What camera are you using?

[J Watrous]

That was certainly the case when I got into micro four thirds. My cheap little camera had comparable dynamic range to some large and expensive DSLR cameras. Similarly, full frame mirrorless performance was quite underwhelming.

The performance, cost and size of full frame gear has improved a lot though, particularly over the last few years. I’m certain that I will eventually end up with a full frame camera. Sigma have already made some nice small lenses. I just need someone to make a small body with good weather sealing. A weather sealed Panasonic S9 would be amazing.

The Canon R5 I had for a while was what I considered to be small, and had great weather sealing. Not as good as my R1s are, but dang good.

 

[jaredoconnor]

The Canon R5 I had for a while was what I considered to be small, and had great weather sealing. Not as good as my R1s are, but dang good.

We have a different definition of "small".

It makes sense though. I am 3 feet shorter than you. That R5 probably feels to you how my E-M5 feels to me.

I'm holding out for something from Panasonic. Canon and Nikon don't have all the new small Sigma lenses. Sony does, but it doesn't seem like the stabilization will ever be good enough for my needs. People keep saying it's due to the small mount diameter and flange depth, but I don't know whether that's true. It probably is, because no other mount is that small and shallow. At the other end of the spectrum, micro four thirds has a larger and deeper mount, with a sensor that is 1/4 the size. Might explain why the stabilization is so good.

 

[Wadin' Boot]

I've been using a Sony RX10 IV, it has fun zoom and supposedly can take some salt spray. It comes with me in the Kayak all the time, and I am careful to avoid getting salt on it. It's been a lot of fun, and probably the one joy out of COVID lockdown for me was buying this thing and tooling around on it. To be honest some days the photos are more fun than the fishing, and particularly so if the cloud and sun action is shaping up nicely and there's some cool animal stuff going on.

After a while you might figure what your camera (or photographer) is not all that good at. For me I needed an image stabilization, good tele, fast shutter speed and super fast autofocus. AND i needed to screw round and take a bajillion photos to see what worked and what didn't, and that also includes post processing, framing, sun angles and so on. So looking at the pics on big screen later was really interesting...

Perhaps one thing that changed is the camera forced me to be way more observant particularly on framing.

 

[Jim F.]

I've been using a Sony RX10 IV, it has fun zoom and supposedly can take some salt spray. It comes with me in the Kayak all the time, and I am careful to avoid getting salt on it. It's been a lot of fun, and probably the one joy out of COVID lockdown for me was buying this thing and tooling around on it.

I started with the same Sony bridge camera and Covid also played a role in re-stimulating my interest in photography. I still use the RX10 IV for my "grab & go" camera on occasion, even though I have upgraded to higher-tier Sony camera bodies & lenses.