I've always wanted a nice camera, but I've always wanted one that is easily pocketable as well. For a long time I looked at the mirrorless SLR's but the good ones were never really released in India, and the really good ones which were eventually released in India, were in the same price bracket as small second hand cars. The really good mirrorless cameras in my opinion are the Olympus PEN E-P5, and the Fujifilm X-E2. Both are reasonably small, have all the proper manual controls, and are really quite good. Another unique thing about both these cameras are the way they are designed. Both mimic the look and feel of the old manual film cameras. The user experience of both these cameras is quite different from that of the current crop of DSLRs. Made of high quality plastic and aluminium, they are also very well built. The PEN E-P5 was never quite released in India, and frankly Olympus itself hasn't really quite made an effort to launch itself as a brand either. A lot of shops and resellers eventually stopped stocking on Olympus cameras due to the lack of effort on the companies part. Its very strange, how this company functions. The Fuji X-E2 is an even better camera, with superb build quality, manual controls, great lenses, and fantastic image quality. But you can also buy a small car with that sort of money, and that doesn't really work on many levels.
When I went to Europe, I chose not to take a camera with me as I felt that a camera would simply detract me from the whole experience. However, the iPhone 5S with its superb camera, and slow-motion video capability was more accomplished enough to deal with the 5 month trip. I was genuinely surprised with what one can do with such a small but capable camera. You can see the results for yourself here, on my VSCO page. With a bit of post processing on the phone itself, the results are really quite good. I didn't have to lug around a camera and its electronic peripherals, and that weight saving is worth ever gram I saved on my trip. The trick to travelling, is travelling light. My exposure to Formula 1 paid off here. It's not only the weight either. Electricity is also an issue. It was stressful enough to manage a mobile phones battery, with all the different plugs, and the headache making sure I had enough charge on my phone, and battery pack to make throughout the day with enough charge for calls, and for taking photos and videos. Theres also the issue of memory. With a couple of navigation apps and offline maps, there simply isn't enough storage space for all the photos and slow motion videos. Managing all this was bothersome enough.
When I went to Europe, I chose not to take a camera with me as I felt that a camera would simply detract me from the whole experience. However, the iPhone 5S with its superb camera, and slow-motion video capability was more accomplished enough to deal with the 5 month trip. I was genuinely surprised with what one can do with such a small but capable camera. You can see the results for yourself here, on my VSCO page. With a bit of post processing on the phone itself, the results are really quite good. I didn't have to lug around a camera and its electronic peripherals, and that weight saving is worth ever gram I saved on my trip. The trick to travelling, is travelling light. My exposure to Formula 1 paid off here. It's not only the weight either. Electricity is also an issue. It was stressful enough to manage a mobile phones battery, with all the different plugs, and the headache making sure I had enough charge on my phone, and battery pack to make throughout the day with enough charge for calls, and for taking photos and videos. Theres also the issue of memory. With a couple of navigation apps and offline maps, there simply isn't enough storage space for all the photos and slow motion videos. Managing all this was bothersome enough.