These lightweight Mirrorless cameras are small, powerful, and fun to use.
If you’re in the market for lightweight Mirrorless cameras that will make the perfect travel companion, this roundup is for you. When we travel the last thing we want to do is add a ton of weight to our travel bags, nor do we want to have weighty cameras hanging around our necks while exploring new places. The great thing about these lightweight Mirrorless cameras is that, while they may be small in size, they pack a lot of power under the hood. In fact, you can even get Full Frame cameras that fall into the lightweight camera category now too. Join us after the break to take a look at five lightweight Mirrorless cameras that we’d take along with us on our travels.
All of the lightweight Mirrorless cameras listed below can produce excellent images. They have access to great lenses, they’re easy to use, and they won’t take up a ton of space. They may well be the best travel cameras you can get your hands on. Check out five of our favorite lightweight Mirrorless cameras below.
Olympus OMD EM10 Mk II
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Beautiful wink and a nod to the retro ergonomics
- Feels great in the hand
- Good image quality, but the Micro Four Thirds sensors currently used by Olympus are starting to show their age
- Fast AF
- AF selection pad using the LCD screen is freakin’ brilliant!
- S-OVF’s effects were simulated easily with some tweaks to previous cameras, but it’s nice that they made it more simplistic and put into one setting.
- Not a single mis-focus during our testing even in very low light conditions
- Olympus by far leads the way when it comes to ergonomics in the Mirrorless camera world. This camera is evidence of that fact.
Cons
- Image quality is still great, but it’s starting to show its age vs APS-C sensors
- We wish the dials would have been created with a higher quality metal
Buy now ($599 with two lenses): Amazon
Canon EOS M50
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Nice feeling in the hand.
- Absolutely fantastic battery life
- Canon’s colors are really nice, and we’ve come to think of this sensor sort of like shooting with Slide film
- Autofocus is pretty good, but we wouldn’t use it for street photography
- We finally got 4K video
- There’s a silent shutter mode, finally
- Big LCD screen
- Canon’s menus continue to be the easiest to go through
- Canon’s monochrome images are really nice
Cons
- This camera deserves to be bundled with a nice wrist strap
- Who the hell thought of putting the silent shutter mode in its own dedicated camera mode and robbing the photographer of all traditional exposure control?
- Silent shutter mode should be a drive mode option
- High ISO is barely usable above ISO 3200
Buy now ($599 w/one lens): Amazon
Pro Tip: No travel photography kit is complete without a lightweight tripod. Traveling with tripods can become cumbersome if you pick one that takes up a lot space and weighs a ton. Just like cameras these days, tripods come in all shapes and sizes, and there are some cracking tripods that can fold down to next to nothing and are lightweight. The Vanguard VEO2 235CB is a perfect example of a great travel tripod. It’s small, lightweight, can hold a good amount of equipment, and it’s easy to use. Take this along with your lightweight Mirrorless camera, and you’ll have a fantastic setup to travel with. The best part; it’s under $130!
Sony a6400
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Compact & lightweight
- Fast & accurate autofocus
- Excellent image quality
- 11 FPS continuous shooting with AF & AE tracking (mechanical shutter only)
- Improved Real-time Eye AF
- Real-time Tracking
- Real-time Animal Eye AF
- 4K video recording without 30 minute limit
- Competitively priced
Cons
- Lacks in body image stabilization
- External battery charger not included
- Single SD card slot with support for only up to UHS-I speed cards
- Rear screen flips up into where the hot shoe is located and becomes essentially useless if you’ve got any attachments mounted onto the camera
Buy now ($998 w/one lens): Amazon
Fujifilm X-T30
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- Solid construction that we’ve come to expect and love about Fujifilm cameras
- Compact
- Lightweight
- Almost everything that made the X-T3 such a hit
Cons
- Lacks in-body image stabilization & weather sealing
- Rear touchscreen only tilts up and down, unlike the X-T3 which also tilts to the right as well
- Perhaps a tad too compact, particularly for photographers with larger hands
- New joystick is awkwardly placed on the rear of the camera body, making single-handed operation challenging and increases the risk of accidentally dropping the camera due to its diminutive size
- Unremarkable battery life
Buy now ($999 w/lens): Amazon
Pro Tip: One thing that makes traveling that much easier is being able to organize everything you take with you. With these cameras being so small, it means you can get away with taking along a small camera bag that’s still big enough to house your camera, a few lenses. and some accessories, along with being able to hold a tripod. The Portage Supply Kenora 4th generation is just about the perfect bag to travel with. Small on size, yet big enough to carry the essentials while being weather resistant and incredibly comfortable. The price is right too!
Canon EOS RP
Here are the pros and cons from our full review:
Pros
- This isn’t Canon innovating on the inside, but instead on the outside
- This is the smallest and lightest ILC full frame camera on the market
- Goes well with a wrist strap and a light prime lens
- Weather sealing
- The autofocus isn’t bad, and it’s quite usable in a number of working conditions
- Pretty good image quality
Cons
- This camera is begging to be paired with a nice 50mm f1.8 lens
- Could have done better with a joystick
- The competition from Sony charges around 1/3rd more of the price and offers more
Buy now ($1,299 body only): Amazon