Buying advice for camera + lens from three options

Hello everyone!

As I am currently on holiday in Tokyo I really think this is the perfect place to get a new camera. I really want to use the camera for street photography - both day and night - as well ask zoom up to maybe 50-80 mm. The camera has to be compact due to size restrictions when it comes to travelling and it's just easier to handle afterall.

I went to several camera shops here in Tokyo and have found three cameras I really like - both looks wise and handling as well as quality wise.

Here are the three options + prices and lenses that would be included:

• Sony Alpha 6400 (NEW): 141,900 YEN (~870$) - price might be a bit high on this one but I tested it at the Sony flagship store. Still not sure if this is good value or not. No lens included in the price tho.
• Fujifilm X-S20 + XC 15-45 mm (NEW): 171,000 YEN (~1050$) - Camera includes lens as a kit and feels great in my hands. Not the biggest fan of the power zoom on the lens tho. Good price or no? Thinking of getting a 2nd lens for this one as they only sell it with the lens included and have heard the XC 15-45 mm quality gets worse when exceeding 28 mm focal length. Felt the autofocus was a tad slow though...
• Olympus PEN-F + 12 mm F2.0 (USED/EXCELLENT CONDITION (AS PER USUAL WITH JAPANESE 2ND PRODUCTS)): 169,000 YEN (~1000$) - My overall favourite camera out of these three. Haptics are amazing, Quality wise top notch and price seems fair. The lens feels great and is extremely compact but 12 mm of fixed focal length just doesn't cut it for me. I would buy a 2nd lens for this and the shop actually has a great selection for this camera too! Ah yes, and the lens is manual focus only, so I'd opt for another one with AF of course.

What do you guys think? Which one would you get for my uses and why? Any other suggestions that I could go for? Either new or used, I don't really care.

Thanks so much!

Personally, I would put a little more money into it and go for:

Sony A6600 (+ stabilisation, better grip and battery) with Sigma 18-50f2.8 (sharp, very compact for a f2.8 zoom)

or mentioned Fuji XS-20 with the same lens

Lens is definitely bigger than both kitlenses, but no powerzoom, better image quality and difference at the long end is f2.8 vs f5.6!

Thanks a lot for the help.
I am going to a different store tomorrow that sells Alpha 6600s and will have a look how much they charge. Prices are around 700-800$ used supposedly.

Only thing is that Sony makes international models and Japanese ones, later being only in Japanese...

Hope I can find one that I can use in not only Japanese.

Report back then!

Go with what feels best, i.e. PEN-F and get another lens. It will bring you joy every time you'll use it. Spec sheet isn't always everything.

Of those three I would get the Pen F for sure-- smallest, lightest, prettiest, most flexible and most fun. I almost bought one once and have always been rather sorry I passed on it.

Ideal small street and street-y general purpose lenses for a small MFT camera include the Panasonic 20mm pancake (40mm equivalent) and the trio of Olympus f/1.8 compact primes-- the 17mm, (35mm equivalent), 25mm (50) and 45mm (90), which make a pretty nice set. My first choice street and general purpose lens for my own small Oly camera, an E-M10ii, is the 25mm f/1.8 and I have zero complaints about it.

If you must have a zoom, the compact collapsible Olympus 14-42 EZ (32-84mm equivalent) pancake power zoom is a classic travel and walkaround lens. It's cheap, tiny, has a very useful zoom range, and it definitely can yield good results in good light. It basically turns any small MFT camera into a large sensor point and shoot. I personally dislike it and wouldn't have it on bet-- I'd rather go around the world a dozen times with just one of the primes above-- but a lot of people like it a lot. Olympus has a number of more traditional zooms as well in a choice of ranges and price points that you could investigate.

I told you I would report back and this is what I went with:

I actually ended up buying a Sony Alpha 6700 new with guarantee and a Sony 18-135mm kit lens. Also purchased an SD-Card, a charging station and a bag for the camera at a large electronic chain shop here in Japan called "Yodobashi".
Really looking forward to testing this thing now and really thankful for all your recommendations!
Much appreciated!

mytree123 said:

I told you I would report back and this is what I went with:

I actually ended up buying a Sony Alpha 6700 new with guarantee and a Sony 18-135mm kit lens. Also purchased an SD-Card, a charging station and a bag for the camera at a large electronic chain shop here in Japan called "Yodobashi".
Really looking forward to testing this thing now and really thankful for all your recommendations!
Much appreciated!

Click to expand...

Let us know how you like your new gear!

