Question for a friend.

SKnight

Seriously, not one of those "I have a problem, I mean my friend does." questions. He just wanted me to post this for him. I guess he has too many forums to keep up with!

He's going on a motorcycle road trip and wants a step up from his P&S since he's going to Monument Valley, etc. However he doesn't want to carry his full 35MM SLR since space is at a premium.

He's looking for one of the compact interchangeable lens jobs and frankly I didn't even know they existed until today.

For example he had picked out this Samsung, but isn't happy with some of the reviews. http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/samsungnx10/

Since I'm no help I thought I'd ask, anyone use any of these and more importantly can you recommend one? Thanks in advance!

I'll get him over here, I promise!

Qarik

my 1st choice by far would be the panasonic GF1 or GF2. There are lot os 4/3 type cmeras these days but the GF1 and GF2 have near SLR type shutter lag.

Grainbelt

Not sure this is a complete list, but:

Olympus: EP1, EP2, EPL1, EPL2. All are fairly slim, but not tiny.
Panasonic: Slim: GF1, GF2 With Grip & electronic viewfinder: G2, G10, GH2
Sony: Slim: NEX 3, NEX 5
Samsung: Slim: NX100 With Grip and Viewfinder: NX5, NX10

It really depends on what focal lengths he plans to shoot at. The micro 4/3 cameras are 2x crop factor, so that 20mm lens is equivalent to 40mm on 35mm film. The Olympus and Panasonic cameras use the same mount and lenses from either brand, in micro4/3, will fit.

Some models without an electronic viewfinder built-in can have them added to the hotshoe, but lose portability.
Lens selection isn't great yet for any brand, but micro 4/3 has more to offer.
It is worth noting that adapters are available to use almost any lens on all of these lenses, albeit in manual focus.

Here's everything B&H sells, on one page.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Mirrorless-System-Cameras/ci/16158/N/4288586281

SKnight

Well he's back on the Samsung! He found some Youtube reviews that tuned him back to it.

That B&H page was really cool, $26K Leica, hoo man I'm waay out of league there! I'll send him that way, they had a really competitive price on the kit he wants.

Made me realize that I know nothing about the options unless it's a DLSR. I probably should broaden my horizons.

Thanks for the help and keep opinions coming! I might need this if the daughter keeps looking towards this.

aquaticvideographer

I have an Olympus E-PL1 and I love it, it goes nearly everywhere with me.

They are about to start selling the E-PL2 (currently available for pre-order on Amazon) and that looks like an even nicer and smaller camera, for not too much more money. However, the E-PL1 is available for a steal right now, and if you combine it with the 20mm f/1.7 pancake from Panasonic, it's a great, highly portable low-light rig.

The speed of the lens combined with the in-body image stabilization that all Olympus m4/3 cameras have means that you can get reliable handheld shots of static subjects in very low light.

This guy swears by the GF1:
http://craigmod.com/journal/gf1-fieldtest/

But all in all I think you'll find that for the most part, m4/3 owners of all stripes (i.e. Olympus or Panasonic) are passionate about their cameras. They take great pictures, and they're tons of fun. I would strongly encourage your friend to consider one.