Some years ago I was one of the travelers that always carried a huge bag with a D-SLR camera, lenses and a lot of other related stuff with me.
But since my equipment growed in different directions like drones, gimbals, actioncams and so on, I had to slowly think about getting rid of the huge D-SLR.
It took me quite some time to find something and I tested several brands until I was getting the
Canon EOS m100 with EF-M 15-45mm IS STM
as a perfect replacement for my old huge camera.
The camera features the same sensor and digi processor like the big Canon EOS cameras and therefore the picture quality is excellent. The small form factor with the small EF-M lenses gives you a huge advantage while travelling, because it is much more easy now to carry this camera anywhere you need it.
Also for me during my travels I have to reach a good compromise of picture quality and space saving equipment.
I did quite some tests and needed some time to get used to the touchscreen concept of the camera, that is quite different to the ordinary D-SLR approach. But Canon did a good job in getting all the necessary modes and features inside this small form factor.
The basic features of the camera are:
- 24.2 MPixel APS-C size CMOS sensor
- FullHD/60fps video
- Powerful DIGIC-7 processor
- Dual Pixel CMOS AF
- Shoot continuously at 6.1fps
- Full HD 60P Video
- 3″ High resolution tiltable touchscreen
- Wi-FI / NFC / Bluetooth
- EOS integrated sensor cleaning system
- Optical Image Stabilizer on compatible lens
- Movie: Enhanced 3-axis Digital IS with compatible lenses
- ISO AUTO (100 – 25600), 100 – 25600
- Movie: ISO AUTO (100 – 6400), 100 – 12800
- JPG/RAW modes
- SD, SDHC, SDXC (UHS-I compatible) useable
- Operating Environment: 0 – 40 °C, 85% or less humidity
A lot of photographers will now start to curse about kit lenses, but this one does a pretty good job and gives you quite some flexibility on a very small size. I have also some bigger travel zoom lenses for my camera, but I hardly use them, because the kit lense has a very good sharpness and the integrated Image Stabilization does a great job.
The only thing I take with me is a second battery. Normally one battery brings me through the day with around 300 photos, but if there is a lot to see I definitely need the second battery.
The picture quality is amazing in my opinion, even at high ISO settings and I can’t remember when I last had to use the small built-in flash. The high resolution of the sensor give you enough flexibility to even cut the photos when retouching them and the details it captures is very good. You just have to take some time to get used to the various modes and the setup of the camera.
My m100 and the kit lense looks quite bruised by now and still works perfect! It is definitely built for travelling and mine already survived some falls and hard conditions,it never failed on me, which is an important point for me.
So basically you get a mirrorless camera with the quality and features of a big D-SLR for a decent price.
Absolutely my recommendation!
You can get it here:
Update:
There is also an updated version available now with the Canon EOS m200 which has improvements in various fields and in contrast to the m100 it now also can film in full 4K.
You can get it here: