Shooting professionally with small camera's

[LightBright]

I don't consider myself as a professional photographer yet but I do aspire to be a photo journalist, and I feel like Im getting closer to my goal. I shoot with two camera bodies, a Sony a500 with a big 70-200 and a olympus e-620 to build my portfolio. I used to shoot alot of sports but recently I am focusing on event story telling photography. When I use my DSLR's (even with small lenses), I always run into two main problems. #1 I consider myself as a pretty active and healthy guy, doing work out sessions once every other day. I get pretty exhausted from that alone and bringing and using heavy cameras can make it tougher when trying to recover. #2 It seems that every time Im out photographing something, a photo enthusiast with a professional DSLR trys to strike up a conversation when Im trying to take pictures. Because of these two problems, I am considering purchasing two small cameras, the Sony Nex 3 and Nex 5 to replace my big cameras. I have used many point and shoots with no problem. My question is, would this be a bad move for someone who plans to shoot professionally for a living? When people see a big camera, they tend to give you more respect regardless of knowing the skill level of the photographer (most people tend to think the camera takes the photo, not the photographer), and when they see a tiny camera the opposite happens. I find myself photographing real close to people and sometimes right next to there face to get the shot I want, some hate seeing big dslrs pointed at there face's but I am sure some would think I might be a perv if I had a little camera pointed at them. I do have a press pass, I guess that helps but I am still thinking about what will happen when I switch over to a smaller camera.

[Franglais]

The first questions you should ask yourself are - are my future clients going to be satisfied with the results? Is the camera I'm thinking about using suitable for what I want to do?

The Leica M series was the top photojournalist camera for years. It was small and allowed photographers to get into the event. It was also the best quality available.

Being a professional is more about attitude than the gear you carry. If you act like you know what you're doing, you know what you're looking for and if necessary you show a little authority then this puts you aside from the amateur, even if he has a bigger camera than you do.

[OldClicker]

I don't consider myself as a professional photographer yet but I do aspire to be a photo journalist, and I feel like Im getting closer to my goal. I shoot with two camera bodies, a Sony a500 with a big 70-200 and a olympus e-620 to build my portfolio. I used to shoot alot of sports but recently I am focusing on event story telling photography. When I use my DSLR's (even with small lenses), I always run into two main problems. #1 I consider myself as a pretty active and healthy guy, doing work out sessions once every other day. I get pretty exhausted from that alone and bringing and using heavy cameras can make it tougher when trying to recover. #2 It seems that every time Im out photographing something, a photo enthusiast with a professional DSLR trys to strike up a conversation when Im trying to take pictures. Because of these two problems, I am considering purchasing two small cameras, the Sony Nex 3 and Nex 5 to replace my big cameras. I have used many point and shoots with no problem. My question is, would this be a bad move for someone who plans to shoot professionally for a living? When people see a big camera, they tend to give you more respect regardless of knowing the skill level of the photographer (most people tend to think the camera takes the photo, not the photographer), and when they see a tiny camera the opposite happens. I find myself photographing real close to people and sometimes right next to there face to get the shot I want, some hate seeing big dslrs pointed at there face's but I am sure some would think I might be a perv if I had a little camera pointed at them. I do have a press pass, I guess that helps but I am still thinking about what will happen when I switch over to a smaller camera.

Though the NEX are very small and light, if you still have a big zoom attached it isn't going to make much difference. - Terry

[EOSThree]

People often try to strike up conversations, I just keep talking with pauses while shooting. I wouldn't completely ditch your SLR, it can do so much more than the smaller cameras can. I have a Panasonic GF-1 which is similar to the NEX series in that it has interchangeable lenses and larger sensor. It's a great camera, but falls a little short for everything.

Like Terry said, The GF-1 is small, until I put the zoom lenses on it. Then it's still small, but also has some bulk to it. It's not at all suited for action, the screen blanks out on every shot, so you can easily lose your tracking. It's a compromise. I won't ever rid myself of my SLRs, but the GF-1 certainly compliments them, the NEX cameras would fit into the same category.

