Best travel camera under $1000 in 2023
Best travel camera under $1000
For cameras in this price bracket we’re looking at more recent cameras which pack a lot more features. The lenses in question also make a big jump in quality - but of course at a cost! Here are the best 3 travel cameras under $1000.
In our scoring we’re weighing size and weight with a factor of 1.5 to make sure the most travel-friendly camera wins in our ranking.
The X-S10 is an APS-C camera from Fuji which gives you all the goodness you’d expect from a camera: In-body image stabilization (not that common at this price point and sensor size), a comfortable grip, great image and video quality to rave about. The autofocus also shouldn’t leave you disappointed in travel situations but can struggle in more demanding situations such as indoor sports or birds in flight. The camera also comes with a viewfinder and a really good kit-lens: The Fujifilm 18-55 2.8-4, which is one of the sharpest and brightest kit-lenses around making the X-S10 the best travel camera under $1000. What are some downsindes? Well it’s not the smalles camera and you might want to bring a second battery but the great lens selection from Fujifilm and some third party manufacturers more than make up for these shortcomings. Also keep in mind: The X-S10 has great controls and a control scheme that makes you feel right at home. If you don’t love the look of the X-S10 also consider the Fujifilm X-T30 II. It lacks the image stabilization and has a smaller grip but it does offer a more retro design and even more control dials while providing basically the same image- and video quality.
Size: 8 / 10
Weight: 7 / 10
Image Quality: 10 / 10
Handling: 10 / 10
Battery Life: 6 / 10
Ecosystem: 10 / 10
In our scoring the Fujifilm X-S10 beats out the Sony a6400 by only half a point: The Sony a6400 is smaller but in the rest of the feature set the Fujifilm X-S10 is superior, especially image quality: The Fujifilm X-S10 has In-Body-Image-Stabilization, a big advantage. The total score is 58.5.
2. Sony a6400
If you like the formfactor of the Sony a6000 as mentioned in the sub-$500 dollar bracket you’ll love the a6400: It’s basically the same camera but so much better: Amazing autofocus with Sony’s real time tracking, and overall better everything. It comes with the same kit-lens but the same options apply: Get yourself the Sigma 18-50 2.8 or Sony 16-55 2.8 to improve your image quality but the basic camera will feel a lot more nicely built than the Sony a6000 but will take the same additional lenses. The key point remains: It’s a really small camera with all the features you could want - sandly excluding a true flip-screen: The Sony a6400’s screen only flips up. Why is this camera ranked below the Fujifilm X-S10? The Fujifilm X-S10 does have an internal stabilizer and better video quality. The Sony may be smaller, but these features are significant enough to recommend the Fujifilm X-S10 over the Sony a6400.
Size: 10 / 10
Weight: 10 / 10
Image Quality: 8 / 10
Handling: 6 / 10
Battery Life: 7 / 10
Ecosystem: 7 / 10
The Sony a6400 only narrowly loses the first place against the Fujifilm X-S10. It’s biggest merit is of course it’s small size. It’s helped by a good performance in every other metric. The total score of the Sony a6400 is 58.
Canon has a great offering in the Canon EOS R10 for travel photography. One can argue that it´s also the best camera for beginners at the moment.
It has an APS-C sized sensor that can shoot up to 23 pictures a second (!), or 15 depending on the mode, does all the video modes you expect from a modern camera (albeit some modes do come with a slightly tighter viewing angle, called crop), it´s easy to use and has great autofocus, although the video autofocus is slightly less reliable than the photo autofocus. It´s also pretty small, controls are easy to learn, there is just one thing that´s kind of a bummer: The lens selection you might buy into: Sony and Fujifilm offer so many more native lenses (Meaning lenses you don´t need an adapter for), but if you´re willing to use an adapter (Canon R Mount Adapter) a lot of old Canon lenses can be used such as the amazing Canon EF 11-22. When travelling that´s just one more thing you have to carry around, so it´s something to consider. It´s also the reason why it´s number three on our list.
Size: 5 / 10
Weight: 8 / 10
Image Quality: 10 / 10
Handling: 9 / 10
Battery Life: 7 / 10
Ecosystem: 4 / 10
The Canon EOS R10 is an amazing camera in all aspects, except lens selection. You could very easily make the argument that it’s better than the Sony a6400 or even the Fujifilm X-S10 but our ranking does penalize it’s biggest weakness the hardest: It’s the biggest and heaviest camera of the contestants leaving it with a good socre of 50.5.
Honorable Mention: Nikon Z50
If it wasn´t for the Canon EOS R10 this would´ve taken the number three spot. It has excellent image quality, same goes for video. But it´s bigger than the Canon EOS R10 (taller, heavier, and wider, but the Nikon Z50 is slimmer) and doesn´t have as good of an autofocus and slower frames per second. It´s definitely not a bad camera, but it does lose on the spreadsheet. against the Canon EOS R10. Before you buy either of these do try to get a hand on them. Feeling the camera in your hand might push your decision in a direction. After all you might want to like to hold the camera…
Size: 6 / 10
Weight: 6 / 10
Image Quality: 8 / 10
Handling: 8 / 10
Battery Life: 5 / 10
Ecosystem: 5 / 10
Our honorable mention is a good overall camera. But it doesn’t excel in anything. You might prefer it over the others if you hold it in your hands but for now the Nikon Z50 remains just that: An honorable mention behind the Canon EOS R10, Sony a6400 and the Fujifilm X-S10
Summary
Out little summary shows one thing very clearly: Each of these cameras has it’s very own strengths and weaknesses! Choose the camera that’s right you: Maybe you’re Hercules and don’t mind carrying a bigger camera or maybe you like the feel of the camera in question.