Marie

sounds good. Nice pair. Getting set up will be fun. I'm not sure which influencer/ambassador, etc., or other site I'd suggest for initial set up. It's not hard but there are more than a few options to go through. I've viewed a couple and don't recall which I used.

Heya!
Took some pictures yesterday and the day before and am really impressed by the results. Especially at night and this being not the best of aperture lens + aps-c sensor, the pictures come out amazing and not noisy due to iso as well.

I will be getting the Sigma lens everyone is talking about though. I really enjoy the custom settings (1,2,3 on the rotary dial where I have already set my preferred settings for day and night photography.
That being said, there is still a lot to discover with this camera with numerous settings I have not tried yet. But as far as I can tell, this camera functioned pretty much as a point and shoot device for me.

I just followed a guide on Reddit and then it's pretty straight forward.
Setting image quality, jpeg vs raw. I personally use jpeg in x.fine as I don't like faffing around with raw files on my phone lol. Makes it a pain to send photos to my family and friends. Think when I start getting a bit more serious about it I will be using RAW and get into the settings even more thoroughly.
Exciting for sure and glad I got this camera. Such a great purchase.

To round things up, I have already looked at some deals for the Sigma F/2.8 lens and will be getting that exact one when I am back home from my holiday.

For those interested, I have uploaded a few pictures I took two nights ago in Shibuya in the evening:
I'm sure there are things to improve here but imho those pics look great for a first timer with this camera.

mytree123 said:

Thanks a lot for the help.
I am going to a different store tomorrow that sells Alpha 6600s and will have a look how much they charge. Prices are around 700-800$ used supposedly.

Click to expand...

I second Martin_99, but my vote goes for the Fuji X-S20 body because of IQ and the presence of a large set of creative film simulations. Sigma 18-50/2.8 is the best in its class, highly recommended, you will never regret.

mytree123 said:

Only thing is that Sony makes international models and Japanese ones, later being only in Japanese...

Hope I can find one that I can use in not only Japanese.

Report back then!

Click to expand...

MrAndreas said:

mytree123 said:

Thanks a lot for the help.
I am going to a different store tomorrow that sells Alpha 6600s and will have a look how much they charge. Prices are around 700-800$ used supposedly.

Click to expand...

I second Martin_99, but my vote goes for the Fuji X-S20 body because of IQ

Click to expand...

Just curious, why is image quality of X-S20 better?

MrAndreas said:

and the presence of a large set of creative film simulations. Sigma 18-50/2.8 is the best in its class, highly recommended, you will never regret.

MrAndreas said:

Only thing is that Sony makes international models and Japanese ones, later being only in Japanese...

Hope I can find one that I can use in not only Japanese.

Report back then!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Martin_99 said:

MrAndreas said:

mytree123 said:

Thanks a lot for the help.
I am going to a different store tomorrow that sells Alpha 6600s and will have a look how much they charge. Prices are around 700-800$ used supposedly.

Click to expand...

I second Martin_99, but my vote goes for the Fuji X-S20 body because of IQ

Click to expand...

Just curious, why is image quality of X-S20 better?

Click to expand...

In this context, "better" should be treated as a personal, subjective, and biased opinion. To me, comparing OOC JPEG images of the same stage from an APS-C Sony with images from a Fuji X camera, I found the latter more pleasing to my eye in terms of color rendering, color contrast, and color tone impression. YMMV, of course.

It also depends heavily on the lens.

Martin_99 said:

Martin_99 said:

and the presence of a large set of creative film simulations. Sigma 18-50/2.8 is the best in its class, highly recommended, you will never regret.

Martin_99 said:

Only thing is that Sony makes international models and Japanese ones, later being only in Japanese...

Hope I can find one that I can use in not only Japanese.

Report back then!

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

mytree123 said:

Heya!
Took some pictures yesterday and the day before and am really impressed by the results. Especially at night and this being not the best of aperture lens + aps-c sensor, the pictures come out amazing and not noisy due to iso as well.

I will be getting the Sigma lens everyone is talking about though. I really enjoy the custom settings (1,2,3 on the rotary dial where I have already set my preferred settings for day and night photography.
That being said, there is still a lot to discover with this camera with numerous settings I have not tried yet. But as far as I can tell, this camera functioned pretty much as a point and shoot device for me.

Click to expand...

It sounds like you made the right choice! Share some pictures when you can.

Marie

There you go

mytree123 said:

There you go

https://imgur.com/a/W32mmog

Click to expand...

Nice!

Marie