Best travel camera under $500 in 2023
Best travel camera under $500
Travel cameras under $500 are a though sell for me: If you invest an additional $500 into your phone the next time you get one, you’ll have one hell of a camera. Heck the OnePlus 10 Pro has a great camera and is only $499 as of writing this article.
We’ll be taking a closer look at the best cameras for travel in 2023 for under $500 and we’ll be looking at the following variables and scoring these three cameras against each other: Size, weight, image quality, handling, battery life and the ecosystem in which the camera exists, for example lenses and other accessories. Size and weight will be weighed with a factor of 1.5 to stress their importance for travel.
Interchangeable lens cameras at this price are also hard to recommend as the cameras usually come with a not so amazing lens but that’s enough waffling: Here are 3 recommendations for under $500 which may include used gear to maximize value:
The Sony RX100III is not the freshest of the bunch but it does offer amazing value and has some great features that make it an amazing travel camera: It’s small, it has a pop-up viewfinder and most importantly amazing image quality thanks to the pretty big sensor and also bright lens (That’s a good thing: Images are less noisy and you can seperate your subjects from the backgrund). The lens also zooms - meaning a change in focal length or angle of view so you have a lot of flexibility. There are newer versions of the camera available, such as the Sony RX100VA, but these go for a lot more than $500. These are Sony’s premium fixed lens cameras and can be as much as $1300 with the newest Sony RX 100VII. Why the top spot? It’s just a perfect blend of capability and small size.
Size: 10 / 10
Weight: 10 / 10
Image Quality: 6 / 10
Handling: 4 / 10
Battery Life: 5 / 10
Ecosystem: 5 / 10
The Sony RX100III scores top-marks for portability, weight while retaining good image quality and many options for accessories. There are no interchangeable lenses which is a small penalty to the ecosystem. Handling and battery life are not the best. This gives the Sony RX100III and overall score of 50.
This little Panasonic camera gives you everything you need and more in a more than capable package: While it’s MFT sensor is smaller than an APS-C sensor it still delivers amazing image quality and most importantly there are tons of amazing lenses available. The best starter lens is of the 12-32mm lens which is a great lens for a wide range of circumstances you might encounter while travelling. And if you need something else: Just get another lens. Lenses in the micro-four-thirds system can be had comparatively cheap. But what it this camera good at? Well, pretty much everything: Flippy screen, 4k video, image stabilization, good smartphone connection, 21 megapixel images, electronic viewfinder and pretty light weight in a small package. So why isn’t this number one? From a performance and capability standpoint it definitely should be but it does lose in the size and weight. If those two factors aren’t that important to you, definitely go with the Panasonic Lumix G100: There are tons of compatible lenses available!
Size: 6 / 10
Weight: 5 / 10
Image Quality: 7 / 10
Handling: 9 / 10
Battery Life: 6 / 10
Ecosystem: 9 / 10
The Panasonic Lumix G100 scores top-marks for handling and the supporting ecosystem: The micro-four-thirds system. Image quality is good, and it’s rougly the size of the Sony a6000: It’s taller but narrower. This gives the Panasonic Lumix G100 and overall score of 47,5.
3. Sony a6000
The Sony a6000 is a true classic! Small form factor, the kit-lens is also collapsible and tiny. With it’s APS-C sized sensor the image quality is great and it does so much more: Eye-autofocus, 11 frames a second for sports or wildlife photography and also comes with a viewfinder and great customizability. The lens can also be changed, for example to the Sigma 18-50 2.8, if you want a serious step up in image quality and light transmission. you can also add other cheaper lenses such as the Sony 55-210 or more expensive lenses (Sony 70-350). But the best thing about Sony interchangeable lens cameras is the support for third party lenses such as the trio of Sigma lenses (Sigma 16mm 1.4, Sigma 30mm 1.4, Sigma 56mm 1.4), small lenses from Samyang (Samyang 12mm F2, Samyang 75mm F1.8 and many more) and Tamron lenses (Tamron 70-300). The capabilities of the camera body itself lag behind the G100 but the lens selection and the system available make the Sony a6000 a great choice under $500.
Size: 6 / 10
Weight: 6 / 10
Image Quality: 8 / 10
Handling: 5 / 10
Battery Life: 4 / 10
Ecosystem: 7 / 10
The Sony a6000 has the best image quality of the bunch but this comes at a cost: While the size is still good, handling and battery life are just ok. The Sony a6000 shines with many lens options, although they aren’t as numerous as the options for the Panasonic Lumix G100. The overall score for the Sony a6000 is a solid 42.
Summary
All of these three cameras have their own strengths and weaknesses, which is why we’ve come up with the following graphic. But remember: Size and weight are weighed with a factor of 1.5 in our total scores.
