[popo]

I've been a long time user of Canon DSLR now, but I have no loyalty beyond what's best for my needs at the time. I feel I might be reaching a changing point in that I'm about to pass a significant decade and the weight is starting to get to me a bit.

 

In the past week I went on a reptile hunt and probably never got more than 1km from the car park. But the weight of even my lighter "cover all scenarios" kit bag was really getting to me. In the past I've even carried multiple bags no problem but that may be too far away now.

 

My kit bag at the time was:

7D2

EF-S 10-18

EF-S 15-85

Sigma 150mm macro

Samyang 8mm fisheye

(EF 70-300L)

 

So, what would the nearest equivalent bag be if I went MFT? For these particular lenses, speed is totally unimportant. Or could I do the same with another system? Let's say I want to try "weight priority" here, so size is not important.

 

Note I will exclude the 70-300L from the comparison as that is one area I'm not willing to compromise by attempting to replicate on MFT. I will still be using Canon for its strengths like shallow depth of field (fast primes) and AF tracking performance particularly with longer lenses.

 

There is one more big condition: I'm not totally giving up on Canon, just considering swapping out parts of my lineup. In particular, I don't want to change zoom directions. This is a big criteria to meet. In practice, that means any mechanical zoom lenses would have to be Olympus, but Panasonic power zooms may be ok too. Primes remain open to any AF system, but I'd accept MF on the fisheye.

 

I'm out of touch with the MFT bodies so that is totally open. I don't absolutely need EVF, but I do need IBIS. Tilt screen would be a huge plus. For these lenses I'm willing to give up decent tracking AF. Did I say I want low cost?

 

I'm not intending to go high end on this system so keep costs down!

 

So for starters, how about...

UWA: Oly 9-18mm. I'd prefer wider, but don't want to pay for the 7-14. I might even skip this totally as I don't really do much UWA at all, and find a fisheye suffices on the rare occasion.

Standard zoom: Oly 12-50 EZ. On high level spec this sounds good. I went to look at the review of it but the charts are broken reporting "invalid JSON" or similar. Tried in two browsers. The conclusion doesn't exactly paint a good picture. I'd really prefer a 24mm equiv wide angle over the 28's, but with overlap with the UWA is a cheap 14-xx much better? Or even a 14-150?

Macro: I think either the PanLeica 45 or Oly 60mm would be ok here (I don't mind them being shorter than the Sigma) - but what else is there in Sigma or Zeiss land? I do want AF and the various Zeiss ranges confuse me.

Fisheye: I think would be a choice between the MFT Samyang or the lenscap.

 

Any thoughts?

[Kodachrome 25]

Does MFT get smaller/lighter than

Panasonic GM5 12-32 35-100

Olympus 9-18

?


I would like the GM5 with the Summilux 15/1.7 as a poor man's Leica. Alas, the RX100 IV beats this combo in eye focus tracking and image stabilization among some other features.

I think MFT gets squeezed between the A7RII and the RX100IV, at least with a good measure of lenience for the lenses.

[JJ_SO]

I thought I found a lighter combo for a bit of rambling around. Which is two Sigma DP1, 2 or 3 Merills in a tiny bag. And a lightweight tripod having from the belt. So far I thought of adding a DP0 quattro to get more wide angle. But now I catch myself walking around Fuji shelves, reading about hose models and fantasizing about three or four lenses.

 

Can't have too small bodies, so I'm aware I gain only a bit less volume in the bag, a bit less size and more or less the same money as for a contemporary DSLR. But Is till think, it'd be 2 or 3 kg less to carry.

[Scythels]

I took the X-T1 out last weekend with the 14mm, 23mm, and 40-150.  The 14 and 23 are alright, I never even used the 40-150.  The best review I can really give is:

 

* terrible ergonomics - hand crampingly small body, bad grip. 

* Lots of strange UX quirks

* Excellent picture quality for most scenes

* Weak picture quality in scenes with dense fine detail or large areas of the color green

* Decently good lenses

* far overpriced and overhyped

[JJ_SO]

UX?

 

was that UI? In any case, could you give a sample of good UX?

 

There are additional grips Which come together with an Arca-Swiss-type swallow tail bottom plate. Found that a nice detail.

 

Over at DPReview there are a couple of sample shots. This here as extensive amount of green and I fail to see the weakness  ^_^

 

Overpriced? An OM-D costs app. 980 Swiss francs, the Fuji X-T1 1040. If that were > 200 francs difference, but only 60?

