Hi there,
I have a question regarding cameras. In around 2008/2009, I bought a Canon EOS 1000D with some lenses. I practiced quite a bit and liked photography a lot. My main issue with it is that it is huge and heavy (as all DSLR), and I stopped carrying it with me on every occasion, which is a shame as I love “on-the-spot” pictures. And now, I haven’t taken any pictures with it for a few years, and it has been sitting on the shelf. Today, I’d like to go back to good gear, as I’m really feeling the limits of phone photography, but I’m completely out of the game and don’t really know what to look for.
My wishlist would be:
- Compatible with my lenses (mainly EF- 50mm and EF 55-200), adapter OK.
- Compact enough when mounted with the EF-S 18-55 that I can put it in a (medium) purse/bag
- Less than 1000€, ideally in the 500€ range.
I don’t care much for videos. Is there anything that would be fitting, or should I just buy bigger purses and get back to my 1000D ^^?
Thanks for the advice!
[EDIT] I made a mistake in the lens I wanted to keep, it was not so much the 18-55 (which is standard indeed) but the 50mm portrait… that being said, I suspect this does not change the answers given as the mounting system is the same. Thanks a lot for the answers btw. I will have a look at second-hand cameras and build from there. I still would like interchangeable lenses as I would like the versatility and hope to retake my camera for the occasional photo trip.
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Real talk: those lenses aren’t worth basing your whole buying decision on.
To answer the question you asked, the smallest camera Canon ever made in EF mount is the Rebel SL series. It’s a little pricey for its features even second hand. The EOS 800D (Rebel T7i) is only slightly bigger, has a much better low light AF system and is generally available for less.
My recommendation though would be to sell those lenses and get something more in line with your photography goals. Do you really want interchangeable lenses? Because you can get prosumer point and clicks with better quality integrated lenses, and ditching the whole mounting system saves a ton of weight and space.
If you want interchangeable lenses, look at something mirrorless. Canon, Sony, Panasonic. Find a good lens or three and base your body purchase around that. If your lens inventory value isn’t 5-10x the value of your body, you probably would have been better off with a point and shoot.
On that side, look at the Sony DSC-RX100 series. And pay attention to the lens. At some point in the series, Sony switched from a 24-70 to a 28-200; if you’re looking at an old enough model that it’s got the 24-70, Sony makes a brand new “budget” model called the ZV-1 that’s basically an updated older RX100.
My honest advice is don’t worry about the old lenses. Any camera should come with a comparable lens to the 18-55, and the 55-200 is not anything to base camera choice on. The only compact cameras that can properly use those lenses will be Canon’s discontinued EOS M series. It is a totally dead end system which has ceased development. I don’t think your lenses would work on the crop bodies of their new system, but the difference in price would make it a bad choice anyways. You can technically get an adapter to use the lenses on Sony’s cameras, but they will not work quite right in my opinion, will probably work much slower, have focus issues, and maybe even have issues with the stabilization causing blur.
That being said, I really think the Sony cameras would be the way to go, but look at the used market. At least in the US, Sony made so many cameras that the used older models go for a lot less money, so they are really cheap to pick up. The A5100 would be a great balance of small, good image quality (24MP), and I assume very cheap. The A6000 line would add an eye piece but be larger. The A5000 would be good but lower resolution (20MP), and the entire Nex line are older yet and mostly cap at 16MP. The 16-50 lens is super tiny when off, and in my opinion a very under rated lens.
As others have said, those are average lenses and you shouldn’t base your purchasing decisions around them.
If you want really small, you have two ways to go:
- A compact camera with a larger sensor (1" to APS-C)
- A m4/3 camera. If you were happy with the 1000D any of the 16 or 20mp m4/3 cameras will outperform that, despite the smaller sensor (less than 1 stop difference). I don’t know the prices of the cameras where you are, but look for something with either sensor and IBIS, and see what you can find.
Well, the low end 1000D are kind of small DSLRs as they go IIRC. So most ILC (interchangeable lens cameras) are unlikely to be much smaller - the lens also tends to make up a lot of the space if it’s a Zoom. Primes can be pretty small if they’re wide angle / cheaper / narrow max aperture.
Also, if you use an adapter and existing lenses, even if the Camera is smaller, the “length” from back to front will likely be the same cause the adapter just adds back that spacing so the lenses work.
If you’re not limited by the actual image quality and QOL features of the 1000D, then I think a larger purse will likely be less than 500 euro unless it’s designer.
That said, if you absolutely want a new camera, you should look at the Canon R50 and the R10 (R10 is a better option, costs more) plus the EF to RF adapter. These will give you some of the mirrorless improvements in use, at the cost of battery life. They probably will take higher quality images - 2008 is actually far enough back where camera sensors noticeably improved and got higher resolution.
You could also cross shop the Canon EF-M cameras - which while pretty much a “dead system” are really small, can use an adapter to use your existing lenses, probably cheaper, and again, if you’re ok “throwing it out later on”, do have lenses that are also quite small for the system.
You can get adapters for the R series to work with EOS lenses, but honestly, those lenses are not that great to begin with: Just get better lenses.
That said, I have an R7 and I like it pretty well. Uses the same battery system as my 7D too, so I can still use both cameras with new batteries.
