My situation:
My D-SLR died. Well, it does focus the lens, it just isn't willing to actually take photos. It is getting quite old - it is a Canon 40D that I bought 2nd hand to update my 10D. I don't think it is worth paying good money to get the camera repaired, so the obvious solution is to buy a new D-SLR to use my lenses with. Or maybe I should buy a mirrorless and lens adaptor? Or maybe I should go another way.
I have my phone as a useful camera that I pretty much always have on hand, it takes decent enough photos. But sometimes there is a subject I can't get close to and it is too small or far away to get a worthwhile photo of unless I have a camera with a long zoom.
I used to take motor-sports photos and the D-SLR was a huge step up from compact digital cameras for that. But I haven't done that for a few years and now I'm thinking that I don't take photos of fast action and just need a camera with a long zoom to handle what the phone camera can't. On example is Nugget Point where there are seals resting at some distance and with a photo from the phone camera you wouldn't even be able to tell what they were, I would have needed a really long zoom to get a worthwhile photo.
I have 4 lenses currently. My good lens is the Canon 28-135 IS lens, the other 3 are fairly cheap. I have a 75-300 Canon lens that I used for long zoom needs, it provided the equivalent of 480mm with the 1.6 crop factor on the 40D. The other 2 lenses are a 50mm f1.8 and a wide zoom.
I'm no pro and I don't really need super high quality. I just want to get decent photos of stuff. What I'm now thinking is that I should just sell my 4 lenses on Trade Me and then buy a long zoom camera that will handle what my phone can't. I see cameras from Sony, Panasonic, Canon, Fuji & Nikon that have a zoom with a good range from wide angle to up around 1200mm equivalent - way more than my D-SLR was giving me, with IS built in too. I probably don't need super high ISO ability like a large sensor D-SLR can offer. I would also like to keep this more compact than my bag with the D-SLR and 4 lenses, my main use is during motorcycle camping trips where space is at a premium.
I am eyeing up cameras like the Panasonic Lumix FZ80 and the Sony Cyber-shot HX400V which seem to offer what I'm thinking of. Though not really pocketable, they are much more compact than the D-SLR & collection of lenses that I've used previously. Any opinions on these cameras or others I should consider instead?