Originally Posted by
wco81
My carryon is mostly occupied by laptop and supporting electronics (portable drives, chargers, etc.) IOW, stuff you would not pack in a checked bag.
My photo gear goes into a photo sling bag, which counts as my "personal item" that I take onboard in addition to my roller carryon. I've carried my D7000 and 3 lenses (one on the camera), photo accessories, and my iPad Mini Retina for quick access onto planes.
Now if I went with a Micro 4/3 set up, I would still have to have to have a dedicated photo bag as my personal item, with customized padded compartments. No doubt this bag with 4/3 gear would be much lighter and could be smaller than what I have now.
But I see no point in using a smaller personal item bag than the airlines allow, as I could always use the capacity for other items that I would not rather put in a checked bag.
Weight is fine with me. I've hiked as much as 15-20 miles in a day with this bag and gear on my back and a second shoulder bag carrying food and even a tripod. I walked up to San Miniato del Monte overlooking Florence just before sunset, to take pictures of Florence just before and after sunset a couple of years ago.
I'm not saying lighter gear wouldn't be welcome in this kind of scenario but as I said before, you give up low-light performance and there isn't any native geotagging solution for any mirrorless cameras yet.
Difference in weight between a D750 with 24-120 lens and an OMD-E-M5 with 12-50 lens is about 30 ounces. In percentage terms huge but in absolute terms, two pounds is not going to break my back.
For that I get a bigger and better sensor, more reach in the lens, access to more lenses, geotagging support, etc.
Actually, both the GH4 and the OM-D E-M1 now support geotagging via smart phone in the latest firmware updates. I would argue that this is a better way to go than to build it into the camera hardware. As far as a DSLR is concerned, a 24-120mm lens alone would not come anywhere near meeting my needs. For just about anything I shoot, I'd need a wider lens, as well as a significantly longer one, so the 2 pound difference is now a 5 pound difference - and BTW, I can't dedicate my entire personal item to camera gear when I travel - My typical 4-5 lens Micro 4/3 travel outfit only takes up half of my personal item. I use a Tenba Vector 2 shoulder bag which fits easily inside my personal carry-on, with about half the space left over for non-camera gear.
And frankly, your complaint about imaging limits of Micro 4/3 gear is wildly over-stated. More and more professionals who try the stuff are finding that it is entirely high enough in quality for their clientele. Could you see the difference between full frame and Micro 4/3? Sure, with printed blow-ups of 20x30 or bigger, or at ISOs of 3200 or higher, but seriously, how much of your work does that represent? And again, that's full frame - something I never come close to needing. The real world quality difference between APS-C and Micro 4/3 is vanishingly small.