I am sure you are right. But I am also sure that plenty of photographers have made mistakes over the course of their career, and some may have made even worse errors than that.

I am also sure that cell phone cameras are eating into the market for dedicated cameras. And that trend is not turning around any time soon.

If you main camera breaks during a wedding reception, not everyone will have a spare camera, but plenty of people will have a cell phone. If you finish the assignment with the cell phone, you will find that the cell-phone camera will require some extra continuous lighting, and the cell-phone pictures require some extra post-processing.

But the client will be happier with you than if you simply missed the last half of the wedding reception.

I am going to jump off the bandwagon here and recommend the 24-70 F4 OSS ZA.

- It is much smaller (426 grams, but remember what you are comparing it to. Even the little Tamron is 550. The 24-105 F4 is about twice the weight.);

- It is cheaper, ($800, but again, consider the alternative);

- The color is fantastic;

- The sharpness is not quite as good as the bigger lenses, but you will be pleasantly surprised. I would compare it to a very good kit lens.

- The distortion has to be corrected in camera, but the correction works almost perfectly at every focal length. The only thing you will notice is a little purple fringing when you shoot tree branches against the sky. My best advice is not to do that.

- It claims to be "weather resistant" (but I would not suggest testing it).

Don't get caught up in getting "the newest thing". Older cameras take some very good pictures, (as you surely know if you are really still carrying around an XSi.)

The best camera for a professional is the one that helps them make money.

I agree with John that you should at least look at the 6D ii. It would mean trading out all your lenses, but if you are shooting in low light, or if you are shooting up close, the image quality really can be visibly better.

I can't wait to play 'Angry Birds' on the new Sony A7Riv.

Excellent sharpness and detail in the bird shots. You might want to play around with the osprey claw to see if you can highlight the detail. (Because the background brightness is so high, it distracts from the detail in the shadow.)

I am not sure the Huron pose comes off well in B&W. The halo around the bird is even a little distracting. The color halo around the pelican is also distracting. That is just personal preference, but to me it makes the picture less interesting. It is a tough picture to work with, though, because to me, pelicans are only interesting when you can see their eyes.

The rain cloud photo seems a little washed out to me. Clouds can sometimes emphasize blank space, but they can also take a sharp photo and make it look blurry.

The "wrap-around" photo of the egret is interesting and fun, but I think that is one of the cases where it would be better to wait and get the bird headed toward you, or off to one side.

As a long-term Sony user, I am happy to give you a definitive answer: Depends.

The eye-autofocus on the new Sony cameras really is better than the competition. By a lot. So if you shoot a bunch of portraits of subjects that might be moving, like kids, special needs, and certain kinds of events, then the new Sony A7Riv and the Sony A9 are going to do eye-autofocus better than the comparably priced Nikon, Canon, and Fuji.

Similarly, if you are looking for a good camera in the "sub-$500" price range, I can certainly recommend the Sony a6000. It is older than most current camera models, but for the price, it is a solid competitor.

But for every price point in between $500 and $3500, Sony has some serious competition. The (bigger) DSLRs from Canon and Nikon offer a different set of compromises, but it just depends what feature is most important to you. Do you want low cost? Great color? Great lenses? Great weatherproofing? Smaller total size? Sports focus tracking? Eye-Autofocus? In-body stabilization? Video resolution? Video color log? Uncropped video? On-board fill flash?

Because how you rank those features on 1 to 10 will give you a different camera choice. If you couldn't care less until 5,6, 7, and 8, then you might want a Sony A9. If 1, 2 and 4 are the only ones that interest you, then maybe the new Canon M6ii...

etc...

Canon makes great cameras for the money. If you have the cash, you might want to look at the M6 mkii. You are paying a little extra money to get a smaller camera and mirrorless features, but it is very competitive with Sony.

I prefer the T6i to the T7, because it has the articulating touchscreen. Neither one has even the slightest weatherproofing though, so if you feel like this is a camera that might get rained on, then it might be worth looking at the Canon 70D, or something like that, even though it is a bigger camera.

The Canon SX-70 is not weather-sealed.

As I stated, you live NEAR Burbank, so you don't have the same weather I do. I live near Orlando, and we have had 80 days of rain in the last 100, (and are about to get five more). Because of the rain, most people would not bring the SX-70 (or any non-sealed camera) outside to take photos. On the average day, you would end up with a $400 piece of junk, (which may be very well what you were looking at in the camera store.)

I was just trying to provide some context. There are plenty of great bridge cameras out there that are not sitting around dead in camera stores within a year of manufacture.

Those are nice little cameras, but remember that Canon did not put any weatherproofing on them. It sounds like you live near Burbank, so rain is not usually your biggest issue, but it is still a good thing to know when looking at a new purchase.

"Young Man Considers Throwing Out Used Surfboard"

I agree with the previous posts. A good pocket camera takes way better pictures than a cell phone, and a professional camera would weigh you down, (and would actually take some of the enjoyment out of the trip).

There are plenty of good "pocket-size" cameras with 1" sensors, and if you look around at the used ones, you can find them in a reasonable price range. Just make sure you test it out so you don't end up with a broken camera.

Every new assignment is an excuse to buy new gear.

Not only is the 24-70 f/2.8 an excellent lens for the occasion, but the Canon version is (in my opinion) visibly better than some of the alternatives.

Even if you have to do volunteer work as an excuse to buy the lens, you should still buy it.

All pixels collect the same amount of noise, but larger pixels (usually) collect more signal, so they tend to have a higher signal-to-noise ratio. The issue has been researched many times (see DP Review, Reed Hoffmann and others), and the TLDR summary is "sensor size matters more than pixel count".

So if you can afford the bigger sensor (and bigger lenses, etc.) AND if you are shooting in low light, then get the bigger sensor.

If you are shooting outdoors, or at a low shutter speed, or with a big strobe, then the pixel noise is so low that it is unimportant. It is still there, of course, but in bright sunlight, the quality of the lens becomes way more important.

I usually recommend people try out the Sony a6000 to see if they like it. The a6000 is the most popular dedicated camera of the last 15 years for a reason: It is small, inexpensive, and focuses as fast as a DSLR. It doesn't have the image stabilization or waterproofing of the newest cameras, but it is less than half the price.

It is mirrorless, so it is not technically a DSLR, but it is has most of the same strengths.

The only downside is that there are not as many Sony-style lenses to choose from, so if you want to buy more lenses next year, there are fewer choices.

I also recommend that people look at the Canon T6, (or the T6i if you have a little extra budget.) The T6i is a better camera, and is slightly upgraded in every way. It is not stuff that you really need though. For example, it has a tilting screen, and you can control it with your smartphone.

The Nikon D3500 is roughly equivalent to the other two, and maybe slightly cheaper. It is slightly smaller than the T6, but slightly newer, has a higher resolution sensor, and a better battery life. Most of the differences are matters of personal preference. For example, it uses Bluetooth instead of NFC.