Fujifilm X100VI.

The X100VI is the camera I recommend to other travel writers with a caveat attached, because the thing that makes it great — one lens, no zoom, no swapping glass in a dusty market stall — is also the thing people argue with for the first two weeks of owning it. You can't zoom out of a bad composition. You either walk closer, crop later, or miss the shot, and after four months I've come around to thinking that's a feature disguised as a limitation.

The sensor bump to 40 megapixels means the crop option is more viable than it was on the previous model — I've salvaged compositions I'd have deleted on the older body. The hybrid viewfinder, switching between optical and electronic with a flick of the front lever, earns its reputation; I use the optical finder for street scenes and the electronic overlay for anything metered tricky, like the low light inside Luang Prabang's temples.

The honest knock against it is availability and price — it's still selling over list more than a year out — and battery life, which won't survive a full day of alms-ceremony-to-sunset shooting without a spare in the bag.