Help me choose a new camera for my dad

[Destin]

Like the title says, I'm helping my dad pick out a new camera and I'm not sure where to turn. I will provide as much information as I can below. I don't know much about point and shoot or mirrorless cameras so I'm asking for help.

His exact words: "I still love taking pictures but I'm sick of carrying my (Nikon D40) around. I end up leaving it home most of the time now." He has mentioned how he wasn't happy that his friend's little superzoom point and shoot could zoom further than his 55-200, so something with significant zoom capabilities would make him happy.

He would be using it most of the time to take photos at parties or of random sunsets, etc. He has no interest in having manual controls and has always just used his D40 in full auto mode. He's tough on equipment so something that is made well and possibly even waterproof would be good - but not a requirement.

Budget: Realistically, under $1000. But the cheaper the better.

Let me know what you think.

 

[Designer]

Adequate budget!

The 10 best compact cameras in 2017 | TechRadar

 

[Derrel]

Adequate budget!

The 10 best compact cameras in 2017 | TechRadar

GOOD compaxct cameras in the liost above, but almost all seem to be camras focused on photo enthusiasts who are happy with moderate zoom length lenses and larger sensors; I have the sense that he wants more telephoto power than the above cameras offer. The Tech Radar best cameras list is mostly 10x zoom cameras, but today there are some models that significantly exceed that, and go way,way beyong that typical "250mm" equivalent zoom length, like to 400mm to 600mm equivalent zoom length.

Also, the above cameras are jusyt evere-so-slightly larger than the smaller class of P&S digitals; not exactly sure what your dad's wants are as far as a camera: smaller size? more zoom? better image quality?

Honestly though; if he's had a D40, a 6MP camera, I thinbk he'd be happy with even the smaller-sensored digitals, as opposed to the so-called 1-inch sensor models that dominate the Tech Radar article above. My Nikon S570 is an old, 12-MP very compact P&S, and it looks like a 12-MP Nikon D-SLR in image quality when the shots are mixed in together.

 

[goodguy]

Sony a6000

 

[cherylynne1]

Small+indoor shots+long zoom make it a hard combination. The Panasonic FZ-1000 might be a good choice, except for size. But the 1" sensor would be great for indoor shots at parties, and the zoom is pretty impressive. I think it's close to the size of the smallest DSLRs, though, which seems to defeat the purpose.

The Sony RX-100 (I'd probably go for m3) might be great for what he actually needs. It's tiny, but with a 1" sensor that help indoors. The problem is that there isn't much of a zoom on it, just the basic 24-70. However, I don't think he really needs a zoom for parties and sunsets, right? Maybe he just found it impressive?

If he does need a small size and larger sensor for indoors and zoom, then I think it's time to look at m43 and getting more than one lens. Maybe one zoom for indoors and one long zoom for outdoors. I don't know specifics about models, but I'm pretty sure the Panasonics are fairly rugged with some weather sealing and features like that. At that point, however, you might be dealing with some budget problems. Maybe going used and getting an older model would help.

 

[jaomul]

I nearly bought a Panasonic tz100, I think they are zs100 in the states. Read a lot about this but caved to a m43 camera when the money was being spent.

Getting quite good reviews it's a 10x zoom with 1 inch sensor and a glut of wizardry such as post focus and 4k photo, allowing 8mp photos to be extracted from 30fps 4k video. It's actually a good feature, it's in my new gx80 (gx85 in the states) and can help greatly if photographing children when they keep looking away and then to the camera