Good quality travel camera around $1,000.00?

[Gup]

<p>Graham, today I read an email from Vistek offering me a chance to pre-order Canon's first entry into the mirrorless segment. I'm sorry I can't remember the model # and I can't access that email address from here but it might be worth your time to compare it to the others you mentioned in your original post. I believe it has an 18mp APS-C sensor, a pancake lens and new hotshoe flash for $849 Canadian. Another zoom is also available. Can't remember if it had a viewfinder or option. Have a great trip.</p>

[graham_martin2]

<p>Gup, I saw that too. Not sure if I have the courage to put a Can*n next to all my Nikon gear! :)</p>

[eric merrill]

<p>Graham:</p>

<p>I have the X100 and really enjoy it. I'd buy it again. How's your week of rental coming along? If you have questions about it, there's probably somebody here that can help. Once you get the menu settings to your liking, you don't have to worry about them. It's truly a set and then forget.</p>

<p>The Oympus OM-D looks interesting to me. I'd be tempted to get it with the 17/2.8 and 45/1.8 lenses if I didn't already have the X100.</p>

<p>Eric</p>

[eric merrill]

<p>A good bag makes a travel camera even better. For the X100, I have this:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/773943-REG/Black_Rapid_RPB_3BB_Point_Shoot_Bag.html">http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/773943-REG/Black_Rapid_RPB_3BB_Point_Shoot_Bag.html</a></p>

<p>And here's what I did for a lens hood:</p>

<p><a href="00Yx1N">http://www.photo.net/digital-camera-forum/00Yx1N</a></p>

<p>Eric</p>

[graham_martin2]

<p>Eric, the X100 gets here on Wednesday. I will update after I have tried it in real life settings.</p>

[jcuknz]

<p>The trouble with the super-zoom lens and other lens I've bought recently is the trombone design which makes them rather conspicuous when used at full zoom. Perhaps I have been spoilt by my less long x12 lens with doesn't trombone to either zoom or focus.<br>

I will be travelling shortly with my G3 and 014140 lens and I expect it to be long enough, a 280mm AoV lens, for most subjects I cannot get near and with 16Mp I will be able to crop somewhat. The larger sensor permits higher ISO similar to an APS-C sensor. It is also quite lightweight even with the zoom. But unfortunately I feel it does attract attention when one zooms out and one needs to take extra care it doesn't get knocked.<br>

I think the price is about $1100 or so.</p>

[aman1]

<p>Ariel, my recommendation of E-M5 is not based on image quality alone. I feel that its such a pleasant camera to use and makes picture taking so easy. Frankly speaking, I never had image quality issues using my old Nikon D40.</p>

<p>Plus I definitely recommend going for something which is weather sealed - in two weeks he should see rain pretty quite a few times in Kerala this time of the year.</p>

<p>If size is not such a big factor, then Pentax K-30 maybe?</p>

[bms]

<blockquote>

<p>I will be doing some street photography, but also traveling into the countryside where a zoom could come in handy.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>While it has its problems, I have used the V1 extensively for street photos and I like it. I have the FT-1 and it could serve has a cheap super tele photo, say if you wanted bring along a short tele prime or something like the 70-300 VR. I like mine the the 105 Micro attached. AF is only on the center point but OK. AF with the dedicated lenses is just super fast. If you can live with diving into the menus a bit more, it is an good choice IMO. I got a bit turned off by the completely useless features like the "best shot selector"....</p>

<p>P.S.: I am thinning out my camera stall and selling mine so if you are interested, drop me a line</p>

[james_symington1]

<p>So long as you already use a 35mm equivalent focal length prime lens for walking about with and are comfortable being restricted to one lens then you will love the X00. If you don't already have the habit of using a 35mm lens exclusively then you will likely not get on with it at all. The image quality is amazingly good and it can be set to be effectively totally silent which has proved useful in churches etc</p>

[andylynn]

I use M4/3 as the alternate to my D700. It's great for that because the size difference is enough to make sense. You

don't need to spend $1000 - last week I got an E-PL2 two lens kit from Henry's for $450 Canadian, with reasonable

shipping costs to the US.

[bill_tuthill]

I don't really have shopping advice, but wanted to note for the record that the Nokia 808 smartphone has better dynamic range than the Sony RX100, surprisingly. Proof on dcfever.com (in Japanese).

[graham_martin2]

<p>I received my rental Fuji X100 yesterday, and am going through the manual which, I notice, is a lot thinner than for all of the DSLRs that I have owned over the years. A couple of initial observations:</p>

<ul>

<li>This thing is tiny!</li>

<li>This camera delivers high quality images</li>

<li>Easy to mistakenly toggle the command wheel from Single Image to Video</li>

<li>Flash output is pretty low. May be best for fill flash or buy a dedicated flash</li>

<li>It is so light to carry around that one could do so all day long and never get tired. It is so tiny.</li>

<li>Video quality seems quite good</li>

<li>Haven't decided yet if the single focal length will work for me.</li>

<li>The menus will take some getting used to</li>

<li>I wish there was an ISO button on the back of the camera.</li>

</ul>

<p>Here is one picture from last night around dusk.</p>

<div></div>

[graham_martin2]

<p>One more sample image pretty much shot in auto mode.</p><div></div>

[eric merrill]

<p>Graham:</p>

<p>Did you see that Fuji is now offering a $200 instant rebate through August 10th? $1000 instead of $1200.</p>

<p>With the latest firmware, you can change the RAW button to perform other functions, like ISO. It was added in a later firmware release to the menu setting for the Fn button. Not the most intuitive menu labeling, but once you set it up, you can forget about it. :)</p>

<p>Eric</p>

[graham_martin2]

<p>Eric, I saw that B&H and others have a sale price of $999.00 which makes it quite attractive. I will be using the camera indoors and outdoors this weekend. I've been going through the manual with a certain degree of frustration, but that would be true of any new camera.</p>

[blu_dek_lawoe]

<p>Not for nuttin' I though you might be interested and don't have to dish out a $1000. An NEX 3 with a kit lens for sale at KEH for $339. I wanted to tell you about the NEX 5N with a kit lens for $400 something dollars but it was gone in a day. Anyways, check it out if you want.</p>

<p>http://www.keh.com/Camera/format-Digital/system-Sony-E-System/category-Camera-Outfits?s=1&bcode=SE&ccode=1&cc=80268&r=WG&f</p>

[graham_martin2]

<p>Thanks for the update, but I really want a camera that has either an EVF and/or OVF. The NEX3 and 5 only have those horrible LCD screens that simply do not work in bright sunlight such as we have here in Florida.</p>