Aaaargh- what to do???

[johnb]

I am toying with the idea of getting a Sony superzoom compact such as the HV60 for holidays & general carrying around rather than my Nikon kit but I don't want to buy something that I will be ultimately unhappy with. Has anyone any experience as to how good theses superzooms are in terms of aperture control, white balance, dof, image quality etc? Are they controllable or just a point & shoot?

An expenditure of around £200 has been authorised by The Boss

To be honest I'm getting a bit fed up with lugging big bits of kit around & am looking for an alternative

 

[Llamaman]

Most premium compacts will offer manual exposure adjustments, although how fiddly it is will depends on the number of knobs and dials.

What you may struggle with is DOF control - especially if you want small DoF because the sensor on compacts are so small. You can get some success with larger-sensored compacts that sport a fastish lens - LX100, LX5/7, RX100, X10/20/30 etc (some of which are within your price range). Superzooms will have a smaller sensor. so you'll have to decide how important having a looooooooooooong equivalent focal length is to you, compared with the benefits of a larger sensor but smaller zoom range.

If you're happy with a superzoom, you can't go far wrong with the Lumix TZ range. No experience of the Sony.