recommendations for a good camera to take on a three week trip to Europe?

I have a Luminx by Panasonic. It's a good mid line camera that can be operated simply or you can do things with it I've never figured out. It has an incredible telescopic lens. There are many other brands of good cameras that are comparable.

Most cameras today can be quite complicated. But they can also be shot simply--if that makes sense.

Another Panasonic Lumix fan here. Great compact p & s camera. They have shot up in price over the last couple of years, even gently used. Another great option for wonderful pictures is the Canon Powershot. I saw this used one from used photo pro.

https://usedphotopro.com/canon-powershot-sx40-hs-121mp-digital-camera-w35x-zoom-ucd-05-9950-3-442032026447-df7fcf92

Good luck!

Retired film and TV location scout.

Gave up carrying my DSLR on my trips. Too heavy and unless a professional (such as being paid by National Geographic Magazine) unnecessary.

Look at reviews for the Canon Power G7 Mark II.

For some personalized Christmas cards I created I used prints of photos taken by the aforementioned camera. Very pleased with quality of the prints.

Fits easily into my old and well traveled Baggallini
backpack.

I'd second Claudia on the Canon G7. I think current is G7 X mkIII. Sony RX100 are similar and there's also Sony ZV-1.

If you wanted something you can change the lens on, Sony A6400 or one of the other Sony mirrorless cameras are top notch.

Go visit the site www.dpreview.com

It is dedicated to all things camera; dslr, ilc, point&shoot, etc and is an unparalleled source for expert advice, frequented by professionals, advanced amateurs and novices. They have dedicated forums for “what travel camera should I buy?”, brand comparisons, camera reviews, commentary, etc. etc.

It would be well worth your time and you will get excellent guidance on your purchase.

Personally I’m a Nikon user for various reasons that are important to me (may not be you): Z5 for more serious use and Z30 for travel. Both have native and alt brand lenses, can be operated “professionally” and can simply “point and shoot” in the P mode if you just want great pictures. They are interchangeable lens cameras, which may or not appeal to you, however this gives you greater flexibility, and you can likely find a single lens for the day and limit changing lenses to the hotel, based on what you plan to see. Think very wide angle for interiors; telephoto for villas on the hill.

The Lumix and Sony brands noted above are good camera brands that have options for interchangeable and fixed lens cameras. I don’t happen to like their menu systems, but that’s another rabbit hole.

The users on dpreview can guide you through a decision process that will get you to the right camera based on what YOU are looking for vs brand favorite opinions (mine included).

Good hunting!

thank you for all the suggestions, this is very helpful!

The first step to better photography is to develop your eye. If you want to take better if not great photos, I suggest that you take a photography course or spend the time to learn on your own. You can spend thousands of dollars on equipment, but still end up with crooked horizons and blurry or poorly exposed shots. Learning how to compose a shot will improve the quality of your images much more than some big zoom lens.

The second step is to use good equipment. IMO, on any given day, an iphone or pixel has more advanced camera technology than a similarly priced camera . A new phone model comes out about once a year. Apple, Samsung and Google compete with each other to sell millions of phones each year. They use their vast resources to advance the R&D for photography in order to one-up each other.

OTOH, any particular camera model probably sells in the thousands in a year and the same camera model with old technology can sit on the shelf for 3 years or more.

If a person learned the full capabilities of their smartphones, they could easily shoot feature-length movies or professional photographs with a smartphone.

The final step for great imaging is post processing and photo editing. Even if you go back to the days of film and examine the great images by Ansel Adams, a big part of the magic comes from taking the care in the photo finishing and printing process. If you are impressed by the photo galleries of your fellow travelers or bloggers, there is a great chance that those photos were processed and edited. That takes a bit of time and effort. Once again, the better smartphones have photo editing built in. It is just that most people don't take the time to use it.

I would suggest a “bridge” camera with a built in zoom lens. The main thing is to practice with it before you travel. We have traveled with people with simple point and shoot cameras who had no idea how the camera worked and were trying to learn on the fly on their trip. Not a good idea.

The only thing that can convince me to take my compact lightweight Canon DSLR on a trip is if there will be fast moving animals. I want a viewfinder and fast sports mode for birds in flight, etc. I would not take it simply for telephoto and certainly wouldn't want to carry even a modest telephoto lens around Europe.

