New Camera advice, DSLR v Mirrorless

simonsays · Jan 21, 2020

I want a camera for watches mainly. I was thinking Canon Rebel with 100mm prime lens, but I am now leaning towards a Canon M5 with converter and ef-s 60mm lens.

I am attracted to the mirrorless for ease of seeing exact results before shooting, and its smaller size.

Anyone got an opinion?

tyrantlizardrex · Jan 21, 2020

Been shooting an M3 and then M5 for a couple of years now - replacing an old 40D (and then the 3 with the 5).

A few watch snaps out of the M5, all from the EF-M 22

Wooden_spoon · Jan 21, 2020

Lens is really most important IMO. Body doesn’t matter as much for picture quality. Buy an inexpensive full frame sensor body and a high quality sharp lens with a big aperture and macro capability.

simonsays · Jan 21, 2020

So macro 60mm not really necessary judging by those. How close are you to the watch with the 22mm Chris?

And how much is cropped?

tyrantlizardrex · Jan 21, 2020

simonsays
So macro 60mm not really necessary judging by those. How close are you to the watch with the 22mm Chris?

And how much is cropped?

15-20cm from the watches... not sure on the crop. Anything from a bit, to quite a bit. 😁

The EFM macro is nice, with built in light ring, but pricey.

funkright · Jan 21, 2020

A6XXX series, just amazing given the price v performance ratio 😁 along with needed lenses 👍

Larry S · Jan 22, 2020

I went with a 3/4 Olympus OMD EM1 II in Sept. 12-200; 14-42 lenses. Very happy with it.

STANDY · Jan 22, 2020

Larry S
I went with a 3/4 Olympus OMD EM1 II in Sept. 12-200; 12-40 lenses. Very happy with it.

Same here, great camera I have the OMD eM10 ll

@Larry S I have recently put the M Zuiko 17mm Pancake lens 👍👍

Larry S · Jan 22, 2020

@STANDY .....I may get one of those too. Right now the 14-42 works pretty well for street shots and is less bulky than the big zoom (which is awesome for nature shots) ... The camera is just so intuitive after you practice with it
despite a complex menu.

SpeedyPhill · Jan 22, 2020

Both DSLR and mirrorless photocamera's have the " Live View " function, seeing directly in which light exposure and sharpness You're shooting...
I went for a mirrorless EOS M50, very lightweight and a great camera...
But don't go for the white body version as the white will show up in the glass of wristwatches, so a black cloth is needed ☕
.

simonsays · Jan 22, 2020

tyrantlizardrex
15-20cm from the watches... not sure on the crop. Anything from a bit, to quite a bit. 😁

The EFM macro is nice, with built in light ring, but pricey.

I wonder if that light ring would work for watches or just be a unusable?

I am confused as to weather a 60mm macro would work better or not. I like the idea of getting some distances from the subject, but maybe a longer lens makes lighting more difficult.

Martin_F · Jan 22, 2020

Maybe look at the EOS RP and the EF 100mm Macro.
The RP does focus stacking internally, which will be huge for your macro photography!

Flintlock · Jan 22, 2020

simonsays
I want a camera for watches mainly. I was thinking Canon Rebel with 100mm prime lens, but I am now leaning towards a Canon M5 with converter and ef-s 60mm lens.

I am attracted to the mirrorless for ease of seeing exact results before shooting, and its smaller size.

Anyone got an opinion?

I wonder what you have now. It may be quite adequate . Sometimes your biggest improvement is in lighting and background. Watch photography is product photography which is amazingly involved. Back to your question of a camera purchase if you don't have one now my humble suggestion is to get something like a Nikon D3500. It's pretty high specced and sells for just several hundred with kit lens or lenses. As far as seeing what you're going to get through a mirrorless viewfinder, that doesn't work for flash. Mirrorless may be the wave of the future and if so one advantage of buying mirrorless is any lenses you get will be future compatible with future mirrorless cameras you own.

eugeneandresson · Jan 22, 2020

I recently had the opportunity to try a friends (read : fellow watch geek) Canon M6 with Canon EF-M 28mm f/3.5 Macro IS STM, that he bought just for watches. I had not realized this when I had the camera (he left it at a bar!), and coming from the bigger camera perspective I thought it was just another dinky little el-cheapo point and shoot.

