Bobkeenan Photography Best Compact Digital Camera for a Full Frame DSLR Owner

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I needed to find out what is the best compact digital camera for a full frame DSLR Owner.

I like to consider myself a semi-pro photographer. I take images for myself and to sell on Microstock site and fine art sites. Over the past 3 years I have earned over $10,000. Not enough to live on… but enough to help buy camera stuff.

I now have the best camera equipment that you can buy……that I want and need.

But… while I don’t mind hauling around what I need for shoots for my microstock and fine art… and occasionally for family and friends. There are a lot of situations where I do like to take casual photos for my friends, family, and myself WITHOUT dragging along all the STUFF. Expensive stuff, Bulky stuff. I have to worry about where I can put it. Will somebody knock it over, or worse steal it.

So I thought wouldn’t it be great to get back to where it all started for me with point and shoots. So I can have a camera with me almost all the time and capture all those moments that get missed because I either did not have my DSLR or it was was not set up or had the wrong lens, etc.

However, since I have been shooting with a full frame for a while now. Image quality, low light performance, high frame rate, low noise are what I have come to expect from camera. I know that I cannot get all of this from a compact camera but an iPhone image is NOT going to hack it anymore.

So I asked a question in DPReview about what other full frame camera owners had in their pockets. I got a good response with over 60 answers.. and they are still coming it. So being as anal as I am…. I created a spreadsheet for each model that came up in the responses. The third column, dp c, are the dp review comments and the number of people who mentioned that they had that camera. Other things to note are…… to get a rough idea of size I multiplied the mm dimension for a cubic mm number. Between that and the weight I can tell whether the camera is really pocketable for me or not. Many were too big Several people used older entry level dslrs as their compact with a pancake lens. I grouped them together. One person even said they considered the 5DMKIII with a pancake lens is a compact…. not really.

So I rank ordered them by the number of comments. Then I color coded it. Red means not acceptable to me. Either the sensor was too small or the camera too big. Dark blue means its a strong candidate. Light blue means maybe a candidate. Note the the Canon EOS M was down graded to a light blue because, even with the firmware upgrade, the AF is still too slow compared to many of the others. Too bad because I love Canon stuff. I would love to hear back if I am wrong on that one.

Keep in mind that no one is checking all of these entries so I may have some errors. I also had to guess a bit on price. But I think the data, as I have laid it out tells a story for my purpose.

So here is the chart in pdf.

Best pro compact

And here is a jpg of the chart.

Best Compact cameras for DSLR Owners

So what do I get out of this…..

Well…. Two things. There are a few really good compacts out there but there are two types and they do two different things. One is a real compact that slides into and out of smaller pockets, has some zoom capability, and flash. The sensors can be almost up to APS-C size….well at least much larger than the typical small consumer digital compact camera. Because the sensor is larger and the lenses are a bit better, you can get some really nice images with it for a variety of situations. The other type of camera has no zoom ( unless its in a lens), interchangeable lenses, and a much bigger sensor. Most are APS-C size but some go all the way to a full frame sensor! Those images with good lenses will get you great shots that will approach what you get with a full DSLR. But with a fixed lens you better be prepared to move your butt towards or away from the image for a shot frame that you want. You could carry other lenses, for cameras that offer interchangeability, but then where do you put those extra lenses…. other pockets? Waist belt? Mini backpack?

So I think that I already have the equipment to take spectacular images, my 5D Mark II kit. Its just a little hassle carrying it and dealing with it.

For casual situations I just want good images, they don’t have to be spectacular.

And I think that is why the bulk of the responders chose the Sony RX100. If you include the newer RX100 M2 then that would be about 10 versus the next closest of the acceptable (not too large and good sized sensor) cameras, like the Fuji X100S and X100 combined for 4 comments.

Sony RX100 MII

So until I have the camera in my hand I can’t outright say that the Sony RX100 M2 is the best compact for full frame DSLR owners…. but I can say it looks like it would be the best choice…… for today….. 5Aug2013

What is the best digital compact for a full frame DSLR owner? August 5, 2013 […] be the answer for me. If you want more details and want to see the chart you can find it on my blog. Bobkeenan Photography Best Compact Digital Camera for a Full Frame DSLR Owner Let me know if you […] Reply

[…] be the answer for me. If you want more details and want to see the chart you can find it on my blog. Bobkeenan Photography Best Compact Digital Camera for a Full Frame DSLR Owner Let me know if you […]

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