Camera Review: Sony RX10 IV for bird photography

• The body is robust and sturdy for hiking and birding but will incur damage readily.

• The camera is a manageable size for hiking and birding and well-suited for large male hands.

• Having a 1' sensor in a bridge camera is fantastic.

• The camera lens and available functions on the body are exceptional.

• The autofocus played up a bit during the test.

• I missed the larger zoom of the P950 and P1000.

• Would I buy this camera? Yes.

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I am genuinely a bridge camera enthusiast and feel it is definitely underutilised for birding. If you are anything like me, I am outdoors for the full experience, hiking, nature and a bit of fitness. The last thing I want to do is lug around a bag full of heavy gear on those days. The DSLR is still the defacto standard for birding, the selection of lenses and the technology of the units has been superior. Along comes the Sony RX10 IV. I truly felt this could be the answer to get that professional body, functionality and lens into a bridge camera.

First, a little background: for hiking, I have been using a Nikon P900 and later the P950 for a couple of years now, and I love it. My Nikon got damaged in a fall (weatherproofing would have helped), and I missed it. I got a demo unit of the Nikon P1000 to try. Nikon dubbed the P1000 the P900 replacement in South Africa; however, it would soon become apparent that the P950 was in design and became available for me to buy. Check out my P1000 review for birding here.

Let's make a quick comparison of the Sony RX10 IV to the P1000. I would say this is a different camera, and it is smaller and more comfortable to carry. The weatherproofing is genuinely a great feature for the outdoor birding and hiking enthusiast. The operating system felt slightly less intuitive. I really missed the extra zoom.

The first thing that stood out to me on reading about the Sony RX10 IV was its rugged design. The P950 and P1000 are made of plastic, whereas the Sony has a metal body, advertised as being weatherproof. For hiking and bird photography, this could be ideal. However, when the demo unit arrived, it was damaged. Already, one of my reasons for loving the camera has been put into question. The Sony agent quickly fixed the unit and sent it back to me.

The Sony RX10 IV is solid and the perfect size for a robust hiking and birding camera. The unit feels solid in your hand if it will be able to withstand weathering with the moving parts. The camera sports a 24-600mm Zeiss Vario-Sonnar lens with F2.4-4 aperture. That is a solid zoom and probably as much as you can carry on a short birding hike with a DSLR. But in the RX10 it comes in a much more manageable package. At 20.1 pixels you should be able to crop a bit to get in closer. The body feels natural to hold, and I liked the manual lens operation for zoom and aperture.

I missed the P950 and P1000 zoom. I know it's not fair to compare; the extra reach is due to the crop factor of the tiny sensor. I have gotten so used to getting right up close to the subject that I just missed that extra reach with the Sony. I may have missed the additional range, mainly due to my unique workflow. I like to snap the birds as I hike, no hides and I do very little post-processing.

All the photos posted here have received no post-production work; I only reduced their size and uploaded them as-is. The extra zoom limits my post-production and enables me to focus on what I love: taking pictures.