A good family vacation includes the kinds of moments you want to treasure forever, and the ability to capture a good photo in those moments helps preserve those memories. But while you want something responsive and capable of great image quality, you also want something small enough for it to be convenient to carry with you.

We've looked for some small cameras with good image quality, responsive autofocus and the ability to capture good video clips, and chosen what would be our preferred holiday camera.

Best camera for a family vacation: Sony Cyber-shot DSC RX100 VII

The RX100 VII is remarkably capable compact camera, with a flexible 24-200mm equivalent zoom lens. It's built around a comparatively large Type 1 (13.2 x 8.8mm) Stacked CMOS sensor, that delivers excellent image quality and also helps underpin its fast and effective AF tracking. Its 4K video is also very good, if you want to capture some clips as you go.

Its long zoom is the key thing that helps the RX100 VII stand out from smartphones. The best of them have started to catch up with the Sony in terms of image quality, but they can't maintain that quality and zoom in on subjects, which makes the RX100 VII so versatile when trying to capture memorable moments.

Read more about the Sony RX100 VII

With interchangeable lenses: OM System OM-5

Moving to an interchangeable lens system immediately means you have a little more camera to carry, including whatever lenses you've brought along. But in return you get a more flexible camera that you can tailor more closely to your needs: just bring a wide-angle lens if that's what you need, or just a small, bright single focal length lens if you need to work in low light or want attractively shallow depth-of-field.

The OM-5 uses a Four Thirds sensor to deliver this flexibility in a small package. It delivers attractive stills and good video with decent autofocus (especially when photographing people). Excellent image stabilization and weather-sealing mean you can confidently use it nearly anywhere, and a multi-shot high-resolution mode lets you up the image quality when shooting architecture and landscapes. It also boasts a very large selection of small, light lenses to choose from.

Read more about the OM System OM-5

Richard Butler

Also consider:

These are the other models we'd consider taking with us on a family holiday:

• Canon EOS R10
• Canon PowerShot G5 X Mark II
• Fujifilm X100V
• Fujifilm X-S10