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This really make sense. After learning more from experts post, I realised that my question and preference is changed now. I think, I should edit and repost my question as below. Please consider this.

 

I m not a professional photographer, but I love to click photos. I have been using my Lumix point and shoot from past 3 years. Now I want to change it and willing to upgrade it. I have been reading lot of posts on internet and somewhat confused about, what should be better for me.

I would have love to take DSLR, but only reason which is pushing me back is its bulkyness and weight.

 

My preferences will be --

- I love to travel and really walk for long sometimes. I will go for non-dslr's if I can get same image quality in them.

- My photography will not be in sports/actions or it doesn't require very fast capturing.

- I would definitely like to have some control on fuctions and can play and experiment with them.

- Much of time, I will be clicking landscpaes, family, gathering, mountains, desearts, wilflife, so it means a bit of everything.

- Occassionally will shoot video also and expect it to be good.

- I may not go beyond 750$.

- Not sure, if I plan to choose a photography class sometime later, will it require to have DSLR ?

- Wifi, GPS not required.



 

If I am understanding correctly, below camera will give me almost equivalent image as DSLR's

Sony NEX-5/6.
Samsung NX300/NX1000.

Fuji X-M1 - Price not known, but I saw some very good reviews on internet. Likely to be released in August.
Panasonic LUMIX FZ72 - Not yet in stores, so can't see how it looks in hands.
Sony Alpha SLT series.

 

If I need to do too much compromise, I can opt for DSLR (light-weighted). Minimum I can see is Canon 100D. Except this one, others will go till 750 grams (including lens).

Few of my (better photographer than me) friends suggested that, why I shouldn't go for DSLR's if I am ready to pay 700$ in compact/mirrorless/bridge cameras. Not sure, if this question is worth thinking.

 

I am new to this field and so many reviews posts confused me. I would really appreciate if experts can suggest me what would be better according to my preferences. Hope I am clear in, what I expect.

Once I get some suggestions for few cameras, I will narrow down my list and read more on them

 

Panasonic LUMIX FZ72 , no this camera has a much smaller sensor, probably like your P&S camera. However, it does have a lens that would cover what you want to shoot in one single lens, i.e. landscape and wildlife.  What it will not give you is the subject isolation that you can achieve with cameras that have larger sensors combined with a fast lens (e.g. a 50mm f1.8 lens).

 

Sony Alpha SLT series. are essentially dSLR.

dSLR are digital cameras with a mirror box that allows you to view the scene that you are taking the picture off through the lens itself using the viewfinder- with the help of the mirror. These cameras also have fast autofocus modules.  The currently available dSLRs offer also "liveview", i.e. you can take a picture by looking at the back LCD, like on your current Lumix camera. In most cameras (except Sony SLT), the mirror moves up out of the light path for this to work.  Disadvantage of this: if it is bright outside, it's difficult to see the screen, and you have to hold the camera away from your body, which make cause more handshaking and unsteady photographs.        Common dSLRs at this point use two different sensor sizes: APS-C (crop), and FF (full frame), which is the same size as the old slide/negative film format (36x24mm).

 

Read here a bit on sensor size:

http://www.gizmag.com/camera-sensor-size-guide/26684/

 

Mirrorless cameras (Sony Nex, Canon EOS-M, m43 (Panasonic, Olympus), Nikon 1, etc.) do away with the mirror box, which gives the advantage in size I described above.    There are different sensor sizes involved again, with Nikon 1 being quite a bit smaller than the others.  However, as mentioned, the Nex and EOS-M sensors are the same size (APS-C) and will give essentially the same image quality as the corresponding dSLRs model.   So, the EOS-M has essentially the same sensor as the Rebel T5i, SL1, 60D, and 7D.     Sony has different sensors (with different MPs), but they are used both in NEX and SLT cameras.

m43 sensors are a bit smaller.

The fact that the mirror is missing in these cameras means you have no normal viewfinder to look through. So either you need to take the picture using the back LCD screen, like your P&S camera (with all its disadvantages), or with some mirrorless cameras you have an electronic viewfinder - either built-in or as separate attachment - to look at the scene and take the picture. Electronic viewfinders are also used in bridge cameras like the Lumix FZ72. The image quality is usually not as good as a real optical viewfinder, and this extra feature makes your mirrorless camera also a bit bigger again. That's why in the most compact mirrorless cameras the electronic viewfinder is omitted to save space.