What camera do I buy? / general gear talk

If I listened to you I'd not be able to see what I was aiming it at in the first place.

It's called lomography, all the hip people are doing it!

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My current setup is a Canon 60D with EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 and EF 50mm f/1.8 lenses. We've got a kid incoming any day now and my wife is a bit intimidated by the camera but is cautious about spending cash another one. I'm considering the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III as an option suitable for both of us. It's currently £430 with the 14-44mm zoom which is affordable. I think that will suit her much more and be handy for me when I don't want a big camera about my person.

I originally bought the Canon to shoot my work (graphic designer, shooting print work mostly). My brother had the 60D and recommended it for remote shooting hooked up to my computer, which it does really well. I got it for £300 with just over 1k on the shutter count. I was just using the prime lens my brother gave me to shoot books but decided on investing in the 17-55 lens so I could actually get use of the camera outside of the studio, which I do, but my wife hasn't taken to it at all. She's a bit of an introvert and I think she feels a bit self conscious with a DSLR sized camera and relatively big lens.

Does getting the OM sound wise? Or will I just end up always using it in which case I should sell what I've got and could then get a couple extra lenses for the OM second hand and have all bases covered? If I can successfully shoot my work with the OM I'm wondering if the 60D would ever get used again?

What would your wife be using the camera for? If its kid pictures then would the camera on a modern smartphone suffice? Would definitely solve the self conscious aspect of carrying around a DSLR and even the cheap Huawei phones come with very capable cameras these days

congrats on mini mrJL also !

Cheers! She's really into the great outdoors in all aspects, from the garden to day long hikes so it needs to be capable of capturing decent shots in those contexts, plus family photography. I put together photo books of our trips just for us and it's always disappointing to see a photo that looks decent on a phone come out terribly next to the DSLR shots when they're in print so I do think that something in between those two points could be useful

Yea, why not use a decent modern smartphone alongside the 60D to take pics of your kid.
Or maybe get a small high quality fixed lens point and shoot (like a Ricoh GR).
Don't underestimate the rule of "the best camera is the one you have with you" applies very much when it comes to kids; you really want to have the thing nearby when an opportunity for a nice image presents itself - and frankly your smartphone will likely be in your pocket most of the time.
Really ask yourself what a "real" camera would offer you over a modern iPhone / smartphone.

What phone are you using ? Most should be capable of producing good A4 prints.
Also try using an app that allows you to shoot RAW.
For what it's worth I don't notice too much of a difference in quality at A4 between a 16MP m4/3 camera and a typical 12MP phone camera.

Also, what @SuperSalat said re using a phone for kids.

I've got an iphone XR. It's fine, but the shots are clearly phone photos once printed to my fussy eyes.

It's also important to clarify, it's not just for photos of kids, which a phone does perfectly well. It's for holidays, around the city, out and about around the countryside, in the garden, day trips etc.

I think I framed it best when I said if I can shoot my work with a smaller camera and it can do the above jobs very well then it will be worth changing to.

Having a viewfinder is a massive factor for me. I hate shooting with a screen..... unless it is articulated.

I eventually plumped for a Canon M50 , kit Lens plus 22mm prime from jessops .
I used their advice , felt guilty about internet purchase saving £150, so I went back to jessops and got a n EU warranty at least , but did buy SD card off amazon as it was way cheaper even though they discounted 50% , they did discount a spare battery though.
For a noob it seems very suited .
It’s also tiny , it has to be small bag size or it won’t get used

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Since I got a few smaller mirrorless cameras I do use my DSLR less but it still gets use when I'm really planning on taking pictures when out and about.

As well as the Olympus I'd also look at the Sony mirrorless efforts. They're still much more compact than a normal DSLR but a bigger sensor than the m4/3 (same size sensor as the 60D). They're good as a point and shoot but do have all of the extra settings for manual shooting.

Or look at something like the RX100 (I'd say version 3 with the EVF) if you want something that really isn't a DSLR but still takes better than mobile pictures.

I think I framed it best when I said if I can shoot my work with a smaller camera and it can do the above jobs very well then it will be worth changing to.

So you want a camera that is great for shooting

holidays, around the city, out and about around the countryside, in the garden, day trips etc

..so basically what your 60D does nicely, but you'd like a smaller camera so your wife would use it more?

Fair enough, yet I'd argue the compact package comes with a price usually (it's more fiddly than a normal DSLR) so this is actually putting off a lot of people I know / frustrating them in the long run as as it seems harder to get the camera to do what they want.

I think it would be smart to just make her more comfortable with the 60D if that's possible, have you considered getting one of the sweet tiny pancake primes that canon does - this might help with that.

That’s the other route. Probably worth pursuing once more before buying more stuff

The Canon 24mm ef-s 2.8 is great, tiny and cheap.

I agree.

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My two cents as a noob: we got an xt20 (massive overkill) because my old dslr died on us. Works like a charm in automatic mode tho so great for both of us. MASSIVE better quality then both our phones can produce so definitely worth it BUT I don't always take it with my on outings because of the extra size vs phone. Might just get a pancake lens now :p

Pancake 22mm on my new M 50 is tiny

Also have you thought about something like a Canon Powershot G1x ii ?

This might be kind of a sweet spot in terms of image quality and smallish / non-intimidating size.
Never owned one of these Powershots myself but whenever I used one I was impressed to be honest, pics looked great and there's just something about these bodies that feels very "friendly".

While on the topic of capable compact cameras here's an artice on Ming Thein's blog that's pretty spot-on again in my opinion:

A compact death

the title scared me as I am hoarding HYPED film compacts. 35ti, 28ti, T2, GR I 😂

Don't worry, you will be fine!

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Should have probably mentioned it's about digital cameras only, sorry if I scared you!

wanna buy the T2 for £1300?

Make it £1500 and I'll consider it.

Have had a g7x for a few years as my only camera. I love it. For what I do I don’t see the need for anything more. Though mine is getting old and I’d be inclined to get the g5x ii now for the view finder.

While on the topic of capable compact cameras here's an artice on Ming Thein's blog that's pretty spot-on again in my opinion:

Seems a weird article in that he avoids mentioning Fuji, and then describes the ultimate compact control system - which is essentially the X100.