Looking for a camera

I have read in a few places that Nikon's mirror-less slr is not quite up to par with some of their competitors. And I know a few on here have purchased some of these competitors. I am in the market to purchase one for my daughter who will be going in to the military after next school year and I want her to have a camera for her travels. I am looking for compact size of mirror-less, but the availability of quality interchangeable lenses.

If anyone has any suggestions on what I might look at it would be appreciated.

There are some stellar compact cameras out there but most of them are single lens units. Is a removable lens an absolute need or just a want?

Dave_W said:

There are some stellar compact cameras out there but most of them are single lens units. Is a removable lens an absolute need or just a want?

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This... ^^ And how much to you want to spend (or NOT spend, as the case may be)?

The Olympus PEN Mini E-PM2 is a freakin awesome little mirrorless that comes with a 14-40mm kit lens and sells for about $400. A few other lenses are available for it but only a few.

Look at a micro Four Thirds camera, either an Olympus or a Panasonic. I shoot Olympus as well as Nikon. There are actually a lot of lenses available for the mFT cameras and you can adapt a lot of older legacy lenses to them fairly easily due to the short lens register distance. There are some excellent primes available and the fast zoom choices are growing. The E-PM2 that Horoscope Fish mentioned above is a mFT camera but there are many others available all the way up to the newly released Olympus E-M1.

Changeable lens is required. I want her to have something that can grow with her.

All of the input is appreciated so I can research.

Lets get something straight first: Nikon does not have a mirrorless SLR. They have a mirrorless ILC (Interchangeable Lens Camera), the Nikon 1 series. MFTs and other small sensor mirrorless systems are fine; but if i were you, i would invest in a camera with an APS-C sized sensor. Sony has a good line-up with their NEX system and they have a good lens line-up & you can also adapt other lenses. One thing about adapting lenses: pretty much any popular mirrorless system has adapters made for them. Just go on amazon and look at the plethora of adapters available. Now, if you want a system with the best lenses on the market, look no further then Fuji. Fuji XF lenses have outperformed Leica, Zeiss and voigtlander lenses, not to mention Nikon. Further more, the combination of the XF lenses and the Xtrans sensor gives unbeatable dynamic range and overall IQ. One thing to keep in mind: the XF lenses are not cheap. The 18-55mm is $699, but it blows any other 18-55 out of the water. MFT has a lens line-up with depth, but for the same amount of money or a bit more, you can get into a better & bigger sensor. Just my thoughts.

Moab Man said:

I have read in a few places that Nikon's mirror-less slr is not quite up to par with some of their competitors.

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No surprise there. Since there is no such thing as a mirrorless SLR, it only stands to reason that no manufacturer's mirrorless SLR will ever be up to par.

Bob Blaylock said:

No surprise there. Since there is no such thing as a mirrorless SLR, it only stands to reason that no manufacturer's mirrorless SLR will ever be up to par.

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My poor word choice. Had no idea what those mirror-less cameras were called with the interchangeable lenses. Thank you AC016 for letting me know.

Moab Man said:

My poor word choice. Had no idea what those mirror-less cameras were called with the interchangeable lenses. Thank you AC016 for letting me know.

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Most commonly,, “Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera” or “MILC”. Alternately, “Electronic Viewfinder, Interchangeable Lens”, or “EVIL”.

The “R” in SLR stands for “reflex”, and refers to the optical path being reflected off of a mirror.

Has anyone used the Olympus OMD-1? Or the Sony A7. I traveled to Paris for 10 days with my Nikon D7000 gripped, and several lenses, and after carrying the
camera around day after day, i tired of its size. I had been thinking of upgrading to a full frame camera, but then that trip has me hesitating.
The sony hasn't an adequate supply of affordable lenses, and the olympus is said to match the IQ of the D7000. SO, any information to share?
I will probably keep my DSLR and use the smaller camera for travel. If this entry isn't appropriate here, I apologize.

You may have better luck getting answers on an olympus or sony forum. Nikon does make some small cameras also.

Here's my take on mirrorless cameras. I was looking for something to replace my aging Canon SX30 IS. Great little P&S for travel, daughter's plays, etc. I wanted something compact but had a little more control like a DSLR. I started with the Nikon J3 and liked it but it did not give me enough quick access controls. I personally didn't care about the sensor size or whether it had a viewfinder but it's something you'll want to consider. My next stop ended up being the Sony NEX6. This camera was more to my liking. Gave me great control and so far has performed well optically. Ultimately this one is a keeper for my needs.

Here's what you have to keep in mind with a mirrorless interchangeable lens system. Once you acquire all the lenses you'll want (right now I just have the kit 16-50 and 55-210 lens, and I already know I'll want more) your little compact mirrorless just got not so compact. And the gear footprint is larger than you anticipated. My NEX6 with 55-210 attached is not really a small camera. And if I pack all my gear together then that just got larger as well. I also purchased a metabones adapter to let me use some of my nikon lenses. At that point I realized my mirrorless camera had an identity crisis. If I was going to lug around the lenses, adapters and wanted controls like a DSLR then why not use a DSLR? If your daughter, in spirit, is a DSLR user that wants something compact then mirrorless might not be the way to go because ultimately she'll probably have a ton of gear once the "DSLR person" inside of her gets what she wants for that system. Why not get a D3200 with all the lenses she wants and then when she graduates to something more she'll be able to use her lenses with a D7100 or even FF?

Long story short, for me, I like the compactness of a mirrorless camera. But when all is said and done with all the gear I'm using with it, the footprint is basically a small DSLR but I'm buying Sony lenses instead.