I’ve a subtle attraction for small cameras with great image quality: for me the best camera is the one I have with me most of the time.
Having used a great deal of gear over the years, starting from Canon SLR, up to my beloved medium format rig, today, for most of my photographs all I needed was this magic trio (in equivalent focal length):
- 28mm: Ricoh GR (one of the best camera ever made, great usability, good IQ, APSC)
- 35mm: Sony RX1R II (compact, fantastic IQ, good AF and a dreamy 35mm Zeiss lens, Full Frame)
- 75mm: Sigma DP3 Merrill (slow, terrible battery life, but a peculiar rendering and an amazing sharpness, Foveon)
BUT: I was missing an “all purpose”, rugged camera with the following specifications:
- Great operational speed
- Small size
- Weather sealing
- Good set of available lenses, especially on focal lengths not covered by the trio above
- Good Video (4k, why not?)
- In Body Image Stabilisation for handholding and long shutter speeds
Conversely to my fixed focal lens cameras, I needed a camera to pair with a versatile zoom lens, ideally with the with a wide focal range. So i started to look seriously to the market offers. Lot of possibilities, indeed. The Sony A7*, for instance. I had for one year circa the A7R that I liked for IQ but not for usability and versatility. The A9 was out of budget and, after the A7R, I simply didn’t like the form factor of the Sony mirrorless. The APSC Sony 6****, the Fuji XT?, the Canon 80D? Some ok but not so speedy, or too big, or not weather sealed. Lenses on FF inevitably bigger and heavier.
I’m mostly an architectural and travel photographer: but I love and ride motorcycles, mostly – you may guess – Ducati, so I also needed a camera where I could pair long zooms being still lightweight. Worth to mention: the photographs taken during the race were shot form a big distance while I was in the public, and, by no way, could be considered as professional race shots.
Miguel Oliveira, from Portugal, after winning the Moto2 race in Valencia, 12 November 2017. Olympus EM1 MK2, Olympus 75-300, 300mm (600mm equivalent), ISO 320, 1/2000s, f7.1.
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