Q: What is the best camera for photography?

A: The one you have with you

For years, I've been using my Nikon DSLR gear and still love what I can do with it.  The downside is that it is large and heavy.  The DSLR kit is too big to carry on bike rides and it is not rugged enough to go anywhere that it would get wet.

The smartphone battle between Apple and Google has benefited us with impressive cameras that fit in our pockets and the latest generations getting a bit more ruggedized and water resistance.

The action camera category is also coming of age with tiny ruggedized cameras with decent quality imaging.  This class of cameras is targeted toward video but can still produce nice still images.

The DSLR and its big lenses still produce the best images because of physics, especially if you are considering printing the images.  However, the post processing software capabilities that accompany the newer smaller cameras make the trade-off for more convenient cameras a little less of a compromise.