Me to.  I gave up on the DSLR and bought a Panasonic GX85 with the 12-60mm lens and 45-140mm.

a bit late to the party but this fella proves that cellphones are no push over in good light (and clip on lenses - i swear you cannot get macro like that on a mobile)

https://plus.google.com/collection/EVsYFB

I have an elderly DSLR (Canon 450D) which has given me great service, and for which I have a number of lenses and a good external flash unit etc. I love it, and will definitely be getting another DSLR when my poor overstretched toy budget runs to it. Probably another Canon DLSR, as my investment in Canon system lenses and the flash etc is material.

I'm definitely an amateur snapshotter rather than a good photographer. My only advice is whatever you get, make sure it has a hotshoe for a flash. I have had two cameras that can take a good external flash, and it can make a huge difference to the quality of shots. Absolutely massive in low light, and the puny on-camera flashes just can't compare.

mattwnz: If you are looking at bridge cameras and also doing 4k video and looking at a cheaper option than the Sony you could try the lumix fz1000 and the newer model which is the fz2000. These cameras seem to be very similar to the Sony's but at a lower price. I have the fz1000 and have found overall very good for what it is. Some of the pocket Cameras can overheat when shooting in 4k and have to be shut down until they cool down.

It is what I'd recommend, and Camera Labs (run by a guy in NZ btw) has a solid little review here:

https://www.cameralabs.com/panasonic-lumix-fz2000-fz2500-review/

Of course a mirrorless will serve a person better in the long run if they go deeper into photography/filming. 

davidcole: I've been tossing up between a Panasonic dmc-g85 with the 14-140mm lens, or a canon 750/760d with the 18-135mm. Bit of a price difference between them, and unsure how they'd be for travel. But at least only one lens, and both have view finders.

The Panasonic G85 is in another world compared to the Canon 750D when it comes to video, as Canon gets left waaaay behind eating dirt. 

As for stills? Both are acceptable. 

For me travel is about recording your times, your enjoyment.  The long lens is only for wildlife etc. One of the benefits of a mirrorless or dSLR is that you can swap in a lens so you are not always chained to a huge lens or a slow aperture lens.  

After being a dSLR user for travel I want something smaller so I am looking at a mirrorless.  Pocket cameras with big sensors are great also esp when you are just going out with others etc.  to the restaurant etc .. the mall etc.  dSLRs have gotten larger and larger and it's not great for me to pull this thing out inside a plane or inside that train to get a few snaps.    

Bigger sensor will work better in low light also if the len's aperture is lower F number the bigger zoom lenses tends to be have higher F numbers.  A bigger sensor like a 1" sensor like the Sony with the larger 400'ish lens will be 1kg.  The lens cannot be taken off so it's that size 24/7. 

I spent 2 weeks travelling with the Sony RX10 III and all I can say is that it exceeded my expectations and performed flawlessly. Just having the flexibility to capture great macro shots of moss and bugs and stuff, all the way out to the full extent of the 600mm zoom to frame Miyajima torii beautifully and wide landscape shots. Mix in the fun of super slow motion capture and time lapse photography (available to purchase in apps store) and it ticks all my boxes. It's certainly not a light camera, but 1kg isn't excessive in my mind. I would recommend it to anyone interested in a bridge type camera. The price is eye watering for sure, but for me it was worth it. 

I see the Mark IV is out and that adds PDAF and a few other upgrades that have made a great camera even better. Is it a "pro" camera? No. But for me it does everything I needed and then some. Even the wife, who is notoriously tech-shy could operate it...albeit using Auto, and took great photos.

maoriboy:

I spent 2 weeks travelling with the Sony RX10 III and all I can say is that it exceeded my expectations and performed flawlessly. Just having the flexibility to capture great macro shots of moss and bugs and stuff, all the way out to the full extent of the 600mm zoom to frame Miyajima torii beautifully and wide landscape shots. Mix in the fun of super slow motion capture and time lapse photography (available to purchase in apps store) and it ticks all my boxes. It's certainly not a light camera, but 1kg isn't excessive in my mind. I would recommend it to anyone interested in a bridge type camera. The price is eye watering for sure, but for me it was worth it. 

I see the Mark IV is out and that adds PDAF and a few other upgrades that have made a great camera even better. Is it a "pro" camera? No. But for me it does everything I needed and then some. Even the wife, who is notoriously tech-shy could operate it...albeit using Auto, and took great photos.

Batman:

maoriboy:

 

I spent 2 weeks travelling with the Sony RX10 III and all I can say is that it exceeded my expectations and performed flawlessly. Just having the flexibility to capture great macro shots of moss and bugs and stuff, all the way out to the full extent of the 600mm zoom to frame Miyajima torii beautifully and wide landscape shots. Mix in the fun of super slow motion capture and time lapse photography (available to purchase in apps store) and it ticks all my boxes. It's certainly not a light camera, but 1kg isn't excessive in my mind. I would recommend it to anyone interested in a bridge type camera. The price is eye watering for sure, but for me it was worth it. 

