Looking for a compact camera to take with me while riding on my bicycle.

ChicagoRaymond said:

ChicagoRaymond said:

ChicagoRaymond said:

It doesn’t look like it make the camera that much bigger either.

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Look again: It approximately doubles the camera size -- alone

Vernon...

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Yes, you are right Vernon, and I am also getting away from my original topic of it being easy to carry.
I just can’t seem to leave anything alone, I always have to tweak everything, a bad habit of mine.
It looks like I am back to the Panasonic Lumix DC-GX9.
I love how the viewfinder tilts too!

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That is a very cool feature for certain types of photography.

ChicagoRaymond said:

ChicagoRaymond said:

I thought about mentioning the same thing, but guessed the OP wanted a fixed lens camera. My E-M10 II is a great small camera and the little 14-42 EZ pancake lens (28-84 equiv.) is way better than most give it credit for. About the same size as my LX100 and only 3 ounces heavier (17ounces) with the lens.

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Thanks for the advice, yes on this camera I'm not going to be hanging lenses.
So it can be either a fixed lens or I will just keep the lens that comes with the package deal.

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I think that you'd have a great travel camera even if you never used anything but the kit zoom. Back in my film days I traveled with a Nikon FE with a third party zoom and nothing else. I was pretty happy with that combo, though I have to say that even the cheap Oly kit zoom is probably a much better piece of glass than what I had on the Nikon. The advantages are that even though the thing isn't pocketable, with that little zoom it's still pretty small, and still has a bigger sensor than those 1" cameras (which aren't bad either in my opinion. Also, the fact that the lens is removable, means that you can clean the sensor, which isn't really possible on a fixed lens camera and something that I'd be a bit worried about (those things can get dust!). Finally, if you did decide that you really dug the thing and wanted another lens to play with (and there are many, even cheap ones) then, you'd be able to do it.

--
my flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/128435329@N08/

Hello all, thank you for all of your wonderful advice, much appreciated.

It looks like I am going with the Panasonic Lumix DC-GX9.
The DC-GX9 comes with the Lumix G Vario 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH. POWER O.I.S. Lens (24-120mm equivalent focal length).
My question is will I be happy with this lens or would I spend a little more and get something nicer?
The 24-120mm or even a 24-70mm focal length will work for me, any suggestions?
Thanks again everyone!

ChicagoRaymond said:

Hello all, thank you for all of your wonderful advice, much appreciated.

It looks like I am going with the Panasonic Lumix DC-GX9.
The DC-GX9 comes with the Lumix G Vario 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH. POWER O.I.S. Lens (24-120mm equivalent focal length).
My question is will I be happy with this lens or would I spend a little more and get something nicer?

The 24-120mm or even a 24-70mm focal length will work for me, any suggestions?
Thanks again everyone!

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The range is excellent for a walk around. The only drawback is the relatively slow aperture which is an disadvantage for low light.

Update, I still haven't bought my bike camera, I’ve been using my Galaxy S8 Plus in the meantime and it is just not cutting it, the photos are horrible, I really miss the RAW setting.
I don’t know what to do, the more research that I do the farther away I am from making a decision.

I need some more help.

Here is a sample of my Galaxy S8 Plus images, they were all brought into Lightroom and then Photoshop.
I need something that is much better quality than my phone.

Have you tried a Google Pixel 2. It's the best smartphone camera out there.

Yeah, those photos do have that kind of "cell phone quality" when viewed up close... I think that GX9 would be an excellent camera, though that lens is bit bulky. I use the same one on my Olympus em10. The optical quality though is very good.

I really love m43 for travel. The IQ might not match some of the bigger options but is better than the 1" cameras and so good that you're unlikely to wish that you had something even better. The GX9 is one of the compact ones too. Seems like a very capable camera... I think that if I were in the market for a camera right now, I might get that one.

The bike is really sharp looking... though is it just a single speed? Ive done some bike touring on my own and can't imagine doing it on anything without some gears. I like those close gear ratios too so that I can really fine tune the gear that's going to work best for me for any given condition...

I have carried several small cameras on my bike for over 10 years. I have
a small top tube mounted bag (see picture) that holds whichever camera
I happen to have with me. Currently, my favorite is a Sony RX100. Most of
my riding is in the mountains (mostly Category 1 climbs) so size and weight
are important considerations.



--
When a hammer is your only tool, all problems begin to look like nails.

When you look closely at those images it's obvious there's a lot of signal processing going on to make those images passable. It results in an artificial rather "painting like" look which I find unacceptable.Any of the RX cameras will give far better results.

The difference between an M43 camera and a 1" is much less than the difference between 1" and a smartphone. At ISO 800 and below there isn't much difference between M43 and 1". Even at base ISO the difference between 1" and a smartphone is very obvious.

tbcass said:

The difference between an M43 camera and a 1" is much less than the difference between 1" and a smartphone. At ISO 800 and below there isn't much difference between M43 and 1". Even at base ISO the difference between 1" and a smartphone is very obvious.

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That's probably true.... There's a much more dramatic difference in sensor size between a cell phone and 1" than between a 1" and m43, so that makes sense.

I've picked up one of those sony RX cameras and I have to admit that I marveled how such a sophisticated tool could be made so tiny... and I definitely appreciate that. Still, and these are admittedly my own maybe not totally rational thoughts, but there are still several reasons why I think that I'd rather have m43: I'm wary of damaging that little camera and I know that there are lots of problems with anything that has a retractable lens like that; there's no way to blow the dust off the sensor without dismantling the camera; even if I was planning on traveling really minimally with just a single kit type zoom, I still might like to use another lens on it at some other time (and M43 has so many great lenses). Add all that to the fact that a reconditioned EM10 (or even an EM10 mkII) is likely to be as cheap or even cheaper than any of the RX100 cameras that have a VF (something that I'd want)... and even though a camera like an EM10 is far larger than a RX100, it still isn't really that large (and seems a fair bit smaller and lighter than what I used to bike with, a Nikon FE film camera)... not to mention the fact that if you ever have to deal with lower light and/or a situation where you might want a bit of shallow DOF, the bigger camera gives you more flexibility.

Still, I get the appeal of those 1" cameras and if I were doing any kind of trekking where I really wanted to go ultralight, I'd have to have one of those... I like using a real camera and like the better IQ so just a cell phone wouldn't be very satisfying for me.

Aaron801 said:

Yeah, those photos do have that kind of "cell phone quality" when viewed up close... I think that GX9 would be an excellent camera, though that lens is bit bulky. I use the same one on my Olympus em10. The optical quality though is very good.

I really love m43 for travel. The IQ might not match some of the bigger options but is better than the 1" cameras and so good that you're unlikely to wish that you had something even better. The GX9 is one of the compact ones too. Seems like a very capable camera... I think that if I were in the market for a camera right now, I might get that one.

The bike is really sharp looking... though is it just a single speed? Ive done some bike touring on my own and can't imagine doing it on anything without some gears. I like those close gear ratios too so that I can really fine tune the gear that's going to work best for me for any given condition...

--
my flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/128435329@N08/

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Hi Aaron, thanks for the advice.
Yes, my 2003 Cannondale Bad Boy 1FG (One F@#kin Gear) is a single speed.
I have two other bikes, a 2006 Surly Long Haul Trucker which is used as my traveling photo studio for daily around the city jaunts.

And a 1987 Diamondback Arrival, I bought her new in 1987, she is built like a truck! Put thousands and thousands of miles on the ol’ girl, she still rides like a dream!
I took her on a self supported, solo bicycle tour of Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Canada (1,159 miles) in 1990.
Since that 1990 trip I have toured Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan (upper and lower) and Ohio.