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Banksia serrata. Canon R5 with RF 35mm f1.8 |
Over the last few years most camera makers have been moving their products upmarket to differentiate them as much as possible from smartphones.
They have also been concentrating on mirrorless interchangeable lens models as these offer the greatest potential for image quality and performance for the buyer and the most profit per unit for the maker.
Budget point-and-shoot compacts have disappeared.
Today’s camera buyer already owns at least one smartphone for all the functions which it can perform including occasional snapshots.
Does this leave any place for compact cameras in the current era ?
Why would anyone own a compact?
It is possible both in theory and practice to contain the essential image making components of an interchangeable lens camera into a smaller body with a compact prime lens or a collapsing zoom. If done right this can provide the imaging capability of an ILC in a smaller fixed lens package.
For many enthusiast camera users this can be an enticing prospect. For many of us when out and about with a camera a fairly spartan, compact kit will cover most photo ops if used thoughtfully.
Sensor sizes
In the good old days of consumer snapshot compacts most models had a tiny sensor with a diagonal dimension of 7.6 or 9.3mm. A few models had an 11mm sensor.
There are still some compacts and a few bridge models with the small sensor size which has been retained because it enables fixed lenses with a huge zoom range to be fitted while retaining a reasonably compact package size.
But many smartphones have better image quality than these cameras (although a much smaller zoom range) so many compacts and bridge models these days use some variant of the Sony 15.9mm sensor.
But there has been a marked decline in the number of new models released each year using this sensor. Sony and Canon have released some but they are mostly re-packaging jobs using components already developed.
One model, the Panasonic Lumix LX100 Mk2 (and its Leica branded copy the D-Lux 7) uses a cropped version of a 21.5mm micro four thirds sensor.
A few compacts use the 28mm (Sony) or 27mm (Canon) sensor size.
These include the Fujifilm X-100V with fixed prime lens, Ricoh GR3 also with fixed prime lens and Canon G1X.3 with fixed zoom lens.
I can only find one compact with the “full frame” 43mm sensor currently available in Australia new, the Leica Q2. At a list price of around AUD8000 if you also want a handle and thumb support or almost AUD10,000 for the “Daniel Craig x Greg Williams” version this is Veblen goods beyond the reach of most of us.
However I will come back to the Q2 as it can tell us quite a lot about the real world size of a 43mm sensor prime compact.
Sony did offer the ultra tiny full frame DSC-RX1 and several follow-up versions ending with the RX1R.2 several years ago. But this appears to have dropped off the catalogue, a likely sign that it did not sell well.
It was so small and its controls so tiny and cramped, I doubt it would have been a pleasure to use.
Image quality
There are broadly speaking three main ways camera makers can differentiate their products from smartphones.
These are image quality, zoom range and the user experience, including ergonomic factors.
Cameras which use the 43mm sensor have always had an image quality advantage over those with crop sensors.
The latest models from Canon, Sony Panasonic and Nikon have increased that advantage. When I use the EOS R5 and the Powershot G1X.3 to capture the same scene it is clear which has the advantage even though the G1X.3 has a very good lens. The R5 offers a level of dynamic range, resolution and low noise at high ISO settings which the smaller sensor cannot approach.
Trends
You can clearly see a trend here. Cameras are increasingly being pitched to enthusiast users. Enthusiast photographers want something that engenders pride of ownership and offers the prospect of high quality images.
Hence the drive to increasing sensor size. Even “small medium” format cameras ( 44 x 33mm, diagonal 55mm) are now being offered in a price range which I expect will entice more than a few reasonably affluent enthusiast photographers.
If this trend is followed and if camera makers think there is a market for it, I could see the emergence of more fixed lens compacts using the 43mm sensor.
Or not: see below.
MILC as compact
However camera makers might just decide that small mirrorless interchangeable lens models (MILC) which can mount compact primes or collapsing type kit zooms might be a better way to go.
Full frame (43mm) DSLRs have a flange back distance of 46.5mm (Nikon F) or 44mm (Canon EF). This is the distance between the camera lens mount and the sensor.
Without the need for the DSLR mirror, MILCs using the 43mm sensor have a much shorter flange back distance of 16mm (Nikon Z), 18mm (Sony E) or 20mm (Canon RF).
This allows designers to bring the rear element of the lens closer to the sensor making possible more compact body/lens combinations than were possible in the DSLR era.
This means that a MILC with a compact lens, either prime or collapsing zoom, can be about the same size as a fixed lens full frame model and not much larger than a crop sensor fixed lens compact.
Look at the two cameras in the photo below.
Both use the 43mm diagonal (“full frame”) sensor.
The Leica Q2 has a 28mm fixed lens. The Canon has a 50mm interchangeable lens.
There is no RF mount 28mm lens available yet but the 50mm will serve well enough for this example.
You can see the two kits are about the same size. In fact when you add the accessory grip to the Leica it becomes the larger of the two. The RP already has a nice grip and thumb support and a more user friendly set of controls as well.
Photo courtesy of camerasize.com
The way forward ?
My best guess is that Sony and Canon and maybe Nikon will decide they can implement the compact camera genre best with a small body/compact lens MILC.
Sony is already moving in that direction with the A7C and collapsing 28-60mm lens.
Canon has the RP body which is much nicer ergonomically but could do with a better sensor and a compact 28mm and/or a collapsing zoom.
We shall see.