I love my Sony Rx10IV. Here is a short jurnal about my experience with various cameras: https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/fero/20094-what-camera-should-i-buy
Well, it seems I haven’t participated in this thread yet. The Fujifilm XP may not be fancy by some of your standards, but I chose it for its underwater capabilities. That is relevant to a couple of current discussions.
15m/50ft waterproof
1.75m/5.8ft shockproof
With two designated underwater shooting modes – stills and video – in addition to the usual modes you’d expect in a digital camera.
Hi all. I’m getting frustrated with my Panasonic DC-ZS200. I mostly use it to take macro shots of fungi and animals but I would use it for more if it were less sensitive to vibration. Unlike my previous cameras, this one is so sensitive to vibration that it requires a tripod at all times for any shot to come out crisply. It also refuses to take photos unless the lens is oriented facing horizontally or down, without any yaw. It can take decent macros under these conditions, but its limitations are really annoying.
My cell phone has a crappy camera (but I’m happy with it as a phone – it’s an iPhone 13).
I had previously had a wonderful Sony Cybershot that enabled me to take not only macros but also handheld zoomed photos of birds and so on, but when the battery type became obsolete, the second Cybershot I purchased was a complete lemon and it also lacked the previous feature of being able to select what part of an image to focus on while in macro mode. After I returned it for repairs for the third time, I purchased the Panasonic as a replacement (in 2020). But it’s just not as flexible.
Any recommendations? I would prefer another point-and-shoot. I’m OK with setting various features manually but don’t want to carry around bulky or expensive lenses while creeping around in the forest because whatever I touch will 100% get covered in dirt.
i think some Panasonic cameras have a setting where you can take a picture with a half-press of the main button. so that might help reduce vibration.
it’s also possible that if you’re using a manual or semi-manual mode that you need a faster shutter speed or more light to encourage a faster shutter speed.
i think some of these cameras provide a few different image stabilization modes. one will try to keep things level as you pan, which might explain why it sounds like your camera doesn’t like tilting. another mode should just try to stabilize in all directions.
it’s also possible that your image stabilization is broken, and that could account for all the problems with vibration, etc.
i ended up buying a Panasonic FZ2500 back in the day, and it’s worked well for me, but after 5+ years, hundreds of thousands of photos, and thousands of videos, it’s starting to show its age. i wanted to get another camera like the FZ2500, but Panasonic no longer makes them, and bridge cameras in general seem to be headed toward extinction. the only ones that seem to be actively developed now are the Nikon P1100 and its siblings. but those have small sensors that won’t handle low light very well.
the 1-inch-sensor FZ2500, FZ1000, and Sony RX10 cameras (and their variants) seem to be available on the secondary market, but they are going for up to 2x what they were going for when they were new.
i don’t need a new camera yet, but i was sort of looking at the Nikon Z50 II with 16-50mm and 50-250mm lenses as a potential (relatively inexpensive) camera for the future.
and then i saw this pop up in my feeds this morning: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cameraintelligence/caira-worlds-first-ai-native-mirrorless-camera. it works only with iPhone so far (and i don’t have one of those), but i thought it was interesting nevertheless, and it’s interesting to think about where things could head in the future.
they hype up the AI features, but i think the most interesting thing is just that the lens and 4/3rds sensor is paired with the processor of your phone, making it sort of an interchangeable lens and interchangeable processor / interface camera.
among the AI features, i think it’s not the generative AI stuff that’s most interesting, but it’s the way you can adjust settings by speaking to the camera.
I think that might drive me utterly bonkers. We have a hard enough time keeping Siri from butting into every conversation where she thinks she heard something vaguely resembling her name. At least with dials and buttons, I wouldn’t have to worry about the ISO resetting itself just because I was griping to the Doctor about lighting.
you don’t have to use the feature if you don’t want to, but it’s there if you want it. i can see a feature like that being useful for some people, or in some situations. many phone camera apps already have some voice controls built in (primarily for accessibility purposes, but useful for other reasons), and i don’t see why camera makers shouldn’t want to have such an option, too. most of the time, the voice controls should be specific to the app. so you’re no likely to change camera settings while griping to someone, unless you’re griping at them while taking their photo.