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!

Incredible what those two pack into such a small and lightweight camera.

One of the features that I felt made a big difference for me with the FZ-200 is the constant F2.8 aperture, even at full zoom. That allowed me to take fully zoomed photos without a tripod because of the faster shutter speeds that I could use because of all of the light coming through the lens.

I'm afraid to give that up with either of these two. But once I get past this decision, I might reconsider one of them for a second camera for when I have to travel really light.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Nice shots and thanks for joining in. I have one suggestion. In most of your pictures you have the subject in the center. I used to do that, but got a suggestion from some National Geographic pros to use the rule of thirds. Most cameras will, in fact, make that easy by adding a grid to the display, or EVF, that divides the picture into three vertical and three horizontal slices. In your case, try placing your grandson or the bird in the left or right third so that they are looking or running towards the remaining 2/3 of the image.

Frequently it will generate more interest in the sense of "what are they looking at?" or "what is he running to". You can also apply that rule when cropping.

Remember it's not a hard fixed rule. Sometimes centering the subject is best.

No offense taken! I can always use constructive criticism.

FYI, there is a reason they look so relaxed. This shot was about 5 minutes after they finished mating. I've thought about photo-shopping a cigarette into their mouths, but probably only us old-timers would get it.

Your familiarity point is well taken.

Thanks!

I'd forgotten about that feature, although saw a YouTube demo of it, and was amazed. Particularly because losing focus has been an occasional problem for me with the FZ200.

Thanks for the reminder!

Neat shot and neat pattern. There was something very familiar about the pattern to me. It's a very large plate that my daughter-in-law made for my partner a few years ago when she was a glassblower.

Renting - excellent idea. Thanks for the suggestion!

The "old" doesn't bother me since it's true. I may not feel that way, but the calendar tells a different story!

Sounds like you are OK with the weight of the RX10M3?

Thanks for the comment.

Having a backup is a good idea, that hadn't really occurred to me.

Yes, you're right, macro photography, at least so far, has not been my thing.

Thanks for your comment.

Thanks for the sony/lumix comparison. For traveling I don't want to carry a tripod or even a monpod, but have found a technique that works really well for steadying the camera when fully zoomed or in low light, which is to leave the camera strap around my neck, but hold the camera at almost arms length so that the strap becomes very tight around the back of my neck. Creating that tension, pulling slightly back on my head, while pulling the camera forward, greatly steadies the camera. While you obviously have to go without the viewfinder in that approach, I rarely use the viewfinder because I am both nearsighted and have astigmatism, and have never been very happy using a viewfinder.

Thank you for your comment!

Yep, the KISS principle is certainly germane here. Particularly because the user interface to digital camera software is so extensive, I don't want to riak losing shots because I'm still trying to set up my camera.

Thank you for the reminder. I saw some of your posts, and was impressed by your large cat shots - very nice.

This forum was recommended to me by a friend, and it looks to me to be quite interesting and useful.

By way of introduction, my principal interest in photography is for travel, and especially nature photography. I started with a simple Brownie flash camera as a teenager, including making my own contact prints. My high school graduation present was a fixed lens 35mm Minolta and later in my twenties I set up a small darkroom and got my first SLR. Shifting to an SLR turns out to have been a mistake as I wasn't ready to deal with all of the lens swapping, the associated costs, nor the heavy equipment bag I had to lug around and my interest in photography waned. Contributing factors were that my career and bringing up three children ate up most of my time.

Six years ago I started to gradually retire after a long career in IT. With partial retirement came the opportunity to travel, an African safari motivated me to find a good camera and so was delighted to see that there were now so-called super zoom bridge cameras that eliminated many of the negatives (to me) of the SLR. Also, not having paid much attention to photography for several decades, I was amazed with many of the technological advancements such as AF, anti-shake, automatic HDR, automatic bracketing, burst shooting, having video capabilities in a still camera and the ability to simultaneously take stills while filming video. So I purchased a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200. What differentiated the FZ200 from the rest of the pack was the constant aperture of f2.8 throughout the entire 25-600mm range. Back in my SLR days having that kind of aperture at 600mm was unimaginable, and now I had it in a zoom!

For nature photography, the zoom, aperture and built-in anti-shake features enabled me to take some great wildlife photos on that African trip. There was no need for a tri-pod even at 600mm because the large aperture enabled fast shutter speeds and any remaining issues were usually compensated for by the anti-shake.

After 6 years I need to repair or replace the FZ200. The zoom lever that surrounds the shutter has stopped functioning, although I can use an alternate zoom lever/button on the lens barrel. However, I would prefer to use the one near the shutter. Also, I have the feeling that the AF is not working as well as when the camera was new. Maybe there is dust on the sensor or elsewhere inside the camera body?

So, I've narrowed it down to three choices - get the FZ200 repaired, purchase an FZ300, or purchase the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 IV. I recognize that the Sony is far, far more expensive than the other two options, but for now let's ignore that.

Given that the FZ300 market price is around $400, I'm not sure that repair, which I would expect to probably cost in the $100-200 range, is worth pursuing. Particularly because there are new features in the FZ300 (WiFi, improved AF, dust/water resistance) that have value to me. From specs and reviews, the Sony has a much larger sensor, 70% more pixels, and a wider range of video options. Negatives for the Sony are that it weighs 14 oz. more, and at 600mm it stops down to F4 (vs remaining at F2.8 for the FZ300). Clearly the biggest advantage in the Sony is in the sensor and the biggest disadvantage is probably the weight as I'll be wearing it around my neck for up to 10 hours a day.

I'd love to hear some opinions!

Here are some of my photos and feedback would be most welcome.

-Rob