Best camera that fits your pocket

PortableLover said:

I'm hoping that someone could help me with my dilemma. I'm looking for a high quality camera that fits my pocket. I've been shooting with Canon G7X for the past year and a half and I took it to Burning Man twice and it's basically done - lens is full of dust and flash doesn't pop up properly anymore.

I decided to take my game to the next level. Easy, right? Wrong. After carefully researching cameras for hours and hours, I decided to get Panasonic LX100. I took some test shots and I felt something was off. The pictures didn't look great. So, I decided to take the same shot with identical settings in a dim light with Canon G7X and Panasonic LX100. Comparison confirmed my suspicion. The quality of LX100 was far inferior to G7X - detail was missing and noise was completely unacceptable. This compared to G7X with sand in the lens...! First photo taken with that camera was a photo of me wearing a shirt with stripes and the moire effect was horrible. I wanted to love this camera but the photos are just disappointing.

I thought no problem, I'll just go for mirrorless but no matter where I look, all mirrorless cameras with a small zoom lens are far worse compared to Canon G7X according to reviews. Sure you can get better quality by attaching a massive lens to the camera but makes the camera too big. When size is not an issue, I just take my Nikon DSLR and Sigma 30mm f1.4 with me.

I feel like I'm stuck. I want a camera that has at least some zoom that would fit my pocket - and be better than Canon G7X. I find it frustrating that it seems like the mirrorless world has no decent compact zoom lens/body combo that comes even close to Canon G7X/Sony RX100 zooms.

Is my only option to go mirrorless and do crops to simulate zoom? For the record, I rarely print my photos. My photo folder has 110,000+ photos, printing them would be quite the challenge LOL. As long as the end result looks beautiful on my screen I'm happy.

Thank you in advance for any ideas!

Click to expand...

PortableLover said:

I'm hoping that someone could help me with my dilemma. I'm looking for a high quality camera that fits my pocket. I've been shooting with Canon G7X for the past year and a half and I took it to Burning Man twice and it's basically done - lens is full of dust and flash doesn't pop up properly anymore.

I decided to take my game to the next level. Easy, right? Wrong. After carefully researching cameras for hours and hours, I decided to get Panasonic LX100. I took some test shots and I felt something was off. The pictures didn't look great. So, I decided to take the same shot with identical settings in a dim light with Canon G7X and Panasonic LX100. Comparison confirmed my suspicion. The quality of LX100 was far inferior to G7X - detail was missing and noise was completely unacceptable. This compared to G7X with sand in the lens...! First photo taken with that camera was a photo of me wearing a shirt with stripes and the moire effect was horrible. I wanted to love this camera but the photos are just disappointing.

I thought no problem, I'll just go for mirrorless but no matter where I look, all mirrorless cameras with a small zoom lens are far worse compared to Canon G7X according to reviews. Sure you can get better quality by attaching a massive lens to the camera but makes the camera too big. When size is not an issue, I just take my Nikon DSLR and Sigma 30mm f1.4 with me.

I feel like I'm stuck. I want a camera that has at least some zoom that would fit my pocket - and be better than Canon G7X. I find it frustrating that it seems like the mirrorless world has no decent compact zoom lens/body combo that comes even close to Canon G7X/Sony RX100 zooms.

Is my only option to go mirrorless and do crops to simulate zoom? For the record, I rarely print my photos. My photo folder has 110,000+ photos, printing them would be quite the challenge LOL. As long as the end result looks beautiful on my screen I'm happy.

Thank you in advance for any ideas!

Click to expand...

Chriz2469 said:

I think that you are looking for something that doesn't exist, yet. I had the same dilemma, I wanted dslr quality photos but I wanted something I could have on me.

Click to expand...

PortableLover said:

PortableLover said:

I think that you are looking for something that doesn't exist, yet. I had the same dilemma, I wanted dslr quality photos but I wanted something I could have on me.

Click to expand...

I knew I can't be the only one with this dilemma. I remember seeing Ricoh and not really seriously considering it for some reason, but I will now - thank you very much for the idea.

One option that comes to mind is also Nikon Coolpix A. I guess my only issue with these fixed lens large sensor compacts is that they generally seem to lose in quality to Sony RX100 / Canon G7X according users, such as here:
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51233526

It really is a dilemma. I'm hoping to find something that is proven to produce better photos than Canon G7X (and somewhat fit pocket, I was fine with LX100 barely fitting my pocket) in the next 2 weeks before my vacation but that may not happen.

Click to expand...

PortableLover said:

PortableLover said:

I think that you are looking for something that doesn't exist, yet. I had the same dilemma, I wanted dslr quality photos but I wanted something I could have on me.

Click to expand...

I knew I can't be the only one with this dilemma. I remember seeing Ricoh and not really seriously considering it for some reason, but I will now - thank you very much for the idea.

One option that comes to mind is also Nikon Coolpix A. I guess my only issue with these fixed lens large sensor compacts is that they generally seem to lose in quality to Sony RX100 / Canon G7X according users, such as here:
It really is a dilemma. I'm hoping to find something that is proven to produce better photos than Canon G7X (and somewhat fit pocket, I was fine with LX100 barely fitting my pocket) in the next 2 weeks before my vacation but that may not happen.

Click to expand...

beagle1 said:

PortableLover said:

beagle1 said:

I think that you are looking for something that doesn't exist, yet. I had the same dilemma, I wanted dslr quality photos but I wanted something I could have on me.

Click to expand...

I knew I can't be the only one with this dilemma. I remember seeing Ricoh and not really seriously considering it for some reason, but I will now - thank you very much for the idea.

