Advice on a compact travel camera

[Bensch]

Thanks for your kind comment Andy.

No one camera is perfect in every way. Pretty well all of them since about 2003 have been capable of taking exceptionally good photos. Basically any ILC with 5 MPx or more!

I have an environmental portrait printed at A2 size on our wall. You can clearly see every single hair on the subject's head. I took it with my 5 MPx E-1. Even its high ISO (3200) RAWs look far better when using PS6! Using CS2, they were a very colourful mess ...

Thanks John, still having a hard time deciding in which direction to go. (I know, I'm hopeless)

I really like the look of the Olympus and the fact that I can change lenses. Out of interest, do the Olympus lenses allow the use of a screw on filter or lens hood? Filter would be nice, but a hood would probably be important.

My two main concerns are quality and weight (with RAW being an absolute must, wouldn't consider a camera without it).

For quality, I really enjoy the effects (bokeh) produced by the DSLR, and am after something that would produce the same results for wildlife (my main focus), but also just as capable for landscape/travel photography.

Weight is a huge consideration, and the thing most likely to be the deciding factor.
Example, my Nikon D3100, Nikkor 18-105 and Sigma 70-300 have a collective weight of just over 2.2kg, then add to this say 300g for the charger, so a total of approximately 2.5kg.

This might not sound very much, but I prefer to travel (when going via air) carry on only, so am limited to a total of 7kg inclusive of clothing, toiletries, electronics, suitcase weight, etc. so weight quite quickly becomes a problem.

While I could probably get away with a carry on that is a 1kg or so over the limit (testing shows total carry on weight would be 8.9kg), with the luck that I have, if they weighed a single bag during an entire day, it would be mine...

The Olympus, 14-42 and 40-150 have a collective weight of around 655g total (from what I can find in documentation), this is a much more attractive option.

The Panasonic TZ-90 has a total weight of 322g, however, I'd happily go for the slightly heavier Olympus compared to the Panasonic depending on image quality.

I suppose at the end of the day, the question is which one of the two would give better bokeh.

This is the quality I get on my DSLR, so it would be the same that I'd want on the subsitute camera.

_DSC6827 by andrewbensch, on Flickr

The Panasonic TZ90 is an upgrade to the TZ30 that I bought back in 2013 to take to Canada and Alaska. The main changes are the number of megapixels (20 vs 14) and that it can shoot RAW (a real bonus in my opinion). The sensor size is virtually unchanged meaning that the pixels are smaller on the TZ90, which is not necessarily a good thing. It also has a much greater zoom at 720mm compared to 480mm, which I found was more than adequate.

How did it go? It was certainly small and fit easily into my pocket. It was easy to use and the photos looked great on the camera but when I got back and looked at the images they were a bit disappointing with artefacts clearly visible at 100%. Also, having come from a DSLR to a travel zoom, I found having controls accessed via a screen rather than by dials difficult to get used to. Plus, you can't fit a polarising filter to it, which I think is a must for landscape photos. I had plenty of shots with blown out skies. Having access to RAW might alleviate some of these issues.

If I had my time over again, I would just take my DSLR with a kit lens, a wide angle lens and maybe a zoom up to 200mm. Sure, you look like a tourist carrying around such an obvious camera but where I went the tourists probably outnumbered the locals so I would have fit right in.

It depends why you are travelling and what you want the camera to do. If you are sightseeing and just want some nice shots to remind you of where you went the travel zoom will be fine. If the aim of your trip is to take high quality photographs you might want to take a DSLR. As an example, a night time cityscape would not turn out as well using the TZ90 as it would with a DSLR.

I rarely use the TZ30 now. I will take it if I need to take photos for work because it is simple and takes very clear photos in the daylight.

Here is an example with typically blown out skies:

Thanks Andrew, great information, and a lot to think about

As mentioned above, weight is a significant issue.

Not too worried about looking like a tourist (I stand out enough as it is) and would happily take my DSLR, but more concerned about kit weight (2.5kg for DSLR as above, vs 400-600g for smaller cameras).

Thanks for the great info on the TZ230, all important factors to keep in mind.

RAW is a must, it does help fix those sky blowouts, but like anything, can only do so much.

I'm not the world's best photographer by any means, but my aim is to be able to take high quality holiday photos, with added pictures like above.

But I suppose that like with everything, it is a trade off between quality and weight, etc.

Out of interest, what is the equipment pictured in your photo? Looks interesting

Another consideration is the battery. Will you be able to recharge it daily? If not, buy one that takes AA batteries.

Sent from a mobile thing.

Thanks dacar, something that I hadn't thought about.

The majority of my travel would be confined to hotel, airbnb, etc. so charging normally wouldn't be an issue.

However, another thing to take into consideration is the weight/size of the charger required. Some/most travel cameras allow charging via USB, so I'd be able to use my multiport USB charger and charge along with phone, kindle, etc. where as others generally need a dedicated charger.




Thanks for your help everyone, greatly appreciated

Still have around 2 weeks before I'm looking at purchasing (but could always extend it neeed), so hopefully I've made my mind up by then

[Hawthy]

Out of interest, what is the equipment pictured in your photo? Looks interesting

That, my friend, is a rail snowblower at Skagway, Alaska. It allowed trains to use the Yukon Pass during winter. It is a bit of a running joke in the Where, What, Who section of AP because it turns up regularly. I used that photo to generate a response from Ameerat but sadly...(crickets chirping).

[John King]

Andy, my E-M1 MkI, 14-42 EZ pancake zoom, 40-150 plastic fantastic, spare battery, and clip on flash in its Thinktank Mirrorless Mover 10 bag (about 150x150x125) weighs 1227.7 grams (very accurate scales ... ). The E-M1 MkI body is relatively heavy for mFTs, around 550 grams.

IQ is much the same as the image you posted, maybe a bit sharper. Certainly not perceptibly worse.

[Bensch]

Andy, my E-M1 MkI, 14-42 EZ pancake zoom, 40-150 plastic fantastic, spare battery, and clip on flash in its Thinktank Mirrorless Mover 10 bag (about 150x150x125) weighs 1227.7 grams (very accurate scales ... ). The E-M1 MkI body is relatively heavy for mFTs, around 550 grams.

IQ is much the same as the image you posted, maybe a bit sharper. Certainly not perceptibly worse.

Fantastic, thank you John, greatly appreciated

Looks like there is an Olympus coming my way in the next few weeks

Looking at ordering around the 15th of next month, so hopefully they have the black version still in stock