For years I have seen sensor size and pixel count wars increase from my best of the best 3.1 megapixel Kodak DC 4800 to the great full frame cameras of today. In prospective of inflation the cost in 2023 dollars is $1500.

The whirlwind world we live in is ever changing and as Bob Dylan sings "Don't stand in the door way for the first will be the last, for the times are a changin' " We must not block the door way and make way for change. Fantastic Cameras that allow ET to phone home... via iPhone or Tesla Pi Phone while we are driving to ET's Space ship in our Electric Car with Autonomous driving pilot.

Recently an UHH man posted a In other words, does sensor size matter anymore? Because my 72 year old body wouldn't mind lighter gear on my shoulders but I also don't want to go backwards in quality and capability. His is asking "can I eat my cake and have it too?"
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-792910-1.html

The discussion got muddled by his concern about noise and full size vs smaller sensor. The debate over which heavy camera he should be lugging around with extra lenses went on for pages.

Again the question is often ask "can I eat my cake and have it too?" Yes, but it will be fecal... It seems that every one is forgetting we live in an AI world. Even the images from the Kodak DC4800 JPEG cropped heavy with the aid of AI come out clear sharp and applying Gigapixel result in a large clear printable file.

The new 1" sensor Compact Superzoom cameras provide excellent images. Excellent depends on Pixel-Peeking or Practicality of Perceiving. In Print form what can people see with the unaided eye at a viewing distance in normal light. Mr Joe Dokes, can you see the difference between print A and B? Joe looking at his wedding photos probably not.

I have a heavy bag of lenses and a Sony A65 excellent camera with a APS-C "Exmor" HD CMOS. What do I use for shooting? I use my Panasonic Superzoom 1"sensor TZ100 that delivers 20 mp and does more tricks than a 3 ring circus. If AI can make my Kodak DC 4800 JPEG heavy cropped images excellent then Obviously it can polish the images from the TZ100 or the more modern 1" compact superzooms now on the market by all manufacturers.
https://petapixel.com/best-compact-cameras/

The "72 year old body wouldn't mind lighter gear on my shoulders but I also don't want to go backwards in quality and capability." Will generally stay the same in quality and his gear will be light weight and in his pocket ready to make images and to be polished with new AI editing software.

Your thoughts are welcome... But remember, he has at 72 physical limitations, " lighter gear on my shoulders. As time goes on those limitations will get worse and he may have trouble walking close to the subject and the zoom power will be a life saver. Help Hal who posed the question and people like me, too soon 88.

I went from the FZ200 to a Nikon D7200 with an 18-140 zoom lens. It was substantially heavier than the FZ200. The FZ was lighter and handled well, and seemed pretty well balanced. My only complaints were the focusing problems at the far end of the zoom range, dim EVF and rear screen and loss of IS in the digital zoom range. All of these were fixed with the FZ300. Another choice. You might consider another choice, and that is the Nikon P950. It is a true super zoom bridge camera and offers both JPEG and RAW modes of capture. It’s not real light, but it is lighter than a DSLR with a lens. It has great focusing and IS, although, like all super zooms, it tends to hunt for focus at times when zoomed out. I had the P900 and although it zooms to 2000mm, eq., I rarely zoomed it out that far. I mention this camera as it’s newer technology than the FZ200 and 300.

And yes, we have some great scenery up here.