Cameras are similar to bikes. You can’t ask – what bike should I get? Unless you know where / how you want to ride it. For choosing a camera when touring, the top questions I’d ask are:

• Weight
• Cost
• Weatherproofness / robustness
• Ergonomics / feel – do you care?
• Focal length / zoom
• Low light ability

The first four are pretty obvious just from looking online or in a store at camera gear. Focal length is the question of: do you want a go pro type view of being there (about “14mm equivalent”), or general scenery (about 16-35), or mostly people (28-85), or hope to also capture animals / objects in the distance (85+). Low light ability is also kind of obvious – larger, heavier more expensive cameras are generally much better. I didn’t list image quality as a question, I’m of the belief that any recent camera will take awesome photos.

My personal answers are:

I care a lot about weight, will spend several hundred to over a thousand if I think it is worthwhile, want a waterproof option, don’t care about ergonomics when touring because it would add weight, want a go pro view and a focal length for people, and don’t care about low light.

Instead of a Go Pro, I chose a Sony X3000, better stabilization and perhaps slightly better image quality than most Go Pro models for a similar or cheaper price. There are also some Chinese knockoffs which can have great image quality, but not the stabilization.

For people view and some general scenery, I’ll use my phone, OR if I know I’ll want better pictures and more focal length variety – I want a small compact camera that can zoom about 24-75mm equivalent. Or, I might instead invest that money in a new phone with two different focal length cameras. Not sure.

I have a Panasonic LX100, which is just over 400 grams, is a joy to use, has a focal length 24-75, and is probably the best compromise for low light ability and light weight in a camera. So for now, I’d likely just bring that.