Editor Note: This post was written by Sony Influencer Trevor Pottelberg, all text and accompanying images have been used with permission.
For anyone who knows me, you’ll know that I spend a lot of time outdoors.
Whether I’m photographing birds, mammals, insects or simply exploring a local conservation area, there’s something incredibly rewarding about heading into nature with no expectations and seeing what the day has to offer. Some outings are incredibly productive, while others are much quieter. But every trip is different, and that’s one of the things I love most about wildlife photography. You never really know what’s waiting around the next bend.
Having spent nearly three decades photographing wildlife and almost two decades teaching photography, I tend to evaluate cameras a little differently than I once did. Of course, image quality and autofocus matter, but so does something that’s much harder to measure: does the camera allow me to spend more time enjoying nature and less time thinking about my equipment?
A few weeks ago, Sony reached out and asked if I’d be interested in spending some time with their new RX10 Mark 5.
Rather than photographing test charts or running it through a list of technical benchmarks, I decided to use it the same way I use every camera that comes into my hands.
I took it into the field.
After all, that’s where a wildlife camera belongs.
Watch the film: See how the Sony RX10 Mark 5 performed during my time photographing wildlife in the field.
Ready for Whatever I Find
Like many wildlife photographers, I’m accustomed to working with large telephoto lenses. They’ve helped me create many of my favourite images over the years, but they also require some planning. Before leaving home, I’m often deciding which equipment to pack based on what I expect to photograph.
The RX10 Mark 5 offered a very different experience.
With its built-in 24–600mm equivalent zoom lens, I could simply grab the camera and head out. I didn’t have to spend time wondering whether I’d packed the right lens because I already had an incredible focal range at my fingertips.
More importantly, the camera became something I wanted to have with me all the time.
In fact, it spent quite a bit of time riding on the front passenger seat of my vehicle. That might sound like a small detail, but it changed the way I photographed.
If I spotted wildlife along the way, I could safely pull over, grab the camera and be ready within seconds. There was no unpacking a large camera bag or deciding which lens I needed. I could simply respond to what was happening in front of me.
Sometimes the difference between getting the photograph and missing it is simply being ready.
When Wildlife Doesn’t Wait
Wildlife rarely cooperates with the photographer.
A bird can sit motionless for several minutes and then suddenly take flight. A raccoon can disappear behind a tree. A heron can move from standing perfectly still to flying across the marsh in seconds. A bumblebee can approach a flower from out of nowhere and be gone just as quick.
Those are the moments when I appreciated what the RX10 Mark 5 could do.
The AI subject recognition helped identify and stay with moving subjects, while the blackout-free electronic viewfinder allowed me to continue visually tracking the action while shooting bursts.
Instead of losing sight of the subject as the camera captured a sequence, I could continue following it through the frame. For wildlife photography, that’s a very practical advantage. I could concentrate on the subject, its behaviour and my composition rather than thinking about what the camera was doing.
The Biggest Surprise
As much as I enjoyed photographing birds and other wildlife with the RX10 Mark 5, that wasn’t what surprised me most.
The biggest surprise was everything else I started noticing.
As the weeks passed, I found myself slowing down.
Instead of walking past butterflies, dragonflies, bees and wildflowers while searching for larger wildlife, I started stopping to explore them.
One afternoon, I came across a praying mantis among the vegetation. At first glance, I thought it was simply resting there. It wasn’t until I raised the camera and looked through the viewfinder that I realized it was eating an ant.
I stayed with it for a while. Then it slowly turned its head and looked directly at me. It was one of those wonderfully unexpected little encounters that reminds me why I enjoy spending so much time outdoors.
I could have easily walked right past it. Instead, I came away with photographs.
Discovering the Smaller Things
The close-focusing capability of the RX10 Mark 5 quickly became one of my favourite features.
On paper, 0.49x maximum magnification might simply look like another specification. In the field, I found it far more meaningful.
