I wrote about buying a travel camera back in September when I had to replace mine after a nasty salt-water incident in the Galapagos. When we returned, I happened upon some descriptions of a new kind of camera: electronic viewfinder interchangeable lenses (EVIL for short). These cameras basically have the best of both worlds (meaning SLRs and point-and-shoots). They:
- Are pocket-sized, like a point-and-shoot (they fit in a jacket pocket)
- Use professional-grade interchangeable lenses, like an SLR
- Perform almost as well as a DSLR on the key aspects:
- Focus speed
- Low-light performance
- Full-manual control
- Offer sophisticated RAW file formats
So what does this all mean? This is the “Decisive Moment Digital” (as Luminous Landscape likes to say) or, a “camera for the rest of us”. Some people will still need and use DSLRs, but they will be people who already have a lot invested in canon or nikon glass, or pros who switch between the larger formats and their full-frame 35mm digitals.
Can you tell yet that I’m excited about this? I sold all my other camera gear and bought a Panasonic GF1 in December. I have two lenses with me (a 20mm F1.7 prime, and a 45-200mm F4.0-5.6 telephoto zoom). So, what has changed? Let’s review the old criteria:
- Big pixels. Better! These cameras (using the Micro Four-Thirds mount specification) have a sensor that’s 8-10 times larger than any of my previous cameras.
- Wide-angle lens. Worse. My new camera has a normal lens – it’s effective angle-of-view is 40mm (anything between 30 and 70 or so is considered normal).
- Fits in a pocket. A little worse. This camera is still small, just not as small as my prior cameras.
So why’d I do it?
There are a couple of reasons:
- Flexibility. Interchangeable lenses allow me to take advantage of different featuresets with only one camera. My GF1 fits in my pocket with its tiny 20mm pancake prime lens, but I can switch lenses and get amazing long-range bird and wildlife photos (yay! Antarctica!) with my 90-400mm effective telephoto.
- RAW+JPEG mode. Makes it easy to get uploadable photos while traveling, and large printable ones for when we return.
- Great movies. This camera shoots great 720p HD video.
- Lots of scene modes along with 4 programmable custom modes.
- Full manual mode for extended-exposure night shots.
- Auto-bracketing – this is great for making HDR photos – pictures that have way more colors than any camera (or even our eyes) can process at one time.
This makes the fourth (and hopefully final) camera for our trip. Watch for photos of Argentina (and beyond!) coming out of it!
