Is "weatherproof" worth much? I know that this question is both too broad, opinion-based, and an equipment recommendation, but I think in chat it's all permitted ;-)

Just wondering about the difference between the Sony A6000 and Sony A6300. Most of it is in video capabilities, which I'm not interested in as I mostly photograph landscapes. But the A6300 is also supposed to be "weatherproof" and I wonder if that means it would survive the mistreatment that killed my previous camera (Powershot G5X) (5 days backpacking in rain, dust, and night frost, without proper protection, killed my Powershot).

@gerrit the problem is it can vary widely from one item to the next

unless you need to use it in harsh conditions I wouldn't worry too much and instead just get a good case, but you'll also need a safe place to change any lenses as weatherproofing doesn't help when you open it up to change lenses

Right. No changing of lenses in a rainstorm or sandstorm :)

When I take off the lens of an interchangeable lens system, is the opening to the sensor completely open, no protection at all, just air?

Or is there some glass plate that protects the sensor?

@gerrit in a dslr, the mirror will be in the way, but in a mirrorless, it's just air. There's normally some filters and such over the direct sensor

but they may or may not be built in to the sensor assembly

Right. Until I saw some mirrorless cameras without lenses attached to them in the shop yesterday, I thought those pictures of cameras just showed the sensor size for illustration purposes. I didn't realise it actually looked like that. Looks fragile.

it isn't as fragile as it looks, but you certainly don't want to go being too rough either

it isn't like blowing on it is going to ruin it, but at the same time, you don't want to scratch it either

as that would impact image quality

and it needs to be accessible for cleaning

cause dust happens

Then again it should be much easier to clean a mirrorless sensor than the sensor on a fixed lens compact camera.

@gerrit yes, but someone using a fixed lens compact is less likely to care about a couple dust specs (or even to notice it)