Being able to work at the 600mm equivalent end of the lens while handholding the camera allowed me to photograph butterflies, dragonflies, bees, frogs, flowers and other small subjects from a comfortable working distance.
It also opened camera angles that would have been difficult for me with a much larger setup. I could crouch down, use the rear LCD screen, hold the camera at an awkward angle and create the photograph without setting up a tripod or changing equipment.
That freedom changed the pace of my outings.
I wasn’t just looking for the next bird or mammal anymore.
I was looking everywhere.
Sometimes They Even Pose
One of my favourite encounters during my time with the camera came one evening when I found a raccoon making its way down a tree.
As it climbed down, it suddenly stopped. For a few moments, it almost seemed to pose for me, sitting perfectly while the evening light filtered through the trees and beautifully backlit its fur.
Later, I photographed the same raccoon sprawled comfortably across a tree branch. It seemed completely relaxed, watching me—and the rest of the world go by—with seemingly no concern at all.
Another evening, I was out for an evening kayak paddle and noticed a loon in the distance. I was able to slowly glide toward it and with little effort at all, raise the camera up to my eye, toggle the zoom to 600mm and snap the shot. No arm fatigue, no back pain. Just an intimate encounter with a beautiful wild animal that ended up lasting over an hour.
Those are the wildlife encounters I love. Nothing dramatic needed to happen. It was simply wildlife being wildlife, and I was fortunate enough to be there to photograph it.
A Camera That Stayed With Me
Although wildlife was my primary focus during this project, I also found myself reaching for the RX10 Mark 5 when the skies became interesting.
Living in Southwestern Ontario, summer weather can change quickly, and I’ve always enjoyed photographing storms.
Having the camera sitting beside me meant that when I saw an interesting storm developing, I could safely pull over, grab it and start photographing almost immediately.
The built-in zoom was particularly useful. I could capture a wider view of the approaching storm and then zoom in to isolate distant cloud formations or other interesting details without changing lenses.
Again, it came back to being ready. The camera was there, so I made the photograph.
Looking at Nature a Little Differently
My time with the RX10 Mark 5 is almost up, but I have photographed quite a collection of subjects.
Loons. Herons. Raccoons. Butterflies. Dragonflies. Bees. A Praying Mantis. Frogs. Flowers. Storms—and hopefully a few more surprises before I must send the camera back.
Looking through the images, I realized something had quietly changed.
I wasn’t photographing more because I was trying harder.
I was photographing more because there was very little standing between seeing a photograph and making one.
At roughly 2.5 pounds, the camera was comfortable enough to carry for long periods. The 24–600mm equivalent zoom gave me tremendous flexibility. Its autofocus and subject recognition helped when wildlife started moving, and the close-focusing capability opened an entirely different world of smaller subjects.
But what mattered to me most was what all those things did collectively. They encouraged me to explore!
As a photography educator, that’s something I’ve always tried to encourage in my students. Great photographs don’t always require travelling across the country or visiting some spectacular destination. Often, they’re much closer to home than we realize.
Sometimes we simply need to slow down long enough to notice them.
What I’ll Remember
Every camera teaches you something.
Some help you work faster.
Some help you reach farther.
And some simply remove enough barriers that you stop thinking about the equipment and start paying more attention to what’s happening around you.
That’s probably what I’ll remember most about my time with the Sony RX10 Mark 5.
Not one particular specification.
Not one photograph.
But the feeling of being free to follow my curiosity wherever nature happened to lead me.
Whether it was a bird across the marsh, a raccoon relaxing in a tree, a storm building over the countryside, or a praying mantis eating an ant just a few feet away, I spent less time thinking about what equipment I needed and more time appreciating the moments unfolding in front of me.
For me, that’s what wildlife photography has always been about.
The best camera isn’t always the one with the biggest lens. Sometimes it’s the one that encourages you to slow down, look a little closer, and simply spend more time in nature.
