Help Best buy Bridge camera ?

[MeadsMan]

Hello,I am considering buying a bridge camera as something to carry around when an SLR isn`t convienient.They also seem to have excellent Macro facilities,I am leaning towards the Canon S5,but also considering the Panasonic bridge cameras too.I have read lots and lots of reviews on different cameras,most seem to state that bridge cameras tend to produce images a little on the soft side,wich is a worry,and yet viewing sample images on line they look o.k to me.The Canon seemed to get slated for soft images on one review site,and this was from actual users,and yet as mentioned the sample images on the review site looked good.It`s made it difficult to decide if this is a good idea or not.What do you people think ?

With thanks.

[ellen h]

I have used a bridge camera and loved it.I had the Panasonic fz18 which has 18 x optical zoom.Was very pleased with the results,some of the photos in my Gallery were taken with it especially the kestrels.Even some of the insects were taken with and the general views.
Found it easy to use and very light.Quite a few people on this site use bridge cameras and I am sure they will reply to this thread with their opinions
ellen

[mh68]

Originally Posted by MeadsMan

Hello,I am considering buying a bridge camera as something to carry around when an SLR isn`t convienient.They also seem to have excellent Macro facilities,I am leaning towards the Canon S5,but also considering the Panasonic bridge cameras too.I have read lots and lots of reviews on different cameras,most seem to state that bridge cameras tend to produce images a little on the soft side,wich is a worry,and yet viewing sample images on line they look o.k to me.The Canon seemed to get slated for soft images on one review site,and this was from actual users,and yet as mentioned the sample images on the review site looked good.It`s made it difficult to decide if this is a good idea or not.What do you people think ?

With thanks.

The Canon bridge camera`s lenses are pretty notorious for colour fringing and chromatic abberation. Your best bet is one of the Panasonics. The fz18 has the longest reach and is pretty compact, whereas the fz30 and 50 have the most dslr- like handling but at the cost of them being a little more bulky. All of them have good macro capabilities, even more so with a cheap clip-on Ranyox macro lens.
The images from my old fz50 were as sharp, or sharper than those from my current Canon 20d, but you do lose a little fine detail through smearing due to the small sensor/in-camera image processing. Provided you get close enough to the subject, you`ll be surprised how good the results can be from these cameras.

Mark H

[Hobjob]

After good bit of reading I bought my f-in-l a Pansonic FZ18

Very impressive bit of kit, easy to use, but advanced features
if you want it.

Zoom is stunning (28-500+)

[Pete Collins]

I'm very pleased with my Panasonic FZ18. As Hobjob says its easy to use, but has all the advanced features too (which you probably want, if you have an SLR) including the ability to shoot in RAW mode (not really tried that yet myself). The 28-504mm lens is very impressive.

[RobinP]

It already has a successor, the FZ28. Not sure of the enhancements etc.

[Pete Collins]

Originally Posted by RobinP

It already has a successor, the FZ28. Not sure of the enhancements etc.

Thanks, RobinP, I did not know that. Here's a very favourable review comparing the new FZ28 to the FZ18:
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 - TrustedReviews

I've no intention of replacing my FZ18 for many years, but if I did (and had the extra money) I'd certainly now look at the FZ28.

[MeadsMan]

Thanks for all the replies,it appears the Panasonics far out way the Canon,My main concern is image quality,any of you peeps have a Gallery using these cameras ? And how do I view it ?

[matt_xyz]

Originally Posted by MeadsMan

Thanks for all the replies,it appears the Panasonics far out way the Canon,My main concern is image quality,any of you peeps have a Gallery using these cameras ? And how do I view it ?

The Panasonics would be my choice every time if I were after a bridge camera. I now use DLSRs but used to have an FZ30. Here are a couple of images taken with it (and a Raynox close-up lens):





Matt

[Pete Collins]

This my Gallery: Pete Collins Gallery - Wildlife Photography

Almost all the photos taken this year were with the FZ18 (except for the view of St Sunday Crag and the shots of Deadly Nightshade). The latest five were take with a 1.7x converter attached to the FZ18, possibly one or two others were but I don't think so.

Hope that helps! I'm sure other FZ18 users have more impressive photos, and certainly better examples of Macro shots.

(I should say I know very little at all about photography, I'm pretty much a 'point and shoot' merchant - but, following advice from this forum, I do use Aperture Priority for my Bird photos.)