Given the reviews and the massive weight and size reduction from my 7d2 + 100-400mk2, I am planning on giving one a try. If it can do even close to as well with seabirds I will sell all my Canon gear and be blissful to be rid of the weight.
I've long since given up hope of making any money out of photos so I can cope with an increase in noise. Although it doesn't look that big an increase if you're dropping from a 7D mark ii rather than a full frame. What I have struggled with when using a bridge camera (I have a rarely used Canon SX50) is the much higher chance of missing the shot. It sounds like the Sony is just as likely to get the shot as an SLR, with its quick autofocus, madly high fps and big buffer. Having said that, as I have a a couple of rainforest trips coming up soon, I may wait a bit or take the financial blow of having one of these as well as a SLR rather than instead.
Steve, I am placing my order in a day or two for delivery on the 6th to coincide with my being back in California. I will be very keen to see how it does, I'm really not fussed about the loss of sensor size if the autofocus performance is as good as promised! The real test, for me, will be focusing in dark understory in tropical forest, and even more than that, focusing on seabirds from rocking boats... we will see.
Stephen Ingraham, who does a fair share of bird photography, posted his review of the Sony RX10 IV. He had previously been using the RX10 III and says the new model is better yet.
http://psnp.lightshedder.com/?p=1379
Well, that partly depends on how much has been lost from the raw in turning it into the reduced size web jpeg that we see in the blog, of course. I'm hoping that the original raw shows more detail at full size. Maybe I'm hoping for too much, but I'm still hoping....The eastern bluebird shot.........i certainly would'nt say that is amazing feather detail and the double outline on the branches is'nt great either.It's good but for most it's still a choice between weight and image quality......you still can't have both,even with this latest offering.
I still believe that when technology allows,the all in one camera will be the future.......this is'nt it compared to an slr if image quality is a top priority.
Agree the sample shots on that page don't inspire in terms of absolute quality, but I'm not trying to sell photos or win awards with this camera (or a 7DII). I want to see how it does in terrible light for record shots and how it does for AF on seabirds against a choppy ocean.
Why spend all that money on a camera that you only need for "record" shots......just curious.My panasonic fz200 was great for a bridge camera with a constant f2.8 aperture throughout its entire zoom range,fast af good enough for birds in flight and more than good enough for "record " shots.Just saying that there are some decent cameras out there that would fulfill your needs without spending ridiculous amounts of money.I'm bemused.:eek!: