If you can stretch to buying a CSC with a viewfinder, do it

you can get a clip-on accessory viewfinder, it’s an expensive addition.

If you want to keep the cost down, if you want a smaller camera, or if a compact camera and a rear screen are all you know, then by all means consider one of these cheaper models. But if you can stretch your budget to buying a CSC with a viewfinder, do it – you won’t regret it.

The electronic viewfinder in a compact system camera is fed by wires rather than an optical light path, so the manufacturers can locate it wherever they like. This means you can have a camera styled in the same way as a DSLR, with a central viewfinder in a ‘pentaprism’ shape on the top of the camera, or one styled like a classic box-shaped ‘rangefinder’ camera, with the viewfinder in the top-left corner on the back of the unit.

The DSLR style is very popular because you get all the advantages of a CSC – small size, lower weight, mechanical simplicity – but in a shape that you’re already familiar with. In fact, DSLR-style CSCs are a lot closer to the size, weight and style of old 35mm-film SLRs than modern DSLRs are.

Old-school elegance

Weirdly, although the technology is very modern, the CSC design has enabled camera makers to get back to ‘how cameras used to be’. Fuji has built its dramatic resurgence as a high-end mainstream camera maker off the back of its X-series cameras’ retro appeal – the demand for classic styling, traditional external

controls and cameras as objects of beauty in themselves is massive.

Olympus is tapping into this with its gorgeous PEN-F. Tech-wise, it’s good but no breakthrough, but users are unlikely to care much about that when faced with an object that can deliver so much sensual satisfaction.

We love gadgets, but we also love beautiful engineering. Leica has built its mythical reputation on this simple fact, and the savvier compact system makers are tapping into this additional dimension of ownership.

Sensors and sensibility

One of the reasons for choosing a CSC over a regular compact camera is the ability to change lenses. Another is the bigger sensor size. The average compact camera has a sensor the size of your little fingernail, while those in CSCs and DSLRs are many times larger. Bigger sensors mean sharper details, less noise, better colour and dynamic range, a stronger sense of depth, better ‘bokeh’ (defocused backgrounds) – just better pictures generally.

Don’t get fixated on megapixels. The image resolution is much less important for picture quality these days than it used to be. You should worry about the sensor size before you start thinking about megapixels.

But where DSLR sensors come in two sizes (APS-C and full-frame), compact system