The last "big" camera I took to Europe was in 2015 when I had a really cheap smartphone. I had a Canon SX50 (sometimes called bridge or superzoom camera). It has an integrated lens, smaller/lighter than a DSLR with incredible zoom. I see they now sell the SX70 - don't get too excited about the zoom possibilities. Even 50X is only possible for me if resting the camera to stop ANY shake, and do you really need a closeup of a gargoyle 100 feet off the ground? It is small enough to fit in a sling pack on your front for security.

What iphone do you have and is it worth just using the money to upgrade your phone? I have a 3.5 year old iphone and planning to upgrade to the 15 soon primarily for the camera. The camera on recent models is impressive. 48 mp compared to my current 12mp so I can blow up as much as I need in post editing (unless you like to print large pictures).

If I was looking at options other than a phone upgrade right now I would look at the mirrorless cameras- the ones I've seen people use look brilliant. I would listen to Dur Jim and check dpreview for models in your price range.

Great advice in this thread.
For years, I carried a Sony NEX-6 Dslr camera and sometimes a 70-210 mm telephoto. Good camera, very good sensor, good lenses. Worked very well.
Last few years, I've just been using my cellphone's camera, a Galaxy S10. For my purposes (just travel photos for me to enjoy later), it does very well. Hard to see a big difference from the Dslr. The S10 has a nice wide-angle lens and a standard lens, but the "telephoto" does not function. If you have a more recent Galaxy phone, or more recent Apple phone you probably have a useable telephoto lens, which comes in handy. The newer cellphones have much better cameras. I've tried those "clip-on" lenses which give wide-angle or telephoto, but the quality is really terrible.

As was mentioned, a Huge improvement is not the camera, but the post-processing. I typically take 3-5 shots of something, then later, I look through and keep 1. Also, cameras and cellphones take uncompressed .jpg photos to save processing time. When I edit the photo later, I save it with .jpg compression, so an 8 megabyte photo becomes maybe 0.8 megabytes. So my photos will email and store 10x as fast and take 1/10 the space. Also, I hate crooked lakes and buildings, so I can rotate the photo as needed. Very importantly, I do not fill the lens with the subject, I leave a little room, so I can later on, crop the photo (to a 3:2 ratio). This really improves a photo. Occasionally, the camera under-exposes a photo, and that can be easily made better by editing.

So how do I edit? What I used to do was, when I got home, I would copy the photos to my laptop and edit with a great Windoze program called "Xnview". Nowadays, I've been editing with my Android phone with an app called "Gallery" (not the Samsung version). This gives me something to do in the hotel in the evening. And the now-compressed files can more easily uploaded (with hotel wifi) to an online storage for backup.

Good for you for wanting to improve your photos! I wish you great success.

Sorry to be late reading this. I take my Pentax K-52 DSLR with an 18-55mm zoom (not a telephoto but it does give me some flexibility). I usually shoot in auto mode. I prefer it to the iphone because I can decide what to focus on. It's more or less a beginner's DSLR: has auto and manual settings and you can upgrade it with expensive lenses later on. I don't do a lot of post-processing, just a few tweeks in iPhoto on my laptop. The down side is that it's heavy, 38 oz including the left-handed women's strap. The iphone is around 6 oz.

I have used a Sony RX 100 VII on several trips to Europe and also as a camera for grab shots around camp on African safaris. It has excellent photo quality, small point and shoot and very customizable as to shooting preferences. Auto also yields excellent photo quality. Often appears on lists of the best cameras for travel. Gave up a DSLR several years ago but use a Nikon P950 for African safaris- a little too heavy for European travel. Check B&H and talk to someone there for recommendations. Have a great trip.

Here's another vote for the Canon G7 X Mark III - I've owned one for years and have used it in all my travels since 2019. I didn't realize it has been discontinued. Previously I used the super pocket sized G9 Mk II (surprisingly excellent and better yet cigarette pack sized).

Here's an interesting excerpt from an April 2024 discussion:

"So, for my money, the Canon G7 X Mark III is still a very compelling camera, packing some powerful features and image quality that still holds up against today's competition. Better yet, given that it's a discontinued product, you can find it for a great price – and unlike the Fujifilm X100VI, you can actually find people selling it!"

https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/features/should-you-still-buy-the-canon-g7-x-mark-iii