Until I tried it out that is...

The picture quality is fantastic, and the macro lens is superb. It has a 1.2x magnification when you flip a switch to 'super macro mode' or whatever its called.

Given, the previous 2 are crops, but it really gets in there.

Its also is a great non-macro lens.
It too has a built-in ringlight...

It made me stop and evaluate the current camera situation. IMHO, mirrorless has got a lot of + points going for it above DSLR, and even though I am happy with my 8 year old Canon 6D, I most likely will upgrade at some point to something like the EOS R, or its successor, as I have a lot of good glass that I do not want to replace.

If I wanted to spend under $1k for a camera and lens just for watches, this combo would be on the top of my list.

PS: while I don't particularly like this guy, he does make some salient points.

https://kenrockwell.com/tech/mirrorless-vs-dslr.htm

simonsays · Jan 22, 2020

where are the pics Eugene?

MCC · Jan 22, 2020

I went from a Rebel to M50 last year. The portability makes mirrorless much easier to take everywhere. EFM lenses are a bit limited but I bought a 32mm prime and 11-22mm zoom and they are both excellent.

I kept my telephoto lens from my old camera and bought an adapter (Canon as there are others available). Picture quality is amazing but with the adapter ring it is a bit slow to focus. If you want to capture a distant moving object it can be a little tricky but possible.

Overall I am very happy with the results and the usability of the camera and would not go back but I wish there was a greater choice of lens.

Also I did not buy a kit as I did not fancy the kit lens.

simonsays · Jan 22, 2020

Flintlock
I wonder what you have now.

I have a Canon G7. It has macro and manual controls but it requires you to be very close to the subject. While I have got some good results I would like something more versatile. Lighting is hit and miss, I have a tent and sometimes use lamps, but prefer natural light on a sunny morning.

I don't use flash, just lamps.

simonsays · Jan 22, 2020

Some good advice here, many thanks! My original plan was a basic body and a 100mm lens. The EOS RP is the dream but that set up would be £1000+ and is just too much for me right now.

The Canon feels familiar, and even though Sony and Olympus offerings are tempting it just looks like I may take longer to get to know them.

I think I will try a second hand M5 with either the 60mm or 30mm macro. I definitely need to work on my lighting set up, but that is another can of worms!

Larry S · Jan 22, 2020

simonsays
Some good advice here, many thanks! My original plan was a basic body and a 100mm lens. The EOS RP is the dream but that set up would be £1000+ and is just too much for me right now.

The Canon feels familiar, and even though Sony and Olympus offerings are tempting it just looks like I may take longer to get to know them.

I think I will try a second hand M5 with either the 60mm or 30mm macro. I definitely need to work on my lighting set up, but that is another can of worms!

I will say after living in the Cannon S series pocket world for 12 years ... There is a learning curve with Olympus menus.

davy26 · Jan 23, 2020

simonsays
I want a camera for watches mainly. I was thinking Canon Rebel with 100mm prime lens, but I am now leaning towards a Canon M5 with converter and ef-s 60mm lens.

I am attracted to the mirrorless for ease of seeing exact results before shooting, and its smaller size.

Anyone got an opinion?

Many thanks Simon for starting this thread - it's probably saved me from making quite a mistake with my next camera!

I have been using my umpteenth Nikon, a D80, for about 13 years now. Recently my thoughts turned to a replacement before the D80 fails and I might then have to choose something in haste, (likely a D7500). Don't know why, but I'd ignored the whole business of the mirrorless concept until coming upon this thread. But I now see what a good idea the mirrorless construction is and that for similar money I could buy a Z50 with FTZ adaptor and use all my DSLR Nikon lenses. However, I'm very tempted to spend a bit more and go for the Z6 and enjoy the benefits of a full frame sensor. Just wondering if anyone here has experience yet with either model please?