Please suggest me a camera for my father

Yannis1976 wrote:

Hi,

I am looking a camera for my father to replace his Canon 600D which he didn't use mainly because of size of body, lenses and weight. He wants to have relatively good low light capability and some long zoom (150mm). Cost is an issue (600€) but we are open to suggestions, even used ones. I have the following kits which seem interesting:

Olympus EPL6 (14-42+40-150)....469€

Panasonic G5 (14-140)....645€

Panasonic G5 (14-42)....376€

Nikon J5 (10-30)...477€

Canon EOS M3 (18-55)....626€

Panasonc FZ300....610€

Olympus Stylus 1S....495€

thx

Of this list the first and third are good choices.

Your EPL6 kit will has a bit more dynamic range than the G5 at ISO400 and below, and better low light and zoom range with those two lenses. Although the EPL6 has no viewfinder, you could purchase one if that becomes a problem. Those lenses are probably both have good image quality, and although not really low light lenses will be better suited than a 10x zoom such as the 14-140.

If you can find a used EPL5 kit it will do just as well and perhaps give some more choices - there is almost no difference between EPL5 and EPL6.

I have the G5 and still use it as a backup camera, it has given me some good images. For the G5 you would want the 14-42 and one more telezoom - perhaps the 45-200 or the 45-150 which are both inexpensive although a used 45-200 will be easier to find.

I have the 45-200, and although many people have spoken poorly of it I think it is not too bad as long as you take care to reduce the aperture 1 stop from wide open.

There are two version of the Panasonic 14-42 - many users have said the first version of the 14-42 has poor sharpness and I believe this is confirmed by reviews, but the second version is much better. (BTW I think the same can be said of the Panasonic 14-140).

The Panasonic 14-45 is quite a good lens - inexpensive and should be quite available used as it was probably the first M43 lens. I have it and I think it is quite good; this is supported by reviews.

If you want a good low light lens with the EPL6 or G5, you could buy a used Konica Hexanon AR 40mm F1.8 for about $50 (I see a certain amount of Konica gear from Greece being sold on eBay so there should be local availability), and a Konica to M43 adapter would cost about $15.

The AR 40mmF1.8 is small and light - so short it is almost pancake lens.

You would then have a good quality small fast medium telephoto, and with G5 or E-PL6 you can set it up so the camera automatically sets shutter speed.

The Konica Hexanon AR 50mm F1.4 is also good, but larger and a bit more expensive. (Do not buy Hexar lenses - lower quality)