What small, walk-around (fixed lens?) camera?

[Tom Gresham]

For some reason I've been reading up on the Sony RX1R ii camera, and it got me to wondering what others use for a small travel or walk-around camera. I have a Fuji X100s.  Nice, but with some limitations.

I also have a Sony R7ii, and could use that with a Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux.  I have a 28mm Elmarit, but have not really used it much. 

On some of my trips, I'm really doing business most of the time, and there's not much opportunity for photos.  But, I'd still like to have a camera that's more fun to shoot than the iPhone. 

We're spending a week in Nuremberg this month, and I'll be walking around the old town area quite a bit.  Lots of fun photo opportunities there.

Any suggestions on gear, or how to look at this situation, are welcome.

[Frank Fremerey]

X100T is very nice. I have it for a year now. It is great fun to use.
It looks cool and the IQ is superb if you learn how to properly
handle the RAFs.

Caveat: mine has sometimes hickups and produces AF errors
I cannot track back to my fault.

Overall great value for the money. My cheapest camera at 1400€
including lens card lens hood filter....

[rosko]

If you are not put off by manual focus lenses, there is a vast choice of M42 Zeiss/meyer-Gorlitz or even russian lenses of decent quality and relatively cheap.

In addition, they are light and tiny.

[Frank Fremerey]

Sorry. Reading this first I did not see that you own the X100s already.

Another option and my runner up is one of the OM-Ds or even PENs with the PanaPankake 20mm.

Very small. Super IBIS. Fast AF.

[Tom Gresham]

Returned from Germany last night.   Sony A7ii with Leica lenses was ok for landscapes, but I missed the close focus ability of modern lenses.   

Going to sell the Summilux 50 and 28 Elmarit.   Trying to find 25 Batis.

[Jan Anne]

Tom, a Voigtlander Close Focus adapter will cut the minimum focus distance in half for the Leica M lenses.

Here's an example with the 40/2 Summicron-C

At the regular 80cm, way too limited for my kind of use


And around 40cm with the adapter fully extended (4mm if remembered correctly), close enough

[Tom Gresham]

That's cool, Jan Anne.  I had never heard of that adapter.  Just bought a new Novaflex adapter.

[Jan Anne]

I have both, a regular Novoflex adapter which weights a mere 25 grams and the mentioned Voigtlander which is a whopping 115 grams or so.

A third one is on order being the Techart Autofocus adapter which enables full EXIF for 10 lenses, close focus and auto focus with manual focus lenses

All three can be used for Leica M or Nikon Ai-S lenses, for the latter an additional F to LEM adapter is needed of course.

[richardHaw]

i loved the Fuji X20. 
it is more responsive than the X100s that i bought to replace it 
the optical VF is also nice 
they can be bought for very little money now

[tommiejeep]

JA, I have the Shoten Helicoid on the way from Hong Kong.  My Techart has not shipped yet.  I guess I'm the Beta tester  .  I already have the Voigt close focus but the Shoten does 6mm and is cheaper than the Voigtlander.  Another guy shot his Shoten , 75 f2.5 LMT at 16 inches and my Voigt went to approx. 22 inches.  I have not put the 15 4.5III on the close focus yet. 

We are off to Jaisalmer and Jodhpur in two weeks so will see what arrives by then.  I'm having a hard time with gear selection with a mix of Sony and Nikon vs weight allowance .  Since we will be in Jodhpur for Holi (Paints/Colours) we will definitely take the AW120.  Holi in Jodhpur is supposed to be very wild  .  The new Nikon DL with the wide lens would probably be just the ticket  for the narrow/lanes alleys .
Tom

[Tom Gresham]

After giving this more thought, I'm leaning toward the Sony A7 system. 

I took the A7ii to Germany last week.  Small enough to be a good walk-around camera.  The key, I think, is to use smaller lenses.  I took two older Leica RF lenses.  Nice, but not what I need.  I must have close focusing, and I don't think the mount that allows close focusing is the way to go.

Video is as important as still, for me.  I'm renting the Batis 25mm and 85mm lenses next week, to see how I like them.  I'm also considering the Loxia lenses (smaller). 

I didn't have much time for photography on my trip to Germany last week, but here's a post-sunset shot I grabbed at Isny.  This is the Sony A7ii and the 28mm f/2.8 Elmarit.

[Tom Gresham]

Re: The Sony A7 cameras, I do like the in-body image stabilization.  Shooting a non-IS lens in low light, with slow shutter speed, makes hand-held shots possible.

A bit of HDR to bring out the light in the shadows.

[Tom Gresham]

A followup.  I bought the 85mm and 28mm Batis lenses.  Haven't really had a chance to get out with them much.  I grabbed this one last weekend when talking with a friend.

[Akira]

As a returner from m4/3 to FX, I don't see any meaningful difference between A7 and RX1 in terms of bulk.   

A7 is power hungry, and the battery life of RX1 is even shorter due to the tiny X-type battery it uses.  You will be more worried about the remaining battery power.  Although taking one or two spare ones should be of no problem, having to recharge them could be frustrating, especially when you are on travel.

I'm not sure what kind of limitations you are experiencing with X100S, but I would doubt if RX1 (any model) would solve your problem.

I have used RX1R.  The image quality was superb, but I didn't like its overall performance.

[Tom Gresham]

I've decided to stay with the Sony A7ii I've been using.  I have three Fuji X cameras, which I'll be selling, along with 6 Fuji X lenses.

Just don't see the need for them.