Traveling with a Mirrorless Camera

Today’s Post by Mark Toal

This week I’m visiting one my favorite cities, Seattle. Traveling is another area where I love shooting with mirrorless cameras. Before I started shooting with Micro Four-thirds cameras, I’d carry a point-and-shoot camera wherever I traveled because carrying a large digital SLR took the fun out of exploring a city. The point-and-shoot worked great as far as compactness and zoom lens capability but if I wanted to make a larger print for the wall the small sensor was just not up to it.

My photo style is mostly wide angle shooting so I decided to try carrying only one or two lenses. This meant that nothing had to be left in the hotel room or in my car to worry about being stolen. I also was able to carry anything I bought along the way and Jasmine and I didn’t have to get a table for three to make room for a digital SLR.

I take most of my images with a Panasonic Lumix GX1 and 14mm f/2.5 pancake lens. I also love the Lumix 7-14mm f/4, but I prefer the faster 14mm lens so I can shoot in any kind of light without having to use a flash. Another benefit to shooting a small camera like the Lumix GX1 with the 14mm pancake lens is that it’s easy to conceal in a jacket pocket or keep it dry in a rainy place like Seattle or Portland.

If I keep the camera’s ISO setting to 100 or 200 I have no problem enlarging the files from my GX1 to make 11×14 or 16×20 prints. I’ve even had 20×30 prints made.