[LightBright]

The first questions you should ask yourself are - are my future clients going to be satisfied with the results? Is the camera I'm thinking about using suitable for what I want to do?

The Leica M series was the top photojournalist camera for years. It was small and allowed photographers to get into the event. It was also the best quality available.

Being a professional is more about attitude than the gear you carry. If you act like you know what you're doing, you know what you're looking for and if necessary you show a little authority then this puts you aside from the amateur, even if he has a bigger camera than you do.

I think the quality of these new little cams will be good enough for news paper print and online editions, even for magazines. I wish I could afford a leica m9 but I don't think it's possible at the moment. I know canon,nikon, olympus, panasonic and sony will release larger more professional small cameras in the future, so that might be a good alternative to a digital leica in the near future.

But for right now, the Nex 5 and 3 looks tempting to me, will probably purchase before the end of this month with two m mount adapters and a Voigtlander Ultron 28mm f/2.0 and Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.1 lens as well as the two kit lenses they come with. I was recently playing with the live view function on my Sony a500 and I absolutely love it, even in low light conditions. With the screen tilt feature it feels like Im shooting with a waist level view finder. This is good practice because the Nex cameras do not have an evf, there is however some talk there will be one in the near future.

I think you are right about how authority is an important part in this business. Its not so much if you have pro gear to be a pro rather than you have to act and work like a pro.

[LightBright]

Though the NEX are very small and light, if you still have a big zoom attached it isn't going to make much difference. - Terry

Thats true but im not planning on putting my big zooms on the Nex, just small primes.

[LightBright]

People often try to strike up conversations, I just keep talking with pauses while shooting. I wouldn't completely ditch your SLR, it can do so much more than the smaller cameras can. I have a Panasonic GF-1 which is similar to the NEX series in that it has interchangeable lenses and larger sensor. It's a great camera, but falls a little short for everything.

Like Terry said, The GF-1 is small, until I put the zoom lenses on it. Then it's still small, but also has some bulk to it. It's not at all suited for action, the screen blanks out on every shot, so you can easily lose your tracking. It's a compromise. I won't ever rid myself of my SLRs, but the GF-1 certainly compliments them, the NEX cameras would fit into the same category.

I am still going to keep all my dslr's and do not plan on selling them. I definitely agree that micro 4/3's and Nex cameras cant keep up with the action as well as dslrs can, but I wont be using them to photograph fast moving subjects. I hope I made the right decision. I actually decided to go with this route instead of going with a FF slr, I might be crazy But all of you who replied made me rethink somethings, that it wouldn't hurt to keep a dslr in my bag, just in case. My usual kit is filled with two heavy cameras, extra batteries, and 5 heavy lenses. With these two small cameras in the bag, I think I can have one slr in the same bag and the total weight will still be less than that of my previous shooting kit. I still plan on using the tiny cameras for 90 % of the pictures I take, but this way I wont have to make any compromises. Thanks everyone

[OldClicker]

Thats true but im not planning on putting my big zooms on the Nex, just small primes.

The NEX (with the APS-C sensor) with the 16mm f/2.8 pancake should be a great camera. And they are REALLY small. - Terry

[LightBright]

Yes, I think it will be a great choice. It does tend to have a lot of distortion in some situations but overall the samples look good.

[Romphotog]

Had I used an SLR, I still would've had the same results.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rglukhoy/

I am looking at a Fuji S1800 $195.

[Skyman]

It really depends who your market is and how you sell yourself. Some clients are going to expect that you have a lot of gear. Others won't care as long as you get the images they want. There will always be people who never got over the how big is your lens thing and there will always be people who assume that it is the camera not the photographer. If you are trying to sell to either of these people you might run into trouble, but if your portfolio is strong enough and you get photos that your clients are happy with, then it really shouldn't matter what camera you use.