One option that comes to mind is also Nikon Coolpix A. I guess my only issue with these fixed lens large sensor compacts is that they generally seem to lose in quality to Sony RX100 / Canon G7X according users, such as here:
It really is a dilemma. I'm hoping to find something that is proven to produce better photos than Canon G7X (and somewhat fit pocket, I was fine with LX100 barely fitting my pocket) in the next 2 weeks before my vacation but that may not happen.

Click to expand...

nothing is better than the Canon G7X ? ...... didn't realize it was that good

www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless

Click to expand...

Chriz2469 said:

PortableLover said:

Chriz2469 said:

I think that you are looking for something that doesn't exist, yet. I had the same dilemma, I wanted dslr quality photos but I wanted something I could have on me.

Click to expand...

I knew I can't be the only one with this dilemma. I remember seeing Ricoh and not really seriously considering it for some reason, but I will now - thank you very much for the idea.

One option that comes to mind is also Nikon Coolpix A. I guess my only issue with these fixed lens large sensor compacts is that they generally seem to lose in quality to Sony RX100 / Canon G7X according users, such as here:
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51233526

It really is a dilemma. I'm hoping to find something that is proven to produce better photos than Canon G7X (and somewhat fit pocket, I was fine with LX100 barely fitting my pocket) in the next 2 weeks before my vacation but that may not happen.

Click to expand...

I think that some people really fail to take into account the difference between f2.8 on an aps-c sensor vs. f1.8 on a 1 inch sensor.

Click to expand...

PortableLover said:

Chriz2469 said:

PortableLover said:

PortableLover said:

I think that you are looking for something that doesn't exist, yet. I had the same dilemma, I wanted dslr quality photos but I wanted something I could have on me.

Click to expand...

I knew I can't be the only one with this dilemma. I remember seeing Ricoh and not really seriously considering it for some reason, but I will now - thank you very much for the idea.

One option that comes to mind is also Nikon Coolpix A. I guess my only issue with these fixed lens large sensor compacts is that they generally seem to lose in quality to Sony RX100 / Canon G7X according users, such as here:
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51233526

It really is a dilemma. I'm hoping to find something that is proven to produce better photos than Canon G7X (and somewhat fit pocket, I was fine with LX100 barely fitting my pocket) in the next 2 weeks before my vacation but that may not happen.

Click to expand...

I think that some people really fail to take into account the difference between f2.8 on an aps-c sensor vs. f1.8 on a 1 inch sensor.

Click to expand...

I'm actually inspired by Ricoh GR II idea and came up with a new out-of-the-box idea. Why not have TWO cameras that fit your pockets. As a first one, I'd have Ricoh GR II and as a second one Olympus Stylus 1. I know Olympus would have a smaller sensor (1/1.7") but at the same time it would cover 28mm-300mm range with constant f2.8 aperture. Far from perfect but having those two cameras on me could prove to be very useful. I will keep on looking but thanks again for the idea.

Click to expand...

Chriz2469 said:

PortableLover said:

Chriz2469 said:

PortableLover said:

Chriz2469 said:

I think that you are looking for something that doesn't exist, yet. I had the same dilemma, I wanted dslr quality photos but I wanted something I could have on me.

Click to expand...

I knew I can't be the only one with this dilemma. I remember seeing Ricoh and not really seriously considering it for some reason, but I will now - thank you very much for the idea.

One option that comes to mind is also Nikon Coolpix A. I guess my only issue with these fixed lens large sensor compacts is that they generally seem to lose in quality to Sony RX100 / Canon G7X according users, such as here:
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51233526

It really is a dilemma. I'm hoping to find something that is proven to produce better photos than Canon G7X (and somewhat fit pocket, I was fine with LX100 barely fitting my pocket) in the next 2 weeks before my vacation but that may not happen.

Click to expand...

I think that some people really fail to take into account the difference between f2.8 on an aps-c sensor vs. f1.8 on a 1 inch sensor.

Click to expand...

I'm actually inspired by Ricoh GR II idea and came up with a new out-of-the-box idea. Why not have TWO cameras that fit your pockets. As a first one, I'd have Ricoh GR II and as a second one Olympus Stylus 1. I know Olympus would have a smaller sensor (1/1.7") but at the same time it would cover 28mm-300mm range with constant f2.8 aperture. Far from perfect but having those two cameras on me could prove to be very useful. I will keep on looking but thanks again for the idea.

Click to expand...

I think that is a great idea. I am considering getting a used Sony RX1/r now for general photography (My Ricoh will always stay in my pocket even if I do). I was so concerned and everyone complains about the limitations of a fixed 28mm lens, but I haven't found it limiting at all. I think the image quality of a 35mm full frame Sony would be even better. I recently shot my Ricoh at a concert and though I was limited to staying in the same spot on one side of the stage, I was able to capture photos across the stage and crop them, in fact I think trying to keep up on a moving subject with zoom on a small camera would have been even harder. I mean I don't know if they are magazine quality but if you can capture a concert on a Ricoh, I would imagine you could shoot anything that you didn't explicitly require a longer focal length for - i.e. birds, portraits, etc.

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PSCL1 said:

To the OP: The combination of qualities you desire does not exist. The best approximation is an m43 Panasonic GM1 with either the 12-32 zoom OR the Panasonic 20 f1.7. At least it is truly pocketable.

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PortableLover said:

PSCL1 said:

To the OP: The combination of qualities you desire does not exist. The best approximation is an m43 Panasonic GM1 with either the 12-32 zoom OR the Panasonic 20 f1.7. At least it is truly pocketable.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the idea. However, I'm personally never touching Panasonic again. A year ago I bought FZ200 and found the noise horrible and returned it right away. Now just recently I bought LX100 and assumed they'd have a decent bigger sensor but it has the same exact problem - photos taken in the dark simply suck. My Canon G7X produces much much cleaner images despite smaller sensor size.

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