18mm on the SL1. That said, I have not even investigated any of the various mirrorless options, that world is unknown to me. Is there something in that realm that I should look into?

If I go with an SL1, I'll likely get the 10-18 and either use the 18-55 STM it comes with, or one of the STM lenses I already own (24mm, 40mm, 50mm). Not sure if I need a long lens for this kit, but if I do, it will be the 55-250 STM which I understand is bulky but fairly light (at least compared to my Sigma 150-600 which is decidedly not a lens I want to backpack with).

I have the SL1 and think it is great. The advantages compared to a pocket camera are that its viewfinder is much better (therefore much more suitable in bright sun and for focusing when doing closeups), and of course it takes EF and EF-S lenses. So it is a fine backup body, and I usually take it along on photo excursion to back up my 7D2.

Of course it is much less of a camera than (say) the 7D2, but does fine in most situations. If the 7D2 failed and I had to go to the SL1, I would miss the frame rate when doing birds, and the ability to select 1/3 f stops when doing macro.

The 18-55mm STM is a great little lens and equals or outperforms my 17-55mm/2.8 (except obviously in speed).

I use my SL1 fairly often on trips just because it is so lightweight and yet still has decent IQ. The STM line of lenses leave nothing on the table as far as IQ. The 55-250STM is very sharp and does a standup job with tracking for BIF shots.

I have the 10-18STM, but I haven't really put it to use yet as we haven't traveled anywhere to use it since I bought it. The SL1 with the 24mm or 40mm pancake is quite small, although not really pocket size.

I waffled back and forth over the SL1 and the Fuji X-T1, but in the end I decided to stay with a body I already had lenses for and could get quite cheaply. I grabbed a refurb using stacked codes for just under $200 before taxes. That made the decision easier.

M_Six wrote in post #18050818
I waffled back and forth over the SL1 and the Fuji X-T1, but in the end I decided to stay with a body I already had lenses for and could get quite cheaply.

That is the best thing the SL1 has going for it for me too, EF compatibility and familiarity. Right now, my 6D gets no use, and I figure that if I go with the SL1, I can sell it and not work about being without backup at a paid gig. My assumption is that the SL1's IQ is equivalent to my former 60D, which was perfectly adequate for ISO 100 studio work. My wife has the 10-18mm on that 60D now, and it is surprisingly almost as good as the 16-35 f/4 L, with the exception of flare resistance. I haven't tried the 18-55 STM yet, but I had the 18-55 IS II and the 17-55 f/2.8, and if the STM is as good or better than these, it will do just fine.

Get one!
I sold my 100D and got a G1X2. The G1X2 was bought as an underwater camera (used with the Canon housing).
The G1X2 now doubles as a small go anywhere camera, results are great but user experience is not.
I find the same problem with most small cams: always pushing buttons I did not intend to, struggle using their menu system, awkward to hold.
The 100D has a grip, shutter button and front dial where I expect them to be and no buttons to accidentally push.
I really liked the touch screen, works great and for a camera that gets used less often it's easy to use it quickly.

Only negative to me was small battery. Hardly a deal breaker and being so small, so easy to carry a spare.
There have been some small STM lenses released since I sold mine making the 100D even more appealing now.

For travel/hiking, I use my EOS-M. It's a great (relatively) compact camera that really saves weight over my 6D.

I took it on a 4 day/3 night backpacking hike in Haleakala. Worked great.

https://imgur.com/a/7i​6CK

I just checked out Canon's refurb site, and ended up ordering an SL1 from there. $329 including the 18-55 STM lens is cheaper than I'd hoped for outside of a promotional period. Interestingly, it was only in stock in white, and they want as much for the black body alone as with the lens, which doesn't make much sense to me. So I'll have a stormtrooper camera to go with my Vader I expect a side-effect of the white body it will get less hot carrying it around in the sun, bonus!

kiapolo wrote in post #18050854
For travel/hiking, I use my EOS-M. It's a great (relatively) compact camera that really saves weight over my 6D.