 

 

 

I see the Mark IV is out and that adds PDAF and a few other upgrades that have made a great camera even better. Is it a "pro" camera? No. But for me it does everything I needed and then some. Even the wife, who is notoriously tech-shy could operate it...albeit using Auto, and took great photos.

 

Is that a changeable lens? If so which? Macro to 600mm is very tempting to me

No, it's a 24-600mm "compact" camera using the 1 inch Sony image sensor.

Ken Rockwell has a good review of it here..

http://www.kenrockwell.com/sony/rx10-iii.htm

Admittedly he comes across as a bit of a Sony fanboi but the review is pretty thorough.

Wow a camera with a decent sensor with optical zoom 24-600mm and 4K video is something! 

Any other camera with better sensor and similar zoom?

maoriboy:

 

Batman:

maoriboy:

 

I spent 2 weeks travelling with the Sony RX10 III and all I can say is that it exceeded my expectations and performed flawlessly. Just having the flexibility to capture great macro shots of moss and bugs and stuff, all the way out to the full extent of the 600mm zoom to frame Miyajima torii beautifully and wide landscape shots. Mix in the fun of super slow motion capture and time lapse photography (available to purchase in apps store) and it ticks all my boxes. It's certainly not a light camera, but 1kg isn't excessive in my mind. I would recommend it to anyone interested in a bridge type camera. The price is eye watering for sure, but for me it was worth it. 

 

 

 

I see the Mark IV is out and that adds PDAF and a few other upgrades that have made a great camera even better. Is it a "pro" camera? No. But for me it does everything I needed and then some. Even the wife, who is notoriously tech-shy could operate it...albeit using Auto, and took great photos.

 

Is that a changeable lens? If so which? Macro to 600mm is very tempting to me

 

 

 

No, it's a 24-600mm "compact" camera using the 1 inch Sony image sensor.

 

Ken Rockwell has a good review of it here..

 

http://www.kenrockwell.com/sony/rx10-iii.htm

 

Admittedly he comes across as a bit of a Sony fanboi but the review is pretty thorough.

 

Ken is not a Sony fanboy, he writes almost every review using the same enthusiasm. Unless it's a third party lens. He HATES them. He never says anything good about older third party anything. Stopped reading his "reviews" so I don't know how he FEELS about the amazing new third party lenses.

Holy wow!!! Just saw the photos on that review. 

I want one!!

I take heaps of bird photos and that would be amazing!

Does he write good stuff with Sigma Art lenses?  I might be wrong or with Samyang?  

I did a search on Dpreview.com with a feature search.  No.  If you want a long lens and a sensor larger than 1", no.  This Sony we're talking about is a 1" sensor.  any cameras that has a sensor larger than 1" only have shorter lenses.  

Well Sony is the swiss army knife camera champ ... This camera in particular, also the RX100 which is a pocket size, 4k video, image stabiliser, F1.8 aperture and it comes with a 24-70 ish zoom lens (equiv to full frame world) and weighs ~200g.   They also have the RX1 which is a compact full frame sensor camera with a wide angle fixed prime lens non removable, the only other to have something like this is Leica.  

https://www.dpreview.com/products/search/cameras#criterias=SpecsCoreParams%2CSpecsSensorSize&paramSpecsCoreParamsBodyType=SLRLikeCompact&paramSpecsSensorSize=FourThirds%2CAPSCH%2CFullFrame

blakamin:

 

Holy wow!!! Just saw the photos on that review. 

 

I want one!!

 

I take heaps of bird photos and that would be amazing!

 

 

 

Umm ... Don't think (know) you'll get moving birds at 600mm with this camera. 

rayonline:

 

Does he write good stuff with Sigma Art lenses?  I might be wrong or with Samyang?  

 

 

 

I did a search on Dpreview.com with a feature search.  No.  If you want a long lens and a sensor larger than 1", no.  The cameras with a larger sensor than 1" (this Sony here), the lenses are all quite a bit less zoom...

 

 

 

https://www.dpreview.com/products/search/cameras#criterias=SpecsCoreParams%2CSpecsSensorSize&paramSpecsCoreParamsBodyType=SLRLikeCompact&paramSpecsSensorSize=FourThirds%2CAPSCH%2CFullFrame

 

 

 

I currently use a dinosaur set up, a full frame dSLR. Except that I don't. I've given up carrying a bazooka 24-70, 70-200 f/2.8 everywhere I go, so bazooka sits in the box. What I'm waiting for is a small camera that can do what my bazooka can, plus what the dinosaur can't, eg 4k60 video, longer zoom, wider ultrawide, etc.