Sony RX10: one camera that does it all

Do you want to carry one camera that is good at almost every kind of photography, including portraits, landscapes, children running around, wildlife (including small birds in flight), macro, etc
I recommend the Sony RX10 IV. If you want to save some money, the previous version (RX10 III) is the same camera, but does not have the tracking focus, which can help take pictures of active kids and birds in flight.

TLDR (see below for more details):

• Has an incredible 24-600 mm equivalent lens.
  
• The lens has a very bright aperture range of f2.4-4
  
• The lens is very sharp throughout its zoom range
  
• The camera is super versatile: landscapes, portraits, wildlife, fast action...
• Requires no changing of lenses
• Has great 4K video
• Has a built-in flash
• Has very fast autofocus (with tracking)
• Is water resistant
• Shoots RAW files 
• No need to use the menu for anything (this is really an amazing, underappreciated, and misunderstood feature)
• Can shoot 24 frames per second, which is crazy
  

More details:

• This camera is great for all situations: kids, animals, travel, etc. The only situations it's not good at are poorly lit action scenes, such as a dark concert.
• The key feature is the amazing 24-600 mm equivalent lens. Equivalent means that it has the same field of view that a full frame digital camera would have at these focal lengths.
• The lens produces very sharp photos across the entire zoom range. Simply amazing. If you need a wider angle of view, take a series of vertical shots (with the same exposure setting in M mode) and stitch as a panorama. You can get crazy high resolution photos.
  
• The lens' widest aperture is 2.4-4, depending on the focal length. This is the actual aperture, calculated as the focal length divided by the diameter of the front pupil. However, because the actual focal length is much smaller than the 24-600 equivalent, the depth of field at these apertures is much greater than the same apertures on full frame lenses. This is great if you want many parts of the photo in sharp focus. This is bad if you want to isolate an object or a face, and throw everything else out of focus. If you want the narrowest depth of field, shoot at 600mm f4. Portraits come out very well.
  
• Very quick handling and instant autofocus.
• You can shoot completely silently, which is great for many occasions, especially on travel.
  
• You can shoot up to 24 frames per second, which is too fast for most situations. You can select medium and low speeds as well.
  
• At 600mm, it is amazing for wildlife and candid street photography.
• At 24mm, it is great for landscapes.
• 20 megapixel sensor has plenty resolution to display gorgeous photos on very large screens. We display our photos on a 75" 4K screen, and they look incredible.
  
• The sensor is 1", bigger and better than on most point&shoot cameras

For best experience (this is what I do and love it):

• Buy a clear UV filter (high quality, of course), keep the lens hood on, and get a small camera case. No lens cap needed. The camera is ready to shoot any time.
• Set up its many buttons (including custom ones) so that the only time you ever need to hit the menu button is if you want to format the card. This is simply an awesome feature. I hate going through menus.
• Keep the aperture ring at f4 and shoot aperture priority with an auto-ISO and minimum shutter speed easily adjustable (I keep it at 1/500th by default, but change it as needed).

Drawbacks:

• It's a bit large and heavy, but given the capability, it's worth it. Equivalent focal length on crop sensor or full frame cameras would be significantly larger and heavier, plus you would have to change lenses.
  
• Its images are not as clean at high ISO as in dSLRs. However, ISO 6400 is clean for all my use cases, including a display on a large screen TV.
  
• Pricey, but not when you take into account the lens reach. Just the lenses that cover this range for a dSLR will cost far more than this camera.
  

Below are some example photos

A 24 mm, single RAW photo inside an ice cave. The camera can capture a wide dynamic range; the cave was very dark compared to the outside.

Aerial photo from 2500 feet above ground, without disturbing the wildlife or hikers. Taking a sharp photo at 600 mm equivalent from a small airplane is very cool.

 

The macro mode on the camera is incredible. Anna's hummingbird on our feeder, handheld at 600mm f4.

The lens is sharp at all focal lengths and all f stops. Quite incredible.

My photography background:

• I was a semi-pro for 10 years
• I shot with Canon dSLRs and many lenses (I do not miss them)