[popo]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, and good point that I neglected a fixed lens compact may also cover part of the options. But it may seem I didn't adequately clarify, my main use would be a long standard zoom plus macro. Let's say 24-70 equivalent would be preferred as a minimum, and I wouldn't say no to a bit longer. It should have close focus capabilities too.

 

To further comment on the suggestions so far:

Panasonic zooms are still out due to their backward zoom.

RX100IV - requires further research (is it mechanical or power zoom?)

The Sigma DP aren't suitable for me here since they're primes. Unless they have a zoom model I neglected?

Fuji backwards zoom too (and Sony too before anyone has ideas there).

UX = user experience, which is basically everything including UI. There will be a degree of personal variation there.

 

All this has reminded me, I debated something like a Canon SX60 before. Maybe I should revisit that.

[JJ_SO]

"...before anyone has ideas here"   Like that.

 

How about the Canon G3X? I'm still well with my old and always in my cycle bag G11  So, as Canon shooter you'd stay in the same biosphere.

 

No, Sigma has no zooms in their DP line. And the primes are very close together (14, 19, 30, 50 mm).

 

Thanks for the UX-explanation. Yes, that's a very subjective thing. I did like the Fuji stuff and found the Olympus too small, but I have no first hand experience with any of them. And the colords of the Fuji, even if lots of green, are great in my eyes. So, maayyyybeee, with AiryDiscus' UX flaws the problem is behind the camera? 

 

:lol:

[Brightcolours]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, and good point that I neglected a fixed lens compact may also cover part of the options. But it may seem I didn't adequately clarify, my main use would be a long standard zoom plus macro. Let's say 24-70 equivalent would be preferred as a minimum, and I wouldn't say no to a bit longer. It should have close focus capabilities too.

 

To further comment on the suggestions so far:

Panasonic zooms are still out due to their backward zoom.

RX100IV - requires further research (is it mechanical or power zoom?)

The Sigma DP aren't suitable for me here since they're primes. Unless they have a zoom model I neglected?

Fuji backwards zoom too (and Sony too before anyone has ideas there).

UX = user experience, which is basically everything including UI. There will be a degree of personal variation there.

 

All this has reminded me, I debated something like a Canon SX60 before. Maybe I should revisit that.

Fixed lens compact? 24-70mm FF equivalent, would not mind longer? Close focus abilities?

https://luminous-landscape.com/canon-g3x-review/

[url=http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/professional/professional_cameras/digcameras/powershot_g3_x#Specifications%C2][/url] :ph34r:

[felix]

I took the X-T1 out last weekend with the 14mm, 23mm, and 40-150.  The 14 and 23 are alright, I never even used the 40-150.  The best review I can really give is:

 

* terrible ergonomics - hand crampingly small body, bad grip. 

* Lots of strange UX quirks

* Excellent picture quality for most scenes

* Weak picture quality in scenes with dense fine detail or large areas of the color green

* Decently good lenses

* far overpriced and overhyped

 

As an X-T1 owner, I agree on the decent lenses and the terrible grip (and the ridiculous prices for Fuji's add-on grips just make it worse...), but I disagree with the rest of your points   The image quality issues with foliage and fine detail are mostly a matter of which RAW converter is used. Adobe is really sh*tty for Fuji RAWs unfortunately... Capture One is way better, but also has its quirks. 

Overall, I would not suggest Fuji if weight saving is the #1 priority, because most of the lenses are not that small and light. 

 

I would suggest the following:

E-M5II or maybe even E-M10

Oly 12-40mm - it does not have a lot of reach, but image quality is very good and it focuses quite close, too

Oly 60mm - only available "long" macro for the system

Samyang 7.5/3.5 - wider than the Oly body cap lens and probably better IQ

 

With the E-M5II, total cost would amount to ~2500€ here in Germany. Maybe a bit more if you need an additional grip for the body. 

 

The Canon G3X option would be significantly cheaper 

[JJ_SO]

The Canon with EVF is around 1000-1100$, just saying. So not a bargain but sure good value?

 

The sample of the Fuji I posted earlier was developed in ACR, so it appears to be possible to use LR as well? Do you have a source for some test raws, Felix? I'm also interested in some raw expirments to see if I'd had to get a fresh converter.