Compact Love!

If you have been reading any of my Blog posts you have probably noticed that that I have a love for the category of camera referred to as Advanced Compact cameras. The Advanced Compact (AC) cameras is definitely my favorite type of camera. Why?

Well lets start with other type of cameras and then I will go on to the  AC's. I do have a Canon T5 DSLR and hope to upgrade to either a T5I or a T6I in the spring. DSLR's are great for weddings, portraits, landscapes and basically every other type of photography. The versatility of the lenses offers a tone of options for your photography. I do enjoy using my T5 for portraits and once I get some more lenses I will enjoy using it for landscapes and more. DSLR's are definitely the benchmark cameras by which every other is compared too.

The newest craze in photography is definitely the Mirrorless or Compact Camera Systems cameras. Most of these offer all the advantages of DSLR's in a much smaller body. Most use an electronic view finder over the optical ones that DSLR's use. I haven't actually used any of these cameras but have done a lot of research on them. The main reason I haven't tried one is due to the price of these systems. For the good ones, they are generally very expensive and the lenses are too.

Now on to why I love the Advanced Compact style cameras so much.The main reason why I love these cameras has to do with my main photography focus of Street/Urban photography. Small but advanced cameras like these are perfect for that type of photography. They are small, like their "little brothers", the point and shoot cameras, but much more powerful. They don't draw a lot of attention when you use them on the street, unlike the larger DSLR's. When you are using one on the street people think you are just a tourist, if they notice you at all. They are also good for other types of photography such as Macro, Product, Artistic and Conceptual genres. Most of these cameras offer great Macro settings that make them very versatile cameras.

There a ton of options out there for anyone looking to add a Advanced Compact camera to their bag. Almost every camera company offers some form of Advanced Compact camera, it all depends on what you want or which company is your favorite. There are cameras out there utilizing all kinds of different sensors, different megapixels and different lenses. Some use 2/3 sensors such as the X30 that I own, some are Micro Four-Thirds, some offer 1" sensors and some even offer CMOS and "Full Frame" sensors.

There are a ton of lens offerings out there to chose from too. There are some cameras like the Ricoh GR, FujiFilm X100T and X70 which offer single focal lengths lens. And a lot more offer medium length zoom lenses, such as the FujiFilm X30 which offers a 4X zoom (28-112mm). It all depends on what you need.

There are also a lot of advanced options that a lot of these cameras offer as well. Most offer both JPEG and RAW shooting options. Most have really good "film simulations" settings that gives you a lot of options for shooting. Most of these cameras offer similar "Manual" controls that bigger cameras offer such as shooting in Aperture, Shutter and full Manual modes, some utilize them better than others but they are usually there for you to use. Some of these cameras are also very good for video, some are not, it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.

The price range for AC's also vary from company to company. You can get great cameras for as little as $400 or you can spent over a thousand dollars for some models. There are tons of options out there in every price range. They make the perfect travel and street camera.