Robg

Not familiar with Sony Camera App. I assume that it's a smart phone app that lets you control the camera remotely? Was it extremely useful and would you prefer the Mark III over the IV because of it?

Thanks for your feedback!

Johnnyt Loc: keizer Oregon

Another statement to this topic. I downloaded the new imaging edge program. It looks better than the old app. It works great. The remote part of it works great. The interface is better, easier to use. like other people have said the Sony is a little bit heavy but I feel it is worth it because it takes care of everything. It is all I need to carry. The imaging edge works with iphone,ipad. Love the whole package!

Robg

First, I want to thank everyone for your posts (sinceI haven't been able to respond directly to all of you) and for all of the the useful suggestions and ideas.

Several of you recommended the Lumix FZ1000 and FZ2500 and I'm going to add the latter to my other two candidates. It has somewhat less zoom than the other two, but has the larger sensor and corresponding mp's. Maybe it's the sweet spot between the two?

Many others have said that ease of use, familiarity, shallow learning curve, etc., are really important and I fully agree. Others have said they found the Sony quite easy to get used to.

Still don't know what I'll do, but I am soon going to act on at least one of the recommendations from some of you to rent the Sony to try it out. By doing that I hope to answer for myself which side of the trade-off I land on: bigger sensor but more weight and need learn a new camera or smaller sensor but lighter weight in a camera that I'm already familiar with. Trying out the Sony will also eliminate the chance of buyer's remorse or questioning myself if I really made the right decision. Maybe I'll try the FZ2500 as well.

Plus, I can have some fun, all under the guise of testing the camera - take in a Phillies game, go to Cape May, go to the zoo, take some long walks, and see how the scullers are doing on the river!

Again, thank you all for your posts, ideas and suggestions. Much appreciated!

Johnnyt Loc: keizer Oregon

Another comment. The fz1000 minimum aperture is only f8. So f2.8 to f8 is not a lot of range for depth of field. If you want to take a picture and want to get control of depth of field. I remember using depth of field for artistic purposes. The Sony goes from f2.8 to minimum of f16 for more depth of field control. I like having control of my gear. That is why I got rid of the fz1000 and bought the RX10m3. It gives me more control.
Anyway just another comment. I hope this doesn’t seem too nitpicky. I have been photographing for over 60 years. Wow that is a long time. I hope I can keep on for a long long time! Good luck!

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

A note that might be useful. Reputable houses like B&H have 100% money back satisfaction guarantees. This could save the rental fee. Keep it if you love it, return it and exchange it for something else if not.

Robg

Thank you PHRubin. I followed your suggestion, got the Sony from B&H, decided it was not for me (see below) and replaced it with the Lumix FZ300. B&H was very easy to deal with. I will use them again!

I have to agree with all of the posters that the Sony is the best, at least as far as I have ever seen. It is spectacular. My principal reason for not purchasing it is that it is too heavy for my usage - travel and wildlife photography. That frequently requires carrying the camera around my neck for up to 14 hours a day. At my age, an extra pound is too much. Also, I think that holding a heavier camera will induce shake which does not go well with fully zoomed wildlife photos.

So I ended up with the FZ300. For the most part I'm very happy. The AF works much better than my FZ200. It also has some nifty improvements over the FZ200, in particular the artificial horizon and an improved EVF, which is the first one ever that I have been comfortable with (I have severe astigmatism so have fairly thick eyeglass lenses). The automatic switch between EVF and display screen is also really nice.

However, the FZ300 was a significant disappointment with respect to geotagging through GPS (I think this applies across the Lumix line). GPS is not built in to the camera (I understand why - it will rapidly deplete the battery), and it works in conjunction with an app on your smartphone. The Lumix app is called the "Image App" and in addition to GPS logging also has remote control features. I don't care about the remote control, but the GPS logging has two significant problems that render it useless:
1. The first step is to sync the time in the camera to the GPS time. This causes the camera to be set to one hour earlier than the local time, probably related to daylight savings time. I did some online Googling and found that Panasonic acknowledged this as a problem three years ago, in 2016. Shame on Panasonic for not yet fixing this! With the camera set one hour earlier, all of the EXIF time information on your photos will be incorrect. This might have been something I could deal with if not for the second problem...
2. The "Image App" will only log GPS data if the app is not in the background. It stops recording if you make a phone call, if the screen times out to save the battery. So you have to keep the display on and the Image App has to be in the display all of the time that you are logging GPS data. That is simply unacceptable. The display being on will quickly wear down the battery. The requirement to not be in the background will cause the phone to lose all of its other functionality, like making and receiving calls, doing navigation, sending texts, etc., while you are logging. In addition, the touch screen, because it remains active will be subject to accidental touch which will not only stop the logging, but will greatly increase the likelihood of making butt calls, etc. Thinking this background issue might be due to some kind of phone setting for background permissions or battery saving options, I did a lot of investigating to see if I could alter this behavior, but to no avail.

In the end, I tried GeotagPhotos.net and that will do for my purposes, but Panasonic's claim that they have Geotagging has left a sour taste.