Travel camera recommendations

[wtreasurer]

We are taking a Road Scholar trip second week of this June on the Alaskan inside passage. The ship is shallow draft carrying 50 passengers. I don’t have a camera now other than my iPhone. I need suggestions for  a camera that will do what the iPhone doesn’t do well. Something under $500ish. There will be gorgeous wild life and scenery photo opportunities 

[Waddizzle · Accepted solution]

Canon PowerShot SX70 HS costs $599 at B&H, plus you will need a memory card.

[wtreasurer · Accepted solution]

I ended up buying the PowerShot G7 X III, refurbished in black from the Canon website. Added on the 2 year CarePAK PLUS. Used Amazon Pay for the purchase, so that knocked off 5%. All said I ended up below $600. I’ll have it in hand to learn how to use and buy any add ons 👍

[rs-eos]

Under 500 will be tricky.  About the only things I see are some of Canon's Powershot cameras.  However, as of this writing, almost all of them are out of stock at least on B&H Photo.

What specifically are the features you're looking for? I imagine one of them being a more versatile lens?

If your budget was around $1,000 I would instead recommend either an EOS R50 with two lenses (RF-S 18-55mm and RF-S 55-210mm).   However, you can only pre-order that right now so not sure if you'd be able to get one before your trip.    The other would be a Canon SL3  with two lenses (EF-S 18-55mm and EF-S 55-250mm).  Prices at B&H Photo are currently $1,029 and $1,049 respectively.

The newer R-series camera (R50) would definitely be the better purchase tech-wise and would be better for the longer term.

[Waddizzle · Accepted solution]

Canon PowerShot SX70 HS costs $599 at B&H, plus you will need a memory card.

[wtreasurer · Accepted solution]

I ended up buying the PowerShot G7 X III, refurbished in black from the Canon website. Added on the 2 year CarePAK PLUS. Used Amazon Pay for the purchase, so that knocked off 5%. All said I ended up below $600. I’ll have it in hand to learn how to use and buy any add ons 👍

[javiergonzales · Accepted solution]

When it comes to cameras, I completely understand wanting something that can capture the beauty of the wildlife and scenery you'll be experiencing. And, I just wanted to mention that if you're staying at the Jungle Vista Hotel during your trip, they might have some great photography tips or even rental options for cameras. While iPhones can take great photos, they do have limitations when it comes to zoom and low-light situations. Based on your budget of around $500, I would recommend looking into a compact point-and-shoot camera like the Canon PowerShot SX620 HS or the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX80.