The other factor is, often, being able to take a photo unobtrusively and un-noticed.
You're gonna be noticed no matter what you shoot with. I certainly have no problem noticing when people are taking a picture with their cellphones, so surely spotting a guy using Sony NEX with that 18-200 isnt gonna be too big of a problem either.
But hey, if one
believes he's somehow become invisible just cause he's now using a big black camera that's 300g lighter than his previous one, that will perhaps encourage him more to go out and shoot. It's all in the head..
LOL. No, it's not "all in the head." Walk into some market, or store, or public location with a big DSLR and lens slung over your shoulder, versus a
very compact mirrorless camera, and you'll get a very different response from people, either overtly or non-overtly. It isn't that a smaller non-DSLR camera makes you "invisible". It's that non-DSLRs look less serious, and intimidating. That's why some people, like yourself, will
notice people "taking a picture with their cell phones" and not think anything of it. But when a guy comes traipsing through with a bag full of DSLR gear and a DSLR clacking away as he shoots, it creates a different impression to bystanders.
And as for your "Sony NEX with that 18-200" example, who says he has to use an 18-200? Sony does make smaller NEX lenses, including a pancake lens. Likewise, the m43 system also offers pancake lenses as well. Heck, even with some zoom lenses, some of these cameras present miniscule packages compared to even
small DSLRs.
And with these cameras being a fraction of the size of a DSLR, it is not only less obvious, it creates a totally different impression than a big DSLR.
Furthermore, it isn't just an issue of camera weight effecting whether someone may or may not take their camera gear along with them. It is also a factor of whether one feels its really appropriate, or distracting to others, to take along one's DSLR gear. When you have a camera that can be tucked away
much more easily than a DSLR, and is less attention-drawing when it is out, this can and
does effect whether you may or may not take your camera.
I'm sure
all of us have encountered situations where we decided "I'd like to bring my DSLR, but it's too big...too heavy...more difficult to tuck it away...will draw too much attention...might make the wrong impression...might make people nervous...etc" whether a camera kit that is
much more compact (see image above) would have been a better option to have. Of course, there are people who will say, "I don't have a d@mn what kind of impression, or attention, or effect I create with my big DSLR gear! It's not my problem!"...well, I don't think we need to talk about those callous oafs. LOL
