I had a bad experience with what I believe was an uncalibrated zoom lens. Some years back we went to
Costa Rica with a Canon 80D and a Tamron 20-400 mm lens. I'm no pro but I've been taking photos for many years with satisfactory results. However, I recently reviewed the Costa Rica photos to find that they were virtually all noticeably out of focus; why I'm just now discovering this is a bit of a mystery. I'm certain that it was because the lens and camera were slightly mismatched. However, the good news is that through the miracle of Topaz Sharpen AI most were recoverable.

Later I tried to calibrate the lens/camera using the recommended procedure but found it nearly impossible to perform accurately enough to help; it's very tedious. If you decide that you need to do the calibration, send camera and lens to camera manufacturer, have them do it and save yourself an afternoon of frustration

How about your phone. If it's dated, upgrade and kill two birds with one stone. Modern smartphone cameras are excellent.

I recently had a very disappointing discovery. In 2016, we traveled to Costa Rica for about 3 1/2 weks and of course saw a vast array of flora and fauna. I recently revisited the photos I took and discovered to my amazement how far out of focus they all were compared to images I take these days. Then I used a Canon 80D DSLR . I don't remember the zoom lens but it was either a Canon or a Tamron. In any case I suspect that the problem was that with either lens the autofocus needed to be calibrated to ensure that was it was focusing on the spot you desired. The viewfinder can show it as forcused but the final image may not be. DSLRs use a separate autofocus sensor from the main sensor and the two may not actually agree so that that very sharp view in the viewfinder is not so sharp at the main sensor. Now there is a process to correct this discrepancy but I tried it but it is very difficult to get the correction right. A better alternative is to send the camera and lens to the manufacturer and have them do it.

The point of this long winded tale is that one of the overwhelmingly advantages of the mirrorless camera is that it uses the same sensor for both functions removing the possibility of the above discrepancy.




and the light collecting

Ah, the "getting someone to move on" syndrome, the bane of all photographers.

I love the RX10 iv and your suggestions would make it even better. Maybe I've missed something but I find the wifi Bluetooth procedure on all the Sony and Canon high end cameras to be overly difficult to turn on/use. Why can't these be like my smartphone in sharing photos via email, text, etc.

i own both the Sony a7r iv and the rx10iv iv. I recently used the first for a trip to Antarctica and the second for a subsequent trip to Peru-Ecuador-Galapagos. The rx10iv is so much easier as a travel camera and at least so far (I am still post-processing) the image quality is quite comparable at all the focal lengths I've used. The only differences would be if you are interested in enlarging by large amounts.

I like all the above thoughtful answers. I think dedicated photographers whether pro or amateur are interested in producing a work of art and, at least in my case, as easily as possible. The images I have produced over the decades have improved markedly from film through various digital cameras. I am a better artist than photographer in visualizing what I want to produce and understanding that, what all visual artists know, it's about capturing the light reflected off whatever you taking a picture of and, I my case at least, digital cameras are so much better at capturing the light. Plus there is, for me, the added bonus of very easy post processing, something I could not do with film because of cost of equipment, lack of space, etc.

Overseas Adventure Travel was great.

no sold. got better offer. sorry.

I recently purchased a Sony RX10 IV online that came with two items that I don't need, a Ruggard Outrigger 45 camera bag and a GB-2 GEARBOX VIDEO CAGE. Both items are in excellent condition with only minimal use if any.
Asking $25 and $75, respectively but will welcome any other offers.

I use it because it's a very quick to get something like the correct exposure. If you use a mirrorless camera or the LCD screen on a DSLR, you can see exactly what the image will look like. Yes, you can adjust ISO, etc in manual mode but more often than not I shoot more or less on the fly and thus have only limited time.

I've tried several versions and they have all been unsatisfactory. The optics were usually not good. They are very difficult to get lined up with your phone lens and once achieved, very difficult to maintain. Finally, because of the inherent imbalance, it was very difficult to get them focused on the target; a tripod was absolutely required.

The Mavic Mini is a very nice drone but has one limitation in that it has no collision avoidance sensors as opposed to the more expensive versions.

Forgot to include email, claytonfm@cox.net.

I have a DJI Mavic Mini that I'm selling, if your interested. It's like new only used maybe 50 times and then on relatively short flights. Let me know if you are interested. Asking $350, but make an offer.