Thoughts About The Bridge Camera

The Bridge Camera

I have been an admirer of bridge cameras ever since they made their appearance a good few years ago. They filled a gap that had been created between the mighty DSLR and the more diminutive Compact camera. The fact that they have a lens which is non-changeable and yet can cover huge focal distances appeals to many and means that they do not have to carry a bag full of different lenses with them

as they do if they have a DSLR.

Background

A bit of background may help in understanding where I am coming from. I have been a keen photographer for many, many years and cut my teeth, so to speak, on film SLR’s having used Canon, Nikon and Pentax cameras long before digital cameras came on the scene.

I embraced the digital format and enjoyed the differences that it brought. In the intervening years I have tried a wide selection of different types of digital cameras. I have tried the simple compact, the bridge, the DSLR and more recently the CSC or compact mirrorless camera. Each one has their benefits, depending on what you want from a camera.

The quality of each type is generally good, although in many respects you still ‘get what you pay for’.

Popularity

Thinking about the popularity of each, I think there will always be a larger proportion of people who prefer the DSLR, but there is a newer kid on the block that is fast gaining ground over the DSLR because of the difference in size and portability among other things and that is the Compact System Camera or Mirrorless camera, so named because of the omission of the pentaprism mirror of the DSLR and thus enabling the smaller, more portable design.

I think these would be the top two types of camera in the market today, but I notice that the Bridge camera is also keeping it’s fair share of the market and with the newer models that are constantly emerging from the likes of Panasonic, Sony, Canon and Nikon there seems to be a healthy respect for this type of camera. I have recently purchased a Panasonic Bridge camera, the FZ330 and I am very pleased with what I have got. It has some great features and in my opinion will give any camera a good run for their money.

Sensor

Ask any decent photographer about the Bridge camera and they will no doubt point to the fact that they generally use a very small sensor, which is true and is limiting to a degree. But as a regular user I find the quality of the photos that I take are of sufficient clarity to keep me happy. At the end of the day is it not about what each person wants and if the end result is pleasing and fit for purpose then why worry that the sensor is very small.

OK, I realize that a bigger sensor has many advantages and will always beat the smaller one in the photography stakes, but as I have stated above, if the user is happy then it does not make sense to worry about it and think “I must pay more for a camera with a bigger sensor.”

Having said all of that, Panasonic have fairly recently brought out the FZ1000 Bridge camera which has a bigger sensor and is being well received by the photographic community.