The image quality looks great, but I looked at the current M line on B&H and it would have ended up costing me a lot more than the SL1 route, figuring the 11-22mm would be a must-have lens for this system. And the lack of any type of viewfinder is kind of a dealbreaker for me.

absplastic wrote in post #18050896
The image quality looks great, but I looked at the current M line on B&H and it would have ended up costing me a lot more than the SL1 route, figuring the 11-22mm would be a must-have lens for this system. And the lack of any type of viewfinder is kind of a dealbreaker for me.

That's the huge plus of the SL1 over my G7x. The G7x is just a pain to use in the sun with no VF.

I use the SL1 as a backup to my 5D3.

I think the image quality is basically the same as the 7D bodies, the rest of the Rebels and the xxD line but it's much lighter and smaller than all of those but somewhat lacking in features. I do not like its performance in low light even if I am using fast L primes or 2.8 L zooms. But in good light it does quite well.

EF-S lenswise, I have been pleased with (in the following order of use): 18-135 STM, 10-18 STM, 55-250 STM and 18-55 STM the last of which is a very nice little lens but not wide enough as a wide angle and not long enough for most uses. The 18-135STM hardly ever leaves my SL1. Indeed, I try to find a reason to take my 5D3 and 24-105 along with either 70-200 L lenses but more often than not I take the SL1 - unless a low light venue is going to be involved.

absplastic wrote in post #18050896
The image quality looks great, but I looked at the current M line on B&H and it would have ended up costing me a lot more than the SL1 route, figuring the 11-22mm would be a must-have lens for this system. And the lack of any type of viewfinder is kind of a dealbreaker for me.

Can't go wrong with the SL1.

I agree with what most are saying here - the SL1 is a great secondary body. Unless you want to spend a lot of bucks on a new mirrorless camera and lenses, I think an SL1 plus a few lightweight lenses (especially the 10-18) is a no-brainer.

I even used an SL1 as a second body (with the 10-18 and also the 55-250 STM) along with a mirrorless camera (Olympus E-M10) acting as my primary body - the Oly had a high-quality (but still small) standard lens, and the SL1 had the 10-18 or 55-250. Of course, you can save even more weight by carrying 2 mirrorless cameras, but my point here is that the SL1 plus some of the small STM lenses can even complement a mirrorless setup, it is so small.

I bought the SL1 as alternative walk-around camera to my 1DIV. It is great with the 24mm stm or the 40mm pancake. Its great and unobtrusive, I use a wrist strap and carry it in one hand until using it.

I would highly recommend this camera.

My SL1 arrived Tuesday, and my first impressions are overall favorable. A bit surprisingly, it's a little noisier at ISO 100 than my 60D, despite being newer and having the same sensor size (possibly same sensor?). It's a subtle difference, but consistent. Performance is certainly fantastic for the $329 kit price point, and it will be a great travel camera, but it's not going to bump the 6D from the backup camera slot for my studio work. SL1's ISO 100 looks like the 6D's ISO 400, still very good, mind. I remember now why I liked having IS lenses so much for my 60D, it was to avoid having to use high ISO. I thought the 50 STM would be a great lens to keep on the SL1, and it is a good one, but I'm thinking now I might spring for the 35 f/2 IS to be this camera's standard lens (I've wanted that lens anyways for use on my FF cameras).

I don't have large hands, but there is no denying that the small size of this camera comes at the cost of less-than-ideal ergonomics for most adult hands. It's particularly awkward to hold with a pancake lens attached, there is just not enough to grab. But darned if it doesn't fit just about anywhere!

The Av/Exp.Comp. button is ingenious. I was wondering how I'd be able to adjust both shutter and aperture in M, or access exposure compensation with usable quickness. Both are solved by this important button that you hold down to change the function of the finger dial. Brilliant!

The built-in flash is kind of useless to me. It is E-TTL only, no manual option, and does not support HSS, so can't practically be used as a fill flash outdoors. I revisited Canon's refurbished store today to get one of the $80 270exII speedlites, the smallest model that will do HSS. My 90ex works in manual, but no HSS.

I have the SL1 and pair it with the 28mm pancake. I usually use the eos-m and the 22 for travel and quick trips but will start using the SL1 more. Great little camera that you can hand over to the kids.