What compact system camera for adventures?

Having had a Canon 650d for a couple of years and not used it much, I’m looking to replace it with a more versatile, compact camera I take on adventures – be it riding, running, hiking or just out and about. Ideally can take a knock and a scratch, not battery hungry, basically a work-horse – oh and a good range of lens’ (mainly for Mrs D who is a photographer and bridges the gap between snaps on her phone and the pro stuff on her DSLR). Budget is sub-£300. Any recommendations?

My Panasonic G6 with 14-42 lens that’s on ebay…

mpb have a range of 2nd hand stuff and some of the older generation stuff drops in price pretty quickly it seems.

Their Panasonic stock seems a bit low atm but if you can find a well priced GX7 this has a weather sealed body – although the lens on it is unlikely to be.

https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/brands/panasonic/

GX7 isnt weather sealed, the GX8 is and so is the EM5 and EM1. All decent but your asking a lot at sub £300 and a lens.
Best you look 2nd hand for cameras a few years old and get 2nd hand camera and lens, maybe EM5 and 12-50 kit lens and then 40-150 zoom
Want smaller and cheaper maybe Epl7 or GM1 and kit lens or maybe a 2nd hand prime.
New interchangeable camera and lens arnt cheap… if you want cheap maybe rx100 mk1

As before – Sony RX100. Decide what is the maximum you can afford to spend and get the appropriate model.

^^^^

I just bought an RX100 for £250. Seems pretty good but then again I’m likely to be using all the functionality of a £50 camera! I’m hoping to ‘grow’ into it..

I’ve just got an RX 100 (OK it’s a Mk IV), but very pleased with it. Doesn’t tick all your boxes, but the general concensus is that it’s one of the best compacts around.

Personally having interchangeable lenses would be as inhibitive as a DSLR, therefore I wanted just a travel compact

OP – when you say ‘compact system’ do you mean a compact micro 4/3/interchangeable lense system or a compact travel zoom?

If the latter I’ll chime in with RX100, very happy indeed with compactness, IQ, build quality and battery life. Because of its aforementioned qualities I choose to live with the (IMO) compromises of fiddly ergonomics/buttons/menu

Sony A5000 is what I have recently bought, seems very capable from my extremely limited experience 😉 New they are less than £250 now with a 16-50 kit lens. If you bought used you could also get another lens for it inside your budget, the sigma primes are supposed to be good and are £120 each (or about £80 on the bay).

Personally having interchangeable lenses would be as inhibitive as a DSLR

Why? Mine is not quite as small as a compact but it’s not far off (body only is smaller than my previous compact). Battery life also pretty good.

RX100

i know its not what you asked for but it,s been brilliant

I really wanted to do mirrorless, but to be honest most are still quite big.

If you want mirrorless and a rage of lenses then it has to microfourthirds. The original OM-5 EM5 is often seen as a used bargain

I really wanted to do mirrorless, but to be honest most are still quite big.

Not much in it between an RX100 and a A5000, granted, with any lens other than the pancake it’s going to be 25mm + deeper.

Nikon AW1

Second the Olympus OMD EM5 with the 12-50 lens, both are weather sealed, biggest range of lenses for a compact system to choose from and you can get adapters for you Canon lenses. Only downside to the Olympus I feel is the odd menu system but once you get the camera setup how you like you leave it mostly alone oh and battery life, but that’s the case with most compact system cameras compared to DSLR’s.

Otherwise there’s the Canon EOS-M which is compact and has an APS-C sized sensor, the 18-55 that it comes with is pretty good for a kit lens and the picture quality is pretty good, probably on par with your 650. Downside awful slow auto focus on it.

I’m not confident that my RX100 can ‘take a knock’ like the OP wanted.
The lens assembly and lens cover feel particularly vulnerable. A few times now they haven’t extended/retracted properly due to a speck of dirt.
My LX3 on the other hand stood up to all sorts as did my previous Canon S70.

I had a m4/3 system camera with stock lens and a couple of pancakes, it was still a pain to carry the extra lenses, whether on a trip or biking, swapped it for the RX100 which still works almost as good capturing bike shots in the trees and is much easier to take with you. I wouldn’t go back.

A couple of people on the other RX-100 thread have recommended this Pelican 1010 case for protecting the camera…

I’ve got a MkI and I agree they’re not the most rugged camera going but are so versatile I would find it hard to change…

Not much in it between an RX100 and a A5000, granted, with any lens other than the pancake it’s going to be 25mm + deeper.

I can’t find a Sony 25mm lens. Maybe the 20mm f2,8?

In which case yes the gap isn’t huge, 35mm deep for the RX100 and 55mm for the A5000 and lens. But for anything like the same zoom range then the gap starts to increase

Oh and and an A5000 and 20mm pancake cost nearly twice as much, doesn’t have a front control dial and shudder has the NEX menu system? Does it even get a mode dial?

I’m not confident that my RX100 can ‘take a knock’ like the OP wanted.
The lens assembly and lens cover feel particularly vulnerable. A few times now they haven’t extended/retracted properly due to a speck of dirt.
My LX3 on the other hand stood up to all sorts as did my previous Canon S70.

My precaution was £30 on a three year accidental damage warranty

Gx 7 is in Jessops in bath for about 300 quid with a zoom lens. Mine seems pretty robust.

As above, if you can get an RX100 within your budget you can’t go wrong 😉

In which case yes the gap isn’t huge, 35mm deep for the RX100 and 55mm for the A5000 and lens. But for anything like the same zoom range then the gap starts to increase

See link: that’s with a 16-50 lens

Camera Size

Oh and and an A5000 and 20mm pancake cost nearly twice as much, doesn’t have a front control dial and shudder has the NEX menu system? Does it even get a mode dial?

A5000 + kit lens is £240, RX100ii is £330. Yep, the 16mm pancake would take OP over budget. But then he did ask for a CSC.

The best M4/3 you can get would be my suggestion.
Some of the smaller bodies are extremely compact and even my e-pl3 is a doddle to carry in a pack. I rarely bother talking anything other than the 20mm pancake but there are some very compact zooms as well.

Thanks all for the posts. It looks like the micro 4/3 camera with option for interchangeable lens’ will work best for our needs. Obvs not as robust as the sealed units without interchangeable lens’ so will have to be a bit more careful. Suggestions of the Sony a500, Pano GX7, Canon etc all look good.

Oh and and an A5000 and 20mm pancake cost nearly twice as much, doesn’t have a front control dial and shudder has the NEX menu system?

The a5000 has the alpha menus, not nex. Not that the nex menus were that bad. Far better than the Olympus menus, they were designed by an idiot.

I have an Olympus EM5 and the 12-50 kit lens. You could get them second hand for about £300. The two together are weather sealed – so proof against dust and rain although you can’t dunk them under water.

It’s a great camera:- takes brilliant photos and there are lots of lenses available.
Only downside is that the 12-50 lens is the only one that weather seals it and it is quite long. Makes the camera a bit awkward to put in a top tube bag or whatever.

With a pancake lens on it’s really small, but you lose the weather sealing.

I have the Oly OMD-EM1 with the “pro” kit lens. On my recent trip to Cuba it started to misbehave, and I switched to my backup RX100i. To be honest, looking at the pics* back home, I’m hard pressed to tell what was taken with what. The biggest downside to the RX100 was the lack of viewfinder, so it was hard to frame, or grab a shot, in bright light.

* examples here